The United States Digital Service is a technology unit housed within the

Executive Office of the President The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenc ...

of the United States. It provides consultation services to federal agencies on information technology. It seeks to improve and simplify digital service, and to improve federal websites. It was launched on August 11, 2014.

Activities

The US Digital Service has created: * A Digital Services Playbook, for improving digital government * Draft Web Design Standards, "to build

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

, mobile-friendly government websites" * TechFAR Handbook, on federal contracting and

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or s ...

*Discovery Sprint Guide The United States Digital Service sends a report to Congress each year detailing its projects and accomplishments. Its federal agency work spans across the

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and stre ...

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, and

Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

History

The United States Digital Service was the idea of

Jennifer Pahlka Jennifer Pahlka (born 27 December 1969) is the founder and former Executive Director of Code for America. She served as US Deputy Chief Technology Officer from June 2013 to June 2014 and helped found the United States Digital Service. Previously s ...

Chief Technology Officer of the United States The United States Chief Technology Officer (US CTO) is an official in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The U.S. CTO helps the President and their team harness the power of data, innovation and technology on behalf of the American people ...

. Pahlka's goal was to create an elite government technology unit at the White House that would be equivalent to the United Kingdom's Government Digital Service. The first head of the United States Digital Digital Service was

Mikey Dickerson Michael "Mikey" Dickerson was the first administrator of the United States Digital Service. He left Google in 2013 to join the healthcare.gov rescue team. He has been named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business and FedScoop 50' ...

, a former

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

engineer who was involved in the 2013–14 rescue of HealthCare.gov website. He was succeeded by

Matt Cutts Matthew Cutts (born 1972 or 1973) is an American software engineer. Cutts is the former Administrator of the United States Digital Service. He was first appointed as acting administrator, to later be confirmed as full administrator in October 20 ...

, who was in that position until April 2021. The third administrator of the United States Digital Service was Mina Hsiang. During the Biden administration, Hsiang led the United States Digital Digital Service in deploying a new website about

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

s, Vaccines.gov. In 2021, United States Digital Service employed 215 people and was looking to expand further.

References

External links

* 2014 establishments in the United States Executive Office of the President of the United States Government agencies established in 2014 Information technology in the United States Open government in the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C. {{US-gov-stub

Activities

History

See also

References

External links