eGov - The Pace is Quickening

The National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) was a U.S. government reform initiative launched in 1993 by then Vice President Al Gore.( National Partnership for Reinventing Government - Wikipedia ). In 1999 (June 30th to be exact), I had the great fortune while serving as Assistant Commissioner of Electronic Tax Administration for the Internal Revenue Service to receive the E-Gov99 Pioneer Award from Vice President Gore for leading (and leading is the operative term – I had a great team in support) efforts in enabling and growing ?electronic filing and payment of federal income taxes (IRS eFile and EFTPS) by individuals and business across the U.S.

With the recent announcement of Online Passport Renewal (in a separate post I shared my excitement using this new capabilitiy – 9 days from application to passport in hand), I asked Chatbox GPT-3.5 on my mobile phone as follows:

Me

Please cite 10 examples of the federal government digitalizing citizen services.

Chatbox

1.?????? Online tax filing services provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

2.?????? Electronic visa application system offered by the U.S. Department of State

3.?????? Social Security Administration's online portal for retirement and disability benefit claims

4.?????? National Park Service's website for campground reservations and park information

5.?????? Online passport application and renewal services through the U.S. Department of State

6.?????? Department of Veterans Affairs' online tools for applying for healthcare benefits and tracking claims

7.?????? Federal Student Aid's website for applying for and managing student loans

8.?????? U.S. Postal Service's online services for purchasing postage, tracking packages, and scheduling package pickups

9.?????? Department of Housing and Urban Development's online portal for applying for affordable housing programs

10.?? Federal Emergency Management Agency's website for registering for disaster assistance and checking the status of applications.

While this is by no means exhaustive, I also asked it for 20 examples, then 30 and Chatbox easily cited so many more. The point is that we are making real progress digitizing citizen services here in the U.S. and we should collectively acknowledge the efforts of so many government professionals (frankly, federal, state, and local) leading, delivering and supporting these efforts. We’ve come a long way since the launch of NPR in 1993. I’m excited for what lay ahead especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence in everyday common experiences (see my other post on to AI or Not to AI). It feels to me like digitization is truly beginning to accelerate. ??