OMB issues OPEN Government Data Act guidance 6 years after its signing

vittaya25/Getty Images

The law requires agency data to be open by default.

The Office of Management and Budget released guidance on the OPEN Government Data Act in the last days of the Biden administration on Wednesday. 

The law requires agencies to publish open data by default in a machine-readable format and within a single online federal catalogue. It also formally established the chief data officer position for agencies and their associated council. 

President-elect Donald Trump signed it into law in January 2019 as part of the Evidence Act. But although OMB issued guidance on part of the Evidence Act back in 2021, it had yet to give instructions for agencies on how to implement the OPEN Government Data Act. 

“Federal data is a valuable national resource and a strategic asset,” said Wednesday’s memo from current OMB Director Shalanda Young. “Expanding access and usability of federal data and strengthening federal agencies’ plans for data management and sharing can have a positive effect on the Federal Government and the public.”

Agencies now have directions for nine deliverables, some due starting in June and others not until fall 2026.

The delayed release of the memo was due to the pandemic and the transition from the Trump to Biden administrations, according to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report

In a statement to Nextgov/FCW, Nick Hart — president & CEO of the Data Foundation — said OMB’s guidance “delivers the framework agencies need to transform how government data serves the public good.”

“It strikes the essential balance between transparency and privacy protection that the law envisioned,” he added. “Moving forward, our priority is ensuring agencies and their data leaders — from CDOs to statistical agencies to privacy officers — have the support they need to turn these principles into practice across administrations."

OMB also released a memo Wednesday to keep the CDO Council around after its statutory backing expired last month. 

“The Office of Management and Budget is committed to ensuring that there continues to be a government-wide body helping to implement [the OPEN Government Data Act],” it said.

The two memos follow another piece of last-minute guidance on data centers issued by OMB yesterday.

This article has been updated to include a statement from Data Foundation President & CEO Nick Hart.