IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5527 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 to increase the effectiveness of the Technology Modernization Fund, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Govern3 ment Technology Reform Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REALIGNING USE OF FUNDS WITH ORIGINAL CON5 GRESSIONAL INTENT. 

6 Section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization 

7 Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115–91; 40 U.S.C. 

8 11301 note) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (b)— 

10 (A) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

11 follows: 

12 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

14 shall, in accordance with recommendations from 

15 the Board, use amounts in the Fund for the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(i) To transfer such amounts, to re18 main available until expended, to the head 

19 of an agency for the acquisition, procure20 ment, and operation of information tech21 nology, or the development of information 

22 technology when more efficient and cost ef23 fective, to— 

24 ‘‘(I) modernize, retire, or replace 

25 legacy information technology systems 

26 used by the agency; 


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1 ‘‘(II) enhance cybersecurity and 

2 privacy at the agency; 

3 ‘‘(III) improve long-term effi4 ciency and effectiveness of agency in5 formation technology; or 

6 ‘‘(IV) improve the ability of the 

7 agency to perform the mission of the 

8 agency and deliver services to the 

9 public. 

10 ‘‘(ii) To provide services or work per11 formed in support of— 

12 ‘‘(I) the activities described in 

13 clause (i); and 

14 ‘‘(II) the Board and the Director 

15 in carrying out the responsibilities de16 scribed in subsection (c)(2). 

17 ‘‘(iii) To fund only programs, projects, 

18 or activities, or to fund increases for any 

19 programs, projects, or activities that have 

20 not been denied or restricted by Congress. 

21 ‘‘(iv) To transfer such amounts only 

22 for programs, projects, or activities that 

23 will be reimbursed to the Fund to the ex24 tent necessary to ensure total amounts in 

25 the Fund are no less than the amounts 


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1 needed to keep the Fund operational until 

2 the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 

3 (g)(1). 

4 ‘‘(B) TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF

5 FUNDS.—The Administrator shall, in accord6 ance with recommendations from the Board, 

7 suspend or terminate funding for any project 

8 with respect to which the head of an agency 

9 provided fraudulent or misleading statements 

10 about such project (including fraudulent state11 ments about technical design, the business case, 

12 or program management with respect to the 

13 project) in the application or proposal for 

14 amounts from the Fund for such project.’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (5)— 

16 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

17 (I) in clause (i)— 

18 (aa) by striking ‘‘or (B)’’; 

19 and 

20 (bb) by striking ‘‘(3)(C)’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘(3)(A)(ii)’’; and 

22 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘, 

23 consistent with any applicable re24 programming law or guidelines of the 

25 Committees on Appropriations of the 


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1 Senate and the House of Representa2 tives’’; and 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i)— 

4 (I) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

5 (3)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

6 (3)(A)(ii)’’; and 

7 (II) by striking ‘‘the solvency of 

8 the Fund, including operating ex9 penses’’ and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘total amounts in the Fund are no 

11 less than the amounts needed to keep 

12 the Fund operational until the Fund 

13 sunsets pursuant to subsection 

14 (g)(1)’’; 

15 (C) in paragraph (6)— 

16 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

17 (I) in the matter before clause 

18 (i), by striking ‘‘subparagraphs (A) 

19 and (B) of paragraph (3)’’ and insert20 ing the following: ‘‘paragraph 

21 (3)(A)(i) and before any services or 

22 work are provided under paragraph 

23 (3)(A)(ii)(I)’’; 

24 (II) in clause (i)— 


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1 (aa) by striking ‘‘unless ap2 proved by the Director’’; and 

3 (bb) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

4 inserting a semicolon; 

5 (III) by redesignating clause (ii) 

6 as clause (iv); and 

7 (IV) by inserting after clause (i) 

8 the following new clauses: 

9 ‘‘(ii) which shall include terms of re10 payment that require the head of the agen11 cy to reimburse the Fund for funds trans12 ferred under paragraph (3)(A)(i) at a level 

13 that ensures total amounts in the Fund 

14 are no less than the amounts needed to 

15 keep the Fund operational until the Fund 

16 sunsets pursuant to subsection (g)(1); 

17 ‘‘(iii) which shall include terms of re18 payment that require the head of the agen19 cy to fully reimburse the Fund for any 

20 services or work provided under paragraph 

21 (3)(A)(ii) in direct support of the project; 

22 and’’; and 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

24 (I) by striking clause (i) and in25 serting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) for any funds transferred to an 

2 agency under paragraph (3)(A)(i), in the 

3 absence of compelling circumstances docu4 mented by the Administrator at the time of 

