Mangala Kuppa, who took over as DOL’s chief AI officer this week after previously serving as its deputy CAIO, believes the agency has even more to be confident about when it comes to its work on the technology, possessing a “leg up” on scaling AI quickly.

In an interview with FedScoop, Kuppa pointed to DOL’s previous efforts to modernize internal operations and customer-facing services as part of the department’s journey to implement emerging technologies like AI. Having foundational building blocks and existing infrastructure, along with existing AI applications, has made it “easier” for the agency to scale up, she said. 

“It’s not a ‘big bang’ approach,” said Kuppa, who also serves as DOL’s chief technology officer. “Another aspect that we take very seriously in modernizing is [to] take this opportunity to not just update the technology, but also take this opportunity to re-engineer the business process to help the public.” 

Kuppa pointed to an internal shared services initiative that designated the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer to be a “shared services provider for all Departmental IT services.”  That process, Kuppa said, has allowed the department to keep an inventory of all systems and technologies and understand where the legacy systems or opportunities for improvement might exist.

“Using that methodology, we’ve been looking at all high-risk systems, because maybe the technology is very legacy and outdated,” Kuppa said. “We’ve been using that methodology to start those modernization initiatives.”

By considering the age of the technology, the operations burden, security vulnerabilities, regulation compliance and other parameters, DOL came up with a methodology that scores each mission system to determine if it is a candidate for modernization. The agency then looks at the scores on a consistent basis and revises based on new information that becomes available.

These systems can be major: the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, for example, which provides labor certifications when a company files for hiring an immigrant workforce, was scored for modernization.

“Being an immigrant, I wasn’t aware DOL had a hand in my immigration journey there,” Kuppa said. 

The Technology Modernization Fund has played an “instrumental” role in the department “finding the resources to modernize,” Kuppa said.

She gave the example of using TMF funds to expedite temporary visa applications, which is expected to save 45 days of cycle time for processing labor certification applications.

According to a case study on the TMF site, that project contributed to $1.9 million in annual cost savings, and a key part of the innovation allowed the application forms to auto-populate with the previous year’s information.

“Usually all immigrants eventually start filing for permanent visa applications,” Kuppa said. “Again, you have to repeat the process of labor certification, and so we had two different systems not communicating with each other.”

For Kuppa, modernization is ultimately an exercise in reimagining where new technologies can ultimately be most helpful.

“We have great partnership, we work very closely with our programs and then we have these dialogues every day, in terms of the system’s development lifecycle,” she said. “And that’s how we approach modernization.”

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The legislation, a revitalization of the Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act from 2017, calls on agencies to adhere to the original intent of the bill and require issued funds to be repaid or reimbursed to ensure TMF sustainability and solvency. With some new amendments, Congress struck down the act’s authorized appropriations amount requirements and extended the sunset date to December 2031.

There is not currently a companion bill in the Senate, but the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is in conversation with the chamber to support the legislation further.

A committee aide said the House bill was modified to “reflect the reality that the fund is a revolving fund, and therefore has different appropriating needs every appropriation cycle.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t intend for the fund to be appropriated,” the aide continued. “We are taking out the stagnant annual appropriations amount and allowing for more dynamic appropriations to be decided by the appropriations committees each fiscal year.”

Significantly, the bill aims to impose additional constraints on reimbursements to provide agencies with flexibility for repaying the fund.

The new bill was marked up in September and passed out of committee unanimously — a precursor to the continued bipartisan support expected by the committee. The fiscal year 2024 spending package had rescinded $100 million from the TMF, drawing calls from board chair and federal CIO Clare Martorana for Congress to “please fund the TMF.” 

The aide shared that the committee has been in “a series of positive conversations” with the General Services Administration, which manages the TMF program office. 

“I think there’s a bipartisan interest on the Hill ensuring the TMF remains a successful tool to address legacy IT for the next several years and into the future,” the aide said. “I think GSA is aligned with our vision and approach for how we hope to see that done.”

In February, GSA updated its policy for agencies seeking financial assistance from the TMF that set the repayment floor at a minimum of 50%, with room for exceptions to be decided by the GSA administrator and the Office of Management and Budget director.

Both GSA and OMB declined to comment.  

“I think we have additional conversations to have on the Hill about how to appropriately fund the TMF while ensuring that it’s a revolving fund and those funds are being best used to support legacy IT projects,” the aide said. 

