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Across government, agencies are looking for innovative ways to improve productivity. With the development of cloud technology, and a host of different collaboration tools, technology now exists to instantly connect people around the globe. The use of cloud services and mobile technology has been a game changer across all sectors, allowing employees to access information when they want, and on what device they desire.
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Although employees can now connect easily across any device, new challenges have become apparent, and there are increasingly more security risks for government. Retaining security in multiple environments and decreasing vulnerabilities is critical to improve productivity for government. This section will highlight cloud computing, data center consolidation, mobile and cyber security as ways government can use technology to increase and maintain productivity.
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Up in the Cloud- _________________________________________________ The Promise of Cloud _____________________________________________ Computing ______________________________ _________________________________________________ _____________________________________________
C
Cloud computing continues to be one of the key trends in government. Since 2009, President Obama’s Administration has been encouraging federal agencies to adopt cloud technologies through the Federal Government’s Cloud Computing Initiative. With this initiative, the Obama Administration hopes that by leveraging cloud computing, agencies can work to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and cut costs for the federal government. With the adoption of cloud computing, government at all levels has found new efficiencies. In May 2012, GovLoop ran a blog series that explored how government can break down silos, including the role of emerging technology, such as cloud technology. Cloud technology offers many benefits for government agencies. With more and more cloud initiatives being implemented in government, there are many related benefits to moving to a cloud-based environment.
(3) Connecting Instantly
Ten benefits of cloud technology can be found below.
(1) Ease of Sharing Information and Data
The cloud easily allows users to connect and share information across the agency. By sharing data, and resources, agencies can work collaboratively to solve cross-agency challenges.
(2) Sharing Best Practices
Just like with data, best practices and resources can easily be shared through the cloud, whether this is certain initiatives or programs that the agency has started or longstanding projects or processes.
The cloud makes it easier than ever before to connect with colleagues. The ability to instantly connect through the cloud, collaborate on documents, and share information is one of the many benefits of the cloud.
(4) Drive Improved Decision Making
By sharing data and information, decision makers will have access to the right information they need to make a decision. Some examples include agencies using the cloud to connect people in the field with decision makers back in the office. This could be extremely useful during a crisis, as decision managers could address where to send supplies and how to best provide relief at risk areas.
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(9) Achieve Cost Savings
(5) Connecting More Decision Makers
With the cloud, more decision makers can be connected and work towards collaborative solutions. Getting all the right people at the table is always a challenge, but the cloud helps mitigate some of those barriers.
(6) Increase Telework Opportunities
With cloud technology improving, the cloud provides more opportunities for teleworking. Teleworking provides many benefits to employees and organizations.
(7) Recruit Top Talent
Do not forget that technology can also be a recruitment tool. Many future workers are accustomed to using cloud technologies to collaborate on projects, they will expect to have this kind of technology at the workplace.
(8) Increase Efficiency and Productivity
With the cloud, people can be more efficient and productive by having the information they need at their fingertips, rather than searching and requesting information.
Cost savings is usually mentioned with cloud technology. With cloud technology now available, agencies need to be smart as to how they think about cost savings. If a new cloud initiative yields a cost saving, the saved money can be redistributed back into the agency to support other initiatives.
(10) Improve Transparency
With the ability to quickly access information and share information through the cloud, agencies can improve their transparency efforts. The cloud allows people to share the right information and allow people to quickly access the information they need.
______________________ _______________ ___________________ _________________ ______________
_____________________________ ______________________________ _________________________________ _______________________________________
Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)
F
FedRAMP is a governmentwide program that helps government agencies implement cloud based technology. At the core of FedRAMP is providing government officials with a standardized approach to security, authorization and monitoring of cloud-based services. With the implementation of FedRAMP, governmentwide acquisition of cloud technology is expected to increase. With FedRAMP, cloud service providers will have to use a third party to verify the company meets basic security requirements. FedRAMP is an extension of the Obama Administration’s “Cloud First” strategy, detailed by the memorandum released on December 8th, 2011.
