I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5527 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 
Ms. MACE (for herself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
A BILL 
To amend section 1078 of the National Defense Authoriza-
tion Act for Fiscal Year 2018 to increase the effective-
ness of the Technology Modernization Fund, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Govern-
ment Technology Reform Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. REALIGNING USE OF FUNDS WITH ORIGINAL CON-
GRESSIONAL INTENT. 
Section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115–91; 40 U.S.C. 
11301 note) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator 
shall, in accordance with recommendations from 
the Board, use amounts in the Fund for the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(i) To transfer such amounts, to re-
main available until expended, to the head 
of an agency for the acquisition, procure-
ment, and operation of information tech-
nology, or the development of information 
technology when more efficient and cost ef-
fective, to— 
‘‘(I) modernize, retire, or replace 
legacy information technology systems 
used by the agency; 
‘‘(II) enhance cybersecurity and 
privacy at the agency; 
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‘‘(III) improve long-term effi-
ciency and effectiveness of agency in-
formation technology; or 
‘‘(IV) improve the ability of the 
agency to perform the mission of the 
agency and deliver services to the 
public. 
‘‘(ii) To provide services or work per-
formed in support of— 
‘‘(I) the activities described in 
clause (i); and 
‘‘(II) the Board and the Director 
in carrying out the responsibilities de-
scribed in subsection (c)(2). 
‘‘(iii) To fund only programs, projects, 
or activities, or to fund increases for any 
programs, projects, or activities that have 
not been denied or restricted by Congress. 
‘‘(iv) To transfer such amounts only 
for programs, projects, or activities that 
will be reimbursed to the Fund to the ex-
tent necessary to ensure total amounts in 
the Fund are no less than the amounts 
needed to keep the Fund operational until 
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the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 
(g)(1). 
‘‘(B) TERMINATION
OR
SUSPENSION
OF 
FUNDS.—The Administrator shall, in accord-
ance with recommendations from the Board, 
suspend or terminate funding for any project 
with respect to which the head of an agency 
provided fraudulent or misleading statements 
about such project (including fraudulent state-
ments about technical design, the business case, 
or program management with respect to the 
project) in the application or proposal for 
amounts from the Fund for such project.’’; 
(B) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking 
‘‘$250,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$50,000,000’’ 
and by striking ‘‘fiscal years 2018 and 2019’’ 
and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2024 through 
2030’’; 
(C) in paragraph (5)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 
(I) in clause (i)— 
(aa) by striking ‘‘or (B)’’; 
and 
(bb) by striking ‘‘(3)(C)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(3)(A)(ii)’’; and 
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(II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘, 
consistent with any applicable re-
programming law or guidelines of the 
Committees on Appropriations of the 
Senate and the House of Representa-
tives.’’; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (B)(i)— 
(I) 
by 
striking 
‘‘paragraph 
(3)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 
(3)(A)(ii)’’; and 
(II) by striking ‘‘the solvency of 
the Fund, including operating ex-
penses’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘total amounts in the Fund are no 
less than the amounts needed to keep 
the Fund operational until the Fund 
sunsets 
pursuant 
to 
subsection 
(g)(1)’’; 
(D) in paragraph (6)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 
(I) in the matter before clause 
(i), by striking ‘‘subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) of paragraph (3)’’ and insert-
ing 
the 
following: 
‘‘paragraph 
(3)(A)(i) and before any services or 
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work are provided under paragraph 
(3)(A)(ii)(I)’’; 
(II) in clause (i)— 
(aa) by striking ‘‘unless ap-
proved by the Director’’; and 
(bb) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 
inserting a semicolon; 
(III) by redesignating clause (ii) 
as clause (iv); and 
(IV) by inserting after clause (i) 
the following new clauses: 
‘‘(ii) which shall include terms of re-
payment that require the head of the agen-
cy to reimburse the Fund for funds trans-
ferred under paragraph (3)(A)(i) at a level 
that ensures total amounts in the Fund 
are no less than the amounts needed to 
keep the Fund operational until the Fund 
sunsets pursuant to subsection (g)(1); 
‘‘(iii) which shall include terms of re-
payment that require the head of the agen-
cy to fully reimburse the Fund for any 
services or work provided under paragraph 
(3)(A)(ii) in direct support of the project;’’; 
and’’; and 
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(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 
(I) by striking clause (i) and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(i) for any funds transferred to an 
agency under paragraph (3)(A)(i), in the 
absence of compelling circumstances docu-
mented by the Administrator at the time of 
transfer, that such funds shall be trans-
ferred only— 
