Senator Hassan’s Bipartisan Bill to Save Taxpayer Dollars & Tackle Outdated Technology in Federal Government Passes Committee

WASHINGTON – The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today advanced  Senator Hassan’s bipartisan legislation to reduce the federal government’s reliance on outdated and obsolete technology, which in turn will help reduce costs, strengthen cybersecurity, and improve customer experience for taxpayers. In addition, the Committee passed legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan to repair ports of entry on the southern border.

Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Modernizing IT

“Far too many of the government’s IT systems and equipment are wildly out of date, wasting taxpayer dollars and leaving agencies exposed to possible cyberattacks,” said Senator Hassan. “The U.S. government has a responsibility to be the best possible steward of taxpayer dollars, and my bipartisan bill will help us save taxpayer dollars by making long overdue updates to our legacy IT systems, strengthening cybersecurity and services for Americans.”

Senator Hassan’s bipartisan Legacy IT Reduction Act of 2022 takes a number of steps to modernize government technology, including:

• Requiring agencies to develop an inventory of legacy IT systems;
• Requiring agencies to write modernization plans to update or dispose of their legacy IT systems; and
• Requiring the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to assist agencies with identifying legacy IT and modernizing it.

Supporting Southern Border Ports of Entry

“For Customs and Border Protection officials to do their job and strengthen security at the southern border, we must make sure that they are not stalled by bureaucratic red tape every time they need to make a minor repair,” said Senator Hassan. “This is a commonsense bill, and I urge my colleague in the Senate to support it.”

The bipartisan bill that Senator Hassan cosponsored that the Committee voted to pass today gives Customs and Border Protection (CBP) more authority to make repairs to southern border ports of entry. It allows CBP to repair ports without involving the General Services Administration (GSA), unless the project is valued at more than $300,000. The GSA serves as the federal government’s landlord and buildings superintendent. Removing them from low-cost projects at CBP would help streamline the process for repairs and updates at facilities along the southern border and allows GSA to focus on larger projects.

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