On Dec. 3, President Trump signed into law a bipartisan bill that would codify the Information Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence (CoE) Program, housed under the General Services Administration (GSA).
First introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Feb. 13, 2020, the IT Modernizations CoE Program Act (H.R. 5901) is co-signed by Rep. Mark Meadows R-N.C., Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Jody Hice, R-Ga. The act would require the Administrator of General Services – acting through the Director of the Technology Transformation Services – to establish a program to facilitate the adoption of modern technology by executive agencies.
In the text of the bill, the CoE has the following responsibilities:
- Modernize IT and how customers interact with an executive agency;
- Improve cooperation between commercial and executive agency IT sectors;
- Assist executive agencies with the planning and adoption of commercial cloud computing systems; tools to help a customer receive support from and communicate with an executive agency; contact centers and other related customer supports; efficient use of data management, analysis, and reporting; and optimized infrastructure for data centers and to reduce operating costs;
- Share best practices and expertise; and
- Other responsibilities the Director of Technology Transformation Services may identify.
Before being signed into law, H.R. 5901 was accompanied by S. 4200. The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and cosponsored by Sen. Marggie Wood Hassan, D-N.H.
