Technology Modernization Fund announces investments to enhance public services and efficiency for departments of Education, Commerce, and State

May 16, 2024

WASHINGTON — The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) unveiled its latest investments aimed at enhancing public services and operational efficiency across key federal agencies. These initiatives encompass a wide spectrum of improvements, including the revamp of the Department of Education’s StudentAid.gov to streamline the student loan borrowing experience, the modernization of the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Weather.gov to provide Americans with easier access to critical weather and climate information, as well as two Department of State (DOS) investments strengthening IT systems to safeguard sensitive data and integrating Generative AI capabilities to empower DOS’ global workforce. These investments underscore TMF’s commitment to leveraging innovation to deliver impactful solutions that benefit the American public.

“Investing in innovation transforms challenges into opportunities,” said Larry Bafundo, Acting TMF Executive Director. “TMF investments aren’t just about upgrading systems; they’re about transforming the very fabric of how services are delivered. We’re proud to empower agencies like the U.S. departments of Education, Commerce, and State to enhance services, fortify security, and foster efficiency. Together, we’re shaping a brighter, more resilient future for all.”

“As chair of both the TMF Board and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers Council, I’m thrilled to see our catalytic funding stream powering the use of AI and improving security at the State Department,” said Clare Martorana, Federal CIO and TMF Board Chair. “I’m 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.”

U.S. Department of Education: Improving federal student loan borrower experience

The Federal Student Aid (FSA) office of the Department of Education disburses around $112 billion annually in grants, work-study funds, and federal student loans to support students in financing their higher education. While StudentAid.gov serves as a hub for students, parents, and borrowers to access and manage their federal aid, the lack of a centralized platform creates inefficiencies. Many borrowers struggle to locate their loan information and monitor their progress toward loan forgiveness, leading to a significant volume of inquiries to FSA’s customer contact centers.

To address these challenges, FSA plans to leverage $5.9 million in TMF funding to improve the “My Activity” feature on StudentAid.gov. This new feature aims to consolidate documents and data, providing users with a centralized and user-friendly platform to track their activities and status. FSA anticipates a reduction in wait times and the need for customer care inquiries.

“Federal student aid unlocks the future for many Americans to pursue their higher education dreams through college and career school,” said Richard Cordray, FSA Chief Operating Officer. “We must make sure we meet students, parents, and borrowers where they are. This Technology Modernization Fund investment will allow FSA to bring the digital experience for over 43 million borrowers into the 21st century by adding features to StudentAid.gov and making the site easier to access and navigate. In doing so, we will also continue to serve as good stewards of taxpayer dollars by decreasing FSA’s costs.”

U.S. Department of Commerce: Modernizing weather.gov

The United States has grappled with a surge in billion-dollar disasters, outpacing previous decades within the first few years of the current decade. Despite the life-saving forecasts and warnings delivered by weather.gov, the National Weather Service’s outdated infrastructure poses reliability concerns and lacks essential features like mobile compatibility and multilingual support. Similarly, the associated application programming interface (API) faces challenges, causing disruptions in accessing dependable weather information for the American public.

TMF’s $12 million investment aims to help DOC modernize operations across over 150 National Weather Service offices worldwide. The redesigned platform would not only enhance information accessibility but also establish a sustainable, mobile-first infrastructure. This modernization effort plans to integrate features such as language translation capabilities to improve access for underserved communities.

“Weather.gov is a primary government resource for communicating lifesaving weather warnings to the public, and the nation needs more access and reliability,” said Ken Graham, Director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “The TMF funding will allow the National Weather Service to redesign weather.gov to be more reliable and accessible, focused on customer experience and tailored to the needs of those who are making life-saving decisions for themselves and their communities. The funds will also help improve the National Weather Service API, which will enable the Weather/Water/Climate Enterprise to develop new business applications and act as a force multiplier to help us reach everyone with weather warnings.”

U.S. Department of State: Increasing diplomacy through generative AI

With over 270 diplomatic posts worldwide, DOS professionals currently face an overwhelming influx of information, generating an average of 6,300 diplomatic cables daily alongside numerous media summaries and reports. With $18.2 million in TMF funding, DOS aims to harness safe, secure, and responsible Generative AI (GenAI) to empower its widely dispersed team members to work more efficiently and improve access to enhanced information resources.

“This investment marks a pivotal moment to reshape how DOS conducts diplomacy and promotes American interests worldwide,” said Dr. Matthew Graviss, DOS Chief Data and AI Officer. “This project will enable our diplomats to focus on essential analysis and strategic engagement, boosting our efficiency and strengthening America’s global diplomatic advantage.”

By integrating GenAI into its operations, DOS seeks to streamline data processing, enabling personnel to quickly distill insights and allocate more time to achieving impactful diplomatic outcomes. This TMF investment will play a key role in devising an interagency playbook for the responsible implementation of GenAI practices across government entities.

U.S. Department of State: Increasing capacity to safeguard identity data

DOS understands that effective diplomacy relies on maintaining trust and credibility with international partners, necessitating robust identity and access management (ICAM) systems. However, DOS currently faces challenges with multiple, disjointed ICAM systems, leading to decentralized user management and vulnerabilities to cyber threats. To address these issues, DOS plans to leverage $13.1 million in TMF funding to transition to a zero-trust architecture model, emphasizing continuous verification of user and device identities before granting access to data and resources.

DOS aims to expedite the creation of a comprehensive Consolidated Identity Trust, merging user attributes and implementing centralized workflows for automating onboarding and offboarding processes. The modernization effort could bolster DOS’ ability to maintain high information security standards and comply with federal ICAM mandates.

“This TMF investment will enable us to accelerate our efforts to improve cybersecurity and user experience through rapid implementation of Zero Trust identity concepts, which is key to supporting our global diplomacy mission,” said Kelly Fletcher, DOS Chief Information Officer.

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About the TMF: The Technology Modernization Fund is working to transform the way the government uses technology to deliver for the American public in an equitable, secure, and user-centric way. The TMF invests in technology projects across government, providing incremental funding, technical assistance, and oversight throughout execution to ensure the success of its investments.

The TMF is overseen by the Technology Modernization Board, which is composed of government IT leaders representing proven expertise in technology, transformation, and operations. TMF investments have supported projects ranging from modernizing the payment system used by the government’s second largest revenue-collecting agency to helping to develop a new customer relationship management platform to maintain crucial international partnerships. For more information, visit tmf.cio.gov.

About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet, overseeing over $100 billion in products and services via federal contracts, and delivering technology services that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.