Technology Modernization Fund: Small Savings Achieved So Far, but Substantial Future Savings Expected | U.S. GAO
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GAO-26-107737
Published: Jul 23, 2026. Publicly Released: Jul 23, 2026.
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Fast Facts
Aging IT systems can be costly for federal agencies to manage and maintain. The Technology Modernization Fund invests funds in agency projects to modernize these systems, which can save money in the long run.
We reviewed expected savings for projects that received awards. We found that, as of June 2025, about $1.03 billion had been invested in 68 IT modernization projects.
Of these 68 projects:
24 expect to save $1.06 billion combined
11 have already saved $13.5 million in total
Some haven't saved money yet or don't expect to
Many projects anticipate seeing results further down the line—potentially over a billion in total additional savings.
The words Legacy Technology placed superimposed on two computer keys.
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Highlights
What GAO Found
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) invests funding in agency projects to, among other things, modernize aging federal information technology (IT) systems. From fiscal years 2018 through 2025, the TMF received over $1 billion in net appropriations, of which the Technology Modernization Board invested about $1.03 billion in 68 unclassified projects (see figure).
As of June 2025 (the latest data available at the time of this analysis), 24 TMF projects expected to achieve total savings of about $1.06 billion. Eleven of these projects had collectively realized savings of about $13.5 million, and 13 had not yet begun to achieve savings. While savings thus far have been small, the amount is not unexpected given that 21 projects—with expected savings of about $1.04 billion, or 98.3 percent of the total—anticipate achieving their savings in fiscal year 2027 or later. Thirty-seven projects did not expect any cost savings, but are intended to provide other value, such as mitigating security risks. Seven other projects were cancelled prior to June 2025 and no longer expect savings.
Most of the projects were still active as of June 2025. Of the six completed TMF projects that expected cost savings, two met or were on track to meet their expected savings (within 10 percent) and four did not meet or were not on track to meet their savings. Officials for the projects that did not meet their expected savings attributed it to various reasons, such as the removal of planned functionality and higher system migration costs than planned, which led to tens of millions less in actual savings...