[Senate Report 115-134]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 180
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-134
_______________________________________________________________________
OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 760
TO EXPAND THE GOVERNMENT'S USE AND ADMINISTRATION OF DATA TO FACILITATE
TRANSPARENCY, EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE, AND INNOVATION, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
July 24, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
69-010 WASHINGTON : 2017
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Daniel J. Spino, Research Assistant
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Stacia M. Cardille, Minority Chief Counsel
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 180
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-134
======================================================================
OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ACT
_______
July 24, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 760]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 760) to expand the
Government's use and administration of data to facilitate
transparency, effective governance, and innovation, and for
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill, as
amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................4
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................4
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................6
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................6
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............7
I. Purpose and Summary
The purpose of S. 760, the Open, Public, Electronic, and
Necessary Government Data Act (or the ``OPEN Government Data
Act'') is to better enable certain Federal Government data to
be accessible and useable by the public. It would do so by
setting a standard that data assets be maintained in an open
format. An open format means the data assets are machine
readable and not in a proprietary format or subject to
licensing. The bill would require Federal agencies to maintain
an inventory of data assets created, owned, or managed by the
agency. The bill would also require data assets in the
inventory that can be made public be publicly available.
Finally, the bill strengthens the Federal Chief Information
Officer's (CIO) role in oversight of open data and information
resources management policy.\1\
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\1\On May 25, 2016, the Committee approved S. 2852, the Open,
Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act. The bill passed
the Senate on December 10, 2016. That bill is substantially similar in
purpose to S. 760. Accordingly, this committee report is in large part
a reproduction of Chairman Johnson's committee report for S. 2852, S.
Rep. No. 114-396.
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II. Background and the Need for Legislation
Open data, or data that is made available to use without
restrictions, has led to innovation in both the public and
private sectors, supported economic growth, and helped to
improve performance and transparency in government programs.\2\
A prominent example can be found with the creation of
``safety.data.gov,'' which is a centralized resource for public
safety information. In 2012 the Department of Transportation,
in partnership with the Department of Justice, Department of
Labor, and Consumer Product Safety Commission, launched
safety.data.gov which includes information helpful to consumers
such as recalls related to cars, household products, recreation
products and others.\3\
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\2\The White House, FACT SHEET: Data by the People, for the
People--Eight Years of Progress Opening Government Data to Spur
Innovation, Opportunity, & Economic Growth (Sept. 28, 2016), available
at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/28/
fact-sheet-data-people-people-eight-years-progress-opening-government.
\3\U.S. Department of Transportation, Kristen Baldwin, Associate
Chief Information Officer for IT Policy Oversight, Open Data at DOT--A
Case Study for Maturing Data Release Practices to Drive Innovation and
Increase Accountability (Jan. 8, 2013), available at https://project-
open-data.cio.gov/transportation-case-study.
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According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO),
some agencies are not adequately sharing or making their data
on Federal spending easy to use.\4\ This lack of openness has
led to problems of quality and completeness of the data
presented.\5\ According to GAO, ``a lack of government-wide
data standards limits the ability to measure the cost and
magnitude of federal investments and hampers efforts to share
data across agencies to improve decision-making and
oversight.''\6\
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\4\See generally, Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-14-476, Data
Transparency Oversight Needed to Address Underreporting and
Inconsistencies on Federal Websites (2014).
\5\Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-15-241T, Federal Data
Transparency: Effective Implementation of the DATA Act Would Help
Address Government-wide Management Challenges and Improve Oversight
(2014).
\6\Id. at 2.
