Federal agency open government plans are mostly mediocre, says an independent government watchdog, OpenTheGovernment.org.

In its evaluation of open government plans--which were released by agencies April 7 in response to a Dec. 8, 2009 Obama administration open government directive--OpenTheGovernment.org says the plans show a wide variation.

"Some are exceptional; other are quite weak. Most are somewhere in between," they write in a statement. An initial White House assessment of the plans--based on agency self evaluations--also found in late April that most plans only "make progress" toward meeting open government expectations.

OpenTheGovernment.org gave NASA its highest rating, with a score of 77. Agencies were ranked on a scale of  58 to 60 points, depending on whether the agency can also classify documents, but could also receive "bonus points" for excelling at a particular component. Also among the top performers are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Transportation.

Toward the bottom of the middle ground agencies is the Health and Human Services Department--it has a score of 44--although elsewhere the department has been singled out for praise.

Among the weakest plans were the Treasury, Defense, Energy and Justice departments, and the Office of Management and Budget.

For more:
- see OpenTheGovernment.org's final rankings and a statement about the results
- see the OMB open government traffic light scorecard

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