The long-held dream of having a single sign-on for public-facing federal services is one step closer. A new Office of Management and Budget memo to mandate, whenever possible, that the Login.gov platform serve as the single source for authentication and verification gives agencies their first true path toward providing a consistent way to access federal services since the E-Government days during the George W. Bush administration. “And as use of Login.gov for identity verification increases, the government realizes cost efficiencies from economies of scale and a reduction in duplicative verification costs. Increased use of Login.gov also supports the government’s security posture, enabling deployment at scale of leading technologies and security practices to prevent and respond to emerging threats,” wrote Russ Vought, OMB director, in the memo released Monday. “In the absence of a clear governmentwide strategy, agencies have deployed a range of different solutions and taken inconsistent approaches for managing digital identity, creating unnecessary burden and inefficiencies for the public and government alike. This policy enforces Login.gov as the universal sign-on for accessing public services online, enabling more seamless and efficient service delivery while safeguarding user privacy and supporting resilience against fraud and security threats.” OMB’s mandate to use Login.gov, which the General Services Administration manages, doesn’t apply to every system that touches the public, nor does it apply to those run by the Defense Department or those considered national security systems. The administration specifically called out two exemptions for public facing websites: Organizations, or individuals acting on behalf of an organization, such as businesses, state and local governments Individuals acting on behalf of another individual. “However, agencies are permitted and encouraged to expand the use of Login.gov and conform to the requirements of this memorandum for these other websites, where appropriate. Regardless of the use of Login.gov, agencies remain