[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 30, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5072-H5073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM ACT
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5901) to establish a program to facilitate the adoption of
modern technology by executive agencies, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5901
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Information Technology
Modernization Centers of Excellence Program Act''.
SEC. 2. GSA MODERNIZATION CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Cloud computing.--The term ``cloud computing'' has the
meaning given the term in section 1076 of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (40 U.S.C.
11301 note).
(2) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has
the meaning given the term ``Executive agency'' in section
105 of title 5, United States Code.
(3) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Information
Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence Program
established under subsection (b).
(b) Establishment.--The Administrator of General Services
shall establish a program to be known as the Information
Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence Program to
facilitate the adoption of modern technology by executive
agencies on a reimbursable basis.
(c) Responsibilities.--The Program shall have the following
responsibilities:
(1) To encourage the modernization of information
technology used by an executive agency and how a customer
interacts with an executive agency.
(2) To improve cooperation between commercial and executive
agency information technology sectors.
(3) To the extent practicable, encourage the adoption of
commercial items in accordance with section 3307 of title 41,
United States Code.
(4) Upon request by the executive agency, to assist
executive agencies with planning and adoption of technology
in focus areas designated by the Administrator, which may
include the following:
(A) A commercial cloud computing system that includes--
(i) end-to-end migration planning and an assessment of
progress towards modernization; and
(ii) a cybersecurity and governance framework that promotes
industry and government risk management best practice
approaches, prioritizing efforts based on risk, impact, and
consequences.
(B) Tools to help an individual receive support from and
communicate with an executive agency.
(C) Contact centers and other related customer supports.
(D) Efficient use of data management, analysis, and
reporting.
(E) The optimization of infrastructure, including for data
centers, and the reduction of operating costs.
(F) Artificial intelligence.
(5) To share best practices and expertise with executive
agencies.
(6) Other responsibilities the Administrator may identify.
(d) Coordination.--The Administrator shall coordinate with
the Secretary of Homeland Security in establishing the
Program to ensure that the technology, tools, and frameworks
facilitated for executive agencies by the Program provide
sufficient cybersecurity and maintain the integrity,
confidentiality, and availability of Federal information.
(e) Program Reporting.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the
Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of
Representatives a report on the Program, which shall include
the following:
(1) A description of the reimbursable agreements,
statements of work, and associated project schedules and
deliverables for the Program.
(2) Details on the total amount of the reimbursable
agreements.
(3) Any additional information the Administrator determines
necessary.
(f) Sunset.--This Act shall cease to have effect on the
date that is 7 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
(g) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to impair or otherwise affect the authority
delegated by law to an executive agency or the head of an
executive agency.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) and the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs.
Miller) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material about the measure before us.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the Information Technology Modernization Centers of
Excellence Program Act is the product of great bipartisan work between
Representative Ro Khanna and the ranking member of our committee, Mr.
Comer.
Since 2017, the Centers of Excellence have provided state-of-the-art
technical expertise to assist Federal agencies with their IT
modernization so that they can serve the American people more
effectively.
The program aims to leverage private-sector innovation and
centralized expertise to help the Federal Government improve its
services to the public, deploy cutting-edge technology, attract top
talent to its workforce, enhance its cybersecurity, and optimize the
data resources available to it.
Today, six Centers of Excellence support agencies in the strategic
competency areas of artificial intelligence, cloud adoption, contact
centers, customer experience, data and analytics, and infrastructure
optimization.
This bill would codify that program and to support agencies in
efficiently improving customer service, implementing cloud computing
systems and data management, optimizing IT infrastructure, and sharing
best practices and expertise.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations with
responsibility for Federal IT modernization, I have kept a close eye on
this program since its inception, and I intend to keep a close eye as
it continues to put its mission and goals into practice.
I applaud the improvements made to the bill to ensure that assistance
is
[[Page H5073]]
provided to agencies by request on a reimbursable and transparent
basis.
I support the commonsense bill before us to modernize and improve the
functioning of the Federal Government.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5901, the Information
Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence Program Act. This bill
will help our government catch up with private-sector innovations by
equipping agencies to take advantage of modern information technology
solutions.
Federal agencies remain challenged by inefficient, costly, and
unwieldy legacy technology systems that do not adequately deliver
citizen services and allow agencies to achieve their legally mandated
missions.
