News

Aug 12, 2025 | SDC staff

Congrats to Peter Bonner and the team at FAS for putting on an illuminating series of events to implement the Chance to Compete Act. We’re always eager to collaborate on skills-based hiring!

Breaking Down the New Memos on Federal Hiring On May 29, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published two memoranda that could substantially reshape federal hiring. fas.org

Jul 23, 2025 | SDC staff

We just wrapped a quick engagement with Still She Rises Tulsa, where we helped them update a critical step in their workflow that allows them to provide mothers with free legal representation in municipal and district court.

A fast-moving period of discovery and technical evaluation led to actionable updates to their systems. As a result of the work more women were able to be supported earlier in the legal process. We are proud to have partnered with such a client-centered organization, the first of its kind in the country to support the unique challenges facing women in criminal and civil court.

Mar 24, 2025 | SDC staff

At the end of last year we partnered with U.S. Digital Response (USDR) to investigate the motivations of technologists looking to find work in civic tech, and learn from their experiences of seeking and applying for jobs in 2024. We conducted in-depth interviews with participants across various disciplines and co-authored a report on our findings.

USDR published the full report earlier today, check it out below.

Understanding public sector job seeker's motivations & experiences New research brings to light what's keeping talented technologists from entering government service and how we might fix it usdigitalresponse.org

Feb 25, 2025 | Kat Jurick, Eddie Hartwig

As we celebrate our third anniversary we’re looking back at the phenomenal year we had in 2024.

We took on our first federal prime contract and began work with the agency dedicated to improving organ donation and transplantation in the United States. We first helped to untangle a gnarly policy issue that had been in place for many years, and, after the project concluded, we were invited to continue working with agency partners on strategic next steps.

Supporting our goal of working with local government, we collaborated with the City of Boston on a project focused on assessing their city-wide use of forms and digital applications. We loved the opportunity to work with their team and relished the chance to spend time in a city that many of us at SDC have called home at various points in our lives.

On the home front, we’ve been growing our team and expanding our workspace. We moved into and built out new office space in downtown Silver Spring, MD, and, to help further expand the skillsets and opportunities our team can offer, we hired two new full-time employees. In addition, we have formed some amazing collaborative partnerships and continue to expand our network in 2025.

Dec 6, 2024 | Eddie Hartwig

I was asked by the Federation of American Scientists to recommend changes to speed up and improve federal hiring.

It often takes the federal government months to hire for critical science and technology (STEM) roles, far too slow to respond effectively to the demands of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), disasters (COVID), and implementing complex legislation (CHIPS). One solution is for the Federal Government to create a pool of pre-vetted STEM talent to address these needs.

I proposed a four-point plan that outlines how the federal government can leverage existing authorities and hiring mechanisms to build a STEM talent pool.

• Hire and empower a STEM talent lead for critical hiring needs
• Proactively, continuously hire for key roles across the government
• Implement a “shared-certificate-by-default” policy
• Let departing employees remain available for rapid re-hire into federal roles

Onboarding Critical Talent in Days: Establishing a Federal STEM Talent Pool It often takes the federal government months to hire for critical science and technology (STEM) roles, far too slow to respond effectively to the demands of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), disasters (COVID), and implementing complex legislation (CHIPS). fas.org

Sep 19, 2024 | SDC staff

Service Design Collective is one of eight highly-qualified companies awarded a place on an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the House Digital Service (HDS). We’re looking forward to collaborating with the HDS team and the other awardees to deliver better tools to lawmakers.

HDS serves the House by leveraging human-centered design methodologies, rapid prototyping, and agile development methods to deliver product innovation to House customers in Member, Committee, and Leadership offices.

May 15, 2024 | SDC staff

It’s moving day! We found a new office space, located just steps from the Metro in downtown Silver Spring, MD, through Montgomery County’s Small Business Incubator program.

We’re excited to have expanded space for our local and remote team members to gather, as well as room for in-person collaboration with our friends, clients, and partners in the Washington metropolitain area.

Feb 25, 2024 | Eddie Hartwig

My op-ed on IRS Direct File and the value of thoughtful, iterative product delivery in government was published today in The Hill.

IRS Direct File will be a win for taxpayers We’re about to enter tax season and, for once, the roles are reversed. Taxpayers have reason to be happy, while tax prep companies have made it clear they are not pleased. thehill.com