FY 2021 President’s Budget Request – GovWin FMA’s First Take

Today the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Trump Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2021 Budget Request. The new budget proposal, which provides a broad perspective on the administration’s wide ranging policy and legislative agenda for the next fiscal year, includes prominent themes of preparing for the future, counter emerging threats and pursuing major savings and reforms. 

The GovWin Federal Market Analysis (FIA) team  dug into the available budget documents to provide you with our first impressions of what we found noteworthy in the new budget request. We reviewed the largest federal departments’ budgets to get a sense of direction and priorities for FY 2021, which will begin October 1, 2020. The administration is requesting $1.336T in discretionary budget authority, which represents a 4.7% decrease compared to the $1.402T enacted for FY 2020. Below is a summary graphic followed by key funding details and initiatives arranged by department.

Defense

The president’s budget requests $705.4B in discretionary funding for the Department of Defense (DOD), including $636.4B in base budget and $69B for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). DOD’s discretionary base budget request is 0.5% more than the $633.3B enacted for FY 2020 and the OCO request is 3.2% less than the $71.3B enacted for FY 2020.

Funding highlights include:

• Supplies $185.6B in base discretionary budget for the Air Force, an increase of $996M from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Allocates $194B in base discretionary budget for the Navy, an increase of $1.3B from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Provides $150.2B in base discretionary budget for the Army, an increase of $3.4B from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Provides $106.4B in base discretionary budget for Defense-Wide operations, a decrease of $2.6B from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Allots $230.4B for DOD Operations and Maintenance funding, a decrease of $4.5B from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Proposes $131.8B for DOD Procurement funding, an increase of $22M from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Invests $106.2B in DOD RDT&E funding, an increase of $2.7B from the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Includes $33.1B for the Defense Health Program.
• Invests $14B in DOD’s Science and Technology (S&T) Program supporting core modernization priorities such as 5G, space, autonomy, microelectronics, cybersecurity, and fully-networked command, control, and communications.
• Provides $10B for military cyber capabilities.

Veterans Affairs

The president’s budget request provides $105.0B in base discretionary budget authority for VA, a 13.3% increase over the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Funds VA medical care at $90B, a 12.7% increase above the FY 2020 enacted level, including funding to continue implementation of the VA MISSION Act, which gives veterans greater choice for health care decisions.
• Invests $313M, a 32% increase over FY 2020 levels, to support veteran suicide prevention.
• Supports opioid abuse prevention programs with a $504M investment for prevention and treatment, a 19% increase over the FY 2020 enacted level.
• Provides $2.6B in funding for VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization, an 82% increase over the FY 2020 enacted level.  This increased funding will enable VA to double the number of sites that transition to the new EHR in 2021 and accelerate a new scheduling system throughout the VA enterprise five years sooner than originally planned.
• Supports VA IT and infrastructure modernization by providing $4.9B, a 12.4% increase over the FY 2020 enacted level. This funding also supports customer service enhancements, IT to support continued MISSION Act implementation, claims processing, supply chain management, and financial management business transformation.
• Improves program efficiency and effectiveness by making targeted IT investments, including $310M for cloud migration and aging infrastructure replacement.
• Funds the Offices of Enterprise Integration and Accountability and Whistleblower Protection to ensure improvements to program oversight, accountability, and performance.

Health and Human Services

The president’s budget request provides $96.9B in base discretionary budget authority for HHS which includes $.5B for program integrity, a 9% decrease from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Combats the opioid epidemic by investing $5B for critical research, surveillance, prevention, treatment, access to overdose reversal drugs, and recovery support services. This funding includes $1.6B for State Opioid Response grants.
• Fights mental illness with $225M in Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) expansion grants and $125M to help schools, community organizations, first responders, and other organizations identify mental health issues and help individuals get treatment. 
• Supports the president’s health reform priorities by providing greater transparency of health care costs, lowering the price of medicine, ending surprise medical bills, eliminating barriers to choice and competition, and reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens.
• Addresses improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid by proposing actions to reduce monetary loss, strengthen program integrity, and improve provider screening, enrollment, and identification, as well as Medicaid beneficiary eligibility determinations.
• Strengthens Indian Health Service (IHS) and its ability to provide care and health services by bolstering provider recruitment and retention, telehealth expansion, facility accreditation, and continues the multi-year effort to modernize the IHS Electronic Health Record system.
• Prioritizes health research and innovation by providing $38B to NIH, $4B above the FY 2020 requested level.

Homeland Security

The president’s budget requests $49.8B in total discretionary budget for DHS, a 3.1% increase from the FY 2020 enacted level. This includes funding for the U.S. Secret Service which the White House proposes to transfer to the Department of the Treasury.

Funding highlights include:

• Requests approximately $2B to construct approximately 82 miles of additional border wall along the U.S. Southwest border.
• Allocates more than $1.1B for DHS cybersecurity efforts, including increasing the number of DHS-led network risk assessments from 1,800 to more than 6,500—including assessments of State and local electoral systems—and supporting additional tools and services, such as the EINSTEIN and the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) programs.
• Includes $1.6B to continue to modernize U.S. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft to support coastal patrol and rescue operations.
• Provides $8.2B to support TSA employees and technology, including a pay raise to TSA officers and the deployment of new technologies, such as 30 Computed Tomography systems to the highest risk airports.
• Contains $2.4B for the U.S. Secret Service and supports an additional 119 U.S. Secret Service special agents, officers, and professional staff as the agency transitions to the Department of the Treasury.
• Proposes a $407M competitive National Security and Resilience grant program to help State and local communities build resilience and protect against both man-made and natural hazards.