FedRAMP.gov states the following program goals: —Accelerate the adoption of secure cloud solutions through reuse of assessments and authorizations —Increase confidence in security of cloud solutions —Achieve consistent security authorizations using a baseline set of agreed upon standards to be used for Cloud product approval in or outside of FedRAMP —Ensure consistent application of existing security practices —Increase confidence in security assessments —Increase automation and near real-time data for continuous monitoring FedRAMP.gov states the following program benefits: —Increases re-use of existing security assessments across agencies —Saves significant cost, time and resources – “do once, use many times” —Improves real-time security visibility —Provides a uniform
approach to risk-based management —Enhances transparency between government and cloud service providers (CSPs) —Improves the trustworthiness, reliability, consistency, and quality of the Federal security authorization process Key FedRAMP Documentation (Resource list provided from CIO.gov) — FedRAMP Security Controls - The baseline controls required for FedRAMP security assessments and authorizations. — FedRAMP CONOPS - The FedRAMP Program Management Office’s Concept of Operations for FedRAMP — FedRAMP JAB Charter - The Joint Authorization Board’s Charter detailing roles and responsibilities and governance. — OMB Policy Memo – OMB policy guidance on issues affecting FedRAMP — FedRAMP FAQs – provides answers to most questions about FedRAMP For questions regarding FedRAMP, please direct inquiries
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5. ________________________________
_______________________
____________________________
BEST PRACTICE-CULTURE CHANGE: MAKE IT PERSONAL
________________________ ______________________________ _____________________________________________ ______________________
proving efficiency for agencies.
to
questions@FedRAMP.gov.
FINDING Efficiency, Leveraging Technology - Data Center Consolidation Data center consolidation is typically part of the cloud computing discussion, like cloud computing, there are significant advantages to consolidating data centers. There are dozens of case studies identifying the success that agencies are having with data center consolidation. One example of data center consolidation success comes from the Census Bureau, which was able to close a 6,750 facility and free up $1.7 million annually in operating costs. The Census
Bureau strategy has allowed them to reduce data center power consumption in all of their data centers by 10%. The Census Bureaus is not alone, and due to the numerous successes reported by Federal agencies, Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel has expanded his goals of closing redundant data centers. By the end of 2015, agencies plan to close nearly 1,080 data centers, surpassing goals set by the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative two years ago. Data center consolidation is a practical solution to cutting costs, increasing services, and im-
One of the key lessons for culture change and data center consolidation is to always make it personal. Top-level managers need to really show how implementing data center consolidation will make employees jobs easier, more efficient and help to achieve the goals of the agency. The first step for an agency considering data center consolidation is to look at the business value of new adoption or consolidation of services. Agencies should be sure to scope the project and make sure implementing the new technology makes sense for the agency. Likewise, when thinking about costs, agencies need to be sure that they identify total savings, and think critically about how the savings can be filtered back within the agency.
Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how Government and Education connect, communicate, and collaborate. Since 1984, Cisco has led in the innovation of IPbased networking technologies, including routing, switching, security, TelePresence systems, unif ied communications, video, and wireless. The company’s responsible business practices help ensure accountability, business sustainability, and environmentally conscious operations and products. Our technology is changing the nature of work and the way we serve, educate, and defend. Helping government agencies maximize ef fectiveness in key areas:
· · · · · ·
Cloud Computing Data Center Consolidation Cyber Security Mobile (Mobile Collaboration) Telework Bring Your Own Device
For more information, visit www.cisco.com/go/usgov
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In a White House blog post, President Obama stated, “Cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cyber security.” Protecting the nation from cyber threats is critical. As citizens perform more daily transactions online with the government and more information is shared, the government has a responsibility to make sure our personal information is protected. Although we are more connected than ever before, more information has been shared and there is more risk of information being breached. Government agencies now must improve infrastructure to protect against threats and simultaneously reduce the number of cyber attacks within government. As attacks become more complex, agencies need to be ready to protect themselves and improve infrastructure to reduce the number of attacks. Cyber security affects all of us. With government using more devices, and employees accessing information in new ways, government is challenged to
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keep all systems protected.
