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How 21st Century IDEA set a higher standard for customer experience

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3 months ago

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What: How 21st Century IDEA set a higher standard for customer experience
When: President Donald Trump signed the 21st Century IDEA into law in December 2018.
Why it matters: The legislation pushed agencies to develop a digital-first approach to customer experience that laid down a blueprint for a more modern, digital-first federal government. It became essential at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2025, we’re spotlighting 25 pivotal moments that reshaped the way the government operates. Visit our anniversary page each week as we look back on these defining moments.

For more than a decade, customer experience teams across the federal government have focused on making sure agencies are providing a level of service with the private sector.

Much of that momentum began under the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) It gave agencies a blueprint for a more modern, digital-first customer experience in government. The law required agencies to move more of their public-facing services online, make federal websites more mobile-friendly and accept electronic signatures, to help wean agencies off paper-based processes.

“It was bipartisan, and it passed under the first Trump administration as a way to really firm up the importance of how should the government transform,” said Lee Becker, the former chief of staff for the Veterans Experience Office at the Department of Veterans Affairs, now the senior vice president and executive advisor for public sector and health care at Medallia. “The public is getting more used to doing things digitally, but what we’ve learned is that it can’t just be digital-only.”

President Donald Trump signed the 21st Century IDEA into law in December 2018, but without increased funding to roll out new tools, agencies initially stalled on implementation.

“I don’t think, in the first year-and-a-half, we made a ton of progress on 21st Century IDEA,” said Mike Hettinger, president and founding principal of the Hettinger Strategy Group, an early champion of the legislation.

Martha Dorris, a former GSA executive and the founder of Dorris Consulting International, said 21st Century IDEA’s real value was codifying some longstanding CX best practices that were already happening in some parts of the federal government.

The 2010 Plain Writing Act, for example, required federal agencies to set clear government communications that the public can easily understand

“It was rolling up a lot of stuff that had been in place in many places for many, many years,” Dorris said.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the implementation of the 21st Century IDEA. With many agency offices shuttered and mandatory telework, it forced many federal agencies to change their approach in how they deliver services to citizens.

Add to that Congress approving a windfall of emergency pandemic funds, all of these factors allowed agencies to jumpstart the modernization of their public-facing digital services.

“You throw in the pandemic, a couple of years after the legislation was signed into law, and that really accelerated the reliance on the sorts of things that 21st Century IDEA was all about,” Hettinger said.

The height of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for a digital-first approach to services, as agencies scrambled to move their operations online.

“COVID did put a spotlight on the need for agencies to provide better digital services, and agencies moved in that direction just out of sheer necessity,” said Erica Fensom, vice president of corporate affairs at DocuSign, said in a November 2023 interview. “The pandemic also exposed just how much room there is for improvement for agencies to provide better digital services, and how agile government agencies can be to change.”

The Office of Management and Budget doubled down on the IDEA Act when it laid out a 10-year digital experience roadmap and released long-awaited implementation guidance.

Agencies have about 100 actions to transform, evolve and standardize the citizens’ online experience that will drive the concept of “digital by default.” The 100 actions are broken down across seven broad categories, including branding, analytics, design and content.

While the first Trump administration made public service delivery a priority through the President’s Management Agenda,  which made improved customer experience a cross-agency priority goal, the new administration has yet to lay out its management priorities.

“We haven’t really seen the second Trump administration have its eye on the ball with CX just yet,” Dorris said.

But between the OMB memo to implement the IDEA Act and now the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act (GSDIA), signed into law by former President Joe Biden in January, all this CX work is about to move to a new phase. The new legislation requires OMB and agencies to appoint a senior official to lead service delivery improvements governmentwide.

Dorris raised concerns that the legislation is focused too much on service delivery, rather than a broader focus on customer experience.

“A government service delivery lead is different than a customer experience person. Words matter,” she said. “You can’t have an office that just does voice of the customer or just does design work. It’s a bigger job than that, and I’m not sure people have had the resources or the authority to do it at the level that that law is asking for.”

Dorris said the legislation set up a clearer chain of command for who leads on customer experience improvements across the federal government.

“It sets up a governance structure that should help to be simplified. You’ve got CIOs, you’ve got digital services leads, digital experience leads and chief customer officers. You’ve got digital services teams. Who’s in charge of the service delivery, and who monitors it, looks at all the data across the agency and determines. Are you meeting the expectations of your customers? This law does that,” Dorris said.

Hettinger said the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act builds on the work of the 21st Century IDEA.

“Things are not going to be successful unless we have full leadership buy-in and leadership structure to support what you’re trying to do,” Hettinger said. “That’s why the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act is so important, because that’s about working with 21st Century IDEA. That’s about a structure at the agencies to ensure they’re paying attention and budgeting for 21st Century IDEA.”

Despite some CX momentum, agencies still have lots to do before meeting all the goals of the 21st Century IDEA and subsequent legislation.

“21st Century IDEA didn’t mandate more use of electronic signatures. It mandated a plan to accelerate the use of electronic signatures,” Hettinger said. “There’s a way to go on all of the things that 21st Century IDEA called for. And that’s why the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act is so important.”

Becker said all CX improvements need to start with ongoing feedback from customers and frontline federal employees who provide services to the public.

“It’s really the biggest risk if we forget the front line and the public,” he said. “It could go off the rails if we forget what made IDEA Act effective in the first place. It’s a relentless focus on the user experience of trust and mission delivery.”

The post How 21st Century IDEA set a higher standard for customer experience first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Politics

Black Lives Matter Activist in Boston Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges – Scammed Donors to Fund Her Lifestyle

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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Screencap of YouTube video.