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. — who is co-sponsoring the bill with Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. — said in an email to FedScoop that he believes “the federal government is only as good as the IT [it] utilizes,” a principle that he said led him to author the legislation and drives his “critical oversight efforts” of programs like FITARA.

“With this bill, we can ensure the federal government is able to modernize its IT, move away from its reliance on legacy systems, and better serve the American people who rely on government technology to deliver for them,” Connolly said.

Mace did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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TMF investments to the Departments of Education, Commerce and State total just under $50 million. 

The State Department received two investments: $18.2 million to increase diplomacy through generative AI and $13.1 million to transition its identity and access management systems to a zero-trust architecture model.

The AI investment is intended to “empower its widely dispersed team members to work more efficiently and improve access to enhanced information resources,” including diplomatic cables, media summaries and reports. On the zero trust investment, State said it is planning to expedite the creation of a comprehensive consolidated identity trust system, as well as centralizing workflows for the onboarding and offboarding process.

Clare Martorana, the federal CIO and TMF board chair, said in a statement that she’s “thrilled to see our catalytic funding stream powering the use of AI and improving security at the State Department.” 

State recently announced a chatbot for internal uses and revised its public AI use case inventory to remove nine items from the agency website. Additionally, the agency has started to encourage its workforce to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT. 

The Department of Education, meanwhile, is using a $5.9 million allocation to assist the Federal Student Aid office on a new StudentAid.gov feature called “My Activity” to centralize documents and data to track activities and status updates. The FSA is anticipating “a reduction in wait times and the need for customer care inquiries,” per the GSA release. 

Education also recently announced an RFI for cloud computing capabilities for the FSA office, a follow-on contract for its Next Generation Cloud. 

Finally, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will put its $12 million TMF investment toward modernizing weather.gov through a redesign to “enhance information accessibility” and “establish a sustainable, mobile-first infrastructure.” NOAA reported plans to integrate translation capabilities for underserved communities’ benefit. 

The release noted that NOAA’s associated application programming interface “faces challenges, causing disruptions in accessing dependable weather information for the American public.”

Martorana said she was “equally excited about the TMF’s two other critical investments — with students getting more modern access to manage their education journeys and the public gaining access to life-saving weather information in an accessible manner for all.”

These investments come after a second appropriations package to fund the government for fiscal year 2024 threatened to claw back $100 million from the TMF. Both the GSA and the Office of Management and Budget have faced challenges in convincing lawmakers to meet funding levels proposed by the Biden administration.

Martorana recently called on Congress to fund the TMF, pointing to the funding vehicle as a way to improve service delivery for the public across the government.

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But for the General Services Administration, the decision to go all-in on AI wasn’t really up for debate.

“We’re doing this because it’s GSA’s job to have shared services for the government,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said Thursday. “And generative AI tools are going to be a giant help in that.”

Speaking at AIScoop’s AITalks event, Carnahan said GSA is currently operating seven different sandbox environments, and there’s “more to come” across the agency with AI. Fully embracing the technology is a matter of recognizing that public- and private-sector tech leaders are “going to decide whether we’re on the right or wrong side of history on this topic, whether we get it right for the American people,” she said. “If we do, it opens up all kinds of possibilities.”

Exploring those possibilities to the fullest extent comes down to buying “best-in-class AI technologies,” Carnahan said. The agency plans to partner closely with industry, she added, and its IT category management office within the Federal Acquisition Service is in the process of developing an acquisition resource guide for generative AI and specialized computing infrastructure. 

“This is a big deal,” Carnahan said, “because procurement officers need to know about these new technologies. A sneak peek of what you’re gonna see in there is going to identify a lot of common challenges. It’s gonna identify use cases. It’s gonna help procurement officers navigate the marketplace so the missions of these agencies can be fulfilled.” 

The GSA is also focused on highlighting products that already have FedRAMP approval, part of the newly released roadmap for the federal government’s cloud services compliance program. Carnahan said that the strategy document is aimed at making FedRAMP more scalable, more secure and easier to use.

For any budget-strapped agency considering new AI projects, Carnahan pushed the Technology Modernization Fund as a means to “go outside your budget cycle and get access to funding for these new tools.” TMF is currently soliciting proposals from agencies with ideas for AI projects. 

“We expect to see a lot of interest from across the government,” Carnahan said. “If your agency hasn’t thought about using the TMF for your AI proposals, you should do that. Now is the best time for it.”

For the GSA internally, a new Login.gov pilot leveraging facial matching technology best represents the agency’s commitment to “using technology ethically and responsibly and securely for the public good,” Carnahan said. The pilot will help people verify their identities remotely, though the GSA is pledging to minimize data retention and ensure “that personal information is protected and not shared. And it is never sold.”

