Single Sign-On For Government Applications Coming in Weeks

Citizens could soon manage all their government accounts on one website.

General Services Administrations' tech shop 18F plans to debut MyUSA, a single-sign on account that would let users access content from disparate government agencies. According to 18F, users will also be able to track their application processes, such as for small business financing on Business.USA.Gov or for benefits on Benefits.gov. 

MyUSA will use the open authentication system known as OAuth, meaning users don't need to create new passwords and can log in using Google or their existing email addresses, according to a blog post by 18F's Kate Garklavs. She noted in the post the site is slated to be up and running in the next few weeks.

Users will be able to manage task lists for various federal applications, and can sign up to receive email notifications about application status. Eventually, 18F plans to include text notifications. 

MyUSA evolved out of a project originally launched by members of the Presidential Innovations Fellows program in 2013. Preliminary features included a "Discovery Bar" that would show users services they might be interested in, an API other agencies can use and a system to let agencies create and publish forms online, according to a blog post by project leader Greg Gershman.