Agencies required to measure transparency results

The White House is getting ready to issue an order likely to focus every agency on results as they strive for transparency. Aliya Sternstein of nextgov.com reported on Monday that every agency will have to come up with a process for measuring the outcomes of transparency efforts.

Dave McClure, the new GSA associate administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, told nextgov.com that the White House is expected to issue a directive in the next two weeks to put this requirement in motion. He said the directive will "spell out a need for a process for each agency to do this." McClure added that agencies will be required devise metrics based on input from ground-level workers, rather than have officials issue a top-down grading system.

Each agency will have to develop an open government plan that is "explicitly tethered to the key outcome goals of agencies," Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra said in explaining the process along with McClure at a Washington conference. "This will not be another check-the-box exercise for some paperwork activity," Chopra said. "This needs to be built in to the core DNA of how our government operates."

If you have just been thinking about transparency and moving slowly, listen up. The Obama administration is clearly determined to implement these changes now, before the next fiscal year.

For more on measuring transparency:
- check out this nextgov.com article

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