This next phase of the GSA’s work on the governmentwide single sign-on and identity verification platform, which includes a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, is emblematic of what the agency views as its mission to deliver secure and inclusive products. And although there are “precarious uncharted waters ahead” when it comes to full-scale adoption of AI tools and systems, Carnahan is bullish on the government’s prospects.

“We know that by working together through our government teams, industry teams, that we can get to the other side,” she said. “The American people are counting on us to get it right. There is no time to waste. So let’s all get to work.”

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“Congress, if you can hear me, please fund the TMF,” federal CIO Clare Martorana said Tuesday during an event co-hosted by Venable LLP and Trend Micro. “It does something really remarkable in our community. You have a board of experts across government that are convened together to really interrogate these proposals.”

Martorana, who also serves as board chair for the TMF, said there’s been a concerted effort to explore ways for agencies to expedite tech projects. The council of chief AI officers has reviewed a plan to accelerate tech deployment within agencies by two years, Martorana said, though there’s nothing concrete to report yet. 

When it comes to work on the technology within agencies, Martorana said establishing governance, managing risk and continuing to innovate are “the three layers of that AI cake…. The risks are significant and we don’t know them all yet. We haven’t identified this whole ecosystem yet.”

Martorana said in an interview with FedScoop after the Tuesday event that she believes that as the Office of Management and Budget and GSA disclose when tech projects across the federal government are in operation, Congress will recognize that the TMF “is a wonderful funding vehicle.” She pointed to the fund assisting with national cybersecurity efforts and improving digital experience online for customers.

“All of the things that we’re using technology to help improve service delivery for the public — safely, seamlessly [and] securely,” she said.

As agencies continue to work toward implementing new tools, Martorana said in a Thursday interview with FedScoop, that CAIO council representatives are focused on establishing an AI-capable infrastructure that has the computing power and resilience to run AI. 

“Some are gonna only be working with generative AI for a really long time and that’s not going  to take a lot of compute power,” Martorana said. “We have a span across our federal agencies.” Larger agencies “taking leaps and bounds” can have a spillover effect on smaller agencies, she added, “giving our federal workforce the opportunity to participate in this technology transformation.”

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The TMF will provide NASA with nearly $6 million to automate network management, standardize network configurations and modernize legacy infrastructure across all of the space agency’s locations, according to a press release from the General Services Administration. The funds would also allow NASA to implement cybersecurity requirements, as the agency’s interactions with sensitive data makes it a “prime target for hackers and other entities,” the press release stated.

The DOL, meanwhile, will use $42 million in TMF-provided funds to undertake a “significant” modernization effort that would replace the agency’s Integrated Federal Employee Compensation System, or iFECS, with a cloud-based system that utilizes automation technologies, according to the release. This would streamline processes that injured and ill workers interact with and further protect those services. 

The GSA noted that the DOL is looking to enhance the efficiency of services and make them less prone to “cybersecurity, operational and financial risk.”

“These TMF investments demonstrate the diversity and reach of the TMF in driving innovation and impact forward for the American public,” Clare Martorana, the federal CIO and TMF Board chair, said in the statement. “From strengthening NASA spacecraft control to supporting injured and ill workers through the DOL’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.”

NASA is facing “significant” security threats that are attributed to the value of agency data, per the release, and the TMF funds will enable the space agency to accelerate cybersecurity and operational upgrades two years earlier than originally anticipated. This would also support the collection of additional telemetry data to align with federal cybersecurity mandates.

Similarly, the DOL is looking to bolster data security with the funds due to the sensitive information surrounding federal employee health records and annual claims. The shift to a new, cloud-based system “promises” to reduce claim adjudication times and enhance customer interactions.

Further, the agency reported that its “aging” infrastructure and “complex” workflows were responsible for hindered case management for workers that are ill and/or injured.

The latest round of investments follows the recently released appropriations package, which clawed back $100 million from the TMF, deflating support for government IT modernization projects that the fund received through the American Rescue Plan.

“Unlocking the potential of government through technology modernization requires strategic investment and a commitment to driving meaningful change,” Larry Bafundo, acting TMF executive director, said in the release. “TMF is pivotal in enabling federal agencies to invest in their own ability to adapt, evolve, and better serve their citizens in a rapidly changing world.”

