Open Government Directive:
Guidance for Agency Web and New Media Teams
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the Open Government Directive (OGD) on December 8, 2009. Below are resources from the Federal Web Managers Council to help agencies meet the requirements of the OGD.
On This Page:
- Datasets
- Open Government Webpage – Due February 6, 2010
- Citizen Engagement Comment Period – Open February 6–March 19, 2010
- Open Gov Citizen Engagement Tool Powered by IdeaScale
- Open Government Plan – Due April 7, 2010
- Innovation Challenges & Contests
- Other Important Contacts
- Resources
Datasets – Due January 22, 2010
Agencies must publish three new high–value datasets on Data.gov. This requirement does not include datasets published prior to December 8, 2009.
- Coordinate with your Agency Data.gov Point of Contact (POC) to showcase agency datasets on your /open webpage
- Data.gov
Open Government Webpage – Due February 6, 2010
Agencies must post an Open Government webpage.
- Coordinate with your Agency /open webpage POC
- Coordinate internally to decide such things as whether sub–agencies will post their own /open webpage, or link to a central /open webpage for the entire department.
- Your /open webpage URL should be:
- http://www.[agency].gov/open
- Content recommendations – guidance on content to include on your /open webpage
- View content recommendations as a webpage
- View content recommendations in PDF
(PDF, 63.1KB, 2 pgs, 01/2010, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) - Sample /open webpage – a wireframe of a generic /open webpage
(PDF, 418KB, 1 pg, January 2010, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) - /open logo – standard graphic for inclusion on /open webpage
- Directory of Agency /open webpages
Citizen Engagement Comment Period – Open February 6–March 19, 2010
Each /open webpage should include a mechanism for the public to:
- Give feedback on the quality of information published by the agency;
- Give feedback about the kinds of information the agency should prioritize for publication;
- Provide input into the creation of the agency's Open Government Plan.
All agencies have been granted an emergency waiver under the Paperwork Reduction Act to collect this information.
- Paperwork Reduction Act Emergency Clearance – GSA and OMB determined the solicitation of ideas and comments from the public for purposes of Open Government is generally exempt from Paperwork Reduction Act requirements and review. However, GSA submitted and OMB approved an emergency standard form clearance for the rating, ranking and flagging aspect of online citizen engagement tools public used for purposes of Open Government. The collection of information requirements for Open Government Citizen Engagement Ratings, Rankings, and Flagging were approved on February 1, 2010 by OMB and assigned OMB control number 3090–0288.
To help the 24 agencies subject to the CFO Act gather public feedback, GSA is offering an online dialog, powered by IdeaScale software. At this time, the tool is only available to these 24 agencies, but all agencies should provide some mechanism (e.g., email, phone, online survey, etc.) to solicit general ideas and comments from the public for purposes of Open Government.
OpenGov Citizen Engagement Tool Powered by IdeaScale (for use by the 24 CFO Act Agencies)
Open Government Plan – Due April 7, 2010
Agencies must publish their Open Government Plan on their /open webpage. Agencies should strive to use consistent language and placement when linking to their plans.
- Coordinate with your Agency OpenGov plan POC to publish your plan on your /open webpage
- Directory of Agency Plans – to be published on whitehouse.gov after April 7, 2010
Innovation Challenges & Contests
Challenges, prizes, and other incentive–backed strategies can be used by federal agencies to find innovative or cost–effective solutions to improving open government. Learn more about innovation challenges & contests.
Other Important Contacts
- Federal Agency Open Government Working Group Senior Level Representatives
- Federal Agency FOIA Contacts
- Federal Agency Records Officers
- OGD Senior Accountable Officials for Federal Spending
Resources
Most of the resources below are from government agencies, but some links point to helpful information maintained by stakeholder groups outside government.
- Open Government Initiative
- Text of the Open Government Directive (December 8, 2009)
- 2009 White House Open Government Progress Report
(PDF, 3.02 MB, 28pgs, 12/2009, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) - Agency Initiatives to Support the Open Government Initiative
- Open Government Playbook – a wiki for sharing best practices
- Email your Open Government questions to the White House
- December Forum call with OMB about Open Government
- Read minutes from the meeting
(MS Word doc, 55.0KB, 7 pgs, 12/2009) - Read follow–up questions & answers
(MS Word doc, 51.5KB, 5 pgs, 12/2009) - Listen to a recording of the call: Implementing OGD at Your Agency
(Mediafire file, entire audio: MP3 Format Sound, 51.6 MB, Dec 17, 2009) - From Sunlight Foundation
- Open Government Data and Reports