TOP 3 Challenges for Cyber Security (1) Network Accessibility
Agencies need to understand who has access, when they have access and through what kind of device people are accessing the network. Knowing this information is critical, as it will help agencies identify proper protocols for accessing the networking, and assessing network vulnerabilities.
(2) Diversity of Devices on Network
With increasing use of bringyour-own-device policies and the variety of devices available in the market, IT professionals are challenged to protect multiple devices, and
often, across different operating systems.
(3) Diversity of Network Applications
Agencies sometimes develop homegrown network applications, which sometimes do not comply with agency wide standards, and may potentially open up networks to threats. Although network applications are important for efficiency and productivity, agencies need to be careful while developing, and be sure they meet all the right standards to retain security.
TECHNOLOGY ENABLING AGENCIES TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE DRIVING Organizational Success with Big Data
With shrinking budgets and fiscal uncertainty, agencies are not only pressed to meet financial and organizational pressures, but also to deliver improved services to constituents. In order to do so, agencies are focusing heavily on how to improve performance. Two ways agencies are exploring improving performance are making data driven decisions through big data programs, transparency initiatives.
Although big data still has some ambiguity as to how it is defined, big data has been gaining momentum throughout 2012. Big data is commonly referred to as data that has volume, velocity and variety. Often, a fourth V is mentioned, “value.� The hope for the public sector is that by managing large volumes of data at the often meteoric rate at which data is created, and understanding the different types of data, agencies can cut costs, reduce fraud, and deliver a higher level of service to citizens. One shift that has impacted big data is that many interactions with citizens online have
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H OGY become much more transactional. With these kinds of transactions, government agencies are now able to collect more kinds of data. For instance, a local government agency that is responsible for collecting parking or speeding tickets is able to track various kinds of user behavior online. If the agency wants to encourage citizens to use online services to process tickets, they can track user behavior online, identify what challenges might occur online and improve the online service based on user behavior. This is just one small example of how agencies can use data; there are many really interesting examples of how
government has managed big data to improve services. GovLoop’s Daily Podcast, the DorobekINSIDER recently interviewed Zach Friend, a Crime Analyst for the Santa Cruz Police Department. Zach explained how the Santa Cruz Police Department has used big data to improve predictive policing. “We have implemented an algorithm that is designed by a team UCLA researchers that is actually based on the same model that predicts Earthquake aftershocks. When you have an earthquake there is a predictable set of aftershocks that occur after, and
we have found that in certain crime types when you have a crime, there is a predictable set of crimes that occur after. So we are inputting data into this algorithm and producing hotspots maps that tell our officers where to patrol before the crimes occur.” Santa Cruz is one of many interesting examples of the potential benefits of big data. Although Santa Cruz has had success with big data, managing all this data does not come without related challenges for agencies. Below are three best practices for implementing a big data initiative.
Smarter governments interact dynamically with citizens and businesses in real time to spark growth, innovation and prosperity. They also collaborate across departments, communities and businesses to take full advantage of the available opportunities.
The world isn’t just getting smaller and flatter, it is also becoming more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. As we move toward a globally integrated economy, all types of governments are also getting smarter.
IBM provides a broad range of citizen centered solutions to help governments at all levels become more responsive to constituents, improve operational efficiencies, transform processes, manage costs and collaborate with internal and external partners in a safe and secure environment.
Recent reports and whitepapers: Smarter Public Safety: Enabling And Enhancing Crime Fighting Capabilities Learning to do more with less is the new normal in government. Read our latest report. (604KB) The power of analytics for public sector: Building analytics competency to accelerate outcomes Opening up government: How to unleash the power of information for new economic growth Smarter computing to support 21st century governance: Modernizing IT Infrastructures to meet critical imperatives
Governments can leverage the unparalleled resources of IBM through IBM Research, the Center for the Business of Government, the Institute for Electronic Government and a far-reaching ecosystem of strategic relationships. To learn more, visit ibm.com/ government
(1.2MB) Available contracts • US Federal contracts • Canadian contracts Analytics SMEs and Analytics to Outcomes group members: Frank Stein- fstein@us.ibm.com Nathan Greenhut- nrgreenh@us.ibm.com
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Best Practice\\ Identify Your Scope
Big data can do a lot of things; agencies need to be careful they are not spreading themselves too thin. With any kind of initiative, it is important that a clear problem is defined, that can be solved with the use of available data.
