Sec. 1614. Framework for integration of information technology technical debt assessment into annual budget process
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Not later than September 1, 2026, the Secretary of Defense shall, in coordination with the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, the Secretaries of the military departments, and the Chief Information Officers of the military departments, develop a framework for the integration of technical debt assessment, tracking, and management into existing Department of Defense processes for information technology investment decisions and budget justification materials.
The Secretary of Defense shall direct a comprehensive reevaluation of the Department's current definition of technical debt and develop a categorization framework that adequately reflects different types of technical debt, including application, physical infrastructure, architecture, and documentation components. The Secretary of Defense shall ensure the framework developed under subsection
(a)provides for integration of technical debt considerations into existing Department management processes and structures relating to resourcing and programmatic decisions for existing or proposed information technology systems, services, or related programs of record. The framework developed under subsection
(a)shall include— baseline measurement for technical debt for a specific technology or program; objectives for technical debt reduction; consolidated metrics for Department-wide use; and outcome-based metrics for assessing operational and financial impacts. The framework developed under subsection
(a)shall utilize existing governance structures for overseeing information technology investments. The framework developed under subsection
(a)shall— establish methods for identifying and evaluating technical debt; integrate technical debt management into the planning, programming, budgeting, and execution process, as well as information technology governance bodies; establish prioritization approaches based on mission impact; develop mechanisms for gap identification; and define organizational responsibilities for remediating assessed technical debt of a program or system. The Secretary of Defense shall implement the framework developed under subsection
(a)not later than October 1, 2026, to support the planning, programming, and process for the budget justification materials to be submitted to Congress in support of the Department, as submitted with the budget of the President for fiscal year 2027 under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. Beginning with the fiscal year 2027 budget request, the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that, for each fiscal year, the budget justification materials to be submitted to Congress in support of the budget of the Department (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code) include— technical debt status assessments; planned remediation investments; risk assessments of investment gaps; and alignment with modernization priorities. The Secretary shall ensure Defense planning guidance and program objective memoranda address technical debt remediation requirements. Not later than September 15, 2026, the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the implementation and effectiveness of the technical debt management framework developed under subsection (a). In this section: The term information technology has the meaning given such term in section 11101 of title 40, United States Code. The term technical debt means design or implementation constructs that are expedient in the short-term, but that set up a technical context that can make a future change costlier or impossible, as defined in Department of Defense Instruction 5000.87, or successor instruction.