Rutland Herald (Vt.), Jan. 25:
We’re now in the last year of Barack Obama’s presidency. For many in the country, that’s something to celebrate. His legacy is already hotly debated, and the November election will have an impact on how much of that legacy is carried forward.
But Obama supporters and Obama detractors should all support the continuation of one small, oft-overlooked innovation that the current president brought to life: the United States Digital Service.
This service sprang out of what is arguably one of Obama’s biggest failures: the bungled launch of the healthcare.gov website. The site was meant to be a portal for Americans to sign up for health insurance through the exchanges – but it was riddled with problems, and Obama ended up calling in a rescue team to fix the site.
The rescue team included many of the best and brightest from the United States’ technology sector, who put their lives on hold and dedicated thousands of hours to working with officials and contractors to get the health insurance site back on track.
When that task was completed, several members of the team realized they’d done something positive for their country. They connected others in technology who were willing to take time out to make government – and, by extension, people’s lives – better. They’d also lowered costs – the healthcare. gov effort helped replace a $200 million login system that cost $70 million per year to operate with one that cost $4 million to build and less than $4 million per year to operate.
The team wondered if they could do the same by applying their technology skills to other areas of government. The White House was listening, and in mid- 2014, the service was started.
What has happened since? The USDS has recruited bright people to apply the lessons of the technology sector throughout government. A sub-unit was started, called 18F, that works as a consultancy within the government. It partners with other agencies on specific tasks like improving the customer service portal for the Veterans Administration, reforming the Freedom of Information Act process, and creating a “College Scorecard” that makes data on college costs and outcomes easily accessible. In the process, they overhaul the partner agency’s approach and upgrade their skills. They also leave behind a change in philosophy.
What have they found? That many of the “bureaucrats” that are called out by politicians and critics actually want to do better, but are simply trapped by the inertia of the government and limited by the existing technology. They’ve found that many of the tech world’s best and brightest are highly motivated by the opportunity to help out, and to help the people in need who are served by the government. They’ve also found that there is incredible potential to improve the efficiency and quality of government services – and they’re doing it.
There are several examples in Vermont where state government has attempted a similar effort to improve its own processes. None have focused so exclusively on technology, or leveraged outside resources, to make the effort a forward-looking part of the state’s DNA. There were Tiger Teams under Gov. Jim Douglas, and more recently, several groups in the Agency of Natural Resources went through a process called LEAN Six Sigma, which is a set of processes used by industries to examine and improve existing processes and habits.
But there’s more that could be done, and it could have a very real and immediate impact on the lives of Vermonters and on the state budget.
As Mikey Dickerson, a founding member of the agency and part of the healthcare.gov team, said, a key element is to “make it possible for people who had been part of the problem in the past to change. …You have to give them permission to come along and get on the bandwagon. If they get convinced there won’t be any place for them in the new world, then (they will) dig in and resist what you’re doing. …You have to be willing to make friends with people you might not have otherwise thought.”
His insight might do a lot of good if it were applied more broadly by more people. But the U.S. Digital Service has had a major impact already by working without an agenda other than accomplishing a very straightforward goal: Make the government work better, using skills, principles and technology that are widely available in today’s world. We should bring that to Vermont.
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