[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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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]