The Office of Management and Budget has issued a new policy mandating the use of Login.gov for most public-facing government services. The move is intended to establish a universal sign-on system across federal services to improve how the government delivers services to the public through emerging technologies.
The administration stated that the initiative aims to resolve inefficiencies where citizens must manage multiple usernames and passwords or prove their identity several times when interacting with different agencies. According to survey data, nearly 66% of Americans reported that repetitive information requests from government agencies are a hassle. By utilizing a single, government-operated identity platform, the administration expects to allow users to reuse information across various services while keeping interactions within the .gov domain.
Officials noted that the transition is expected to increase the adoption of digital services. Digital channels are increasingly preferred by the public and are more cost-efficient for the government to operate than phone or in-person interactions. Improved sign-on experiences are viewed as a way to make digital services more accessible to a broader range of users.
The policy is also designed to reduce taxpayer costs by eliminating duplicative spending. Currently, various agencies procure and operate separate digital identity solutions, which often results in the government paying to verify the same individual’s identity multiple times. By centralizing the procurement of commercial identity tools, the government aims to achieve greater economies of scale.
Additionally, the administration noted that the move will reduce the frequency of paying commercial vendors to verify identity attributes that the government already maintains in its own databases.