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For example, in the GAO's 2015 report on opportunities to
reduce fragmentation, overlap and duplication, and achieve
other financial benefits, GAO included examples of agencies
potentially unnecessarily duplicating work because they failed
to share information.\7\ In one instance, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration both
inspected the same laboratories for ``good laboratory
practices.''\8\ Because the agencies did not share data, they
may have been unaware that they were performing the same
oversight function on the same facility. GAO recommended that
they improve the quality of their data on inspections and
develop a written agreement outlining how they plan to
collaborate to remove the duplication and overlap in the
process.\9\ In the case of software management, GAO found that
only two agencies had effective management policies that
reduced the number of unused software licenses. GAO recommended
that those best practices be shared with all agencies to
improve software management Government-wide.\10\
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\7\See generally, Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-15-404SP, 2015
Annual Report: Additional Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation,
Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits (2015).
\8\Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-14-289, Pesticide Safety:
Improvements Needed in EPA's Good Laboratory Practices Inspection
Program (2014).
\9\Id. at 51.
\10\Id. at 181.
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Ensuring certain Government data assets are available to
the public may also lead to more private sector innovation. For
example, entrepreneurs used publicly-available Federal Aviation
Administration statistics combined with weather data from the
National Weather Service to predict flight delays. The
resulting application now helps the public make decisions on
which flights to take and how much time to leave between
connecting flights based on which flights are likely to be on
time.\11\
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\11\Joshua Tauberer, Open Government Data: The Book, Introduction
(2nd ed. 2014), available at https://opengovdata.io/2014/transparency-
participation-collaboration.
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The Obama Administration issued several directives and
memoranda in an effort to encourage agencies to open up their
data;\12\ however, these policies did not result in
transparency of all data assets.\13\ Open Government Data: The
Book revealed that most of the data published as a result of
the Administration's policies was already publicly available
elsewhere.\14\ The major concern is that data assets that could
be valuable to the public--administrative records and data
assets relied on by the Government to make decisions--has not
been posted publicly, despite the Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB) direction to do so.\15\ Additionally, some of
the data assets that have been posted publicly are not useful
because they are posted in a proprietary format. The need is to
both expose the data assets that have not been available and
liberate the data assets that have been locked behind licensing
and proprietary formats.
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\12\See Exec. Office of the President, Memorandum from President
Barack Obama to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies (Jan.
21, 2009), available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-
office/transparency-and-open-government; Office of Mgmt. & Budget,
Exec. Office of the President, M-10-06, Open Government Directive
(2009), available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/
default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-06.pdf; Office of Mgmt. &
Budget, Exec. Office of the President, M-13-13, Open Data Policy--
Managing Information As an Asset (2013), available at https://
obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-
13-13.pdf.
\13\Joshua Tauberer, Open Government Data: The Book, Introduction
(2d ed. 2014), available at https://opengovdata.io/2014/transparency-
participation-collaboration.
\14\Id.
\15\Id.
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Congress has tried to make more data available to the
public by passing legislation encouraging agencies to make
Federal Government data more transparent. For example, the DATA
Act, which was signed by President Obama on May 9, 2014,
required Federal agencies to report additional financial and
spending information of the Federal Government on a public
website.\16\ Most importantly, the law requires agencies to
report the information using a common set of data standards to
ensure comparability and usability.\17\
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\16\The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, Pub. L. No.
113-101, Sec. 128 Stat. 1146 (2014).
\17\Id.
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But while new laws have spurred openness with respect to
some Federal data, S. 760 would require, where not otherwise
prohibited by law and to the extent practicable, data assets
that the Federal Government owns or manages to be open to the
public--meaning the data assets are machine-readable and not in
a proprietary format or subject to licensing. Importantly, data
assets are not intended to include all data, but rather a
collection of data elements or data sets that may be grouped
together by an agency such as, for example, data charts.
Posting these data assets is likely to reduce requests for
information through the Freedom of Information Act because it
makes the information immediately retrievable.
The bill would also require agencies to develop an
inventory that accounts for data assets created or maintained
by an agency and to include in the inventory whether each data
asset is public or nonpublic. This bill is intended to apply to
new Government data collections.
