92 percent of federal websites lack basic industry standards: Report

The vast majority of the U.S. government’s most widely-visited websites are plagued by security problems, accessibility issues or other items of concern, according to an external audit released Wednesday.

Nine out of 10 of Washington’s most popular websites fall short of basic industry standards for web development, the nonpartisan Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) reported this week, with the websites for the IRS and Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration ranking among the worst.

“Only by taking stock of the gaps in federal-website compliance can the White House push federal agencies to make their websites great again,” said Alan McQuinn, an ITIF research analyst who co-wrote the report alongside the think tank’s vice president, Daniel Castro.

The researchers identified the 297 most popular .gov domain names, all belonging to U.S. government entities, then ranked each one with respect to four factors: page load speed, mobile friendliness, security and accessibility, according to the report.

Approximately 92 percent of the most popular websites failed to perform well on at least one of these benchmarks, the report said.

“The federal government should build fast, convenient, secure, and accessible websites, so that anyone can access government services and information online. Unfortunately, this report finds that the federal government must make substantial improvements to meet this goal” its authors wrote.

While the federal websites largely ranked well in terms of digital security, the researchers said they identified several accessibility issues that may potentially cause both IRS.gov and Trade.gov to be in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal statue that mandates the General Services Administration to ensure individuals with disabilities have access to and use of information technology.

Only 58 percent of the reviewed websites were determined to be accessible for users with disabilities, while only one-third of the 297 sites were deemed “mobile friendly,” according to the report.

“It is incumbent on the Trump administration to address these failures and ensure the federal government can provide all Americans with secure and convenient access to online government services and information,” the authors of the “Benchmarking U.S. Government Websites” wrote in Wednesday’s report.