OMB Behind Schedule on Open Data Initiatives

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has not yet released guidance for federal agencies regarding implementing comprehensive data inventories, which could be delaying public access to government data. OMB also has not published reports on the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies’ performance and compliance with the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found, “An immense amount of data is now open and available to the public due to government open data initiatives. While the availability of this information represents progress in the evolution of open data, much work remains to be done to make a comprehensive list of federal data assets available to the public.”  

Now more than ever, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that the public have access to data sets and agency guidance regarding the pandemic, the GAO report claims. Without OMB guidance, it can be difficult to assess how agencies update their data inventories, and there is a lack of transparency surrounding government data.

While some federal agencies have met data-sharing standards, the GAO report found that high-quality data that would allow the public to see how well agencies are meeting various open data metrics were not being portrayed correctly.

GAO furthered, “Data quality issues we identified with the dashboard can impede data users’ ability to access timely and accurate datasets. For example, the public and researchers could inadvertently use outdated data for analysis or have difficulty accessing data sources due to broken links.”

GAO provided two essential recommendations for OMB. First, OMB was asked to provide the required implementation guidance. Second, they were asked to provide biennial reports on agency performance. OMB has not responded to these recommendations.