[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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