DATA Act

The new law gives agencies three years to implement a set of new reporting requirements to track federal spending, but it will be unbelievably complex – requiring changes in federal regulations, and in the written terms of every federal grant, contract, and loan agreement of $25,000 or more.  These changes will likely cascade to agreements between states and localities with their sub-grantees and sub-contractors, as well.  Congressional sponsors of the legislation told the Administration “we’re going to hold your fee

Late last week, the President signed into law the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act.  As summarized by the Administration’s release statement, the DATA Act will

So government, by nature, oftentimes puts itself at financial or reputational risk on a regular basis. Risk is not necessarily bad. After all, avoiding risk might mean that the FAA would ground all flights to prevent crashes! So, finding ways to manage risk is essential.

Interesting review of State government measures to encourage reporting on programs that aren't working well. Advice on DATA Act implementation. OMB launches site to access multiple IT policies. DOD launches Better Buying Power 3.0. John Kamensky Knock Knock – Who’s There? GSA launches the Digital Analytics Dashboard. According to the White House: “the Digital Analytics Dashboard will show how many people are using federal government websites, what websites are getting the most traffic over a select period of time.” The website E Pluribus Unum says there are 1,361 .gov web domains.

DATA Act Implementation Status. FedScoop sums up interviews with Treasury and OMB staff regarding the progress and upcoming deadlines for the implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. Federal Computer Week shares the enthusiasm of participants at a recent conference on the implementation of the DATA Act. Evolution of Federal Chief Operating Officers. Federal News Radio says a new report on the evolving role of agency chief operating officers, by the Partnership for Public Service, examines their challenges and priorities.

Across the government, agencies are working under leadership from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Treasury to implement the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act).

Previous IBM Center posts about the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014 by Dan Chenok (The DATA Act and Transparency: 4 Ways that Industry Will Benefit and The DATA Act Moves Forward) and John Kamensky (Here’s Why DATA Act Implementation May Be Successful) discuss various aspects about the law. This post provides a very brief background to the law and focuses on its implementation implications for Federal agencies.

John Kamensky

Playbooks Are the Latest Fad.  The Bush Administration was famous for scorecards.  The early Obama Administration created lots of “-Stat” dashboards.  Now it is generating a pile of playbooks as it nears the finish line: