In 2008, President Obama was heralded as the future leader of the digital age. His campaign was the first real internet campaign, combining social media with digital metrics. For those of us fully immersed in the internet culture, it seemed a sign of things to come. Perhaps Washington was going to finally embrace technology and increase the flow of information between the government and the American public.
Five years later, it’s evident that, while President Obama is highly attuned to the digital era when campaigning, he has not spread this expertise to Washington. The over 300 federal agencies’ websites are not streamlined, making it very difficult to find any useful information. Beyond what the public sees, the lack of technological awareness within the agencies leads to waste in spending and reduced efficiency.
The Oct. 15 rollout of Healthcare.gov in some ways felt as though the American public was finally going to get the digital democracy Obama’s campaign seemed to promise. Yet, as we’re all aware, the rollout has been consumed with glitches and has become fodder for late-night talk shows.
In a recent statement, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius stated that “veterans from top Silicon Valley companies” have been called in to handle the problem. Frankly, this step represents another problem. Our top technological innovators should not be brought in to clean up the mess. They should be there from the start. They are now spending hours scouring lines of code to find errors, which is the least efficient way of dealing with potential glitches. Had they been there to write the code, this process could’ve taken days instead of weeks or months.
Federal contracting is predicated on long-term contracts with strict stipulations, even though technology is not long-term and it is does not fit within a box. You cannot plan 10 years ahead for your digital needs, because no one has any idea where technology will be in 10 years. The government needs to allow more flexibility when it comes to technology, because it changes too rapidly for rigidity and by the time many technologies are proven secure, the government is too often far behind the industry.
Silicon Valley is ready and willing to help. There are a number of CEOs and technological innovators that have expressed interest in working with Washington on a number of issues. Their expertise could be instrumental in creating an accessible platform, not only for healthcare, but also for other services.
In the next few years, we would do well to follow the U.K.’s lead with their 2011 implementation of a digital core. The U.K. has a Government Digital Service, a team of 300 techies who streamline British citizens’ interactions with the government.
According to their government estimates, this program has led to savings of upwards of $20 million per year. Not only that, but the government has consolidated all of its digital information in one website, gov.uk. On this site, citizens can pay their taxes, apply for passports, and see the requirements for a driver’s license. There’s no need to search through hundreds of pages just to find out whether or not you need to bring your Social Security card. For a government website, it’s shockingly user friendly and really speaks to the potential for the U.S. government.
Obviously, the U.S. system is more complicated with its state versus federal regulations, but the federal government should take the first step in better integrating technology. States often lead by example, and right now the example says a convoluted website with no clear answers is the way to go.
We have the opportunity to achieve an unprecedented level of transparency and accessibility in our democracy. The U.S. has one of the highest levels of internet penetration in the world, and there is no reason for the federal government to be ignoring it as an avenue for engaging citizens.
With the deluge of information that we receive everyday, a streamlined, unified government source will help dispel falsehoods before they can gain traction. It will also, hopefully, lead to greater citizen engagement. The potential is there, Washington just needs to plug into the 21st century.
