The American Rescue Plan Includes at least $2 Billion for Federal IT

Published: March 17, 2021

Federal Market AnalysisAdministration TransitionBig DataCoronavirus (COVID-19) PandemicCybersecurityHealth ITInformation TechnologyPolicy and Legislation

The most recent COVID-19 aid package has a variety of information technology funding provisions for federal agencies of interest to contractors.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) passed by Congress and signed by President Biden last week focuses primarily on COVID-19 economic relief. However, the bill also appropriates funds for various other priorities, including for information technology (IT) at federal agencies that totals at least $2B and could likely be hundreds of millions higher.

The GovWin Federal Market Analysis team has identified the following items in the bill where IT spending is either explicitly designated or is highly likely as part of larger efforts. In many cases, IT provisions named in the legislation are included among other pandemic response activities under one main funding line, so parsing those dollars is imprecise at best. Another caveat is that not all of the IT funding in the ARP is contractor addressable since agencies will spend a portion of these funds on their internal personnel and operations.

The following 14 items account for nearly $5.2B in appropriated funds across a wide variety of departments and agencies where varying levels of IT spending will occur.

Federal Government-wide – $1B for the General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to fund federal agencies’ IT modernization efforts. The historical TMF projects are posted to the CIO.gov web site once awarded. Understanding what individual agencies are planning to modernize in the future requires supporting contractors to research and investigate the needs of those agencies, but demands across the government span the gamut of IT goods and services.

Health and Human Services (HHS)

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – $1.75B to fund federal, state, local, tribal and territorial genomic sequencing and surveillance activities, including informatics investments and grants to states and localities for construction/renovation of facilities.
  • CDC – $500M for data modernization and a forecasting center to support public health data surveillance and analytics infrastructure modernization initiatives and establish, expand, and maintain efforts to modernize the US disease warning system to forecast and track hotspots for COVID–19, its variants, and emerging biological threats, including academic and workforce support for analytics and informatics infrastructure and data collection systems.
  • Indian Health Service (IHS) – $140M for information technology, telehealth infrastructure, and the IHS electronic health records system.

Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) – $650M for the CISA for cybersecurity risk mitigation activities. In addition to contracted operational support services, CISA may look for additional cyber tools. It is also noteworthy that CISA leadership is on the record saying that this additional $650M in operating funds is only a portion of what it needs to meet its cybersecurity mission.

Agriculture

  • $500M to establish a rural health care development grants pilot program to increase capacity for vaccine distribution; provide medical supplies to increase medical surge capacity; reimburse for revenue lost during the COVID–19 pandemic; increase telehealth capabilities, including underlying health care information systems; and construct health care services structures.
  • $47.5M in funds to cover pandemic program administration expenses. While no further detail is given, it is not unreasonable to conclude that some IT support and/or capabilities may be involved in program operations.
  • Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) – $25M for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) online purchasing and technology improvements, including modernizing electronic benefit transfer (EBT) technology, supporting mobile technologies, and educating retailers on new technologies.

State – $204M for State Department Operations to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus domestically or internationally. Some portion of these operating funds may be used for IT capabilities.

Executive Office of the President (EOP) – $200M for the US Digital Service within the White House. Needs may include administrative and operational support and IT services, etc.

Small Business Administration (SBA) – $75M for a Community Navigator pilot program outreach and education efforts, including promotions, call center(s), outreach, website, and education elements.

Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) – $45M for research and extension activities to address wildlife disease outbreaks and strengthen capacity for wildlife health monitoring, including the development of a national wildlife disease database.

US Agency for International Development (USAID) – $41M in operating funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus domestically or internationally, and for other operations and maintenance requirements related to coronavirus. Some portion of these operating funds may be used for IT capabilities.

Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – $20M for integration, modernization and security of IRS systems related to the administration of advance payments and taxpayer assistance provisions.

While not considered above, it is worth noting that the ARP also includes grants and other funding to states, localities and other non-federal entities for IT operations or improvements as part of their COVID-19 response and pandemic relief efforts. So there is much more than $2B in IT-related spending in the bill spread across all levels and sectors.