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$100 billion+ a year: Federal tech money spent keeping old systems alive
The government spends over $100 billion a year on IT, and agencies typically put about 80% of it into running what they already have.
FraudBadPublic receipt
Federal agencies
Federal agencies
- Federal IT spending per yearOver $100B1
- Share spent operating existing systemsAbout 80%1
- Critical legacy systems GAO flagged in 2019101
- Of those, modernized by Feb 202531
- With no planned completion date11
- Cost to keep the old ones running████████████████
fraudbad.comNo taxation without receipts
What happened
GAO flagged 10 of the government's most critical legacy computer systems in 2019. By February 2025, agencies had modernized three. One still had no planned completion date.
Agencies typically report spending about 80 percent of their IT budgets on operating and maintaining existing systems.
Why nobody caught it
- Seven of the ten critical systems GAO flagged in 2019 were still waiting to be modernized in February 2025.
How sure are we?
Fix ignored
A watchdog found the waste and the fix. The fix hasn't been made.
GAO's figures from agency reporting. Not all maintenance is waste; the point is how little goes to replacing what's failing.
Sources
- GAO-25-107795: agencies need to continue addressing critical legacy systemsU.S. Government Accountability Office · Jul 17, 2025
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