MGT passes Congress in 2018 NDAA

The legislative effort to fund IT modernization for federal agencies is now headed toward the White House and the president's desk for signature. The Modernizing Government Technology Act was part of the conference report on the $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act  for FY2018 approved by the Senate on Nov. 16.

As it moved through Congress in the last few months, the MGT Act had bipartisan backing from Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) -- both members of the Senate Commerce and Appropriations Committees.

Moran and Udall introduced the MGT Act in the Senate with the support of colleagues Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). On the House side, Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)  introduced the House companion legislation.

"The fact that our federal government continues to waste billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars each year maintaining outdated, legacy IT systems is absolutely outrageous," Hurd said in a Nov. 16 statement. "Our federal agencies will finally have the motivation to catch up with the 21st Century and embrace emerging technologies so that we can leave behind these antiquated legacy IT systems that have plagued our government for decades," he said.