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By: Kate Polit
1:43 pm

MGT Act Clears Congress, Waiting for President’s Signature

On Thursday, the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, championed by Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, was approved in both the House and Senate. Meaning, significant overhaul and modernization of government technology is just one presidential signature away from being reality.

“The fact that our Federal government continues to waste billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars each year maintaining outdated, legacy IT systems is absolutely outrageous,” said Rep. Hurd. “It’s 2017. The American people deserve better from their government. Our Federal agencies will finally have the motivation to catch up with the 21st Century and embrace emerging technologies so that we can leave behind these antiquated legacy IT systems that have plagued our government for decades. Instead, we can look forward to providing more efficient, transparent services for the American people and safeguard our systems from cyberattacks. I applaud my colleagues in the House and Senate for working to get MGT across the finish line.”

The MGT Act, which was included as an amendment to the $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) earlier this month, calls for the creation of a $500 million modernization fund that agencies could borrow against to modernize their aging systems. In addition to the modernization fund, MGT also allows agencies to allocate savings created by first round modernization projects for use in future projects with the creation of working capital funds. Both the IT the work capital funds were heavily discussed in this week’s Oversight and Government Reform IT Subcommittee FITARA hearing.

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Kate Polit
Kate Polit
Kate Polit is MeriTalk's Assistant Copy & Production Editor covering the intersection of government and technology.
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