A Black Lives Matter activist in Boston named Monica Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty to federal charges this week, admitting that she scammed donors and used their money to fund her own lavish lifestyle.

Cannon-Grant was previously held up as an admired figure. The city of Boston named her the Bostonian of the year at one point for her ‘social justice activism’ and she was even recognized by the Boston Celtics basketball team for her efforts.

She is now facing a minimum of two years in prison.

The New York Post reports:

BLM-linked activist admits conning donors to fund her lavish lifestyle

A once-celebrated Boston social activist has pleaded guilty to defrauding donors — including Black Lives Matter — out of thousands of dollars that she used as a personal piggy bank.

Monica Cannon-Grant, 44, pleaded guilty Monday to 18 counts of fraud-related crimes that she committed with her late husband while operating their Violence in Boston (VIB) activists group, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

The activist scammed money — including $3,000 from a BLM group — while claiming it was to help feed children and run protests like one in 2020 over the murder of George Floyd and police violence.

Cannon-Grant also conned her way into getting $100,000 in federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits — which she used to pay off her personal auto loan and car insurance policy.

But she has now confessed to transferring funds to personal bank accounts to pay for rent, shopping sprees, delivery meals, visits to a nail salon — and even a summer vacation to Maryland.

Just amazing.

Here’s a local video report:

She should pay back every penny.

The post Black Lives Matter Activist in Boston Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges – Scammed Donors to Fund Her Lifestyle appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Keith Olbermann Backpedals Furiously With Apology for Threatening CNN’s Scott Jennings – Jennings Responds (VIDEO)

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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As the Gateway Pundit reported yesterday, former MSNBC host and generally unhinged leftist Keith Olbermann, appeared to threaten CNN’s conservative pundit Scott Jennings on Twitter saying, ‘You’re next motherf**ker.’

Well, Olbermann may have gotten a phone call or a visit from the FBI because today he walked back those comments with a full-throated apology.

RedState has an update:

To quickly recap, Scott Jennings, a Salem Media Network radio host and conservative CNN political commentator, reacted to breaking news on Monday that Kimmel had been reinstated by tweeting, “So basically his employer suspended him for being an insensitive pr**k, and we don’t live in an authoritarian regime? Got it.”

This enraged Olbermann, who proceeded to tweet what many, including Jennings, perceived to be a threat. “You’re next, motherf**ker. But keep mugging to the camera.” Jennings tagged Patel and included a screengrab of the tweets in response.

Though the FBI hasn’t commented as to whether an investigation was launched, Olbermann ostensibly appears to have thought twice about what he tweeted and deleted, apologizing profusely in tweets posted on Tuesday and claiming what he wrote was “misinterpreted”:

See Olbermann’s tweet below:

Scott Jennings, always a class act, offered this hilarious response:

Keith Olbermann really needs help. The guy is just so out of control.

The post Keith Olbermann Backpedals Furiously With Apology for Threatening CNN’s Scott Jennings – Jennings Responds (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Politics

Where is Lance Twiggs? Kirk Assassin’s Transgender Lover Has Vanished

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson and roommate Lance Twiggs

Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson lived with his transgender partner – a male-to-female trans named Lance “Luna” Twiggs.

The FBI used Robinson’s texts with his transgender partner to solidify that Robinson was the assassin. Lance Twiggs has not been charged with any crime; however, federal authorities are still investigating.

Last week, Utah authorities released the text exchange between Tyler Robinson and his transgender lover, Lance Twiggs, sent shortly after Kirk’s assassination.

Utah County District Attorney Jeff Gray announced seven charges against Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson. They will also be seeking the death penalty.

Robinson was charged with:

– Count 1: Aggravated murder (capital offense)
– Count 2: Felony reckless discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury
– Count 3: Felony obstruction of justice for hiding the firearm
– Count 4: Felony obstruction of justice for discarding the clothing he wore during the shooting
– Count 5: Witness tampering for asking roommate to delete incriminating messages
– Count 6: Witness temperating for demanding trans roommate stay silent, and not speak to police
– Count 7: Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child

Jeff Gray released the chilling texts between Tyler Robinson and his “love” Lance Twiggs.

Read the text exchange here:

Tyler Robinson texts with transgender lover Lance Twiggs / 1
Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson texts with transgender lover Lance Twiggs / 2

Lance Twiggs was reportedly cooperating with the FBI, however, according to the Daily Mail he has seemingly vanished.

“If [Lance Twiggs] ever comes back, it will be in a body bag,” a neighbor said to the Daily Mail. “That’s not a threat – I’m just saying that there are so many people who want a piece of him he’d be mad to show his face in public again. This was a generational event.”

The Daily Mail reported:

The Trans boyfriend of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin has fled their former lovenest – and locals tell the Daily Mail they never want to see him again.

Lance Twiggs, 22, was led away for questioning when police swooped on the smart three-bed condo he shared with accused gunman Tyler Robinson, 22.

Shaken neighbors say the part time plumber has not been back to the $320,000 property in St. George, Utah – one declaring: ‘Good riddance. I never want to see either of them again.’

His beaten-up Infinity compact is still parked in his space with his work gear tossed across the back seat and a sandwich wrapper and a drink on the front passenger seat.

Upstairs lights have been left on for more than a week and notes and Amazon packages are piling up outside the home owned by Twiggs’s devout Mormon family.

The post Where is Lance Twiggs? Kirk Assassin’s Transgender Lover Has Vanished appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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