Congress tightens controls on federal IT spending, adds fraud safeguards
S. 3306 — Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act · Filed by Jerry Moran (R-KS) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Dec 2, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the federal IT modernization fund (created in 2018) to tighten controls over how money is spent, require agencies to identify their riskiest legacy computer systems, and mandate that agencies repay the fund when they receive money. It adds oversight mechanisms: agencies must report high-risk IT systems to Congress, the federal CIO must compile a top-10 list of the riskiest systems government-wide, and the fund can suspend payments to agencies that make false claims about their projects.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to strengthen controls, transparency, and fraud prevention in federal IT modernization spending. It is a governance and accountability measure, not a substantive policy change or appropriation.
What the text implies
- Repayment requirement may create perverse incentives: agencies might avoid requesting funds for risky but necessary modernization projects if they fear inability to repay, potentially slowing critical security upgrades.
- The 10-system prioritization list, while well-intentioned, may concentrate resources on high-profile systems while leaving other critical legacy systems underfunded.
- Milestone-based, incremental funding could delay large-scale modernization projects that require upfront capital investment before measurable milestones are achieved.
- Congressional reporting requirement (10-day turnaround for written agreements) may create administrative burden that slows fund operations without proportional transparency gain.
Who it affects
Citizens benefit from stronger oversight of federal IT spending, fraud prevention, and prioritized modernization of systems that pose security and privacy risks. The repayment requirement and milestone-based funding reduce waste and ensure the fund remains solvent for long-term modernization.
Who stands to gain
- federal IT contractors and systems integrators
- cybersecurity service providers
- legacy system replacement vendors
Named in the bill
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Public Law 115-91, 40 U.S.C. 11301, Modernization Fund, Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of Electronic Government, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Comptroller General of the US, Agency Chief Information Officers
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Dec 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 5, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress tightens controls on federal IT spending, adds fraud safeguards” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s3306 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.