Agencies must post data online, pronto

President Obama's transparency agenda just got a jolt of caffeine. The White House released a series of mandates on Tuesday requiring federal agencies to post three "high-value" data sets on Data.gov, the online home of such government information.

The directive is ordering agencies to publish information online in a timely manner, while presenting their data in a web-friendly format that is available to download. Agencies with significant backlogs of Freedom of Information Act requests will have to reduce that number of requests by 10 percent each year.

Agencies have until the end of January to comply, not a long time considering that the holiday season is upon us and plenty of federal workers are planning to take their vacations toward the end of the year.

"The results appear to be well worth the wait," said Gary D. Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, one of several groups that pushed for transparency reforms. "The key will be how the public, the White House and federal agencies work together in implementing the directive."

Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said he doesn't expect agencies will have any problem meeting this deadline. "Failure to follow through on this will generate displeasure from the White House and the president," he told the Washington Post. "I don't think we've had a problem with Cabinet secretaries embracing clear directives from the president."

For more on transparency:
- see this Washington Post article

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