HHS Announces New Digital Service Division at ACF to Support Biden-Harris Administration’s Commitment to Customer Experience and Service Delivery

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announced a new division, Digital Service at ACF, within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). This new division reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to using technology to improve customer experience and service delivery for the American people.

“The addition of Digital Service at ACF is a clear step towards meeting ACF’s strategic goal to make innovation core to how we serve America’s children and families,” shared ACF Assistant Secretary January Contreras. “The Digital Service at ACF division will partner with our programs to ensure ACF is delivering human services that are customer-focused by leveraging modern technology practices.”

Digital Service at ACF works to transform and improve the U.S. human services ecosystem by modernizing information technology systems, improving the design and delivery of human services, and delivering value to the government stakeholders, human service providers, grantees, and consumers of ACF's services. This multi-disciplinary team of product managers, engineers, customer experience experts, and other technologists will work at the intersection of policy and service delivery to support ACF’s programs in delivering ACF’s mission.

Digital Service at ACF is a division within ACF Tech that seeks to deliver reliable, purposeful, and secure technology, data, and innovation to advance the ACF mission. ACF Tech’s vision is to empower ACF to reach more people — more efficiently, effectively, and equitably — through technology, data, and innovation. 

“Innovation is at the core of ACF Tech. We strive to pursue the best technology and provide the most useful tools to solve agency problems and meet customer needs. Digital Service at ACF will leverage technology and innovation best practices to breakdown silos, simplify processes, and develop tools to serve our nation’s children and families most effectively, efficiently, and equitably,” said ACF Chief Technology Officer and Acting Chief Information Officer Kevin Duvall.

Sarah Tully leads the division as Acting Director of Digital Service at ACF. Tully is an experienced government technology leader, detangling complexity at the nexus of people, process, policy, and technology. She most recently served as the Principal Product Manager for the Unaccompanied Children program that enables thousands of unaccompanied children to be safely and efficiently unified with their families in the United States each year.

“IT in government is often considered as an afterthought to policy and process. Digital Service at ACF provides an opportunity to reimagine technology at ACF as a catalyst for better service delivery,” shared ACF Acting Director of Digital Service Sarah Tully. “Bringing product management, human-centered design, and modern technology delivery to ACF initiatives will ensure the best outcomes for the children, families, and grantees ACF serves.”

Three top priorities of Digital Service at ACF are to:

• Work directly with programs to provide product, engineering, and design services
• Build technical capacity directly within ACF offices via hiring and acquisition support
• Cultivate an expertise of technology and design within ACF via communities of practice, trainings, and workshops

Digital Service at ACF will continue a strong partnership with the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Children program, to ensure their technology modernization advances, and is eager to develop new partnerships with other ACF programs. Digital Service at ACF’s focus on service delivery and customer experience reflects the Administration’s priorities and demonstrates a deep understanding of the value of technology and design to improve the way that children, families, and communities access ACF services.