[LINK] Open Government

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

(US) Agencies reveal open government plans

By GREGG CARLSTROM | Last Updated: April 7, 2010 
<http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20100407/AGENCY04/4070301/-1/>


Cabinet agencies released their open government plans today, meeting the 
first major milestone of the open government directive signed by 
President Obama in December.

The plans, all of them posted online and accessible from links at 
http://www.whitehouse.gov, outline steps agencies plan to take to release 
data and collect public input. 

The Justice Department, for example, said it will post "significant court 
findings" on the Internet for public download; the Health and Human 
Services Department plans to solicit public feedback on improving 
Medicare and Medicaid; and the Labor Department launched a new database — 
http://ogesdw.dol.gov — that gathers enforcement data from several 
agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and 
the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We hope the American people will play their part and collaborate with us 
to provide oversight and improve upon this information," Obama said in a 
statement.

The Office of Management and Budget wouldn't comment on individual plans, 
but said it was satisfied with the overall effort from agencies.

Aneesh Chopra, the federal chief technology officer, told reporters that 
OMB is working on more detailed guidance that explains the record-keeping 
requirements associated with open government programs. 

Many agencies say they're concerned about how their plans might conflict 
with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) or with archiving requirements.

To address one common area of concern, crowd-sourcing technologies that 
allow agencies to solicit public input won't fall under the PRA's purview.

"If you have a general call for ideas through a crowd-sourcing 
technology, that effort can happen without as much bureaucratic red 
tape," Chopra said. "We're giving agencies more room to embrace these 
principles."

Chopra also said OMB is on track to launch a more detailed grants 
management database, which will allow the public to track grant spending 
down to the subrecipient level.

"We often give grants to an entity and then they parcel it out, and it's 
hard to gather the information further down the line," Chopra said. "By 
Oct. 1, we will be able to."

The more detailed grants reporting was mandated by the Federal Funding 
Accountability and Transparency Act, sponsored in 2006.

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Cheers,
Stephen