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Department of the Treasury

Public Law 115-336, “21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act”

December 2019 Report

Prepared for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) per the requirements of 

Section 3, subsection b(2) of Public Law 115-336.
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Table of Contents 

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act - 2019 Report to OMB and the Public on 

Modernizing Agency Websites and Digital Services 3

Background 3

Website Modernization (Section 3) 3

Coordination 4

Research, Analysis and Prioritization 4

Training 6

Digitization of Services and Forms (Section 4) 7

Electronic Signatures (Section 5) 7

Customer Experience and Digital Service Delivery (Section 6) 7

Standardization (Section 7) 7
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21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act - 2019 

Report to OMB and the Public on Modernizing Agency 

Websites and Digital Services

As required by the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA), this 

report details the progress of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) during 2019 to 

modernize our websites and digital services.

Background

21st Century IDEA requires federal executive branch agencies to report to Congress, OMB, and 

the public, on their progress to modernize their websites and digital services. The report to the 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is required once per year, for five years, beginning in 

December 2019. Agencies must report to the Director of OMB, and the public, on the agency’s 

progress over the previous year to implement the requirements of the Act and modernize their 

digital footprint.

High-level data on how people interact with federal public websites and digital services is 

available at https://analytics.usa.gov. More detailed data—including a list of the most-viewed 

websites and digital services, and trend data—is available via an application programming 

interface (API) at https://open.gsa.gov/api/dap/. Data can be filtered by agency and domain.

Website Modernization (Section 3)

As technology and digital services have grown to become a ubiquitous element of modern life, 

the Federal Government has recognized the need to transform its digital service footprint to 

meet constituent needs and expectations. Congress formally recognized this need for 

government-wide digital service transformation with the passage of the 21st Century IDEA in 

December 2018, which called for the modernization and digitization of government websites, 

services, and other public interactions, with the overall intent to improve and enhance the 

constituent experience and delivery of digital services.

Improving customer interactions with websites and digital services is a high priority for the 

Federal Government. A customer’s digital experience is impacted by many things, such as 

usability and accessibility, the way the content is written and organized, and a person's ability to 

complete a task. Treasury wants to provide constituents with an easy online experience, and 

has taken multiple steps to further this goal.

Treasury’s constituents span a wide array of audiences including the public, other government 

agencies, businesses and financial institutions. Providing a more modern, digital experience for

various services aligns directly with Treasury’s 2018-2022 Strategic Goal to “Achieve 

Operational Excellence”; specifically, the associated Objectives to “better enable mission 
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delivery by improving the reliability, security, and resiliency of Treasury’s infrastructure” through 

the modernization and securing of Treasury’s technology and information resources, and to 

“Improve customer value by increasing the quality and lowering the cost of Treasury’s products 

and services”. Across the Department, there are several other modernization efforts taking 

place alongside those mandated by the 21st Century IDEA, underscoring Treasury’s 

prioritization of, and commitment to, foundational transformation of its websites, forms, and 

services to meet the expectations of the public. While Treasury continues its modernization 

efforts, it will take an integrated approach at both the bureau and department level to create a

unified and enhanced service strategy for its public-facing services.

During the first year under the 21st Century IDEA, Treasury conducted the following 

modernization activities as detailed in the subsections below. As part of the ongoing 

implementation of the 21st Century IDEA, we will continue to review these modernization 

priorities on an ongoing basis, which may result in resequencing of initiatives where appropriate.

The speed with which the Department implements modernization efforts depends on the

availability of resources and consistency of funding.

Coordination

● Designated Points of Contact (POCs) at each Treasury bureau to collect bureau-level 

21st Century IDEA data for inclusion in Department-wide annual report submissions to 

OMB and Congress

● Gathered data collection and analysis baselines (e.g., prioritization and cost estimation 

methodology, website and digital service sizing methodology) from across Treasury 

Bureaus to serve as inputs to future standard Department-wide baselines 

Research, Analysis and Prioritization

● Conducted data call with all designated Treasury bureau POCs to obtain 21st Century 

IDEA report inputs of the websites and digital services that are most viewed or utilized 

by the public, or are otherwise important for public engagement that require 

modernization

● Treasury aggregated the bureau-level inputs to compile a list of current-state websites 

and digital services, estimated cost and modernization timeframes, and prioritized noncompliant sites and services based on weighted scores assigned to each (reference 

Table 1 below)

• Websites and digital services for which insufficient data was available to measure 

compliance with the Act will be reported on and prioritized as additional data becomes 

available
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Table 1: Prioritized Key Websites/Digital Services Requiring Modernization

Website/Digital Service Description

IRS.gov Main IRS website - includes overall IRS.gov modernization, as 

well as dedicated standalone effort to modernize IRS.gov 

search functionality (managed by IRS)

TTBOnline.gov TTB’s public facing website that hosts TTB’s current digital 

services for business permit applications, alcohol formula 

submissions, and alcohol beverage label submissions

(managed by Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau)

Treasury.gov Main Department of the Treasury website (managed by 

Departmental Offices)

IRS Modernized e-File (MeF)

– Internet Filing Application 

Production

AND

Provides an option to e-file Corporate, Exempt Organization, 

Individual, Partnership, and Excise Tax Returns online

MeF – Internet Filing 

Application Assurance Testing 

System (ATS)

The Electronic Program Operations requires that all Software 

Developers and Transmitters pass ATS before they can be 

accepted into the electronic filing program each Tax Year/filing 

season (managed by IRS)

Where's My Refund Allows a taxpayer to check on the status of their refund using 

knowledge-based authentication (managed by IRS)

Earned Income Tax Credit 

(EITC) Due Diligence Training

Helps tax preparers better understand the EITC and their 

responsibilities under the EITC Due Diligence regulations; 

provides Continuing Professional Education credit for 

Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) holders (managed 

by IRS)

