Department of Treasury FY 2018 IT Budget Observations

Late last month the White House released its full FY 2018 budget request which included details on IT budgets.  Treasury was among a number of agencies that showed a relatively flat FY 2018 budget as compared to FY 2017.

Treasury’s IT and Development, Modernization and Enhancements (DME) Budgets

Treasury is requesting $4.2B in total IT funding, a 1% decrease over FY 2017 enacted levels.

• $2.9B, or 70%, of the IT budget would be considered contractor addressable (total IT budget less the cost of government FTEs).
• DME accounts for $631M, or 15%, of the total IT budget, a 33% decrease from FY 2017 enacted levels.
• $498M is slated for IT security spending, a 3% decrease over FY 2017 levels. 
• $384M is slated for provisioned IT investments which includes cloud investments, showing 1% growth from FY 2017 levels. 
• Notable agency changes include a 15% decrease for Departmental Offices, a 9% increase for the US Mint, and a 44% increase for IRS investment in end user systems and services such as desktops, laptops, mobile devices, software, incident management services, and asset management services.

Noteworthy IT Investments

Delving into the details of Treasury’s IT investments and initiatives gives deeper insight into their priorities, which is largely infrastructure-focused. Here are just five initiatives that stand out among others due to relative size, budget growth, and/or proportion of new development spending.

• IRS Main Frames and Servers Services and Support (MSSS):  Provides for the design, development and deployment of server, middleware and large systems and enterprise storage infrastructures. $501M, (+17%), 8% DME
• IRS Telecommunications Systems and Support (TSS): Supports voice and data network infrastructure services, video services and engineering throughout the IRS. $384M, (+9%), 2% DME
• IRS End User Systems and Services (EUSS):  Provides desktops, laptops, mobile devices, software, incident management services, and asset management services to all end users in the IRS. $299M, (+44%), 14% DME
• IT Management Investment:  A standard investment to capture all costs associated with IRS IT management and strategic planning, including CIO and other senior leadership FTE costs. $228M, (-11%), 7% DME
• Affordable Care Act Administration:  Encompasses the planning, development, & implementation of IT systems needed to support IRS' tax administration responsibilities associated with key provisions of the ACA legislation. $226M (-4%), 0% DME