The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate for S. 406, the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act of 2019, and found that it would cost less than $500,000 annually to implement.
The legislation, which was passed unanimously in the Senate on May 1 and was approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on July 25, would require agencies to designate certain positions at Federal agencies as rotational, and allow workers from the Federal rotational force at large to fill them for six months to a year. The program would operate on a short-term basis, with cybersecurity professionals serving no more than a year at another agency. The goal of the program is to help Federal cyber professionals “develop multiagency and policy expertise on cyber threats.”
The program would be managed by the Office of Personnel and Management, with input from the Department of Homeland Security. Currently, the bill’s authority would expire in five years.
According to CBO’s estimates, the legislation would cost less $500,000 annually over the 2019-2024 to implement the new regulations and staff training, as well as any administrative expenses.
“Enacting S. 406 could affect direct spending by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs,” CBO noted. It further explained that it estimates that “any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.”
