Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “State and Local Digital Service Act of 2021”.
State and Local Digital Service Act of 2021
A BILL
To require the Administrator of General Services to establish the Digital Service Agreement Program, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
Administrator— The term Administrator means the Administrator of General Services.
Digital service agreement— The term digital service agreement means a grant awarded or a cooperative agreement or memorandum of understanding entered into under section 3.
Digital service team— The term digital service team means a team of employees of an eligible applicant that extends existing software development capacity and directly supports and improves service delivery, focusing on user-centered design and development practices through the use of modern product development techniques, such as—
user research and design;
incremental and iterative outcome driven delivery practices; and
procurement and funding practices for software development that rely on outcome-driven, modular contracts.
Eligible application— The term eligible applicant means a State, eligible Tribal government, or unit of local government, or any instrument thereof.
Eligible Tribal government— The term eligible Tribal government means the recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, component band, or component reservation, individually identified (including parenthetically) in the list published most recently as of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).
Specialized or technical services— The term specialized or technical services means statistical and other studies and compilations, development projects, technical tests and evaluations, technical information, training activities, surveys, reports, documents, products, platforms, and other similar services.
State— The term State has the meaning given that term in section 549(a) of title 40, United States Code.
Underserved or disadvantaged community— The term underserved or disadvantaged community means—
a low-income community;
a community of color;
a Tribal community;
a rural community;
aging individuals;
individuals with disabilities;
individuals with a language barrier, including individuals who—
are English learners; or
have low levels of literacy;
veterans; or
any other community that the Administrator determines is disproportionately vulnerable to, or bears a disproportionate burden of, any combination of economic, social, environmental, or climate stressors.
Unit of local government— The term unit of local government means a city, county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State.
Sec. 3 Digital service agreement
In general— The Administrator, in consultation with the Administrator of the United States Digital Service, shall establish a Digital Service Agreement Program, under which the Administrator shall award grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements or memoranda of understanding with, eligible applicants in accordance with the requirements of this section for the purpose of planning, establishing, or supporting a digital service team or supporting digital services collaboration between digital service teams to improve the delivery of government assistance through digital services.
Digital service agreement criteria— In considering whether to execute a digital service agreement under this section, the Administrator, in consultation with the Administrator of the United States Digital Service, shall consider—
evidence of significant executive support from the eligible applicant for the establishment of digital service teams and a commitment to modernizing government technology and service delivery;
evidence of the ability and commitment of the eligible applicant to ensure sustainment of digital service teams after the end of the digital services agreement, including financial resources and any administrative changes that may be necessary;
the extent to which the eligible applicant may be able, and is committed, to adopting innovative procurement and service design practices;
whether the eligible applicant would be otherwise unable to establish or support digital service teams without a digital service agreement;
the extent to which the establishment of digital service teams by the eligible applicant is likely to lead to improvements in service delivery related to Federal programs;
to the extent applicable, whether an eligible applicant intends to support a collaborative agreement under subsection (c);
whether the eligible applicant will prioritize the use of more than 50 percent of the amounts received under a digital service agreement for salary and benefits of the members of the digital service team; and
any other criteria determined by the Administrator and included in a notice of funding availability made available in advance to all eligible applicants.
Collaborative agreements— The Administrator may execute a digital service agreement with 1 or more eligible applicants, in accordance with the criteria established in subsection (b), for the purpose of supporting collaborative service delivery projects across jurisdictional boundaries.
Planning support— In addition to the digital service agreement criteria under subsection (b), the Administrator shall, to the greatest extent possible, minimize the burden on eligible applicants in the development of proposals for a digital service agreement, including by providing direct technical assistance to eligible applicants in the preparation applications for digital service agreements.
Supplement not supplant— Any awards made as part of a digital service agreement with an eligible applicant shall supplement, not supplant, other Federal, State, local, or Tribal funds that are available to the eligible applicant to carry out activities described in this section.
Limitations—
Term— A digital service agreement shall have a term of not longer than 5 years, unless the Administrator determines that a longer term is warranted to ensure significant return on investment or the adoption of innovative practices to meet the requirements of the eligible applicant.
Amount— A digital service agreement may not exceed $10,000,000, unless the Administrator determines that a greater amount is likely to provide a significant return on investment or the adoption of innovative practices to meet the requirements of the eligible applicant.