III. Legislative History
S. 760, the OPEN Government Data Act, was introduced on
March 29, 2017, by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ben Sasse
(R-NE). The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered S. 760 at a business meeting on
May 17, 2017. The legislation was adopted by voice vote en
bloc. Senators present for the vote were Johnson, McCain,
Portman, Paul, Lankford, Enzi, Hoeven, Daines, McCaskill,
Tester, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris. Consistent with
Committee Rule 11, the Committee reports the bill with a
technical amendment by mutual agreement of the Chairman and
Ranking Member.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes the short title of the bill as the
``Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data
Act,'' or the ``OPEN Government Data Act.''
Sec. 2. Findings
This section highlights the value of Government data as a
national resource, and the importance of maximizing the
usefulness of the data while sparking innovation and making the
Government more efficient. It also stresses that the Government
has a responsibility to be transparent and accountable to its
citizens. Because of this responsibility, the Government should
release its data in an open format that will help agencies
identify and reduce waste.
Sec. 3. Definition
This section defines the term ``agency.''
Sec. 4. Open Government data
This section adds a new subchapter III to Chapter 35 of
title 44, United States Code, to establish a default position
for the Federal Government that its data assets shall be
published in a machine-readable open format and under an open
license to the extent practicable and when not otherwise
prohibited by law.
New section 3561 provides definitions for the terms agency,
data, data asset, director, enterprise data inventory,
information resources management, information system,
information technology, machine-readable, metadata, nonpublic
data asset, open Government data asset, open license, and
public data asset.
New section 3562 requires that all open government data be
machine-readable and, to the extent practicable, available
under an open license. It also encourages agencies to
collaborate with nongovernmental entities and individuals to
examine innovative ways to use public data assets.
New section 3563 requires each agency head, in consultation
with the OMB Director, to develop and maintain an enterprise
data inventory and lays out the required contents of that
inventory. Each agency's CIO is tasked with making the
inventory publicly available in an open format and under an
open license on Data.gov, and updated regularly. This section
also requires the Director of OMB to establish inventory
standards for the agencies to use, and permits data assets that
cannot be made public to be maintained in a nonpublic section
of the inventory.
New section 3564 outlines general information resource
management practices that each agency is required to meet and
requires agencies to follow guidelines in disseminating
information online.
New section 3565 details the responsibilities of each
agency's CIO with regard to the Enterprise Data Inventory and
data asset management.
New section 3566 of subchapter III requires the General
Services Administration (GSA) Administrator to maintain a
single online public interface to publicly share the Government
data assets.
Sec. 5. Evaluation of agency analytical capabilities
Section 5 requires each agency's CIO to conduct a review
that assesses the quality, methods, effectiveness, and
independence of the agency's evaluation research and analysis
efforts three years after enactment and submit this report to
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of
the Senate, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of
the House of Representatives, and the OMB Director.
Additionally, this section requires the GAO to issue a report
to Congress not later than four years after the bill's
enactment that summarizes each agency's findings, highlights
trends across agencies, and recommends further actions.
Sec. 6. Online repository and additional reports
Section 6 requires the OMB to work with the GSA and the
Office of Government Information Services to maintain an online
repository of tools and best practices to facilitate open
government data.
This section also requires GAO to complete a report no
later than three years after the enactment of the bill to
report on the value of information made available and whether
it makes sense to expand the information accessible.
Finally, section 6 requires a biennial report by OMB and an
annual report by the CIO of each agency regarding compliance
with the bill to be submitted to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.
Sec. 7. Rule of construction
This section ensures that bill not be read to require the
disclosure of information or records that are exempt from
disclosure under the ``Freedom of Information Act.''
Sec. 8. Effective date
This section establishes an effective starting date of 180
days after the bill is enacted.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
June 28, 2017.
