OPM Releases OpenGov Plan

The Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday released its open government plan, which leverages public input to enhance transparency and public participation as part of the Obama administration's open government initiative.

Release of the plan comes in response to an Obama administration directive, issued on Dec. 8, that instructed agencies to release a formal plan to improve transparency and collaboration. In the process of developing its plan, OPM used a tool called IdeaScale to collect ideas from employees and the public. The agency said it now will test a searchable frequently asked questions engine to provide additional opportunities to accept ideas and respond to inquiries from the public.

OPM's leading open government project -- the Flagship Initiative -- involves implementing collaboration and knowledge management technologies such as e-libraries, document management tools, virtual worlds and social networking tools, to help build employee knowledge, enable better management of workforce talent and provide sustainable sharing and collaboration. "The tools will empower federal employees and the public to explore new information that promotes rich dialogue and the generation of diverse, innovative ideas to make a better OPM," the plan states.