5 transfer, that such funds shall be trans6 ferred only— 

7 ‘‘(I) on an incremental basis, tied 

8 to metric-based development mile9 stones achieved by the agency through 

10 the use of rapid, iterative, develop11 ment processes; and 

12 ‘‘(II) after the head of the agency 

13 has provided the Director any infor14 mation the Director is required to re15 port pursuant to paragraph (7)(A)(i); 

16 and’’; and 

17 (II) in clause (ii)— 

18 (aa) by striking ‘‘subpara19 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

20 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

21 (3)(A)(i)’’; and 

22 (bb) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

23 (6)’’ and inserting ‘‘this para24 graph’’; 

25 (D) in paragraph (7)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A)(i)— 

2 (I) by inserting ‘‘the written 

3 agreement entered into under para4 graph (6),’’ after ‘‘description of the 

5 project,’’; and 

6 (II) by inserting ‘‘(including doc7 umented market research into com8 mercial products and services)’’ after 

9 ‘‘used’’; 

10 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

11 (I) in clause (i)— 

12 (aa) by striking ‘‘estab13 lishing’’; and 

14 (bb) by striking ‘‘the cost 

15 savings associated with the 

16 projects funded both annually 

17 and over the life of the acquired 

18 products and services by the 

19 Fund;’’ and inserting the fol20 lowing: ‘‘the amount repaid to 

21 the Fund in accordance with the 

22 terms established in the written 

23 agreements described in para24 graph (6);’’; 

25 (II) in clause (ii)— 


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1 (aa) by striking ‘‘reliability 

2 of the cost savings’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘total cost savings’’; and 

4 (bb) by striking the semi5 colon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (III) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; 

7 and’’ and inserting a period; and 

8 (IV) by striking clause (iv); 

9 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘the 

12 greatest Governmentwide impact; and’’ and 

13 inserting the following: ‘‘the greatest im14 pact on modernizing, retiring, or replacing 

15 Federal legacy information technology sys16 tems; and’’; 

17 (ii) by redesignating clauses (i) 

18 through (iii) as clauses (ii) through (iv), 

19 respectively; and 

20 (iii) by inserting before clause (ii), as 

21 so redesignated, the following new clause: 

22 ‘‘(i) the ability for the head of the 

23 agency to ensure repayment of funds 

24 transferred from the Fund to the head of 


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1 the agency, in accordance with subsection 

2 (b);’’; 

3 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘to 

4 improve or replace multiple information tech5 nology systems’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘to 

6 modernize, retire, or replace legacy information 

7 technology systems under subsection 

8 (b)(3)(A)(i)’’; and 

9 (C) in subparagraph (F), by inserting after 

10 ‘‘subsection (b)(6)’’ the following: ‘‘or the iden11 tification of fraudulent or misleading state12 ments about the project (including fraudulent 

13 statements about technical design, the business 

14 case, or program management with respect to 

15 the project) in the application or proposal for 

16 amounts from the Fund for the project’’; and 

17 (D) in subparagraph (G), by inserting 

18 after ‘‘operating costs of the Fund’’ the fol19 lowing: ‘‘to ensure total amounts in the Fund 

20 are no less than the amounts needed to keep 

21 the Fund operational until the Fund sunsets 

22 pursuant to subsection (g)(1)’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (c)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (5)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (B) by striking 

2 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

3 and’’; and 

4 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 

5 (B) the following; 

6 ‘‘(C) a senior official from the Cybersecu7 rity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the 

8 Department of Homeland Security, appointed 

9 by the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infra10 structure Security Agency, with the approval of 

11 the Director of the Office of Management and 

12 Budget.’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (6)(A)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘shall be—’’ and in15 serting ‘‘shall be 4 employees of the Fed16 eral Government primarily having technical 

17 expertise in information technology devel18 opment, financial management, cybersecu19 rity and privacy, and acquisition, ap20 pointed by the Director.’’; and 

21 (ii) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); 

22 and 

23 (4) in subsection (d)(2)— 

24 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub25 section (b)(3)(A) and for products, services, and 


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1 acquisition vehicles funded under subsection 

2 (b)(3)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(3)’’; 

3 and 

4 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting after 

5 ‘‘and reduce waste’’ the following: ‘‘and ensure 

6 total amounts in the Fund are no less than the 

7 amounts needed to keep the Fund operational 

8 until the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 

9 (g)(1)’’; 

10 (5) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 

11 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 

12 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol13 lowing new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FEDERAL CHIEF IN15 FORMATION OFFICER; AGENCY CHIEF INFORMATION OF16 FICERS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) AGENCY INVENTORY.—An agency Chief 

18 Information Officer, in coordination with stake19 holders and other agency officials, shall provide to 

20 the Federal Chief Information Officer— 

21 ‘‘(A) on or before the first September 30 

22 that occurs after the date of the enactment of 

23 the Modernizing Government Technology Re24 form Act of 2023, a list of high-risk legacy in25 formation technology systems used, operated, or 


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1 maintained by the agency, in accordance with 

2 the guidance issued under paragraph (4); and 

3 ‘‘(B) on or before September 30 of each 

4 year after the first year in which the list is pro5 vided under subparagraph (A), any updates to 

6 such list. 

