President Barack Obama on May 9 signed legislation aimed at standardizing and publishing the federal government’s spending data.
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, known as the DATA Act (S. 994) would require the Treasury secretary and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to establish government-wide financial data standards. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
The standardized information would have to be published online and improvements would be made to the existing USASpending.gov website. Agency inspectors general and Government Accountability Office would have to report on the completeness, timeliness, quality and accuracy of data submitted to the site.
The DATA bill also would mandate the review the established reporting requirements for contracts, grants and loans to reduce compliance costs.
“The DATA Act will unlock a new public resource that innovators, watchdogs, and citizens can mine for valuable and unprecedented insight into federal spending,” said Hudson Hollister, the Data Transparency Coalition’s Executive Director.
The White House on May 9 issued its latest Open Data Action Plan.
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