Ellen Herbst
Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration,
Head of Open Government Working Group
open@doc.gov
Catrina Purvis
Chief Privacy Officer
and Director of Open Government
Joey Hutcherson
Deputy Director,
Office of Privacy and Open Government
Interact with Commerce on the social media sites you already use every day.
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whitehouse.gov/open - Learn more about the President's efforts to increase transparency, participation, and collaboration throughout government.
Recovery.gov - See open government in action by tracking the spending associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Data.gov - Access and discover new uses for the range of data produced by the federal government from one central location.
BusinessUSA.gov - See the "no wrong door" approach for small businesses and exporters.
FOIAonline - See the the start of a new era for the Freedom of Information Act within the Department of Commerce.
Open.commerce.gov Links
Office of the Secretary Links
Department of Commerce Person Finder
Office of the Secretary Report to Congress
Office of the Secretary Speeches and Testimony
The Commerce Open Government team was recently asked to assess just how well we answered the core questions of the Open Government Directive with the Open Government Plan we released earlier this month.
The table below establishes “grades” for each of the major components of our Open Government Plan and the overall result. These grades were decided by looking at the 30 distinct questions/requirements laid out in the Directive itself and determining whether our plan fully satisfied (Green), partially satisfied (Yellow) or failed to address (Red). You can see the full-evaluation by clicking the “Read More” link below.
Overall, we think the Commerce Department, like most other Federal Agencies tasked with responding, has partially satisfied the requirements for the Open Government plans and we're working quickly to address those parts that aren't quite there or could be better. We'll make these changes over the next few weeks and, as soon as they're completed, we'll put them up on this site and make sure you know about them.
While we would have liked to have fully satisfied every requirement for our Open Government Plan from the start (like our friends at HHS, DOT and NASA), we also knew the plan we published on April 7 was a 1.0 release. In the weeks ahead, we'll do everything we can to make the report we were proud to unveil earlier this month an even stronger.
Formulating the Plan in the Open |
Green |
Transparency Component |
Yellow |
Participation Component |
Green |
Collaboration Component |
Yellow |
Flagship Initiatives Component | Yellow |
Overall Rating | Yellow |
Click "Read More" below to see our complete evaluation.
Formulating the Plan in the Open |
Green |
Transparency Component |
Yellow |
Participation Component |
Green |
Collaboration Component |
Yellow |
Flagship Initiatives Component | Yellow |
Overall Rating | Yellow |
Was multidisciplinary collaboration involved in formulating the plan? |
Green |
Was public consultation involved in crafting the plan? |
Green |
Was the plan published in an open format, online, on time and on the open government page and with raw data? |
Green |
Is there a plan for continued public engagement as part of the review and modification of the open government plan? |
Green |
| Does the plan contain a strategic action plan that inventories agency high-value information currently available for download? | Green |
Is there a plan to foster the public’s use of this information to increase public knowledge and promote public scrutiny of agency services? |
Yellow |
Does the action plan identify high value information not yet available and establish a reasonable timeline for publication online in open formats with specific target dates? |
Green |
For agencies providing public information in electronic format: Is there a plan for timely publication of underlying data for public information maintained in electronic format? |
Green |
Does the plan identify key audiences for information and their needs, and the agency endeavors to publish high-value information for each of those audiences in the most accessible forms and formats? |
Green |
Is there a plan to demarcate educational material as free for re-use? |
Yellow |
Does the plan detail compliance with transparency initiative guidance, and where gaps exist, detailed steps the agency is taking and the timing to meet the requirements for each initiative: |
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Data.gov |
Yellow |
eRulemaking |
Red |
IT Dashboard |
Red |
Recovery.gov |
Yellow |
USAspending.gov |
Yellow |
Are there details of proposed actions (with clear milestones) to inform the public of significant actions and business of the agency (e.g. agency public meetings, briefings, press conferences, town halls)? |
Green |
Does the plan address existing record management requirements by providing: |
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Website link |
Yellow |
Identifying and scheduling all electronic records |
Yellow |
Timely transfer of all permanently valuable records to the National Archives |
Yellow |
Does the plan address FOIA by providing: |
|
Website link? |
Yellow |
Staffing, organizational structure, and process for responding to FOIA requests? |
Green |
Assessment of capacity to analyze, coordinate and respond to requests in a timely manner? |
Green |
If there is a significant FOIA backlog, details on how the agency will reduce the backlog by 10% each year? |
Green |
Does the plan address congressional requests by providing a: |
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Website link? |
Red |
Staffing, organizational structure, and process for responding to Congressional requests? |
Yellow |
Does the plan address declassification, if applicable by providing a: |
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Website link? |
Yellow |
Where the public can learn about declassification programs, accessing declassified materials, and provide input about what types of information should be prioritized for declassification? |
Green |
Does the plan explain how the agency will improve participation, including steps the agency will take to revise its current practices to increase opportunities for public participation in and feedback on the agency’s core mission activities (including proposed changes to internal management and administrative policies to improve participation)? |
Green |
Does the plan describe and provide links to websites for the public to engage in existing participatory processes? |
Green |
Are there proposals for new feedback mechanisms (including innovative tools and practices for public engagement)? |
Green |
| Does the plan list steps the agency will take to revise its current practices to further collaboration: | Green |
With other Federal and non-Federal government agencies? Including the use of technology platforms to this end? |
Green |
With the public? Including the use of technology platforms? |
Green |
With non-profit and private entities? Including technology platforms? |
Yellow |
Are there links to websites that describe existing collaboration efforts of the agency? |
Green |
Does the plan describe the Innovative methods (e.g. prizes and collaborations) to increase collaboration with the private sector, non-profit, and academic communities? |
Yellow |
| Does the plan include at least one specific flagship engagement? | Green |
Does the description provide an overview of the initiative: how it addresses one or more of the three openness principles and how it aims to improve agency operations? |
Green |
Does it identify external partners for collaboration (if appropriate)? |
Green |
Is there a plan for public participation in contributing innovative ideas to the flagship? |
Green |
Does the description explain how the improvements to transparency, participation and/or collaboration will be measured? |
Green |
Does the flagship include a description of sustainability and room for improvement? |
Yellow |
I have a question : how often will this table updated ?
Thanks for the question!
We'll be updating this table as soon as we make changes (i.e. as soon as we start making edits to the plan). We'll make sure to note any updates here on the blog.
T. Neil Sroka
Moderator
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