The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Annual Report on Dec. 16, sharing milestones reached by the TMF in FY2024 and the program’s plans to evolve in FY2025.
The TMF – which is run by the General Services Administration (GSA) – was created in 2017 under the Modernizing Government Technology Act to provide money to Federal civilian agencies to undertake tech modernization projects.
Congress provided the TMF with a historic infusion of $1 billion in funding under the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Three and a half years after receiving this funding, TMF said it has reached a key milestone: allocating over $1 billion across 63 projects at 34 agencies.
“These projects span diverse goals, from mitigating security risks and enhancing customer experiences to adopting cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence,” TMF Executive Director Larry Bafundo said in the report. “The impact is real: TMF investments have helped agencies eliminate paper-based processes, consolidated legacy systems, and improved compliance with Federal policies.”
According to the report, TMF invested $240 million in FY2024, featuring 16 new investments and seven new agencies participating.
Based on the total number of TMF investments through FY2024, 80 percent include cybersecurity improvements, over 25 percent impact High-Value Assets, 73 percent enable improved scalability, over 50 percent support interagency collaboration, and 79 percent expect to produce increased user satisfaction.
Notably, in FY2024 the report says the TMF’s operational improvements included 14 weeks saved for agencies in the proposal development process. Additionally, the TMF was 25 percent faster in transferring money to agencies.
“The progress achieved in Fiscal Year 2024 positions the TMF for even greater success in the years ahead,” Bafundo said. “As we continue to evolve, the TMF remains committed to transforming government technology, driving innovation, and delivering long-term value to the American people.”
In FY2025, the TMF is implementing key changes to strengthen its impact, including improved investment selection and strengthened leadership.
The TMF has updated its focus areas and selection criteria to help Federal agencies in the proposal submission process. The fund’s new cohort model will group similar investments, making it easier for agencies to collaborate.
Additionally, the TMF added three new board members in FY2025 with expertise in digital transformation and AI. The TMF also said it’s “creating new ways to engage with our community in FY25,” but did not share specifics.
“With six new investments totaling $70M so far in FY25, the TMF will maintain the strong pace set in 2024, prioritizing investments that address immediate needs while creating lasting improvements to government services,” the report says.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on Jan. 20, Federal government experts are hopeful that the Trump administration will continue to use the TMF to drive IT modernization progress.
GSA said earlier this summer that the TMF is “on track to soon” exhaust the $1 billion one-time funding boost it received from Congress under the 2021 ARP Act – meaning it will need a meaningful funding boost to continue its operations.
“If you go back to the first Trump administration, they implemented the TMF, which allowed for the multi-year funding for agencies to really start kicking the tires on [IT modernization],” Maria Roat, the former deputy Federal chief information officer, said on Monday at GovExec’s Trump & GovCon event. “They’ve done some really great work by having the multi-year funding through the TMF.”
Roat said both the Trump administration and the Biden administration have done “good work over the last several years” to use TMF funding “to drive modernization, to use AI, to walk the code, to crawl the code, and really take those steps.”
However, she explained “there’s more that can be done to accelerate” IT modernization as it requires a focused multi-year strategy and multi-year funding.
In discussing possible areas of interest for President Trump’s upcoming President’s Management Agenda (PMA), Roat encouraged the incoming administration to focus on IT modernization and “use more of the TMF dollars for that multi-year funding.”
“The technology, I’ve always said, is the easy part. It’s that multi-year drive and the funding and the want to be able to do it, to drive those mission outcomes,” Roat said.
