A coalition of transparency groups published Dec. 1 a report (.pdf) suggesting improvements to and methods for implementing Obama administration-led transparency efforts. The OpenTheGovernment.org report picks through the 26 commitments outlined in the U.S. National Action Plan for open government and vows to release an assessment of the administration's performance on its NAP commitments in September 2012.

The United States' National Action Plan (.pdf), was unveiled at a Sept. 20 event in New York City to launch the international Open Government Partnership. The plan highlights opportunities for international partnership as well as open government efforts already underway, such as the "We the People" Petition Platform, the declassification of national security information and the expansion of whistleblower protections for government workers.

The action plan says the administration is working to reform agencies' records management policies and practices. The report makes eleven recommendations for this commitment including working with the Office of Personnel Management and the National Archives and Records Administration to revise the public information series. It also directs agency chief information officers to help identify uniform electronic records management requirements and develop open source solutions to meet those requirements.

"We will expand our use of technology to achieve greater efficiencies in FOIA administration," said the action plan. Report authors say the White House can do this by better managing records "from birth," developing policy for appropriately managing electronic information and creating an E-FOIA system.

We the People currently allows the public to comment on how the platform can be improved, but comments are not public. The report suggests the administration make those recommendations visible, post an annual report on what happens to each petition posted to the site and publish a "lessons-learned" report on operating the platform in March 2012, 6 months after its launch.

While the NAP says the White House will "open source" We the People, the report suggests the administration be more specific. It says the complete source code for We the People should be published "under a standard open source license that enables the maximum use, re-use, and adaptation of the software, along with documentation explaining how other governments can easily use it."

The NAP commits to improving the interface on Regulations.gov. Report authors say the White House should consult with usability experts to make the site more accessible and allow public and in-line comments. It should also train agencies on using the platform and simplify the navigation from a user's entry point on an agency webpage to Regulations.gov. It would be best, say report authors, to make the functionality on Regulations.gov embeddable on agency websites.

Data.gov, one of the administrations marquee open government projects also needs work, says the OTG report. Much of the data on Data.gov is posted in forms that limit its use and the government has "a responsibility to actively disseminate significant information to the public, not just passively make it available," find authors.

The White House could maximize the availability of data on Data.gov by using cloud computing services. The report also says the quality of information on Data.gov needs improvement.

For more:
- see the OpenTheGovernment report (.pdf)
- see the National Action Plan for the United States (.pdf)

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