Julie Dunne, a former House Oversight and Accountability staff member and now a principal with the Monument Advocacy leading the federal procurement team, said given outside forces pushing on the budget, it’s not surprising the lawmakers ended up pulling the money back.
“In 2023, we had a $1.5 trillion deficit so it’s not surprising that appropriators went looking for recessions from the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP). There is no doubt that the need for IT modernization in the federal government ecosystem remains and transitioning away from legacy IT was part of the original vision when I worked on the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which established the TMF,” she said. “I think the adjustment of TMF repayment terms after receiving the $1 billion under the ARP was a mistake and based on the 2024 outcome it appears that there may have been a failure of advocacy to make the case on the importance of the TMF and the success stories.”