7 ‘‘(2) LEGACY FEDERAL IT INVENTORY.—The 

8 Federal Chief Information Officer shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) on or before the first December 30 

10 that occurs after the date of the enactment of 

11 the Modernizing Government Technology Re12 form Act of 2023, compile a Legacy Federal IT 

13 Inventory on the basis of the each list provided 

14 by an agency Chief Information Officers under 

15 paragraph (1)(A) that includes information 

16 about each high-risk legacy information tech17 nology system used, operated, or maintained by 

18 an agency; and 

19 ‘‘(B) on or before December 30 each year 

20 after the year in which the Legacy Federal IT 

21 Inventory is compiled, update such Inventory on 

22 the basis of each update to the list provided by 

23 an agency Chief Information Officer under 

24 paragraph (1)(B). 

25 ‘‘(3) PRIORITIZATION LIST.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Chief 

2 Information Officer shall— 

3 ‘‘(i) not later than 90 days after the 

4 date on which the Federal Chief Informa5 tion Officer receives the list required by 

6 paragraph (1)(A) from each agency Chief 

7 Information Officer, compile, on the basis 

8 of each such list, a list of 10 legacy infor9 mation technology systems that present the 

10 greatest security, privacy, and operational 

11 risks to the Federal Government; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) not later than 90 days after the 

13 date on which the Federal Chief Informa14 tion Officer receives updates under para15 graph (1)(B) from each agency Chief In16 formation Officer, update the list required 

17 by subparagraph (A) on the basis of each 

18 updates to the list provided by agency 

19 Chief information Officers under para20 graph (1)(B). 

21 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

22 than 14 days after the date on which the Fed23 eral Chief Information Officer compiles the list 

24 required by subparagraph (A), or updates such 

25 list, the Director shall submit to the Committee 


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1 on Oversight and Accountability of the House 

2 of Representatives, the Committee on Home3 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

4 Senate, and the Comptroller General of the 

5 United States, a report (which may include a 

6 classified annex) containing— 

7 ‘‘(i) such list (including any update 

8 made to such list under subparagraph 

9 (A)(ii)); and 

10 ‘‘(ii) each list provided by an agency 

11 Chief Information Officer under paragraph 

12 (1)(A) (including any update made to any 

13 such list under paragraph (1)(B)). 

14 ‘‘(4) GUIDANCE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

16 days after enactment of this Act, the Director 

17 shall issue guidance on implementing the re18 quirements of this subsection that shall, at a 

19 minimum— 

20 ‘‘(i) prescribe an appropriate format 

21 for list to be provided under paragraph 

22 (1)(A); 

23 ‘‘(ii) prescribe the information to be 

24 included in the Legacy Federal IT Inven25 tory required by paragraph (2); 


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1 ‘‘(iii) provide guidance on how an 

2 agency Chief Information Officer should 

3 identify high-risk legacy information tech4 nology systems that, at least, requires 

5 agency Chief Information Officers, in co6 ordination with other agency stakeholders, 

7 to identify as a high risk legacy informa8 tion technology system any outdated or ob9 solete system of information technology 

10 that is critical to the agency such that the 

11 loss or degradation of the system would 

12 create a security, operational, or privacy 

13 risk to the agency or would otherwise im14 pact the ability of the agency to perform 

15 the mission of the agency, effectively de16 liver programs, or conduct business; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) provide guidance on how existing 

18 reporting structures can be used to submit 

19 the Legacy Federal IT inventory required 

20 by paragraph (2). 

21 ‘‘(B) UPDATES.—The Director may update 

22 the guidance issued under subparagraph (A) as 

23 the Director determines necessary. 

24 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) AGENCY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFI2 CER.—The term ‘agency Chief Information Of3 ficer’ means a Chief Information Officer des4 ignated under section 3506(a)(2) of title 44, 

5 United States Code. 

6 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFI7 CER.—The term ‘Federal Chief Information Of8 ficer’ means the Administrator of the Office of 

9 Electronic Government.’’; and 

10 (7) in subsection (g)(1), as so redesignated, by 

11 striking ‘‘On and after the date that is 2 years after 

12 the date on which the Comptroller General of the 

13 United States issues the third report required under 

14 subsection (b)(7)(B),’’ and inserting ‘‘After Decem15 ber 31, 2031,’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 21, 2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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