$3.1B IT modernization fund being reconsidered by initial dissenters

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is warming up to the idea of the bid for a $3.1 billion revolving fund for IT modernization, according to FCW.

The problem at hand is that aging technology is expensive, insecure, and involves a vast amount of government programs from financials to defense. Many of these aging technologies are incompatible with modern security tools.

There are around 7,000 federal IT investments, of which 5,233 dedicated their entire budgets to operations and maintenance costs in fiscal 2015. Federal agencies spent $61.2 billion of the $80 billion IT budget in fiscal 2015 on operations and maintenance, FCW reported.

The revolving fund would essentially lend agencies money for IT modernization on the condition that it be paid back.

Chaffetz’s initial sentiment was that he would prefer agencies use money earned from IT-related savings, like data center consolidation, for IT modernization instead.