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The $1.2 trillion deal would be the final appropriations for the current fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown on Friday. Congress previously passed a fiscal year 2024 appropriations package earlier this month to fund six agencies. In addition to the rescission for TMF, the Thursday bill would also pull back $10 million already appropriated for the U.S. Digital Service under the American Rescue Plan.

In a statement to FedScoop, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said he is “deeply disappointed” in the funding cuts and called the rescission of funds “draconian.” The Virginia Democrat assured that he will continue working to ensure resources for government technology demands, and highlighted that the cuts “jeopardize the health and safety” of those who rely on government services, such as families, veterans and first responders. 

“We have got to stop treating government IT as a luxury,” Connolly said in the statement. “It is a vital part of the federal government’s technology infrastructure and it plays an indispensable role in ensuring government agencies are functioning at their best on behalf of the American people we serve.”

The TMF, housed under the General Services Administration, is aimed at funding high-priority tech modernization projects throughout the federal government. The fund currently manages 51 investments across 29 federal agencies that in total are worth over $800 million. TMF received $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan in 2021. 

But GSA and Office of Management and Budget, whose officials lead the board that manages the fund, have had difficulty convincing lawmakers to meet the funding levels the Biden administration has requested. A Senate appropriations panel, for example, approved language last July that would have taken back $290 million from the TMF. 

A spokesman for Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said in an emailed statement that the rescission, “although less than what was in the Senate bill, is disappointing and damages the U.S. government’s ability to strengthen its cybersecurity and modernize its IT systems.”

Moran, who authored legislation that created the fund, will “work to ensure that this program is funded next year to get our agencies back on track,” the spokesman said.

The White House recently requested $75 million for the fund in fiscal year 2025, which is a decrease from $200 million in its 2024 request.

Previously, Connolly and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announced the Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act of 2023, which extended the TMF until 2030 and added additional reporting requirements for high-risk IT systems used across the government. Additionally, the act would require funds to be repaid for sustainability and solvency. 

Last month, the GSA updated the TMF’s repayment policy, in concert with OMB, to reflect a more consistent repayment floor at 50%, with some rare exceptions to help the fund allow entities to continue investing in tech and cybersecurity modernization for years to come. 

In response to a FedScoop inquiry about the cuts, the OMB pointed to a Statement of Administration Policy, which supported the “swift passage” of the appropriations.

GSA didn’t immediately respond to a FedScoop request for comment.

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The $75 million request is a significant decrease from prior budget requests: $200 million for fiscal 2024 — a figure that House appropriators have tried to zero out — and $300 million in fiscal 2023.

In total, the Biden administration requested $75.1 billion for IT spending across civilian agencies in fiscal 2025, a small uptick from the $74.4 billion it asked for in 2024.

“To support IT modernization efforts, the Budget also includes an additional $75 million for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), an innovative investment program that gives agencies additional ways to deliver services to the American public quickly,” the budget request reads.

It also highlights the “more than $750 million” the fund has invested in federal IT projects since its inception across 48 investments and 27 agencies (though those numbers are a bit higher as listed on the TMF’s website).

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration, with Congress’ support, in 2021 issued a $1 billion injection through the American Rescue Plan to drive rapid modernization and close some of the most pressing digital service and cybersecurity gaps across the federal government.

But since then, the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget — the two agencies that lead the administration of the fund with its board — have fought an uphill battle to convince lawmakers to meet the Biden administration’s requested levels of funding for the TMF.

Last summer, for instance, the House Appropriations Committee said in a summary of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill that issues funding for the TMF that it wants to eliminate funding for the program in fiscal 2024 as part of its efforts to “cut wasteful spending” across the federal government. Congress has yet to pass a Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill for fiscal 2024. On the other side of Congress, the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved language in an earlier version of the appropriations bill for fiscal 2024 that would rescind $290 million allocated to the TMF through the American Rescue Plan.

The TMF’s hang-ups with Congress have largely centered on its repayment mechanism. When created in 2017 under the Modernizing Government Technology Act, recipients of TMF money were required by law to repay those funds within five years. But with the issuance of the $1 billion to the TMF in 2021, the Biden administration also created a “flexible” repayment policy for certain high-priority projects.

House lawmakers wrote a bill late last year to reform the TMF, requiring agencies to adhere to the original intent of the Modernizing Government Technology Act and to extend the fund through 2030, beyond its original sunset of 2025. Though that bill hasn’t been passed, GSA and OMB went ahead and updated the TMF’s repayment policy to reflect a new “consistent repayment floor with a minimum of 50% repayment,” with “rare exceptions” decided by the GSA administrator and OMB director.