TTB.gov TTB’s public facing website that provides information to TTB 

stakeholders about the regulation of the alcohol, tobacco, 

firearms and ammunition industries (managed by Alcohol and 

Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau)

Treas.gov Includes the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially 

Designated Nationals (SDN) list (managed by Departmental 

Offices)

MyMoney.gov A product of the Congressionally-chartered Federal Financial 

Literacy and Education Commission (managed by 

Departmental Offices)

TreasuryDirect.gov

Information for individual, institutional and government 

investors about Treasury securities (managed by the Bureau 

of the Fiscal Service)

Picklist Find or search for Forms, Instructions, and Publications by 

number, title, or revision date (managed by IRS)

Direct Pay

Provides a secure service to pay your tax bill or make an 

estimated tax payment from your checking or savings account 

at no cost to the user (managed by IRS)

Earned Income Tax Credit 

(EITC) and Other Refundable 

Credits

Helps tax preparers better understand the EITC and their 

responsibilities under the EITC Due Diligence regulations; 

provides Continuing Professional Education credit for 

Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) holders (managed 
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Website/Digital Service Description

by IRS)

Employee Identification 

Number (EIN) Assistant

Allows individuals, businesses, or their representatives to 

complete the EIN application online (managed by IRS)

Where’s My Amended Return Allows a taxpayer using knowledge-based authentication to 

check on the status of a Form 1040X filing (managed by IRS)

Get Transcript by Mail (Order 

a Transcript)

Allows a taxpayer to order an Account or Return Transcript for 

delivery by mail (managed by IRS)

Online Payment Agreement

Allows a qualified taxpayer or their authorized Power of 

Attorney to establish an installment agreement (managed by 

IRS)

PTIN (Preparer Tax 

Identification Number)

A registration system for paid preparers and PTIN issuance 

required by all return preparers receiving compensation

(managed by IRS)

Fiscal.Treasury.gov

Fiscal Service’s main site with information about Fiscal 

Service programs and services and reports and data on 

government financial accounting (managed by the Bureau of 

the Fiscal Service)

Secure Access

Provides an enterprise-wide framework to identify, proof, and 

register individual users and provide credentials for electronic 

access to the IRS systems, applications, and data repositories

(managed by IRS)

GetTranscript Allows a taxpayer to order an Account or Return Transcript for 

delivery by mail (managed by IRS)

Free File

Allows a qualifying taxpayer (income <$66,000) to use the 

Free File wizard to choose an online software that allows free 

preparation and e-filing of federal tax returns (managed by 

IRS)

Tax Assistance Center (TAC) 

Office Locator

Allows taxpayers to search for the nearest TAC office by ZIP 

Code. Links to Services Provided and Virtual Assistance 

provide details about the (managed by IRS)

Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA)

Provides taxpayers and tax professionals with limited ITS 

topics and related questions and answers. Leverages Oracle 

Policy Automation, a rules engine that enables the IRS to 

update business rules reflecting tax law changes. Once 

complete, users have the option to print the entire interview 

and the final response (managed by IRS)

Tax Exempt Organization (EO) 

Search

Allows users to search for EOs and check information about 

their federal tax status and filings, including revocation. Users 

may rely on the results from this EO search (formerly called 

select check) to determine deductibility of their contributions 

as they did previously, including electronic Pub 78 (managed 

by IRS)

Training

● Launched Digital Community of Interest that gathers Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) 

from across Treasury Bureaus to facilitate best-practice sharing and drive coordination in 
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the areas of digital transformation, IT modernization, and content management; a priority 

of this Community of Interest will be continual enhancement of constituent satisfaction 

with Treasury’s public-facing websites and digital services

Digitization of Services and Forms (Section 4)

● Used the bureau-level inputs to identify the top ten (10) non-digital services and forms 

with the greatest impact to the public that require digitization

● Non-digital services and forms data continues to be identified and prioritized 

Electronic Signatures (Section 5)

● In June 2019, Treasury submitted a plan to accelerate the use of electronic signatures, 

consistent with Taxpayer First Act, and as required by the 21st Century IDEA.

Customer Experience and Digital Service Delivery (Section 6)

● Established Treasury Digital Community of Interest (COI) to gather SMEs from across 

Treasury to facilitate best-practice sharing and drive coordination in the areas of digital 

transformation, IT modernization, and content management, with the goal of continually 

enhancing constituent satisfaction with public-facing websites and digital services

● Completed modernization efforts on IRS’s Online Account (OLA) and Tax Withholding 

estimator services, as well as all but one (1) IRS non-digital form, bringing both into 

compliance with 21st Century IDEA Requirements

● All of U.S. Mint’s public-facing websites and digital services meet 21st Century IDEA 

requirements:

○ U.S. Mint’s usmint.gov, catalog.usmint.gov, and ccac.gov, which once lived in an 

off-premises data center, are now hosted in the cloud, providing the public with 

exceptional service and availability

○ The MyUSMint mobile app is currently compliant with the 21st Century IDEA, and 

Mint is in the early stages of planning a more robust mobile app for the public

● Departmental Offices (DO) is currently modernizing Treasury.gov to comply with 21st

Century IDEA requirements to provide a more modern, robust user experience to the 

public through Treasury’s flagship website and portal to bureau information and services

Standardization (Section 7)

● As aforementioned, gathered data collection and analysis baselines (e.g., prioritization 

and cost estimation methodology, website and digital service sizing methodology) from 

across Treasury Bureaus to serve as inputs to future standard Department-wide 

baselines that will be used to drive yearly 21st Century IDEA reporting

● Established foundation for best-practice sharing and development of website and digital 

service standards through the Department-wide Digital Community of Interest