Open Data/Transparency

  • The Commerce Department recently hired its first ever chief data officer. The inaugural role went to Ian Kalin. He's a Navy veteran and came over from the private sector, having worked at Google and startups like Socrata. There, he helped modernize data and transparency programs. His first day on the job was Monday. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on his new position.

    March 25, 2015
  • The wave of the future in government digital innovation may be in the open source arena, says Federal Drive host Tom Temin.

    March 24, 2015
  • The government has started releasing comprehensive indexes of data showing how agencies operate and conduct oversight. That's in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Sunlight Foundation. It's been more than a year in the making, and most of the data has never been publicly identified before. Matt Rumsey, the director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency at the Sunlight Foundation, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on just what's in those indexes.

    March 20, 2015
  • The agencies that account for 90 percent of Freedom of Information Act requests received by the federal government continue to struggle in processing those requests in a timely manner, according to a new report from the Center for Effective Government.

    March 10, 2015
  • Nineteen agencies have already adopted Integrity, the new electronic financial disclosure program introduced by the Office of Government Ethics to help streamline public filing process.

    March 02, 2015
  • DJ Patil is the first chief data scientist and deputy chief technology officer for data policy.

    February 19, 2015
  • A call for more transparency in federal spending, the Taxpayers Right To Know Act would create a central database for financial data and performance metrics for every federal program. The bill cleared the House and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last year. But it has yet to have a full vote in the Senate. Hudson Hollister, executive director of the Data Transparency Coalition, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to offer one view on this bill.

    February 06, 2015
  • By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates for greater openness in government were frustrated after Congress failed to update the Freedom of Information Act despite bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Without…

    December 13, 2014
  • It even sounds complicated: making information resources assessible, discoverable, and usable by the public, and making open and machine readable the new default for government information. But that's what the White House ordered in May of 2013. Now agencies are finally getting their heads around how best to meet the requirements of the open data policy. Several agencies realize what's needed is a combination of policy and action. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details about the plans of some agencies to meet this 18-month-old policy.

    December 12, 2014
  • USDA, DHS and Transportation are taking steps to implement OMB's May 2013 open data policy. Each agency faces policy and process challenges, but they say progress is starting.

    December 12, 2014
  • In writing a new tipsheet for agencies about engaging the public, the White House is practicing what it's preaching.

    November 26, 2014
  • The Government Accountability Office is taking an early interest in how the White House and Treasury Department draft government-wide financial data standards, due out next summer. A lot is riding on those standards, says Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

    November 13, 2014
  • Mark Doms, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for Economic Affairs, said the agency is hiring a chief data officer, setting up a Data Advisory Council and looking to private sector experts to make its information more accessible and easier to use. Commerce also is testing mapping and other tools to improve the presentation of data.

    November 11, 2014
  • 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