[andrefrancisco]

18F came out of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship (pif.gov) when some fellows wanted to stick around and continue their public service. So they created 18F as a more permanent home that could house larger projects and hire people for longer tours of duty. It's a sister office to the U.S. Digital Service (which is in the White House) but it's primarily a GSA initiative.

There aren't specific laws involved. We aren't funded by Congress, but instead by an investment from GSA and fees from our partner agencies.

Here's one of the larger stories about the digital services movement in the U.S., including the U.S. Digital Service and 18F. https://www.fastcompany.com/3046756/obama-and-his-geeks

We've taken heavy influence from the GDS team in the UK, and Estonia is also a leader in digital government. https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/06/17/what-estonia-can-teach-us-abo...