The U.S. Digital Service appointed Matt Cutts as its permanent administrator, FedScoop reports.
Mr. Cutts, former head of Google's anti-spam team, has served as the acting administrator of USDS since January 2017. Mikey Dickerson — the group's first administrator, who was appointed by the Obama administration — stepped down at the start of President Donald Trump's term.
The USDS administrator role has been reconfigured as a two-year appointment, rather than a political appointment, according to the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter.
Eddie Hartwig, the group's current acting deputy administrator, will also drop "acting" from his title. Mr. Hartwig told Politico the new appointments signal the Trump administration's interest in working with USDS, despite it being an Obama initiative.
The USDS, a collaborative team that works to improve federal agencies' websites and technology infrastructure, emerged out of the White House's troubled rollout of HealthCare.gov in 2013. One of the group's next initiatives will be improving online access to veterans benefits.
"Matt, Eddie and the USDS team … will add tremendous value as we execute the vision of the President's Management Agenda," Margaret Weichert, the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management, said in a statement, according to FedScoop.