Open Data/Transparency
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The Defense Department is having success with a new data transparency effort designed to drive better business deals on sole-source contracts. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain that the initiative is designed to track all of DoD's business arrangements with a given vendor, allowing individual contracting officers to learn from past deals.
November 07, 2014 -
DoD contracting officers now are required to upload the outcomes of their large sole-source procurements into a centralized database. This is part of a Pentagon effort to make sure the government has as much information as possible when it strikes deals with vendors for the same products it's bought before.
November 07, 2014 -
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act has already garnered more attention in four months since it became law than previous federal transparency laws did in the last seven years. The big question is: will that focus and attention last beyond this first year? Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller reports on why some experts believe the DATA Act is different than other transparency laws.
October 01, 2014 -
OMB and Treasury are creating a roadmap on how to move forward with DATA Act implementation over the next 12 to 36 months. Meanwhile, congressional and executive branch auditors are part of the oversight process from the beginning.
October 01, 2014 -
The DATA Act has already garnered more attention, more high level focus in four months since it became law than previous federal transparency laws did in the last seven years. The big question is whether that focus and attention will last beyond this first year. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller tells In Depth with Francis Rose why some experts believe the DATA Act is so different than other transparency laws.
September 30, 2014 -
The White House has unveiled new or expanded commitments to open government. Included are plans to adopt an open source software policy, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, as well as plans to improve delivery of government digital services.
September 29, 2014 -
The Treasury Department has heard the complaints about the USASpending.gov portal: it's hard to use, the data quality is poor, etc. Treasury inherited the portal in February from the General Services Administration. It already has short- and long-term plans to improve the federal spending website. In part one of their interview, Christina Ho, executive director for data transparency in the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, told Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about the portal's improvement strategy.
September 25, 2014 -
A Government Accountability Office probe of USASpending.gov, the government's awards website, found that while contracting information was generally correct, only 2-to-7 percent of awards listed on the site perfectly matched agency data. GAO recommended better record keeping policies be set by the Office of Management and Budget to avoid inconsistencies.
August 04, 2014 -
Sonny Hashmi, chief information officer at the General Services Administration, joins Federal News Radio for a free online chat to discuss everything from mobility to zero-based budgeting and collaboration, among other topics.
July 31, 2014 -
Kevin Walsh, director of Iron Mountain Government Services joins host John Gilroy to discuss records management in the federal government. July 22, 2014
July 22, 2014 -
The Department of Commerce will hire its first-ever chief data officer, Secretary Penny Pritzker said recently. Pritzker also is establishing a data advisory council and introducing a "developer portal," which she said will help advance the agency's open data initiatives.
July 22, 2014 -
"Big data," "data to decisions," and "data analytics" are all big buzz words in government at the moment as agencies try to harness the power of computing to leverage the information they already collect into better decision making. But in most cases, the data itself isn't worth much unless experienced people combine it with their own judgment. Dan Saaty is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Decision Lens, a Virginia company that helps crunch numbers for organizations ranging from intelligence agencies to NFL franchises. He said on In Depth with Francis Rose if organizations want to use data to help guide their decisions, the first thing they need to do is set priorities.
July 10, 2014 -
Ginger McCall, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says agencies need better FOIA regulations and a cultural change toward transparency.
June 12, 2014 -
The Food and Drug Administration has launched openFDA. It's a new data initiative making for easier access to large public health datasets. OpenFDA is in line with the President's open data executive order and the Health and Human Service Department's Health Data Initiative. Taha Kass-Hout is chief health informatics officer at the FDA. He explains the main focus of the project to Tom and Emily on the Federal Drive.
June 03, 2014 -
Jon Desenberg from the Performance Institute, Bethany Blakey of the Performance Improvement Council, and Hudson Hollister of the Data Transparency Coalitition will participate in a roundtable discussion of federal performance management and the DATA Act. May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014
