On January 21, 2009, President Obama issued the first executive memorandum of his Administration, entitled “Transparency and Open Government.”  This memorandum established three guiding principles for the conduct of government activities. Government should be transparent.  Government should be participatory.  Government should be collaborative.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is committed to the principles of Open Government, and we are pleased to present this mid-cycle release of the 2015 Department of Commerce Open Government Plan, version 3.5 (the Plan).  The Plan is updated annually to ensure the most current status of existing initiatives along with discussion of new initiatives are made available to the public.  This release represents its sixth publication and builds on the Department’s long history of information dissemination and the adoption of new tools and technology to enable transparency.  This plan features an exciting and new flagship initiative called the “Commerce Data Advisory Council” (CDAC).  Its addition, along with key progress updates on Open Government initiatives from our bureaus and operating units (BOU), make this an exciting edition of the Plan.  A summary of what is new in this version can be found in the “What’s New” section after the Introduction.  You will see that the Department continues to encourage and strive for increased participation and collaboration among its employees, other government agencies, and the American people to build upon our strategic goal of Operational Excellence. 

The Department invites the American public to join in as it moves toward becoming a more open and effective provider of government services and information. Please feel free to provide feedback by submitting comments to open@doc.gov.