‘‘(I) on an incremental basis, tied 
to metric-based development mile-
stones achieved by the agency through 
the use of rapid, iterative, develop-
ment processes; and 
‘‘(II) after the head of the agency 
has provided the Director any infor-
mation the Director is required to re-
port pursuant to paragraph (7)(A)(i); 
and’’; and 
(II) in clause (ii)— 
(aa) by striking ‘‘subpara-
graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 
(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 
(3)(A)(i)’’; and 
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(bb) by striking ‘‘paragraph 
(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘this para-
graph’’; 
(E) in paragraph (7)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A)(i)— 
(I) by inserting ‘‘the written 
agreement entered into under para-
graph (6),’’ after ‘‘description of the 
project,’’; and 
(II) by inserting ‘‘(including doc-
umented market research into com-
mercial products and services)’’ after 
‘‘used’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 
(I) in clause (i)— 
(aa) 
by 
striking 
‘‘estab-
lishing’’; and 
(bb) by striking ‘‘the cost 
savings 
associated 
with 
the 
projects funded both annually 
and over the life of the acquired 
products and services by the 
Fund;’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: ‘‘the amount repaid to 
the Fund in accordance with the 
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terms established in the written 
agreements described in para-
graph (6);’’; 
(II) in clause (ii)— 
(aa) by striking ‘‘reliability 
of the cost savings’’ and inserting 
‘‘total cost savings’’; and 
(bb) by striking the semi-
colon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
(III) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; 
and’’ and inserting a period; and 
(IV) by striking clause (iv); 
(2) in subsection (c)(2)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘the 
greatest Governmentwide impact; and’’ and 
inserting the following: ‘‘the greatest im-
pact on modernizing, retiring, or replacing 
Federal legacy information technology sys-
tems; and’’; 
(ii) 
by 
redesignating 
clauses 
(i) 
through (iii) as clauses (ii) through (iv), 
respectively; and 
(iii) by inserting before clause (ii), as 
so redesignated, the following new clause: 
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‘‘(i) the ability for the head of the 
agency to ensure repayment of funds 
transferred from the Fund to the head of 
the agency, in accordance with subsection 
(b);’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘to 
improve or replace multiple information tech-
nology systems’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘to 
modernize, retire, or replace legacy information 
technology 
systems 
under 
subsection 
(b)(3)(A)(i)’’; 
(C) in subparagraph (F), by inserting after 
‘‘subsection (b)(6)’’ the following: ‘‘or the iden-
tification of fraudulent or misleading state-
ments about the project (including fraudulent 
statements about technical design, the business 
case, or program management with respect to 
the project) in the application or proposal for 
amounts from the Fund for the project’’; and 
(D) in subparagraph (G), by inserting 
after ‘‘operating costs of the Fund’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘to ensure total amounts in the Fund 
are no less than the amounts needed to keep 
the Fund operational until the Fund sunsets 
pursuant to subsection (g)(1)’’; 
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(3) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (5)— 
(i) in subparagraph (B) by striking 
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 
and’’; and 
(ii) by inserting after subparagraph 
(B) the following; 
‘‘(C) a senior official from the Cybersecu-
rity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the 
Department of Homeland Security, appointed 
by the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infra-
structure Security Agency, with the approval of 
the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget.’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (6)(A)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘shall be—’’ and in-
serting ‘‘shall be 4 employees of the Fed-
eral Government primarily having technical 
expertise in information technology devel-
opment, financial management, cybersecu-
rity and privacy, and acquisition, ap-
pointed by the Director.’’; and 
(ii) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); 
(4) in subsection (d)(2)— 
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(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub-
section (b)(3)(A) and for products, services, and 
acquisition vehicles funded under subsection 
(b)(3)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(3)’’; 
and 
(B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting after 
‘‘and reduce waste’’ the following: ‘‘and ensure 
total amounts in the Fund are no less than the 
amounts needed to keep the Fund operational 
until the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 
(g)(1)’’; 
(5) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 
(6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FEDERAL CHIEF IN-
FORMATION OFFICER; AGENCY CHIEF INFORMATION OF-
FICERS.— 
‘‘(1) AGENCY
INVENTORY.—An agency Chief 
Information Officer, in coordination with stake-
holders and other agency officials, shall provide to 
the Federal Chief Information Officer— 
‘‘(A) on or before the first September 30 
that occurs after the date of the enactment of 
the Modernizing Government Technology Re-
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