Government IT on CrossGov.com

The US Still Has No National Digital ID, So OMB Orders Agencies Onto Login.gov Within Two Years

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 31 August 2026 the White House budget office told federal agencies to make Login.gov the default way Americans sign in to government services. Memo M-26-18 gives agencies two years to offer Login.gov on every public-facing site in scope, and one year for the highest-traffic services. Commercial identity providers such as ID.me and CLEAR are allowed only by exception. Defence, intelligence and national security systems are exempt.

It’s the closest thing Washington has to a national digital identity policy. The United States has no national ID card and no state-issued digital ID. What it has is a patchwork: a GSA login service, a private company running identity checks for the tax agency, and driver’s licences issued by fifty states.

Why Government IT Projects Fail: HealthCare.gov, the FBI's Virtual Case File and the Lessons From Phoenix, Horizon and Robodebt

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 1 October 2013 HealthCare.gov opened and buckled on day one. The HHS inspector general later counted nearly $800 million obligated across 60 contracts by February 2014. A decade earlier the FBI had scrapped its Virtual Case File after three years and $170 million. And GAO says the federal government still spends about 80% of its more than $100 billion a year in IT on running systems it already has.

Technology Modernization Fund Faces the December 11 Cliff After GAO Finds $13.5 Million in Realised Savings on $1 Billion

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Technology Modernization Fund was created in 2017 to lend agencies money to replace old IT systems, with the loans repaid from savings. GAO reported in July that the fund had invested about $1.03 billion in 68 projects by June 2025. The projects expected about $1.06 billion in savings, but 98% of that isn’t expected until fiscal 2027 or later. Realised savings so far: about $13.5 million, from 11 projects. Thirty-seven projects expect no savings at all, and seven were cancelled.

VA's Oracle Health Record Costs Near $50 Billion as the Contract Ceiling Nearly Triples and Cleveland and Anchorage Go Next

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

At a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on 2 September, VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence put the cost of the department’s new electronic health record at about $48 billion: about $37 billion to finish deploying it through 2031 and about $11 billion to run it. He confirmed the figure isn’t an independent estimate.

The last independent estimate, by the Institute for Defense Analyses in 2022, was $49.8 billion over the system’s life. GAO testified the same day that the estimate needs updating and that VA still hasn’t provided a new cost estimate or a schedule GAO can assess.

GAO 2025 High-Risk List: 38 Federal Programs, 10 Improved, 3 Got Worse

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every two years the Government Accountability Office publishes a short list of the parts of the US government most likely to waste money or fail at their job. The 2025 edition, released on 25 February 2025, has 38 entries. Some have been on it for decades.

It’s the closest thing Washington has to an official map of where things go wrong. Read with the right eye, it’s also a guide to which reforms actually work.

GAO Finds 11 Federal Legacy IT Systems Costing $754 Million a Year, the Oldest 60 Years Old

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

GAO’s latest review of federal legacy IT looked at 11 critical systems across ten agencies. Together they cost about $754 million a year to run. They range from 23 to 60 years old. The Defense Department’s oldest system is 60. A Treasury system, written in COBOL and assembly language, is 59.

Eight of the eleven still run on legacy languages. Several depend on hardware the vendor no longer supports, and on a shrinking pool of staff who know how they work.

IRS Heads Into the 2027 Filing Season With No Commissioner, 28% Fewer Staff and the First Tip and Overtime Forms

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 2027 filing season, for tax year 2026, will be the first in which employers report qualified overtime pay on W-2 forms, under a new box 12 code. The IRS confirmed the reporting rules in August. Workers can deduct up to $12,500 of overtime pay, or $25,000 on a joint return, with the deduction phasing out above $150,000 of income for single filers. Similar reporting for tips is on draft 1099 forms.