MGT Act: One Step Closer to Becoming Law

The MGT Act is one step closer to being enacted but it wasn’t without a little drama. Late Friday afternoon it looked very much like the Udall/Moran MGT Act Amendment would not be included in the Senate National Defense Authorization Act. They had missed the deadlines for the first two rounds of issues to be included in the Manager’s Amendment and it was unclear whether or not there would be a third opportunity. Well, sometimes things break the right way. The Senate passed the NDAA last night by a vote of 89-8, with the MGT Amendment included in the Manager’s Amendment, which was adopted by unanimous consent. This is a critical step forward for MGT and puts it in a position to become law this year.

Now the House, which passed the NDAA in July, as well as MGT as a stand-alone bill earlier this year, and the Senate will go to conference on the overall NDAA. MGT is expected to be included in the final version of the FY18 NDAA which will most likely be acted on before the end of the calendar year. The bill provides AUTHORIZATION of $500 million over the next two fiscal years for IT modernization but no money has been APPROPRIATED as of yet.

We are pleased to have played an important role in pushing this bill forward, from the earliest conversations nearly two years ago when the bill was just a concept, to late night calls and emails over the last few days to push it toward the finish line. We appreciate the support of all of the companies we work with, many of which provided letters and statements of support to keep the pressure on the House and Senate to move forward. Special thanks go to Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Robin Kelly (D-IL) as well as Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) and their staffs for their tireless work to get this done.

We expect OMB, which has been preparing for the bill’s enactment to begin to scope out the process for agencies to engage in the IT modernization efforts established by the bill in advance of its enactment. We look forward to working with you to ensure that you are in the best position to help agencies identify projects to be modernized.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you’d like us to brief you and/or your sales teams on what to expect.