[Senate Report 115-418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 723
115th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-418
======================================================================
21ST CENTURY INTEGRATED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE ACT
__________
R E P O R T
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
TO ACCOMPY
S. 3050
TO IMPROVE EXECUTIVE AGENCY DIGITAL SERVICES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
December 5, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2018
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
JON KYL, Arizona DOUG JONES, Alabama
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 723
115th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-418
======================================================================
21ST CENTURY INTEGRATED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE ACT
_______
December 5, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 3050]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 3050) to improve
executive agency digital services, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an
amendment (in the nature of a substitute) and recommends that
the bill (as amended) do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................1
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................5
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............6
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
S. 3050, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience
Act, or, 21st Century IDEA Act, seeks to improve government
services by improving existing digital services and websites
and requiring a plan and cost estimates for digitizing high
priority in-person and paper-based services.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Federal Government agencies provide a variety of services
to citizens, ranging from Social Security benefits to care for
veterans. Some of these government services are digital or can
be completed via online forms, while many others require an in-
person or paper-based process. According to the 2016 American
Consumer Satisfaction Index, government services lag an average
of nine percentage points behind the private sector.\1\ A key
component to improving government services is to enhance
existing websites and digital services, and to digitize paper-
based and in-person services where the benefit outweighs the
costs.
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\1\Off. Of Mgmt. & Budget, The President's Management Agenda:
Modernizing Government for the 21st Century 28 (2018), available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/
ThePresidentsManagementAgenda.pdf.
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Traditionally, the Federal Government has performed poorly
when attempting to digitize paper-based processes. For example
the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS)
attempted digitize scores of immigration forms at a cost of
around $500 million, with a target completion date of 2013.\2\
By 2015, the project was nowhere near complete, had a new cost
estimate of $3.1 billion, and a target completion of 2017.\3\
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\2\Jerry Markon, A decade into a project to digitize U.S.
immigration forms, just 1 is online, Wash. Post (Nov. 8, 2015),
available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-decade-into-a-
project-to-digitize-us-immigration-forms-just-1-is-online/2015/11/08/
f63360fc-830e-11e5-a7ca-6ab6ec20f839_story.html?utm_term=.6f306f38a565.
\3\ Id.
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Cloud computing and other technologies have advanced
significantly since the early failures of the USCIS project.
This advancement of technology, combined with the enactment of
the Modernizing Government Technology Act,\4\ should give the
Federal Government the accountability, oversight, and funding
to improve customer service by improving websites and
digitizing services.
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\4\Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017, as considered in
H.R. 2227 and S. 990, was passed in the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-91, 131 Stat. 1283 (2018).
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In March 2018, the Office of Management and Budget released
the President's Management Agenda which included plans for
improving customer service through improved use of information
technology.\5\ The agenda asks agencies to focus on four
strategies to achieve an improved customer experience:
``improving digital services; modernizing customer experiences
for high-impact Federal programs; rewarding programs and people
that demonstrate outstanding services; and creating a support
and accountability network to ensure sustainable customer
experience improvement across government.''\6\
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\5\Off. Of Mgmt. & Budget, The President's Management Agenda:
Modernizing Government for the 21st Century (2018), available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/
ThePresidentsManagementAgenda.pdf.
\6\Id. at 7.
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The 21st Century IDEA Act supports the goals of the
President's Management Agenda and two of the four agency
strategies by requiring that, as agencies develop new digital
services and websites, they meet certain requirements that will
improve customer service. For existing websites and services,
the bill requires agencies to identify and prioritize those
with the greatest impact on customer service and report in
their budget requests the cost of modernization.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senator Rob Portman introduced S. 3050 on June 12, 2018.
The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs on the same day. The Committee considered
S. 3050 at a September 26, 2018, business meeting.
The Committee ordered S. 3050, as amended by a Portman
substitute amendment, reported favorably en bloc by voice vote.
Senators present for the vote were Johnson, Portman, Lankford,
Enzi, Hoeven, McCaskill, Carper, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan,
Harris, and Jones.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section established that the bill may be cited as the
``21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act'' or ``21st
Century IDEA.''
Section 2. Definitions
This section includes definitions of the terms ``Director''
and ``executive agency.''
Section 3. Website modernization
Subsection (a) outlines the requirements for an executive
agency to follow if such agency creates or redesigns a website
intended for public use. The executive agency must ensure the
websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities, have
a consistent appearance, contain search functions, provide
industry standard connection, designed around user needs with a
data driven analysis, allow users to complete digital
transaction in an efficient manner and must be fully functional
on a mobile device. The new websites must not overlap with any
legacy websites, and legacy websites must be reviewed and
eliminated.
Subsection (b) describes the requirements for executive
agencies that maintain public websites. Within one year after
the enactment of this Act, the heads of each executive agency
must review each website available to the public; submit a
report to congress that lists the websites that are beneficial
to the public; and prioritize them based on which websites
require modernizations based on subsection (a). This report
must also include the cost and schedule for modernization of
the websites listed in subparagraph (B).
