4 ms·

My main recollection of 18F and the USDS is that they expanded the number of identity logins on VA.gov from one to three during their tenure. During one of the

My main recollection of 18F and the USDS is that they expanded the number of identity logins on VA.gov from one to three during their tenure. During one of these transitions, I lost access to my account and had to go through a full re-validation process. When the VA added ID.me last year as 4th identity provider, and mandated its use by March 4th 2025, it felt like an admission that private-sector providers outperform government-built identity systems. Internal VA IT resisted years of 18F and USDS-led attempts to refactor the underlying COBOL and MUMPS systems — progress is necessary, but this was not the team to deliver it.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
Login.gov is the default idp for the Social Security Administration, supports 200+ federal agencies for identity, and IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me). They handle over 10 million monthly active users and 40 million monthly sign-ins across nearly 50 agencies and states. I would be interested in knowing why it could not serve as the sole idp for VA.gov, as there must be a reason, regardless of validity of that reason. Appreciate the ground truth, this is enough for someone to dig further in VA from a journalism perspective.
- tzs 2y ago
  > IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me) Has anyone agency completed replacing ID.me with Login.gov? For that matter do any agencies that support both Login.gov and ID.me have a way for users to switch which one they use? When the ssa.gov first started asking people who used username/password login to add one of Login.gov or ID.me, I picked ID.me because I already had an ID.me account for use with the IRS and did yet have a Login.gov account. Since then I've gotten a Login.gov account and would prefer to use that with ssa.gov but there doesn't appear to be any way to set that up. There's nothing I can find in account settings to add another login method to an account.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    Current guidance from the SSA login flow is to not use Login.gov if you already have an ID.me account. Identity provider transitions are fraught with peril, and I hesitate to provide guidance that potentially locks you out of the SSA website without any recourse or customer service. Therefore, for the time being, my guidance is to keep using your ID.me idp and login until an official update is provided. I will take a note to provide an update if updated guidance becomes available to me through any channel.
- matchagaucho 2y ago
  Correction: both Login.gov and Id.me will be the IDP options after March 4th changeover. https://www.va.gov/?next=loginModal https://www.va.gov/?next=loginModal

toomuchtodo 2y ago

Login.gov is the default idp for the Social Security Administration, supports 200+ federal agencies for identity, and IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me). They handle over 10 million monthly active users and 40 million monthly sign-ins across nearly 50 agencies and states. I would be interested in knowing why it could not serve as the sole idp for VA.gov, as there must be a reason, regardless of validity of that reason. Appreciate the ground truth, this is enough for someone to dig further in VA from a journalism perspective.

tzs 2y ago
> IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me) Has anyone agency completed replacing ID.me with Login.gov? For that matter do any agencies that support both Login.gov and ID.me have a way for users to switch which one they use? When the ssa.gov first started asking people who used username/password login to add one of Login.gov or ID.me, I picked ID.me because I already had an ID.me account for use with the IRS and did yet have a Login.gov account. Since then I've gotten a Login.gov account and would prefer to use that with ssa.gov but there doesn't appear to be any way to set that up. There's nothing I can find in account settings to add another login method to an account.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Current guidance from the SSA login flow is to not use Login.gov if you already have an ID.me account. Identity provider transitions are fraught with peril, and I hesitate to provide guidance that potentially locks you out of the SSA website without any recourse or customer service. Therefore, for the time being, my guidance is to keep using your ID.me idp and login until an official update is provided. I will take a note to provide an update if updated guidance becomes available to me through any channel.
matchagaucho 2y ago
Correction: both Login.gov and Id.me will be the IDP options after March 4th changeover. https://www.va.gov/?next=loginModal https://www.va.gov/?next=loginModal