IN THE NEWS More Flexible Modernization Funding Ahead What happened: In May 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and General Services Administration (GSA) announced a more flexible repayment process for agencies that tap into the $1 billion Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). • TMF has provided incremental funding for federal IT and cybersecurity modernization projects since 2017. Agencies were once expected to pay loans back in full. • Congress provided a boost to the fund as part of the March 2021 COVID-19 relief package. “We plan to use these resources to enable the federal government to better respond to SolarWinds, the COVID-19 crisis and support the economic recovery,” said Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Clare Martorana in a press release. Federal agencies will now be able to pay back TMF loans in the following ways: • Full repayment: for projects that yield direct financial savings that can be used to fully repay TMF. • Partial repayment: for projects with strong positive impact and that will yield some financial savings, but where the proposing agency doesn’t expect to reach full cost recovery. • Minimal repayment: for projects aimed at tackling the most urgent IT issues facing government, including critical cybersecurity improvements and initiatives that help agencies meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic but are unlikely to create direct cost savings. Why it matters: The flexibility has removed a major barrier for federal agencies that need to be agile and modernize critical systems that won’t necessarily meet high cost-savings requirements. “It is more aggressive — to meet the urgent technology needs of the federal government today, as well as more ambitious — to anticipate the demands of tomorrow,” said GSA Acting Administrator Katy Kale.
Culture Challenges Continue Organizational culture continues to be the most common challenge around Agile adoption, the 14th Annual State of Agile Report found. Challenges experienced when adopting and scaling Agile
48%
General organizational resistance to change
46%
Not enough leadership participation
45%
Inconsistent processes & practices across teams A GovLoop Guide 6
44%
Organizational culture at odds with Agile values
43%
Inadequate management support and sponsorship
