Last week, Peter Orszag, Director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies. This memo is the Open Government Directive. You can read the full 11-page memo, including the attached Open Government Plan here. I read the memo in detail and wrote up an abbreviated outline. Some of you may be interested in my outline, so I’m sharing it here.

- Written by Peter Orszag, director OMB

- Effective date is December 8, 2009

- The OGD memo was written by directive outlined in President Obama’s January 21 2009 Memo on Transparency and Open Government

- That earlier memo identifies the three principles that form the cornerstone of an open government: a) Transparency; b) Participation; c) Collaboration

- The OGD memo establishes deadlines for action

- The OGD memo requires each department and agency to take 3 steps toward fulfilling the goal of creating a more open government

1. Publish government information online

a. Machine readable

b. Publish proactively, not just respond to FOIA requests

c. Have at least 3 datasets online by January 21, 2010

d. Have a web page up by February 8, 2010 that serves as a gateway for agency OGD related activities

e. Allow the public to provide feedback on the quality of published data, help prioritize the schedule for dissemination of data and provide input on the Open Government Plan

f. Comply with Presidential open government initiatives such as data.gov, recovery.gov, USAspending.gov

2. Improve the quality of government information

a. Appoint a data quality official by January 21, 2010

3. Create and institute a culture of open government

a. Publish an Open Government Plan on the agency’s website by April 8, 2010 describing how it will improve transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration

- The OGD memo requires the administration to take the following steps to support departments and agencies

1. In support of improving the quality of government information

a. OMB will issue a framework for federal spending data by February 8, 2010

b. OMB will issue a long-term strategy for federal spending transparency by April 8, 2010

2. In support of creating and institutionalizing a culture of open government

a. Federal CIO (Vivek Kundra) and CTO (Aneesh Chopra) will set up an Open Government dashboard on whitehouse.gov by February 8, 2010

b. OMB and the federal CIO and CTO will establish a transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration workgroup by January 21, 2010

c. OMB will issue guidance on how agencies can use contests and other incentives by March 8, 2010

3. Create an enabling policy framework for Open Government

a. Evolve policies to allow for use of emerging technologies, which can help agencies become more open

b. By April 10, 2010 OIRA will review existing OMB policies to identify impediments to Open Government and/or the use of emerging technologies and where necessary will provide clarifying guidance and/or propose appropriate revisions to those policies

- Attached to the Open Government Directive is an appendix that describes the Open Government Plan [see 3(a) above]

+ Each agency’s Open Government Plan is its detailed public roadmap for incorporating transparency, participation and collaboration into the agency’s core mission

+ Each agency’s Open Government Plan should be published in a machine readable format on its own agency Open Government page as well as the forthcoming Open Government dashboard

+ The components of each agency’s Open Government Plan

o) Transparency

* Inventories of what data is available online today

* Inventories what data is not yet available online with a reasonable dissemination schedule

* Foster and promote the public use of your data

o) Participation

* What is your agency going to do to improve public participation?

o) Collaboration

* How is your agency going to more proactively collaborate with other agencies, private sector companies, universities and non-profits?

o) Flagship initiative

* Each agency’s Open Government Plan should describe at least one initiative that the agency is currently implementing

Overview of the initiative including how it fulfills at least one of the three openness principles

How will you engage the public?

With whom will you collaborate?

How will you measure success?

How will sustain and evolve it?

o) Public and agency involvement

* Incorporate ideas and feedback from the public and from agency employees

* Stimulate ongoing public feedback as part of the period review process

This memo lays the foundation and direction for agencies to share their data more openly, to engage the public more proactively and to collaborate with each other, the private sector and universities and is excellent and welcome news for all citizens.