IT Modernization Bill Clears Senate as Part of Defense Authorization Bill

Nextgov: The Modernizing Government Technology Act—and several other tech amendments—passed the Senate as part of the annual defense appropriations bill.

The $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense personnel, policy and spending, passed by a vote of 89 to 8 Monday evening.

Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced the MGT Act as amendment 1006—one of hundreds lawmakers parsed through. MGT Act creates a $500 million central modernization fund over two years agencies can borrow against to update aging, unsecure systems. It also creates working IT capital funds that agencies can stash savings from other modernization projects—like migrating to cloud computing—to use for future projects.

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