The Technology Modernization Fund Board is making its first investment in generative synthetic intelligence as part of the allocation of four new investments to three agencies worth $49. 2 million.
The State Department won its first two TMF awards, adding $18. 2 million to use GenAI in its knowledge environment for data sharing and understanding across its offices around the world.
The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also won its first award, while the Department of Education earned its second investment in TMF.
NOAA will receive $12 million to modernize Weather. gov, while Education is expected to get $5. 9 million to upload new features to the MyStudentAid. gov website.
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“As Chair of the TMF Board of Directors and the Artificial Intelligence Chiefs Council, I am delighted to see our catalytic investment stream advancing the use of AI and security at the State Department,” said Clare Martorana, Federal CIO. , it’s a statement. “I am equally excited about the TMF’s two other critical investments: academics have more modern access to manage their educational trajectories, and the public has access to important weather data in a way that is available to everyone. “
The state’s award for GenAI implementation is the first under TMF’s board plan to accelerate firm AI proposals for $6 million or less and projects that will take a year or less to complete.
The board said the state would use the money to implement GenAI to better manage knowledge and enable workers to make knowledge-based decisions faster.
Among the areas in which the State will invest are:
“This investment marks a pivotal moment in reshaping the way the state conducts international relations and advances American interests around the world,” said Dr. Matthew Graviss, the state’s knowledge lead and artificial intelligence officer. “This assignment will enable our diplomats to conduct critical research and strategic engagement, expanding our effectiveness and strengthening America’s global diplomatic advantage. “
The council said that in 2023 alone, the state workers’ body produced an average of 6,300 diplomatic cables each day, as well as countless media summaries and structured reports.
“This torrent of knowledge requires exhaustive efforts such as news curation, business analysis, diplomatic communications, and much more. By leveraging GenAI, the state intends to allow it to temporarily distill data whenever it wants to the fullest and redirect its time on achieving effective diplomatic outcomes,” the board said.
For its second TMF award, the government would receive $13. 1 million to evolve its identity control security to a zero-trust architecture model.
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As a component of this project, the State will establish a centralized and secure formula for managing identities and virtual access. The Board said this technique for identity and access control will provide state workers with a consistent credential control experience and allow for faster updates of access requirements. and user and access control through complex identity capabilities.
“TMF’s investment aims to drive the creation of a comprehensive Consolidated Identity Trust to consolidate user attributes, modernise access to privileged identities to protect critical assets, and put centralised workflows in place to automate onboarding and offboarding processes,” the board said. These projects will enhance the state’s ability to maintain the highest data security standards and ensure that federal mandates similar to those of ICZM are met. By centralizing identity and access control and adopting a zero-trust approach, the state will be able to better protect its systems and knowledge from evolving cyber threats while gaining better operational efficiency.
The board said 76% of all investments over the past seven years will go to cybersecurity projects.
The $12 million that NOAA is expected to raise is intended for the company to modernize its operations at more than 150 National Weather Service offices around the world.
The board said the redesigned platform would not only enable data accessibility, but also identify a sustainable, mobile-centric infrastructure.
“This modernization effort plans to incorporate features such as language translation capabilities to access underserved communities,” the board said. and weather data to each and every American, temporarily and reliably, and in the format and language they need. The new online page will be more reliable and will focus on the most productive practices for compliance and accessibility to [Section] 508 by adding language translation capabilities. , helping the NWS succeed like never before on underserved teams and expanding the discoverability and reliability of knowledge.
The board said 76% of all investments were for the modernization of high-priority systems such as Weather. gov.
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The Office of Federal Student Aid will use $5. 9 million to implement the “My Activity” feature in StudentAid. gov. The board said the new feature aims to consolidate documents and data, offering users a centralized, easy-to-use platform to track their activities and status. The FSA anticipates a relief in wait times and the need for visitor inquiries, the board says.
“[T]his task will allow the FSA to implement knowledge and software generation that will reduce the company’s costs over time. By expanding borrowers’ ability to act directly and seamlessly, the FSA anticipates a reduction in wait times and visitor service emails and calls. and chats. Minimizing enquiries will result in significant savings in the FSA’s annual visitor service prices,” the board said.
So, in calendar year 2024, the Board invested in nine projects across eight agencies.
“Investing in innovation turns challenging situations into opportunities,” Larry Bafundo, TMF’s interim chief executive, said in a statement received via Federal News Network. “TMF’s investments are not just about improving systems; It’s about transforming the very structure of the facility. “are delivered. We are proud to empower agencies such as the U. S. Departments of Education, Commerce, and State. We are working in the U. S. to improve its facilities, improve safety, and drive efficiency.
In total, TMF’s Board of Directors has invested $900 million in 57 projects across 32 agencies since Congress established the fund in 2017. Of all the investments, the board used a portion of the $1 billion in investments won by the American Rescue Plan Act on 46 projects.
These investments result in Congress’ cancellation of $100 million from the FMT as a component of the FY 2024 spending bill.
Drew Myklegard, vice president of the federal IOC, said in an interview in early May that Congress had to make many difficult decisions about funding.
“They want to balance their expenses and the price they get. They have to raise possible difficult choices in Congress all the time. They weren’t targeting a single project,” he said. They said, ‘How can we make these paintings for the American people?'”
Myklegard said he would expect the duration of the TMF investments to be the same, although the number of projects receiving the cash is unlikely to be affected. He said agencies will be more responsible for repaying TMF loans.
“We have invested significant amounts in recent years in cybersecurity and other areas. These are one-year systems when we make those commitments. We do them over time so that there are milestones that the projects want to meet and continue to be funded. This will continue,” he said. I’m excited about those projects that are smaller and have Americans making big changes. “