Best Practice\\ Make Sure Your IT Infrastructure is Set Agencies need to have the technology that enables them to manage the volume, velocity and variety of data to truly leverage big data. Without the right infrastructure in place, agencies will not be able to fully embrace the benefits of big data.
Best Practice\\ Evaluate Your Personnel/Workforce Understanding data is no easy task, so the right kind of workforce is needed to manage big data. Not only will workers need to understand the complexity behind big data and how to truly unlock all the benefits, they will also need to be able to simply describe impact to the rest of the team. Solid communications skills cannot be overlooked when it comes to big data.
GOVERNMENT Accountability Through Increased Transparency The
Obama
Administration
has been a leading voice for all levels of government to create a more transparent, participatory and collaborative government. Although the Obama administration has led the charge at the federal level, there has been a tremendous push to improve transparency at the state and local level. Transparency in government has been notoriously hard to define. Although various levels of government, departments and agencies describe transparency differently, there are some common initiatives that stretch across government. There are several initiatives that government at all levels has embraced to improve government transparency, including website reform, releasing government data, improved rule making, and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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Top 5 Federal Agency Websites
GOVERNMENT Websites Many government websites have gone through significant upgrades in the past few years. The goals with these upgrades tend to be three-fold; improved services, improved accessibility and improved information. GovLoop Content and Community Coordinator Jeff Ribeira highlights his top Federal websites in a recent GovLoop post. h t t p : / / w w w. g o v l o o p. c o m / profiles/blogs/top-5-government-agency-websites-2011
Government agencies have not always been known as leaders of the web design industry. However, in recent years and even months, there have been a few that truly are on the cutting edge of quality design and user experience. Granted, not every agency requires a modern, flashy, public-facing website, but if your agency engages the public in any form, a clean and effective internet presence really needs to be a critical element of your mission. And the best part of the internet is that no matter what your agencies budget is, there is a web solution out there for you that won’t break the bank or have taxpayers up in arms against wasteful spending.
The way people search for and consume content has changed drastically even within the last couple of years. More and more people first and foremost go online for information and to conduct business, including citizen services, making the need for responsive, clean, and well designed websites even more of a necessity. While there are a number of agencies that have made enormous strides in updating their user interfaces, there are a few that stand in a league of their own when it comes to providing citizens with an excellent user experience and some pretty slick design to boot. The following are GovLoop’s top 5 picks (and 5 honorable mentions) for the best government agency websites.
1\\ Department of Energy Built on Drupal, energy.gov demonstrates a pretty drastic shift in the world of government websites. They started rolling out big changes as early as January, which we reported here on GovLoop, but it was in August of this year that they launched their complete refresh. You can also read the ensuing GovLoop discussion here. While there were a few issues with things like formatting, aspect rations and accessibility at first, the new energy. gov has continued to evolve, and shows a clear dedication to becoming more interactive and overall just plain useful. From sleek photography, localized search returns, clean navigation (which per-
sists as you scroll), and great presentation of data, energy. gov really is at the forefront of government websites
2\\ The Federal Communications Commission I had the opportunity a few months ago to hear a few members of the FCC redesign team speak about their experience, so I have firsthand knowledge of the incredible amount of hard work that went into creating this beautiful website. All the difficulty dealing with budget restraints, drawn out approval requirements, and the dreaded “design by committee” surely paid off, as the FCC team really managed to keep the new site very streamlined, yet informa-
tive. Not to mention, the site itself is blazing fast. I also like how the FCC has kept the portal to their old website available for comparison’s sake. It’s pretty interesting to click back and forth to see just how drastic this redesign really was, and the impressive strides they made in design and usability. Check out just a few of the discussions we had here on GovLoop when the FCC reboot launched here and here.
3\\ The White House The whitehouse.gov redesign team had a unique struggle in that they had the added challenge of reproducing arguably the more public facing government website of them all. The website itself basically needs
Real for Better Government The positive side of the “do more with less” mantra: Done right, less is more. Less complexity means fewer errors, less downtime, lower cost of operations, and improved simplicity that drives user adoption – and improved mission performance. 3 Ways Microsoft Can help 1. Use What You Already Own • If you’re government organization has a Microsoft enterprise license agreement, you may already own some of the most powerful solutions on the market. • Microsoft Financing can help you tailor a payment plan to meet your agency needs, realizing the technology benefits as you pay. • Software Assurance can help improve worker productivity, streamline development and help reduce costs with fast, efficient access to the most current technology.
2. Lighten Your Technology Load in the Cloud • With little to no infrastructure investment, you can quickly add powerful software and computing resources. • Save on hardware, maintenance, IT management, and facilities cost, in addition to software licensing fees. • Offer services faster and stay on the latest technology using Microsoft cloud services. 3. Work Without Walls • Telework solutions can help reduce travel costs and close gaps in a dispersed workforce. • Keep teams and resources better connected wherever people are located. • Virtual workspaces reduce infrastructure costs and give staff options during disruptions in service due to weather or emergencies.
To learn more about using Microsoft solutions to help navigate budget cuts and pave the road to opportunity, go to
www.microsoft.com/govcostsavings
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to house all of the information that we Americans want and deserve to know, plus quite a large amount of sub sites that feature various legislation or other executive initiatives and programs. I actually got to hear a few members of this redesign team also speak about their experience and was highly impressed. The White House requires a much different design aesthetic and layout than most other websites, yet they managed to create something that is both modern and sleek yet conservative and professional. Overall just a stunning website, no matter what your political views are. Looking forward to seeing this one evolve over the years.
4\\ National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA has a reputation for being one of the most innovative, genius, and also fun government organizations around. With their website, they surely don’t disappoint. They have a ton of useful information that they need to organize, and they’ve done a beautiful job at displaying it. While the content blocks are a bit thick in
the lower half, the use of fun iconography, clean navigation, beautiful themeing and images (I’m a sucker for space photography) more than make up for the minimal design imperfections, and still puts them well ahead of most of their government counterparts. In addition to their homepage, NASA has some very impressive subpages for various programs and initiatives (such as this site that lets you track how space innovation has improved and affected our everyday lives).
5\\ The National Archives The National Archives lands itself on our top 5 for its sheer simplicity in design, and usability. The Archives have a unique and challenging mission in organizing hundreds of years of government documents and information, and then some. Personally, it boggles my mind to even begin to think about organizing all of this information, and then how do you go about making it all accessible to the general public, and even let them interact freely in many instances. It’s a huge logistical and developmental challenge, and that makes their
very basic, yet extremely useful homepage even more impressive. From a user’s perspective there is extreme potential for becoming overwhelmed when coming to the National Archives website, but the limited 5 choices, gets people headed in the right direction from the first point of contact. So kudos to the National Archives. I’m excited to see how this agency’s website continues to evolve. After scouring just about every government agency’s website, there were a decent amount that had pretty impressive design and usability. The following are the government websites that didn’t make the Top 5, but still deserve to be honorably mentioned for their achievements in producing great government websites and citizen experiences: Honorable Mentions - The House of Representatives - The Department of Justice - The Small Business Administration - The Department of the Treasury • The United States Postal Service
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CALLOUTS Vanessa Vogel stated in a recent GovLoop post that her favorite website was Utah.gov. Vanessa states, “BEST http:// utah.gov/index.html This website is my personal favorite. The website is well designed, clean, simple, easy to navigate, and organized. There’s clear visibility on how to connect to social media. The navigation bar at the top is visible and easy to find. What could seem like one more government site full of information that’s hard to read, utah.gov becomes a manageable, eyeappealing website that organizes all its information in a user-friendly way. This site gets an A in design for me!” Janet Wilson stated in a recent GovLoop post, “My state’s .gov website, Arkansas.gov, was named #1 state web portal in the nation by the Center for Digital Government in its 2011 Best of Web awards!” Chris Stinson stated on GovLoop: “I tend to like sites with very little on the homepage (I know why I am there, so please don’t give me your mission statement or the latest speech from a elected official). I also tend to run from sites that have the same featured items, month after month - year after year give me what is new and cur-
rent. If you are local government, tell me what’s happening in the local area, not what’s happening in government. And keep the pictures & icons to a minimum. One big picture is nice, 15 pictures and 30 little icons, may be more then I care to look at or will even try and figure out what they are about. (One of them might have been important, but if you have 30 plus items that you’ve deemed important items, they all become unimportant to me) A couple of inspirational government sites (to me) are places that don’t try to be everything to everybody on the homepage. http://www.calgary.ca/SitePages/cocis/default.aspx (alot like the Utah site, with search as the key) http://www.georgia.gov (kept it simple. not as pretty as utah or calgary, but still is search focused) http://www.weho.org/ (very colourful! great small site) I might be a little harsh, but I (and I believe most people, who’s job is not working with government) want to spend as little time as possible on a government website, that has nothing but government.”
“What makes a good website is nothing more than what makes for a good speech, consider your audience and be brief. Work from the general to the specific. The biggest mistake web builders make is letting someone build it themselves. They may know everything about what they do but no one else in the world thinks like they do. It would be like designing and building your own house without an architect and contractor, a disaster. Assume your audience knows little to nothing about you or your business. Have a third party, not familiar with your business, beta test the site and give feed back. Lastly, looks are important but they are not everything. Sacrifice appearance for content or function every time.” – Dennis Stransky
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GOVERNMENT Transparency In Focus: Open Tucson Initiative Blog post by Sam Lovett on GovLoop, GovBytes: Planning an Open Government Future While the pressure to maintain transparent operations is an issue facing all levels of government, one challenge that is especially pressing for local governments is taking big data out of open data, making information more readily accessible to average citizens. Presenting data in a meaningful way is the goal of Open Tucson, an independent non-profit group that is trying to open up data for citizens and app makers alike in Arizona’s second largest city.
‘OPEN Tucson’ to Drive Better Decisions As of last month, the Open Tucson group is working in conjunction with the Tucson Mayor’s office to create a public open data portal on the mayor’s website. Their projects include: opening a kiosk to display live schedule data for buses coming to stops near local businesses, an outreach program to explain how the city’s budget, and establishing a partnership with SeeClickFix to track city services in need of repair. They are not the first city to
undertake the creation of a portal. A quick look at Baltimore’s Open Government portal shows what a more developed system can provide. The salary of every city employee is easily available, right next to victim based crime data, and a map showing the location of every speed camera in the city. Parking citation information, addresses of vacant buildings, city contracts… the list goes on and on. Anything with a value can be tracked and quantified in open government. Having access to data is helpful for businesses, policy makers, city planners, and basically anyone with a question and access to an internet device. The key to the successful presentation of data is maintenance, making sure that everything is presented in real-time for the people who need it, which is why Tucson’s approach of private-public partnership to create their portal looks especially promising. Tucson’s portal is still in its planning stages, and they are accepting citizen suggestions for potential data sets. It is expected to go live on the city’s website at the end of 2012.
