President Trump signed the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act into law on Tuesday, establishing an IT modernization fund for federal agencies to upgrade their outdated technology systems.
The MGT Act creates a $500 million central modernization fund over two years, which will be used by agencies across the federal government to update aging IT systems.
Trump signed MGT Act within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), authorizing a total of nearly $700 billion in defense spending and paving the way for new investment in technology modernization across the federal government.
The MGT Act, sponsored by Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, garnered support from industry groups as a result of the drive to shift funding from maintaining legacy systems to deploying modern technology.
“Every year, the federal government wastes billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars maintaining outdated, unreliable and unsecured IT systems – some of which were first designed in the 1960’s,” said Hurd in a statement.
“The MGT Act will bring the government’s IT systems into the 21st century and allow agencies to use the money that is saved to modernize other systems, helping create more quality and timely services to the American people.”
