Establish the President’s Management Council as the key oversight structure for creating a more open government.

Establish the President’s Management Council as the key oversight structure for creating a more open government. The President’s Management Council can effectively engage Deputy Secretaries of the cabinet-level departments and agencies, providing top-level management support for open government. As the key Executive Branch official, the Chief Performance Officer should take responsibility for directing the overall Open Government Directive. With the support of the Chief Performance Officer, the Council will work with the top federal managers to plan and guide the implementation of the directive across the federal government.

Form three inter-agency work groups to carry out the main aspects of the directive with the President’s Management Council.

1. The first work group, chaired by the Office of Management and Budget, will oversee implementation of the Open Government Directive and measure its progress. OMB will provide policies, guidance, resources and performance measures necessary for the federal government to implement the Open Government Directive. Among the responsibilities of this work group will be: (a) make available additional funding to launch this initiative, (b) develop performance measures that recognize and validate effective actions, innovations and policies, (c) provide federal agencies with incentives that will recognize and reinforce progress, and (d) gather and distribute best practices and lessons learned as related to planning and implementing the Open Government Directive.

2. The second work group, chaired by the Office of Personnel Management, will build the capacity of federal employees to engage the public. This workgroup will: (a) Define competencies needed; develop a shared vocabulary and knowledge base; develop training requirements addressed by the Office of Personnel Management’s various training centers (including collaborative training through inter-agency efforts); ensure efforts are multi-disciplinary; and provide incentives to reward federal employees who successfully implement the Open Government Directive, and (b) Gather, organize and distribute the best practices and lessons learned related to building personnel capacity to reach out to the public.

3. The third work group on technology issues related to open government, chaired by the Chief Technology Officer, will investigate enhancing public participation through the use of new technologies such as Web 2.0 and social media channels. This workgroup will: (a) Serve as the starting point for benchmarking, learning lessons, and identifying best practices for technology and government, and (b) Examine collaborations with citizen-experts in the emerging media and technology sectors.

Why Is This Idea Important?