The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is receiving a $14.6 million award from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to build a cloud-based and artificial intelligence-powered data analytics platform.
The grant, which the FTC announced on July 28, will help the agency improve its in-house data processing capabilities with the aim of saving time and money in the way it analyzes data for investigations.
The FTC investigates potential violations of consumer protection and competition laws – including fraud, scams, identity theft, and privacy and data-security lapses – and reviews mergers.
“The grant will help the FTC meet President Trump’s goal to make government more efficient and cost effective by improving the agency’s ability to monitor and identify fraud and anti-competitive conduct,” said the FTC.
The agency said that the platform will cut the time it takes to sort through data from weeks to hours and save up to millions of dollars by reducing its reliance on contractors.
Training will be provided to staff handling complex data analysis in-house, the agency added.
The TMF, created in 2017 under the Modernizing Government Technology Act, provides funding for Federal civilian agencies’ tech modernization projects.
The program has recently undergone dramatic changes, with the Office of Management and Budget proposing last month that it operate under a new funding model that would fund projects awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2026 through unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds from other agencies.
It had previously been funded through discretionary appropriations from the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee.
The House declined to propose new funding for the TMF this year through the FSGG appropriations bill. The Senate has yet to unveil its FY 2026 FSGG bill.