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In an email acquired by FedScoop, GSA shared that it had updated the TMF’s repayment policy to reflect a new “consistent repayment floor with a minimum of 50% repayment,” with “rare exceptions” decided by the GSA administrator and OMB director.

An OMB spokesperson confirmed the update in an email to FedScoop. GSA didn’t respond to FedScoop’s request for comment.

The update is meant to continue allowing the fund to invest in technology and cybersecurity modernization for “years to come,” the email states, adding that it applies to all proposals submitted after Feb. 6.

The requirements reflect the Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act of 2023, introduced by Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Gerry Connolly, D-Va. in Sept. 2023. The bill would require agencies to adhere to the intent of the original bill that created the TMF in 2017 — the Modernizing Government Technology Act   — and hold agencies accountable for any funds issued to be “repaid or reimbursed to maintain solvency and ensure sustainability.”

“Due to the House Oversight Committee’s oversight and proposed legislation, the TMF has made structural changes that will limit wasteful spending, enhance efficiency and chart a path for a more successful and optimized future,” a House Oversight and Accountability Committee spokesman said in an email to FedScoop. “Congressional intent was to put money into this fund upfront and have it be a revolving fund that would be repayed [sic].”

The OMB spokesperson said the decision to relax repayment requirements was an important function to support the $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds appropriated to the TMF meant to “address urgent IT modernization challenges, bolster cybersecurity defenses and improve delivery of COVID-19 relief.”

“To meet the urgency of the moment, the TMF adapted its repayment policy to consider flexible repayment levels for projects that met certain criteria, including investments that produced significant positive impact or addressed critical security or capability gaps,” the OMB spokesperson said. “As the TMF Board allocates the last of the ARP funding, we are looking to the future of the TMF in a post-ARP setting – balancing congressional intent and agency flexibility to deliver the most impact for the American people.”

While both Mace and Connolly were pleased with the move to update the repayment policy, they expressed differing perspectives on how the Biden administration came to this arrangement. 

Mace told FedScoop a statement about this update: “Due to our relentless oversight and legislative work, the Biden Administration has made overdue and necessary changes to the TMF to better align the program with Congressional intent. This is what proper oversight of the federal government looks like and we will continue in our mandate to root out waste, fraud, and abuse within federal programs on behalf of the American people.”

Connolly, however, pointed to the updated repayment requirements as an example of the White House’s “commitment to the long-term health and sustainability of the TMF,” according to a statement from Connolly shared with FedScoop. 

“It is consistent with our bipartisan TMF reauthorization legislation which would encourage greater repayment for TMF projects,” Connolly said. “The Administration should be proud to receive much-deserved praise from both sides of the aisle for their commitment to protecting and enhancing the TMF. I look forward to continuing to secure transformative federal IT investments.”

The TMF also announced last week that it will start to accept applications regarding AI projects from federal agencies to further the advancement of the government’s deployment of technology.

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The project follows the Biden administration’s October executive order on artificial intelligence, which ordered the TMF — which is run by a board and falls under the General Services Administration —  to start prioritizing AI projects within 30 days.

In the beginning of January, a spokesperson for GSA told FedScoop that it was exploring plans for guidance on government AI proposals and that “AI proposals would require senior executive support and must include user testing, a risk mitigation plan, and clear metrics to evaluate success.” In an update released by the Biden administration at the end of last month, the White House said that the TMF had evaluated mechanisms for prioritizing “agencies’ adoption of AI.” 

In a statement, federal Chief Information Officer and TMF Board Chair Clare Martorana said that ​​“as one of the world’s largest enterprises, the federal government has an obligation to harness the power of AI for good while protecting people from its risks. Use of the TMF has the potential to accelerate AI usage in government and unlock the innovation that we know we are capable of delivering for the public.”

Martorana pointed to the hundreds of AI use cases disclosed by the U.S. government, “from its use in anticipating and mitigating prescription drug shortages and supply chain issues to assisting cyber forensic specialists in detecting anomalies and potential threats in federal civilian networks.” A December report from the Government Accountability Office found that the number of indexed agency AI use cases for fiscal year 2022 was more than 1,200. 

The emerging TMF initiative serves as a reminder that the government doesn’t just have its eye on large, expensive AI systems, but on more modest versions of the technology that are easier to implement. The program also reflects a strong focus on speed. Agencies with proposals in mind are supposed to reach out to the TMF program management office. 

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