Congressional notification— Not later than 30 days before the Administrator executes or modifies a digital services agreement that would result in a term in excess of the maximum term specified under paragraph (1) or exceed the maximum amount specified under paragraph (2), the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives notice and an explanation of the reasons for the determinations by the Administrator.
Matching requirement—
In general— Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Federal share of an activity carried out using amounts received under a digital service agreement for establishing or supporting a digital service team shall be not more than 90 percent.
Waiver— Upon application by an eligible applicant, the Administrator may waive the requirement under paragraph (1) if the Administrator determines that the eligible applicant demonstrates financial need.
Set asides—
In general— From amounts made available in a fiscal year to carry out the Digital Service Agreement Program under this section, the Administrator shall reserve not more than 10 percent for the implementation and administration of the program, which shall include—
providing assistance to eligible applicants to prepare applications for digital service agreements in accordance with subsection (d);
upon request of an eligible applicant whose application is successful, providing technical support and assistance to support the execution of a digital services agreement;
assisting eligible applicants in preparing and submitting reports required under section 4;
conducting outreach to eligible applicants regarding opportunities to apply for digital service agreements; and
such other actions determined by the Administrator to carry out the program.
Eligible Tribal governments— From amounts made available in a fiscal year to carry out the Digital Service Agreement Program under this section, the Administrator may use not less than 10 percent for digital service agreements with eligible Tribal governments.
Consultation and public engagement— In carrying out this Act, the Administrator shall conduct ongoing collaboration and consultation with—
the Administrator of the United States Digital Service;
State agencies and governors of States (or equivalent officials);
national, State, local, and Tribal organizations that have digital service teams or that have particular experience with providing digital services for underserved or disadvantaged communities;
researchers, academics, and philanthropic organizations;
industry stakeholders that have demonstrated experience in designing, developing, and supporting digital services team and modern technology service delivery projects on behalf of public sector clients; and
other agencies, organizations, entities, and community stakeholders as determined appropriate by the Administrator.
Spending limitations— An eligible applicant may use amounts received under a digital service agreement for salaries and benefits of members of a digital service team and other costs related to establishing or ensuring the capacity and continuity of a digital service team.
Sec. 4 Reporting and evaluation
In general— The Administrator shall require semiannual progress reports from eligible applicants awarded or entering into a digital service agreement, and shall make a publicly available dashboard of service delivery metrics, performance measures, and progress under the terms and conditions of any digital service agreements.
Availability of results to Congress and public— The Administrator shall make available on a public website the results from the Digital Service Agreement Program, which shall include the following:
A description of digital service agreements executed under the Digital Service Agreement Program, including the following:
The cost and scope of each digital service agreement, including the type of agreement awarded or entered into and information regarding compliance with the matching requirements under section 3(g).
The name of each recipient that, as of the date of the report, has a digital services agreement that is in effect, including identifying whether the eligible applicant is an eligible Tribal government, a territory of the United States, or an underserved or disadvantaged community.
An analysis of common characteristics regarding the full allocation of digital services agreements in effect.
An accounting of the expenditure of funds received by an eligible applicant under a digital services agreement and the cost to the Federal Government to administer the Digital Services Agreement Program under this Act.
Information regarding successes of, failures of, lessons learned by, opportunities for improvement for, or recommendations related to the Digital Service Agreement Program or eligible applicants.
Any additional information determined necessary by the Administrator.
Sec. 5 State use of Federal resources
General— In addition to the authority provided by section 3, the Administrator may provide an eligible applicant specialized or technical services on a reimbursable or non-reimbursable basis.
Prohibition on Federal mandate— The Administrator may not require, as a condition of a digital service agreement, the use of any Federal service, program, or resources other than as necessary to plan, establish, or support a digital service under this Act.
Sec. 6 Authorization of appropriations
Agreements— There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this Act $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2028.
Amounts for audit and oversight— There are authorized to be appropriated to the Inspector General of the General Services Administration $1,000,000 for the first fiscal year during which digital service agreements are awarded or entered into, and each of the 7 fiscal years thereafter, for audits and oversight of funds made available to carry out this Act.
Availability— Amounts made available pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) shall remain available until expended.