For example, the Government Accountability Office has reported that,
between 2010 and 2017, the Federal Government spent over $450 billion
just maintaining outdated legacy IT systems. That is over 70 percent of
the government's entire IT budget.
There is increasingly less and less Federal IT funding available for
new agency modernization projects. The government needs to take
advantage of the cutting-edge technology solutions already being used
by the private sector.
Recognizing the need for a different approach to transition large
Federal agency technology projects, the Centers of Excellence were
established by the Trump administration at the General Services
Administration to help agencies overcome persistent modernization
challenges.
These challenges include identifying the best new technology
solutions, purchasing that technology, and then integrating that
technology into an agency's unique operations and workflows. The GSA
Centers of Excellence teams serve as change management consultants that
bring private-sector best practices to Federal agency technology
challenges.
By adopting commercially available solutions, in conjunction with
deliberate enterprise-wide transformation planning, agencies can
effectively transition into modern operating environments. By improving
the operational efficiency of our Federal agency programs and mission,
we can save taxpayer dollars.
While modernizing government is good for the taxpayer, the Centers of
Excellence also deliver an additional benefit to Americans by bringing
a central focus to improving agency delivery on constituent services.
H.R. 5901 promises to make the citizens' engagement with our
government programs more intuitive and straightforward, like an
engagement with a modern business.
I am well aware of the challenges faced by veterans, senior citizens,
and businesses when interacting with the Federal Government. I am sure
that my colleagues are as well.
The current pandemic has shown how critical it is for all Americans
to be able to effectively and reliably interact with government
agencies. It is time the Federal Government leveraged modern cloud
computing systems, data-driven analytic capabilities, artificial
intelligence, and modern customer experience tools to offer the highest
level of service possible.
H.R. 5901 will give congressional backing and ensure regular
oversight of the existing GSA program in order to accomplish these
goals.
By giving legal authority to the program, we are also ensuring the
program's stability through the next two Presidential administrations,
which is critical to gaining agency buy-in and having the time to
realize the benefits of this new modernization approach.
The Congressional Budget Office's review of this bill found that it
will have no budgetary impact, which shows that there are still
legislative opportunities to modernize the government without spending
additional taxpayer funds.
I hope the House Oversight and Reform Committee and this Congress can
continue to work together on similar legislative reforms to bring our
government into the 21st century.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for their bipartisan work
on this bill. I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 5901, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Khanna), the author of this bill.
Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Connolly for his leadership
on this, on FITARA, and on so many efforts to bring technology to our
government. I thank the gentlewoman from West Virginia and the
bipartisan committee that has helped bring this legislation to the
floor, including the majority and minority staffs.
Mr. Speaker, we worked with the White House Office of Innovation and
Matt Lira on this. The idea was very simple. We in the Federal
Government should have cutting-edge technology in our Federal agencies.
As a representative of Silicon Valley, it has always perplexed me why
the world's greatest institution, the strongest institution, the United
States Government, can't adopt the latest technology.
What this bill does is says that we need to have digital expertise in
the General Service Administration, about 50 to 150 individuals who
will help all of our Federal agencies adopt cloud computing, adopt
artificial intelligence, adopt the latest technology modernization and
infrastructure, adopt the best digital practices for customer service.
We want our Federal Government to be user friendly. We want our
Federal Government to use all the tools of technology to be
competitive, to be the leader in the world. That is what this bill
does.
I want to applaud the bipartisan spirit in which this bill came to
the floor. It was originally the White House Chief of Staff Mark
Meadows who was the cosponsor of the legislation. I thank him, as well
as the cosponsor, now the ranking member, Representative Rice. On the
Senate side, we have bipartisan commitment from the leadership of
Senator Portman and Senator Maggie Hassan. So I am hopeful that this
will actually become law and allow us to continue to compete.
I just want to end by thanking Geo Saba, a staff member who was
extraordinarily helpful on this; as well as, again, the committee staff
that has been excellent to work with; and, of course, Chairwoman
Carolyn Maloney, who helped bring this to the floor.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this
bipartisan government reform bill, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I think this is a good bill. I think as Mr. Khanna
indicated, it adds to the corpus of information technology legislation
where we are trying to modernize the Federal Government; we are trying
to retire legacy systems; we are trying to move to the cloud for cyber
reasons, for efficiency reasons, and to be of better service to the
American people.
I think this is another piece in that mosaic, and I urge its passage
by our colleagues here in the House.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 5901, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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