Hon. Ron Johnson, Chairman,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 760, the OPEN
Government Data Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 760--OPEN Government Data Act
S. 760 would direct federal agencies to publish all data
they collect in an open format that can be used by any
computer. Under the bill, the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) would establish an inventory of all federal data sets and
would direct the General Services Administration (GSA) to
maintain an online interface for all such data. The bill also
would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO), OMB,
and Chief Information Officers at each federal agency to report
to the Congress about this effort.
Information from the General Services Administration and
selected agencies suggest that most of the provisions of the
bill would codify Executive Order 13642 and other executive
branch policies that set the framework for agencies to promote
openness and interoperability in information management. That
executive order requires agencies to standardize data sets and
to make them publicly available. A website (www.data.gov) has
been established to share this government information with the
general public. However, CBO expects that implementing S. 760
would cost about $2 million over the 2018-2021 period, for
additional administrative and reporting costs for GSA and other
agencies and to implement the new reporting requirements for
GAO; such spending would be subject to the availability of
appropriated funds.
The bill could affect direct spending by agencies not
funded though annual appropriations; therefore pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase
in spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting S.
760 would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 760 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 760 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or trial
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman)
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 35--COORDINATION OF FEDERAL INFORMATION POLICY
* * * * * * *
Subchapter III--OPEN Government Data
* * * * * * *
SUBCHAPTER III--OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA
3561. Definitions.
3562. Requirements for Government data.
3563. Enterprise Data Inventory
3564. Federal agency responsibilities.
3565. Additional Chief Information Officer responsibilities.
3566. Technology portal.
* * * * * * *
SEC. 3561. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this subchapter--
(1) the term ``agency''--
(A) has the meaning given the term in section
3502; and
(B) includes the Federal Election Commission;
(2) the term ``data'' means recorded information,
regardless of form or the media on which the data is
recorded;
(3) the term ``data asset'' means a collection of
data element or data sets that may be grouped together;
(4) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget;
(5) the term ``Enterprise Data Inventory'' means a
data inventory developed and maintained pursuant to
section 3563;
(6) the terms ``information resources management'',
``information system'' and ``information technology''
have the meaning given those terms in section 3502;
(7) the term ``machine-readable'' means a format in
which information or data can be easily processed by a
computer without human intervention while ensuring no
semantic meaning is lost;
(8) the term ``metadata'' means structural or
descriptive information about data such as content,
format, source, rights, accuracy, provenance,
frequency, periodicity, granularity, publisher or
responsible party, contract information, method of
collection, and other descriptions;
(9) the term ``nonpublic data asset''--
(A) means a data asset that may not be made
available to the public for privacy, security,
confidentiality, regulation, or other reasons
as determined by law; and
(B) includes data provided by contractors
that is protected by contract, license, patent,
trademark, copyright, confidentiality,
regulation, or other restriction;
(10) the term ``open Government data asset'' means a
data asset maintained by the Federal Government that
is--
(A) machine-readable;
(B) available in an open format;
(C) not encumbered by restrictions that would
impede use or reuse; and
(D) based on an underlying open standard that
is maintained by a standards organization;
(11) the term ``open license'' means a legal
guarantee applied to a public data asset that the data
asset is made available--
(A) at no cost to the public; and
(B) with no restrictions on copying,
publishing, distributing, transmitting, citing,
or adapting; and
(12) the term ``public data asset'' means a data
asset maintained by the Federal Government that--
(A) may be released to the public;
(B) has been released to the public in an
open format and is discoverable through a
search of Data.gov or any successor to
Data.gov; or
(C) is part of the worldwide public domain
or, if necessary, published with an open
license.
SEC. 3562. REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVERNMENT DATA.
(a) Machine-Readable Data Required.--Open Government data
assets made available by an agency shall be published as
machine-readable data.
(b) Open by Default.--When not otherwise prohibited by law,
and to the extent practicable, public data assets and nonpublic
data assets maintained by the Federal Government shall--
(1) be available in an open format; and
(2) be available under open licenses.
