Lawmakers press for IDEA Act adoption

Ten House Democrats want the Biden administration to pick up the pace on implementation of the Integrated Digital Experience Act.  Passed in 2018, the IDEA Act calls for the improvement of federal websites and the increased use of modern business technologies in government service delivery, including support for digital signatures, online forms and mobile-optimized websites.

"The intent of the [law] was to accelerate digital modernization at agencies to improve how individuals access federal services, and to increase trust in government while driving down the cost of government operations, wrote the lawmakers, including the legislation’s sponsor Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)

The May 6 letter asks Shalanda Young, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, to quickly field guidance to support implementation of key provisions of the law, including the use of electronic signatures, website modernization and online forms.

The federal government published a guide for agencies in 2020 that supports many of the goals of the IDEA Act. The bill also called for agencies to report to Congress in December 2019 with information on sites and services they planned to modernize to comply with the IDEA Act and share cost and schedule information. According to the letter, agencies were not uniform in sharing their plans.

"The law had several implementation deadlines -- ranging from180 days to two years from enactment --all of which have passed with limited and unequal agency compliance," the lawmakers wrote.