Губернатор Вирджинии назначила директора нового цифрового ведомства для модернизации государственных услуг

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday announced the appointment of Andrea Fletcher as director of the Virginia Digital Service (VDS), a new team that will bring together engineers, designers and technical specialists to modernize state systems and websites. Fletcher is the first chief digital strategy officer for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a role she has had since June 2023. The creation of VDS follows Spanberger’s proposal to establish it through an amendment to Virginia’s bipartisan budget. The governor pointed to $52 million in taxpayer money that the state lost on a failed IT project under the previous administration as one reason for establishing the new team. But the effort, Spanberger said, is as much about the everyday experience of using government as it is about technology itself. “State government should work for the people it serves,” she said in a statement, describing a goal of making services available “quickly, easily, and reliably.” Fletcher and the new team will, the governor said, focus on speeding up the delivery of services families depend on. State government has a responsibility, Spanberger said, to use taxpayer dollars “as effectively and efficiently as possible,” adding that Virginia should serve as a model for making “smart, sound investments in technology.” VDS, she said, will be part of that effort by making state government more accountable and responsive. Fletcher, the new director, said the work starts with making government services easier for residents to navigate. They should, she said, “have an expectation that government services be intuitive and easy to use,” adding she is excited to “demonstrate that government can build great technology.” The new team will not be limited to website and system improvements. Virginia also plans to use VDS in responding to the effects of federal cuts, including work tied to residents’ access to healthcare coverage and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program following cuts imposed by H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Virginia is looking to digital service teams in other states for examples of what the team can accomplish. But the overall inspiration for these types of teams can be traced to the creation of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) in 2014, which brought experienced technologists into government and put greater emphasis on what people actually needed from digital services. The methodology eventually made its way to the states, where governments began creating their own teams or adapting pieces of the model to fit their needs. Over time, those groups have taken on roles that extend beyond traditional IT, working across agency lines. States such as Colorado and Pennsylvania have brought technologists, designers and government employees together to focus on how residents interact with public services. Ironically, Fletcher’s own path into government followed that same digital service model. It began with USDS in 2021, after which she moved into digital leadership at the CMS, as chief digital strategy officer, leading its Digital Service team and creating the federal government’s first Open Source Program Office. In the U.S., her experience extends beyond digital service work to federal health IT policy and AI governance. Internationally, she has been involved in global health systems efforts in more than 20 countries, including digital health work related to COVID-19, Ebola and HIV. Virginia’s new team gives the state a way to apply lessons from digital service efforts elsewhere while focusing on the services residents use every day, Chief Transformation Officer David Wilkinson said in a statement. Whether someone is applying for a driver’s license, opening a business or accessing essential services, he said, state systems should be “simple, fast, and easy.”