Today, the Obama administration releases a slew of plans, memos and other materials in its Open Government Directive process. All cabinet level agencies, as well as many independent agencies, are releasing Open Government Plans that layout what each agency will do to become more transparent, participatory and collaborative. In addition to the plans, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued memos on policy clarifications on the Paperwork Reduction Act, the creation of a regulatory identification number, and long term federal spending transparency.

The agency Open Government Plans probably represent the largest single coordinated effort by the federal government to make itself more transparent, participatory and collaborative. While not everything being released is a major leap forward, this process being established provides the public with a major vehicle to achieve continual improvements. Almost all the agencies have described the plans a first step or version 1.0 of their open government efforts, with plans to collect reactions and input and update the plans regularly.

A brief review of several agencies’ Open Government Plans reveals that there are plenty of impressive efforts being made throughout government:

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Dashboard that allows the public to search, analyze and visualize Medicare spending. The dashboard brings together publicly available data from multiple locations into a single, more intuitive interface. HHS also committed to upgrading the CMS Dashboard with additional data and features by fall 2010. The agency is also plans to release 14 new high-value data sets by the end of 2010, 12 of which have never been public before.


• The Department of Labor launched an online enforcement database containing information on inspections the department conducts to ensure businesses are complying with the nation’s worker rights and safety laws and regulations. The database contains a wealth of information (for example, users can comb through the litany of accident reports filed at mines owned by Massey Energy, proprietor of the West Virginia mine in which 25 workers were killed Monday) but is too difficult to use at this point. Search and sort functions are limited, but DOL says it will continue to implement upgrades to the database.


• The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Community Engagement initiative focuses on improving participation by the public in EPA activities. The effort includes the development mobile applications to empower citizens. The agency provided several mobile application examples including a Save Your Skin app that would inform people of UV index warnings in their area, an air quality index app that would notify users about air quality issues in their zip code, and a green product app that help consumers consider impacts of products before purchasing them.


• The Department of Justice announced plans to create a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Dashboard to provide easy access to comprehensive data on FOIA compliance at 92 federal agencies. The FOIA process, though a fundamental and essential tool for government transparency, has received limited attention from many agencies over the years. If this Dashboard provides the public with the tools to truly analyze agencies’ FOIA performance, it will create a significant new incentive for all agencies to find ways to improve their implementation of the law.

These and other projects contained in the dozens of Open Government Plans coming out will no doubt need to be tweaked and expanded. But it is they represent strong positive steps toward a government that is open and honest with the public about its actions and performance on critical issues.