FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2017

Arlington, V.A. (June 21, 2017)— The Professional Services Council (PSC) today sent a letter to U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee leaders urging quick action to approve the Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 (MGT Act).  PSC’s letter follows public remarks made Monday by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner that the Trump Administration is actively working with the U.S. Senate to send the MGT Act to the President’s desk for signature into law.

“The MGT Act is a critical bipartisan effort which demonstrates that the White House and Congress can work together to save taxpayer dollars and address security risks by replacing outdated government computer systems,” said PSC President and CEO David Berteau. “As Mr. Kushner stated at the White House tech summit, ‘by modernizing systems, we will meaningfully improve the lives of tens of millions of Americans.’ PSC agrees that modern technology systems will ultimately benefit all Americans. The time to act is now.” 

PSC has long supported Congressional action on the MGT Act to help make government more effective and its networks more secure, while reducing overall costs. The legislation would establish a critical source of dependable funding for federal agencies to invest in IT system modernization, incentivize agencies to utilize the funds for agency priorities, and accelerate the transition to the cloud. As PSC noted in the its letter to the committee, the recent WannaCry ransomware attack that infected 230,000 computers in 150 countries within a day demonstrates the importance of acting quickly to modernize vulnerable federal IT systems.

“The MGT Act will make a critical investment in the government’s IT infrastructure and provide a much-needed upgrade to the legacy systems that are draining federal agencies’ IT budgets,” Berteau said. 

Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Senate version of the MGT Act (S. 990) in late April. The House of Representatives unanimously approved a companion version on May 17, 2017. President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget requests $228 million in seed money for the Technology Modernization Fund the legislation would establish.

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About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks. To learn more, visit www.pscouncil.org.

Contact:
Ashlei Stevens
Director, Media Relations
703-875-8974
stevens@pscouncil.org