THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

 

For Immediate Release May 23, 2012

May 23, 2012

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Building a 21st Century Digital Government

The innovative use of technology is fundamentally transforming 

how the American people do business and live their daily lives. 

Exponential increases in computing power, the rise of high-speed 

networks, and the growing mobile revolution have put the 

Internet at our fingertips, encouraging innovations that are

giving rise to new industries and reshaping existing ones.

Innovators in the private sector and the Federal Government have 

used these technological advances to fundamentally change how 

they serve their customers. However, it is time for the Federal 

Government to do more. For far too long, the American people

have been forced to navigate a labyrinth of information across 

different Government programs in order to find the services they 

need. In addition, at a time when Americans increasingly pay 

bills and buy tickets on mobile devices, Government services

often are not optimized for smartphones or tablets, assuming the 

services are even available online.

On April 27, 2011, I issued Executive Order 13571 (Streamlining 

Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service), requiring

executive departments and agencies (agencies) to, among other 

things, identify ways to use innovative technologies to 

streamline their delivery of services to lower costs, decrease 

service delivery times, and improve the customer experience.

As the next step toward modernizing the way Government works, 

I charged my Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) with 

developing a comprehensive Government-wide strategy to build a 

21st century digital Government that delivers better digital 

services to the American people.

Today, the CIO is releasing that strategy, entitled "Digital 

Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve 

the American People" (Strategy), which provides agencies with 

a 12-month roadmap that focuses on several priority areas. The 

Strategy will enable more efficient and coordinated digital 

service delivery by requiring agencies to establish specific, 

measurable goals for delivering better digital services; 

encouraging agencies to deliver information in new ways that 

fully utilize the power and potential of mobile and web-based 

technologies; ensuring the safe and secure delivery and use of 

digital services to protect information and privacy; requiring

agencies to establish central online resources for outside 

developers and to adopt new standards for making applicable 

Government information open and machine-readable by default; 
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aggregating agencies' online resource pages for developers in 

a centralized catalogue on www.Data.gov; and requiring agencies 

to use web performance analytics and customer satisfaction 

measurement tools on all ".gov" websites.

Ultimately, this Strategy will ensure that agencies use emerging 

technologies to serve the public as effectively as possible. As 

a Government, and as a trusted provider of services, we must 

never forget who our customers are -- the American people.

In order to ensure that agencies make the best use of emerging 

technologies in serving the public, I hereby direct each agency

to take the following actions:

(1) implement the requirements of the Strategy within 

12 months of the date of this memorandum and comply with 

the timeframes for specific actions specified therein; and

(2) within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, 

create a page on its website, located at 

www.[agency].gov/digitalstrategy, to publicly report 

progress in meeting the requirements of the Strategy in 

a machine-readable format.

This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable 

law and subject to the availability of appropriations, and with 

appropriate protections for privacy and civil liberties.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is 

authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the 

Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

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