July 2017 Report to Congress

Letter from the Administrator

The United States Digital Service (USDS) was established in 2014 to tackle the federal government’s most critical public-facing digital services. From veterans receiving appeals responses in a timely manner to citizens accessing more government services online thanks to secure identity proofing, USDS is focused not only on improving how the American people can interact with their government online, but on transforming that experience to help build the people’s trust in government.

With funding from the Information and Technology Oversight and Reform (ITOR) Fund, USDS was able to hire more than 200 individuals to serve for limited tours of duty in government to work toward this transformation. USDS talent ranges from Silicon Valley engineers who hail from more than 50 top technology companies to professional ‘bureaucracy hackers’ from within the Government and experienced procurement specialists.

We’re capitalizing on opportunities to partner directly with agencies and others in the Federal space to untangle the most vital government services on which Americans rely. USDS continues to prioritize projects based on three criteria: what will do the greatest good for the greatest number of people in greatest need, how effective and cost-efficient the USDS investment will be, and the potential to use or reuse a technological solution across the Government.

As of June 2017, USDS has active teams at seven federal agencies: the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration. We’ve done previous work at the Social Security Administration, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Treasury.

USDS continues to report directly to the acting Deputy Director of Management at OMB and is a member of the newly formed American Technology Council. USDS is also actively engaged and working with the Office of American Innovation at the White House. This affords USDS the opportunity to continue our critical work while aligning our projects with broader efforts to identify cost savings and make government more effective.

For the most up-to-date cost savings information, please visit itdashboard.gov.

Matt Cutts
Acting Administrator of the U.S. Digital Service