The new House digital services team aimed at improving user experience and increasing access to technology for the House of Representatives is expected to officially launch this summer. The HDS unit, detailed in a statement from Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor to the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, will consist of technologists and fellows based within the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer.

While initially tapped to lead the search for a constituent service management platform, the HDS team must look beyond procurement to be successful in its broader mandate, .

The establishment of this critical initiative offers an opportunity to significantly improve day-to-day House operations and employee experience with better processes and technology to modernize the business of House legislation.

From pandemic-driven modernization to lasting digital transformation

The need to implement efficient, secure, user-friendly tools and processes within the legislative branch has reached an all-time high in recent years, both due to the pandemic as well as the overwhelming increase in public engagement with their representatives.

In 2020, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress issued a landmark report emphasizing the need for improvements that would make the body work better for constituents, members and staff alike. Recommendations ranged from improving access to congressional websites for individuals with disabilities to expanding the use of digital signatures to apply to the majority of House business.

While the pandemic drove the urgent need for e-signatures, the report underscored the broader benefits of allowing more documents to be signed electronically. For example, reducing staff time required to gather co-sponsor signatures or remove a signature that had been added erroneously. Similarly, the call for IT and data maintenance plans to support remote work during the height of the pandemic was also essential for the long-term transition to a hybrid model.

The HDS unit will play a critical role in furthering many of the select committee’s IT modernization goals. In addition to spearheading the procurement of a constituent relations management platform, the team will also be tasked with building intuitive digital solutions to address member offices’ most significant challenges as well as staff offices with full-time IT experts.

Decreasing response time and improving the overall quality of communications is critical to making the legislative branch better serve constituents. While the right technology can support that effort, growing the IT toolset is only one piece of the puzzle.

People, processes and technology: How to make the House work smarter

To build transparency and accountability in the eyes of constituents, the HDS team must contribute to a strong operational foundation that prioritizes accessibility and user experience.

One group that stands to benefit greatly from House modernization efforts like the HDS unit is the dedicated workforce that undergirds the institution. Staffers on Capitol Hill must juggle a range of tasks from fielding constituent calls to helping draft legislation, often requiring them to work long, stressful hours.

In the face of ever-growing workloads and the pressures of the pandemic, thousands of congressional staffers are experiencing burnout and exhaustion at an all-time high. As a result, staffer turnover rate has reached its highest level since 2001, with 55% more House staffers leaving their jobs in 2021 than in the preceding year.

A core tenet of IT modernization, especially in government, is the implementation of sustained, incremental improvements –– streamlining operations in small ways that add up to transformational change. For staffers struggling with burnout, consistently better workflows could deliver far-reaching impacts.

For example, integrating a full-service e-signature capability for an expanded set of documents allows for faster processing and easier reporting, reducing both the time congressional staff spend traversing the Capitol in search of members and the hours spent compiling and redacting materials for public disclosure. Moreover, with such high turnover, the ability to access and review past documents more easily accelerates onboarding and strengthens continuity within member offices.

On the constituent side, better document management increases accessibility and accountability. Ensuring all public records are searchable allows members of the public to find the information they need more quickly and easily, offering constituents accessible avenues to find the information they need without waiting for a response from constituent services.

Implementing e-signatures among federal agencies has a proven track record of yielding better customer experience. A recent Forrester report surveying public sector employees from 32 government organizations found that e-signatures reduced errors and improved customer experience in 79% of cases. An additional 87% of government decision-makers surveyed reported that e-signatures increased business speed.

A unique opportunity to accelerate digital transformation

To build a solid foundation on which to scale digital transformation, the HDS team must draw on lessons and insights from federal counterparts as well as feedback from constituents and employees. By addressing pain points and focusing on small, sustainable improvements, the HDS team will not only increase transparency and accountability between lawmakers and constituents, but they will also see a significant improvement in operational efficiency that will improve the employee experience and reduce turnover rate.

More broadly, as the legislative branch emerges from the pandemic, the momentum towards modernization that was propelled by necessity has created a unique opportunity to scale digital transformation in the months ahead. Efforts like the upcoming House digital services team that dedicates resources and time to make real progress toward addressing longstanding technological challenges have the potential to usher in a new wave of growth.

David Santiago is head of industry for public sector, document cloud, Adobe

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