(c) Open License or Worldwide Public Domain Dedication
Required.--When not otherwise prohibited by law, and to the
extent practicable, open Government data assets published by or
for an agency shall be made available under an open license or,
if not made available under an open license and appropriately
released, shall be considered to be published as part of the
worldwide public domain.
(d) Innovation.--Each agency may engage with
nongovernmental organizations, citizens, nonprofit
organizations, colleges and universities, private and public
companies, and other agencies to explore opportunities to
leverage the public data assets of the agency in a manner that
may provide new opportunities for innovation in the public and
private sectors in accordance with law and regulation.
SEC. 3563. ENTERPRISE DATA INVENTORY.
(a) Agency Data Inventory Required.--
(1) In general.--In order to develop a clear and
comprehensive understanding of the data assets in the
possession of an agency, the head of each agency, in
consultation with the Director, shall develop and
maintain an enterprise data inventory that accounts for
any data asset created, collected, under the control or
direction of, or maintained by the agency after the
effective date of this section, with the goal of
including all data assets, to the extent practicable.
(2) Contents.--Each Enterprise Data Inventory shall
include the following:
(A) Data assets used in agency information
systems (including program administration,
statistics, and financial activity) generated
by applications, devices, networks, facilities,
and equipment, categorized by source type.
(B) Data assets shared or maintained across
agency programs and bureaus.
(C) Data assets that are shared among
agencies or created by more than 1 agency.
(D) A clear indication of all data assets
that can be made publicly available under
section 552 of title 5 (commonly known as the
``Freedom of Information Act'').
(E) A description of whether the agency has
determined that an individual data asset may be
made publicly available and whether the data
asset is available to the public.
(F) Nonpublic data assets.
(G) Open Government data assets.
(b) Public Availability.--The Chief Information Officer of
each agency shall use the standards issued by the Director
pursuant to subsection (c) to make public data assets included
in the Enterprise Data Inventory of the agency publicly
available in an open format and under an open license.
(c) Standards for Enterprise Data Inventory.--The Director
shall issue standards for an Enterprise Data Inventory,
including--
(1) a requirement that an Enterprise Data Inventory
include a compilation of metadata about agency data
assets; and
(2) criteria that the head of each agency shall use
in determining whether to make a particular data asset
publicly available in a manner that takes into
account--
(A) the expectation of confidentiality
associated with an individual data asset;
(B) security considerations, including the
risk that information in an individual data
asset in isolation does not pose a security
risk but when combined with other available
information may pose such a risk;
(C) the cost and benefits to the public of
converting the data into a manner that could be
understood and used by the public;
(D) the expectation that all data assets that
would otherwise be made available under section
552 of title 5 (commonly known as the ``Freedom
of Information Act'') be disclosed; and
(E) any other considerations that the
Director determines to be relevant.
(d) Nonpublic Data Assets.--Nonpublic data assets included
in an Enterprise Data Inventory may be maintained in a
nonpublic section of the inventory.
(e) Availability of Enterprise Data Inventory.--The Chief
Information Officer of each agency
(1) shall make the Enterprise Data Inventory of the
agency available to the public on Data.gov;
(2) shall ensure that access to the Enterprise Data
Inventory of the agency and the data contained therein
is consistent with applicable law and regulation; and
(3) may implement paragraph (1) in a manner that
maintains a nonpublic portion of the Enterprise Data
Inventory of the agency.
(f) Regular Updates Required.--The Chief Information
Officer of each agency shall--
(1) to the extent practicable, complete the
Enterprise Data Inventory for the agency not later than
1 year after the date of enactment of this section; and
(2) add additional data assets to the Enterprise Data
Inventory for the agency not later than 90 days after
the date on which the data asset is created or
identified.
(g) Use of Existing Resources.--When practicable, the Chief
Information officer of each agency shall use existing
procedures and systems to compile and publish the Enterprise
Data Inventory for the agency.
SEC. 3564. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.
