White House nearing finish line on federal data guidance 

The Office of Management and Budget is getting close to finalizing long-awaited data guidance required by a 2019 law that mandates the machine-readability of federal information, two White House officials with direct knowledge of that work confirmed to FedScoop.

According to the sources, who were granted anonymity to speak more candidly, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer are currently working on completing the guidance with a goal to get it out by the end of November. 

The sources confirmed that the guidance responds to data cataloging recommendations from the FAIRness Project, an effort by the Federal Chief Data Officer Council and Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology that announced its completion last month, and that it aligns with standards from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization that aims to make the internet accessible, international, private and secure. 

Specifically, the FAIRness Project outlined recommendations to update the existing Data Catalog-US Schema to version 3.0, or DCAT-US 3.0. The significance of the 3.0 version, according to the FAIRness Project’s publication, “lies in its role as a bridge between” the established standards and the more “forward-looking” new standards.

The White House declined to comment.

Often referred to as “Phase II” guidance, the pending directive is a requirement of the OPEN Government Data Act, which became law as a part of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, or Evidence Act, in 2019. That same law instituted the requirement for agencies to designate Chief Data Officers and established a government-wide CDO Council. The wait on corresponding OMB guidance, however, has lingered. 

The law’s requirements that OMB issue guidance to agencies on developing and maintaining their comprehensive data inventories and guidance on making data open by default are both currently on the Government Accountability Office’s priority recommendations for the office. GAO initially made the recommendations to complete the guidance in 2021 and 2022, respectively. 

In an August letter to OMB on priority recommendations, the GAO said issuing that guidance “would increase the availability and transparency of federal government data.”