State and US AID

The president’s budget provides $44.0B in total discretionary funding for the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and related international assistance programs, a 22% decrease from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Allocates $4.8B for Diplomatic Programs supporting DOS day-to-day operations of overseas staff.
• Provides $1.3B for USAID operating expenses to support USAID personnel in 87 missions.
• Requests $5.4B to protect overseas personnel and facilities, including $100M for maintenance of overseas facilities and $54M in high definition secure video systems (HDSVS). In addition, the budget requests $400M to maintain domestic infrastructure and operations.
• Supplies $1.1B for information technology modernization and cybersecurity, including consular architecture and infrastructure enhancements, deploying a new Integrated Personnel Management System, and expanding the Cybersecurity Skills Incentive Program.
• Provides $1.4B to defend vital U.S. national security interests by combatting trafficking and enhancing border security.

Energy

The president’s budget request allocates $35.4B in base discretionary budget authority for DOE, an 8.1% decrease from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Requests $19.8B for the NNSA, including $9.5B to sustain and modernize the nuclear stockpile and $4.4B to improve agency infrastructure.
• Includes $6.4B to clean up and monitor nuclear deterrent sites.
• Allots $3.1B to bolster energy independence and innovation efforts.
• Prioritizes cutting-edge technologies, including $710M for exascale computing, $260M for artificial intelligence and machine learning, and $250M for quantum information science.
• Allocates $185M to the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER) to improve cybersecurity and resilience in critical infrastructure and the supply chain.
• Proposes the sale of transmission assets, owned and operated by the Power Marketing Administration (PMA), for a savings of $4.1B over 10 years.

Justice

The president’s budget request includes $31.7B in base discretionary budget authority for DOJ, a 2.3% decrease from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Commits $2.4B to the DEA, including $360M in opioid-related state and local assistance.
• Supports USMS’ Federal Prisoner Detention program with $2.1B, projecting an increase in prisoner population due to heightened gun, drug and immigration enforcement efforts.
• Allocates $885M to support 100 immigration judge teams and expand EOIR electronic case management systems.   
• Provides $640M to boost law enforcement resources to address violet crime and targeted crime.
• Establishes $320M in new funding at BOP to support the FIRST STEP Act of 2018 and reduce recidivism.
• Curbs $505M in new prison construction funds.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The president’s budget request provides $25.2B in base discretionary budget authority for NASA, a 12% increase from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Prioritizes $12.3B for a robust Moon to Mars program, including $3.4B for the development of a lunar human landing system.
• Funds new prizes, challenges, research grants and public-private partnerships to enhance the development of technologies towards exploration missions.
• Requests $6.3B for the Office of Science, including $2.7B in Planetary Science and $1.8B in Earth Science.
• Allots $1.6B to exploration technology.
• Proposes cancellation of the WFIRST mission and SOFIA, to redirect focus on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Agriculture

The president’s budget request includes $21.8B in discretionary funding for the Department of Agriculture, 8.0% less than the $23.7B enacted for Fiscal Year 2020.

Funding highlights include:

• Allocates $36B for Farm Safety Net Reforms.
• Provides $5.5B for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
• Requests $600M for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).
• Proposes $100M of AFRI’s funding for basic and applied research in artificial intelligence.

Transportation

The president’s budget request includes $21.6B in discretionary funding for the Department of Transportation, 13.0% less than the $24.8B enacted for Fiscal Year 2020.

Funding highlights include:

• Requests $14.2B for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
• Allocates $13B for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
• Provides $50.7B for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
• Proposes a combined total of $1.7B for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) programs.

Treasury

The president’s budget request provides $15.7 in base discretionary budget authority for Treasury, a 1.5% increase from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Proposes returning the U.S. Secret Service to Treasury due to technological advancements that create stronger links between financial and electronic crimes and the financing of terrorists and rogue state actors. This proposal adds $2.4B to the Treasury budget for the U.S. Secret Service.
• Funds Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) at $173M to strengthen its data analytics, intelligence, sanctions, and enforcement capabilities.
• Strengthens the prevention, detection, and investigation of financial crimes by funding the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at $127M to enhance FinCEN’s protection of data collected under the Bank Secrecy Act and expand its efforts to combat emerging virtual currency and cybercrime threats.
• Improves tax administration and modernizes taxpayer systems by providing $12.0B to IRS, including $300M to continue IT infrastructure modernization and enhance taxpayers’ ability to interact with the IRS securely and electronically.

Commerce

The president’s budget request provides $11.9B in base discretionary budget authority for DOC, a 23% decrease from the FY 2020 enacted level.

Funding highlights include:

• Prepares for the ramp down of people, infrastructure and operations related to the 2020 Decennial Census.
• Total discretionary numbers include $3.8B for the USPTO’s request for authority to spend fee collections.  
• Eliminates the Economic Development Administration and Manufacturing Extension Partnership program and several NOAA programs.
• Requests $1.2B to maintain satellites in polar and geostationary orbits for weather prediction and deep space data collection.

More Analysis to Come

The high points above are our initial observations from OMB’s and the departments’ budget documents release. In the coming weeks the GovWin Federal Market Analysis team will be publishing our complete analysis of the FY 2021 budget request, where we will go into greater detail on the key initiatives, IT investments and contractor implications that will shape the federal IT marketplace as we head into FY 2021.