(a) Information Resources Management.--With respect to
general information resources management, each agency shall--
(1) improve the integrity, quality, and utility of
information to all users within and outside the agency
by--
(A) using open format for any new open
Government data asset created or obtained on or
after the date that is 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section; and
(B) to the extent practicable, encouraging
the adoption of open format for all open
Government data assets created or obtained
before the date described in subparagraph (A);
and
(2) in consultation with the Director, develop an
open data plan that, at a minimum and to the extent
practicable--
(A) requires the agency to develop processes
and procedures that--
(i) require each new data collection
mechanism to sue an open format; and
(ii) allow the agency to collaborate
with non-Government entities,
researchers, businesses, and private
citizens for the purpose of
understanding how data users value and
use open Government data assets;
(B) identifies and implements methods for
collecting and analyzing digital information on
data asset usage by users within and outside of
the agency, including designating a point of
contact within the agency to assist the public
and to respond to quality issues, usability,
recommendations for improvements, and
complaints about adherence to open data
requirements;
(C) develops and implements a process to
evaluate and improve the timeliness,
completeness, accuracy, usefulness, and
availability of open Government data assets;
(D) requires the agency to update the plan at
an interval determined by the Director;
(E) includes requirements for meeting the
goals of the agency open data plan including
technology, training for employees, and
implementing procurement standards, in
accordance with existing law, that allow for
the acquisition of innovative solutions from
the public and private sectors; and
(F) prohibits the dissemination and
accidental disclosure of nonpublic data assets.
(b) Information Dissemination.--With respect to information
dissemination, each agency--
(1) shall provide access to open Government data
assets online;
(2) shall take the necessary precautions to ensure
that the agency maintains the production and
publication of data assets which are directly related
to activities that protect the safety of human life or
property, as identified by the open data plan of the
agency required under subsection (a)(2); and
(3) may engage the public in using open Government
data assets and encourage collaboration by--
(A) publishing information on open Government
data assets usage in regular, timely intervals,
but not less frequently than annually;
(B) receiving public input regarding
priorities for the analysis and disclosure of
data assets to be published;
(C) assisting civil society groups and
members of the public working to expand the use
of open Government data assets; and
(D) hosting challenges, competitions, events,
or other initiatives designed to create
additional value from open Government data
assets.
SEC. 3565. ADDITIONAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES.
The Chief Information Officer of each agency, or other
appropriate official designated by the head of an agency, is
responsible for--
(1) data asset management, format standardization,
sharing of data assets, and publication of data assets
for the agency;
(2) the compilation and publication of the Enterprise
Data Inventory for the agency required under section
3563;
(3) ensuring that agency data conforms with open data
best practices;
(4) engaging agency employees, the public, and
contractors in using open Government data assets and
encouraging collaborative approaches to improving data
use;
(5) supporting the agency Performance Improvement
Officer in generating data to support the function of
the Performance Improvement Officer described in
section 1124(a)(2) of title 31;
(6) reviewing the information technology
infrastructure of the agency and the impact of the
infrastructure in making data assets accessible to
reduce barriers that inhibit data asset accessibility;
(7) ensuring that, to the extent practicable, the
agency is maximizing its own use of data, including
data assets used in agency information systems
(including program administration, statistics, and
financial activity) generated by applications, devices,
networks, facilities, and equipment, categorized by
source type, and such use is not otherwise prohibited,
to reduce costs, improve operations, and strengthen
security and privacy protections; and
(8) identifying points of contact for roles and
responsibilities related to open data use and
implementation as required by the Director.
SEC. 3566. TECHNOLOGY PORTAL.
(a) Data.gov Required.--The Administrator of General
Services shall maintain a single public interface online as a
point of entry dedicated to sharing open Government data assets
with the public.
(b) Coordination With Agencies.--The Director shall
determine, after consultation with the head of each agency and
the administrator of General Services, the method to access any
open Government data assets published through the interface
described in subsection (a).
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