The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) ceased operations as of March 2016. The majority of work and materials has been passed on to the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). This site is being maintained as an archive of materials produced.
On Friday, the White House met another Open Government Directive deadline by issuing a framework for federal spending data quality. The framework requires that agencies submit plans by April 14 for improving quality of their spending data, implementing internal controls and process changes.
Despite the major snowpocolypse expected to hit DC tonight, some government agencies are getting a head start on the next major OGD deadline. This Saturday will be the 60th day since the publication of the new agency-wide transparency policy. Check out ProPublica’s Transparency Tracker for a full list of agencies that have developed an open-government website.
Yesterday, a group of organizations, including OMB Watch, submitted concerns with the high-value datasets published on Data.gov in compliance with the requirements of the Open Government Directive (OGD) issued on Dec. 8. The OGD required that agencies submit at least three high value datasets within 45 days through Data.gov. These groups outlined the major problems with the site and its implementation thus far. I have summarized these issues below.
Sean noted earlier today that the Obama Administration released the Open Government Directive this morning. It will have far-reaching implications for government transparency generally, but the directive focuses on federal spending transparency, specifically mentioning Recovery Act transparency as a critical venue for federal government openess.
The open government directive is scheduled to be released at 11am on Dec. 8. The announcement will be made in a live webcast hosted by US CIO Vivek Kundra and US CTO Aneesh Chopra. There will be a live forum following the announcement so that citizens may give feedback and ask questions. Please watch the live announcement here or on the White House website and check back with the OMB Watch blog for more analysis. Dowload the directive here [PDF].
The Office of Science and Technology Policy is preparing to post a notice in tomorrow's Federal Register asking for ideas from the public on possible recommendations for the Open Government Directive they were tasked by president Obama to produce.
According to reporting by Aliya Sternstein at National Journal’s NextGov, Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, has a new idea when it comes to government soliciting public input on government policy: Do it yourself.
