Delivering a digital-first public experience: One agency’s plan

In December 2018, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA) was signed into law. It requires all executive branch agencies to:

• Modernize their websites
• Digitize services and forms
• Accelerate use of e-signatures
• Improve the customer experience
• Standardize and transition to centralized shared services

In September 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, to provide agencies with implementation guidance.

OMB organizes this guidance into seven digital experience pillars — with suggested tactics to meet federal requirements and deliver outcomes to the public.

Below, watch the eight-minute opening keynote of Clare Martorana, Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of Management and Budget, at the 2024 Digital.gov Summit: Delivering a digital-first public experience.

Why this matters

Digital government should be simple, fast, and easy for everyone, but many federal websites and digital services aren’t meeting the public’s needs and expectations. According to OMB’s Fact Sheet on Building Digital Experiences for the American People, as of September 2023:

• 45% of federal websites are not mobile-friendly.
• 60% of federal websites have a possible accessibility issue.
• 80% of federal websites do not use the U.S. Web Design System.

And, many government forms and services require paper processes, which add burden and a “time tax” on both the public and the federal workforce serving the public:

• To date, only 2% of federal government forms have been digitized (offered as a dynamic online form, not just a fillable online PDF).
• The public spends more than 10.5 billion hours each year completing government paperwork.
• About $140 billion in potential government benefits goes unclaimed each year due to complicated or outdated processes.

How we are getting started at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)

M-23-22 contains more than 100 requirements and the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer (OFCIO) has stated that it is a 10-year roadmap for a modern digital experience. It is impossible to tackle all these requirements at once, so we are using an agile, quick-start approach to get started at GSA with eight of them.

1) Accessible to people of diverse abilities

We have an obligation to equitably serve all users. Federal websites and digital services must be accessible to people of all different abilities.

Action items:

• Making accessibility part of our thought process on day one. Move it to the left on the timeline.
• Not waiting until the end to test or treat accessibility issues like bugs (e.g., unintended behavior usually caught by testing).
• Designing accessible experiences.
• Following accessibility guidance: Requirements for strengthening the federal government’s commitment to digital accessibility.
• Testing (both manual and automated) for accessibility.

2) Consistent visual design and agency brand identity

When websites and digital services have an inconsistent look and feel as users navigate across an agency’s network or across federal websites, this causes a fragmented and confusing online experience.

Action items:

• Using U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) components across our sites — not just the banner and identifier.
• Using a government (.gov) domain name.
• Reducing user friction by limiting warnings; stop alarming or frightening our users in ways that erodes trust.

3) Content that is authoritative and easy to understand

The public should not have to confront confusing jargon or decipher duplicative or conflicting sources of government information online. M-23-22 requires agencies to review and validate content to ensure the public gets the answers they need.

Action items:

• Checking for pre-existing sites before standing up a new one. Stop publishing duplicative content.
• Always using plain language.
• Producing content that our target audience understands. The average reader reads at an 8th grade level.
• Writing in a conversational tone, “like people talk to each other.”
• At least once per year, reviewing our content and getting rid of redundant, obsolete, trivial content.
• Decommissioning outdated, unnecessary, or duplicative sites.
• Defaulting to HTML. Stop publishing PDFs to convey content.

4) Information and services are discoverable & optimized for search

Search is a basic and universal part of using the internet, and search functionality is an expected feature for all federal websites and digital services.

Action items:

• Using on-site search functionality, like Search.gov.
• Designing content optimized for search engines.
• Including the date the content was created or last updated.
• Allowing bots unimpeded access to content for web scraping.

5) Secure by design, secure by default

Secure websites and digital services are non-negotiable. We must ensure that every phase of the design and development lifecycle for our websites and digital services accounts for application security and its impact on users.

Action items:

• Engaging with our IT security representatives early and often.
• Conducting regular security assessments and testing.
• Maintaining a disclosure policy that allows the public to report potential security vulnerabilities without recourse.
• Checking with our IT department first to see if third-party resources are safe to use.

6) User-centered and data-driven design

Federal websites and digital services should be designed and delivered with users at the center of the experience.

Action items:

• Starting with users’ wants and needs.
• Engaging users throughout design and development.
• Testing with a representative cross-section of users.
• Stop substituting our understanding of user needs for direct interactions with users.
• Reviewing web analytics. Encouraging all GSA web managers to become familiar with the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) and watch the DAP training videos on Digital.gov’s analytics playlist.

7) Mobile-first design that scales across device sizes

A majority of the public accesses federal information and services online from mobile devices. All federal websites and digital services must be mobile-friendly.

Action items:

• Designing mobile-friendly and device-agnostic websites and digital services.
• Testing on mobile phones and tablet devices.
• Avoiding the building or maintenance of unnecessary mobile apps.

8) Digitization

The public expects to be able to interact with the government through digital channels.

Action items:

• Considering web forms instead of fillable PDFs.
• Accepting electronic signatures.

Connect and learn

Join the Web Managers Community to share and explore best practices for creating great digital-first public experiences.

Also, please continue visiting the requirements for delivering a digital-first public experience for the latest information. This resource is updated regularly.

Jessica Marine served as GSA’s Digital Experience Delivery Lead for most of fiscal year 2024. She also serves as a Product Manager on GSA’s Service Delivery team.