Federal Information Transparency

Increasing the availability of federal data can foster accountability and trust by providing the public with information on government activities and their results. In addition, federal decision makers need quality information to assess whether federal programs are working as intended.  

Various federal laws and regulations require agencies to make different types of information open and transparent through public websites. But to be useful, this information must be accessible, accurate, and timely. And federal agencies have faced many challenges in this regard.  

For instance:  

• Centralizing data. USAspending.gov integrates data from many sources, including data from agencies’ financial management systems and from government-wide reporting systems. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of the Treasury are responsible for ensuring that the information on this website is consistent, reliable, and accurately displayed. While OMB and Treasury have made progress by giving agencies guidance to help improve the quality of this data, OMB should take additional steps to help ensure that this data is clear and accurate. It should also provide additional guidance to help agencies report consistent and comparable information. 

• Sharing data. To help prevent payment errors and fraud, agencies can use over 100 federal data sources to verify recipients' eligibility. But our review of nine selected data sources found data quality issues and inconsistent data management practices. Further, no governance body or rules exist to help ensure such data is interoperable—i.e., that it can be shared efficiently among systems. Without data improvements, it will be harder to use artificial intelligence and other tools to help find and prevent errors. Congress should consider assigning an agency to implement data standards and interoperability requirements for eligibility data. 

• User feedback. Treasury has collected feedback from site users of USAspending.gov, including through usability testing, and has made changes to the website. However, some users have said it was hard to find what they needed—either specific data or information about the data to help them understand and use it appropriately. Treasury should add a broad website search function to the site to help users find content. 

• Federal spending data. Quality data on federal purchases can help provide transparency about spending and inform public policy. OMB offers guidance for agencies to certify procurement data. But not all agencies did so, and even fewer had met the requirements in OMB's guidance. Similarly, the General Services Administration runs several systems that track procurement-related data from agencies. But some of these systems are outdated, and GSA doesn't have a plan or timeline to fully modernize them. 

• Accountability of federal funds. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, federal agencies acted swiftly to establish emergency programs and deliver financial relief to the American people. Many agencies were able to distribute funds quickly, but the tradeoff was that they did not have systems in place to prevent and identify payment errors and fraud.  

• Data governance. Federal laws and guidance have outlined several actions that agencies can take to implement "data governance"—a framework of organizational structures and supports to help agencies improve the quality and availability of data. Agencies have made progress in establishing data governance to ensure that federal data is consistent and comparable. However, some agencies need to address key milestones to ensure their data quality plans are consistent with OMB guidance and to ensure that their staff has the necessary data literacy and skills. 

• Open data. The OPEN Government Data Act requires federal agencies to publish their information as open data (i.e., publicly accessible, machine readable, and free to use, modify, and share), maintain data inventories, and engage with the public about agency data. Many agencies display their data inventories on their websites, but OMB has not met its statutory requirement to publish a report on agencies' performance and compliance with this act.  

• Performance information. Performance information can help decision makers understand and improve results at federal agencies. A 2020 survey of federal managers showed that the reported use of performance information in decision-making generally increased across the federal government compared to prior years. However, there are still opportunities to improve the accessibility and completeness of the federal performance data on Performance.gov—including ensuring that this information consistently complies with public reporting requirements. 

• FOIA requests. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires federal agencies to provide public access to government information and to publicly report data on their FOIA activities. Agencies generally must process FOIA requests within 20 working days, but the government-wide backlog of requests grew over the last decade. Agencies should develop backlog reduction plans and address data quality issues.