Bill Would Extend US Digital Service Beyond the Obama Administration

A new bill introduced in the House, the US Digital Service Act, would extend the technology fix-it squad launched in the wake of the botched HealthCare.gov rollout well beyond the end of the Obama Administration. The bill, introduced May 27 by Rep Suzan DelBene (D-WA), would authorize the tech squad for the next 10 years, ensuring it wouldn’t automatically close down in 2017 when a new president takes office. In August 2014, President Barack Obama created what he has described as a tech “SWAT team” to help turn around troubled IT projects across the government. The White House’s digital team, led by former Google engineer Mikey Dickerson, is staffed by some of the same former Silicon Valley techies who helped fix the health care website. Digital service experts work on temporary, 2-year terms.