BREAKING All the Rules – Reinventing Rule Making On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order 13563, reaffirming the framework for White House review of
rules that was established by Executive Order 12866 and requiring agencies to develop plans to conduct a retrospective review of their existing rules. Section 2 of Executive Order 13563, entitled “Public Participation,” directs agencies to promote an “open exchange of information and perspectives” among all stakeholders during the regulatory process, and to provide the public with a “meaningful opportunity” to comment on proposed rules. Specifically, the Order directs agencies to provide the public with a “timely” opportunity to comment on proposed and final rules, and to make electronic rulemaking dockets, including the scientific and technical findings relevant to a proposed or final rule, available and searchable online. Executive Order 13563 also instructs agencies to “seek the views of those likely to be affected” by a proposed rule, including likely beneficiaries and those who would be subject to a rule. Notably, the Order directs agencies to do so before issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking.” – Open Government Status Update, The White House One aspect of Executive Order 13563 was to promote increased public participation throughout the rulemaking process. Alex Moll, Communications Officer, eRulemaking, Program Management Office, recently posted on GovLoop some of the updates from Regulations.gov.
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RULE Making In Focus: The Regulations.gov Relaunch By Alex Moll, Communications Officer, eRulemaking Program Management Office
of the public to engage with agencies and ultimately to improve the content of rules.
Yesterday, the White House announced the relaunch of Regulations.gov in a post on remaking public participation by Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA):
The redesign of Regulations. gov also fulfills the President’s commitment in The Open Government Partnership National Action Plan to ‘improve public services,’ including to ‘expand public participation in the development of regulations.’ This step is just one of many, consistent with the National Action Plan, designed to make our Federal Government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.”
“In response to the President’s direction, Regulations.gov has launched a major redesign, including innovative new search tools, social media connections, and better access to regulatory data. The result is a significantly improved website that will help members
The eRulemaking Program team, which manages Regu-
lations.gov, regards the relaunch as the first installment in a series of website developments scheduled for this year. The substantial redesign aims to effectively relaunch the site to meet the goals of Section 2 in the President’s Executive Order 13563. The new video below highlights some of these improvements with the significance of public comments. Featured scholars point to the fact that public participation in rulemaking makes a difference in regulatory outcomes. Emboldened by this fact, equipped with knowledge of the regulatory process, and empowered with new web
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IMPROVED Access to Information, A Fundamental RightFreedom of Information Act
tools citizens can more easily engage with agencies and inform Federal decisionmaking. Overall, the relaunch consists of a new website to further advance program goals of access, education, efficiency, and participation. - Access - increase the amount, breadth, and ease of access to rulemaking. - Education - advance public understanding of the rulemaking process. - Efficiency - sharpen processes for smarter governance via docket management best practices. - Participation - build confidence for and quality of public participation in Federal decision-making.
tabs allow users to browse featured regulations by category and learn about the regulatory process. - Search - new sorting and filtering functions help change and refine search results. - Social Media – better connections to Twitter and Facebook, and two-way communication with the public. - Data Standardization – consistent use of the Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) and standardized regulatory data and descriptions across Federal agencies. - Open Data - Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow the app community to link directly to regulatory documents.
Focused on these program goals, we relaunch Regulations.gov this week with new features and functionality. These improvements include the following: - Navigation - improved navigation with a simplified homepage. - Learning - new homepage
Moving forward, we pursue continuous improvement. Based on feedback from various stakeholders, our team and partner agencies have future plans in store for 2012. [Insert Video of Regulations. gov]
FOIA requests are one of the most basic rights of Americans. Citizens have a fundamental right to receiving access to information and documents. On March 15, 2012, the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Chairman, Darrell Issa, CA -49) released their “Report Card on Federal Government Effort’s to Track and Manage FOIA Requests.” The report states “Under FOIA, people may file a request for any existing record at any federal agency for any reason. Agencies subject to the FOIA include the Executive Branch departments, agencies, and offices; federal regulatory agencies; and federal corporations.” The report provides an average grade of C- to the federal government FOIA initiatives. [Graphic of Report Card for FOIA] President Lyndon Johnson signed FOIA legislation into law in 1966. The House of Representative cites that at the time the FOIA legislation was revolutionary, as there was no other effective means for citizens to receive information. In 2011, more legislation was passed to improve oversight of FOIA to assist in government transparency.
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