Subsection (c) requires the head of each executive agency
to ensure that any intranet established after the enactment of
this Act follows the requirements of subsection (a).
Subsection (d) requires the head of each executive agency
to submit a report within one year after enactment of the bill,
and every year after for four years, detailing the progress
made in meeting the requirements section 3.
Subsection (e) mandates that any executive agency public
website made a year after the enactment of the bill comply with
the website standards established by the General Services
Administration.
Section 4. Digitization of Government services and forms
Subsection (a) requires OMB to issue guidance to the head
of each executive agency within 180 days of the enactment. This
guidance must establish a process for the executive agency to
identify public non-digital services and include a list of non-
digital services that could be made available to the public in
a digital cost effective format. The list must also include a
cost and time estimate for digitizing the aforementioned non-
digital services.
Subsection (b) instructs the head of each executive agency
to regularly review public applications and services to ensure
that they are made available to the public in a digital format.
Subsection (c) requires the head of each executive agency
to ensure that any paper-based form related to serving the
public is made available in digital format that meets the
requirements of section 3(a) within two years after enactment.
Subsection (d) provides instructions for the head of an
executive agency to follow if there are government services
that cannot be made in digital format.
Subsection (e) requires each executive agency to maintain a
non-digitized method of using digital services so that those
without digital access are still able to use those services.
Section 5. Electronic signatures
Requires the head of each executive agency to submit a plan
to increase the use of electronic signatures standards
established under the Electronic Signatures in Global and
National Commerce Act to the Director and appropriate
congressional committee within 180 days after the date of
enactment.
Section 6. Customer experience and digital service delivery
Lists requirements for the Chief Information Officer (CIO)
of each executive agency. The CIO must ensure the alignment of
customer service experience programs; coordinate with the
management leaders of the executive agency to ensure proper
funding for the implementation of this Act; examine the digital
service delivery strategy and submit recommendations to the
head of the executive agency; and use data to customer service
areas that need improvement.
Section 7. Standardization
Subsection (a) mandates that each executive agency maintain
standardization with other executive agencies.
Subsection (b) instructs the CIO of each executive agency
to coordinate implementation.
Subsection (c) requires the General Services Administration
to make the systems necessary available and put the systems in
a Federal Supply Schedule. The Federal Supply Schedule must
ensure interoperability between executive agencies, and
compliance with industry standards and best practices.
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, November 29, 2018.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 3050, the 21st
Century IDEA.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
S. 3050--21st Century IDEA
S. 3050 would require agencies to update their websites,
increase the use of electronic forms, implement the use of e-
signatures, standardize information technology (IT) throughout
the federal government, and improve the overall government IT
experience for users.
Reports on www.digital.gov indicate that the U.S.
government has about 6,000 websites and over 400 domains. The
Administration estimates that the federal government has over
23,000 forms--some on paper and some in various stages of
digital form. The federal government spends about $95 billion
annually on IT services, and according to the Budget of the
U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2019: Analytical Perspectives:
``federal agencies have a poor track record of appropriately
planning and budgeting for continuous modernization of their
legacy IT systems. Further, transition to other services such
as cloud and shared services remains slow.'' Recent
Administrations have made improvements to IT a management
priority, and those efforts continue.
S. 3050 does not specifically authorize an appropriation of
funds for agencies to achieve the goals of the legislation.
Many of the provisions would generally codify current policies
and practices. From CBO's review of the current federal digital
environment, it is not clear that agencies would take any extra
steps to implement S. 3050 beyond those measures already under
way or planned.
Several Government Accountability Office reports have
indicated that many agencies, including the Department of
Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service, have
invested billions of dollars in IT programs that have had
significant cost overruns and many operational problems.\1\ In
CBO's view, implementing S. 3050 would not lead to additional
costs beyond those already expected. If agencies did respond to
the legislation with greater efforts to expand electronic forms
and signatures and generally enhance IT services, those efforts
would probably involve discretionary costs of at least $100
million over the next five years. An expenditure of that scale
evenly distributed across 20 major federal department and
agencies would average $1 million per year for five years for
each department or agency.
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\1\Government Accountability Office, VA IT Modernization:
Preparations for Transitioning to a New Electronic Health Record System
Are Ongoing, GAO-18-636T (June 26, 2018), www.gao.gov/Products/GAO-18-
636T, and Information Technology: Management Attention Is Needed to
Successfully Modernize Tax Processing Systems, GAO-18-153T (October 4,
2017), www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-153T.
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Enacting S. 3050 could affect direct spending by some
agencies (the Tennessee Valley Authority, for example) that are
authorized to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and
other collections to cover their operating costs; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most such agencies can
adjust the amounts they collect, however, CBO estimates that
any net changes in direct spending would not be significant.
Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 3050 would not significantly
increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of
the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 3050 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
On November 28, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for
H.R. 5759, the 21st Century IDEA as ordered reported by the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on September
27, 2018. The two bills are similar and CBO's estimates of the
budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would make no changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
[all]