The U.S. Digital Government Strategy (Strategy), launched on May 23, 2012, is aimed at building a 21st-century government that works better for the American people.
The Strategy has three main objectives:
- Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-quality digital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device.
- Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, we seize the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure, and affordable ways.
- Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.
The Strategy applies to all federal agencies and agencies are required to post a Digital Strategy page on their websites that reports on plans toward achieving the Strategy’s goals and the current status of the agency’s digital governance structure. Recognizing the importance of the goals in this Strategy, FHFA-OIG has included a number of them in its management of its IT infrastructure. Summarized below are highlights of FHFA-OIG’s related efforts.
Governance for digital services
FHFA-OIG’s Digital Governance Plan (Plan) consists of the following procedures:
- Ongoing monitoring efforts by FHFA-OIG’s IT personnel to ensure FHFA-OIG’s compliance with all government-wide technical requirements associated with developing and delivering digital services;
- Ongoing monitoring efforts by FHFA-OIG’s Office of Counsel (OC) to ensure FHFA-OIG’s compliance with all associated legal requirements;
- Recurring, semi-annual reviews by IT personnel (including but not limited to the Chief Information Officer (CIO)) and OC staff with the purpose of:
- review of aggregated data and analytics received from FHFA-OIG’s participation in the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Digital Analytics Program (DAP) to further determine user goals, needs and behaviors and to aid in the ongoing testing of FHFA-OIG’s website and digital services to ensure that user needs are addressed;
- review of the website’s compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
- Review of requirements documents for any procurements of EIT products and services to ensure that Section 508 Technical and EIT Accessibility requirements are included;
- Review of development, operations and management lifecycle of FHFA-OIG’s website and digital services to ensure that Section 508 requirements are planned for and built into both;
- Analyze, as appropriate, the website’s compliance with the Information Quality Act and the Plain Writing Act based on related feedback received.
Enterprise-wide inventory of mobile devices and wireless service contracts
FHFA-OIG has completed an enterprise-wide inventory of mobile assets which is updated regularly. Mobile devices and data services are reviewed regularly as part of a broader IT Service Delivery Strategy review.
Evaluation of government-wide contract vehicles in alternatives analysis for all new mobile-related procurements
FHFA-OIG has evaluated government-wide contract vehicles (also known as government-wide acquisition contracts, or “GWACs”) to determine the optimal vehicles for all new procurements of goods and services related to mobile access. GWAC evaluations will be performed going forward to the extent operationally necessary.
Optimization of at least two existing priority customer-facing services for mobile use and plan for improving additional existing services
FHFA-OIG’s current website, www.fhfaoig.gov, was developed using responsive design, and can be used effectively on any device/screen size, whether a desktop PC, mobile phone, or tablet.
FHFA-OIG has also made significant investments to ensure that its written reports and publications are fully accessible and available on these same devices in accordance with applicable Government guidelines. Any additional customer-facing services developed or identified will be subject to this requirement as part of FHFA-OIG’s overall Digital Governance efforts.
Implementation of performance and customer satisfaction measuring tools on all .gov websites.
FHFA-OIG’s website, www.fhfaoig.gov, is operated through the General Services Administration (GSA). Federal agencies are now required to use GSA’s DAP, which uses “persistent” cookies to provide website usage statistics to us which are anonymous and aggregated. Data is automatically sent from a persistent cookie placed on the visitor’s computer(s) to DAP, which uses Google Analytics to aggregate it.
A persistent cookie is a small text file that this website places on a visitor’s computer so that it can gather anonymous summary demographic information, and remember that visitor’s computer if the individual visits our site at a later time. We use persistent cookies for the sole purpose of improving visitor experience on our website. Neither FHFA-OIG nor GSA receives PII through these persistent cookies and we do not combine, match, or cross-reference the information collected by persistent cookies with any other information.
Most computers automatically accept persistent cookies, but instructions for how to disable cookies from being retained on computers can be found at: http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml. Should you disable persistent cookies, you will continue to be able to access all information and resources at our website.
As noted above, FHFA-OIG is required to participate in the DAP. FHFA-OIG uses information from the DAP to improve its website, to share information more effectively, and to create a more engaging experience for website visitors.