The Office of Management and Budget has issued reporting instructions for agencies’ annual e-gov reports as required under the E-Gov Act of 2002.
It said reporting under the act will entail the same two components as last year, with a third component addressing how agency information dissemination activities are coordinated with freedom of information act operations in light of agency FOIA improvement plans.
The memo – M-06-25 – asks each agency to provide a brief overview of FOIA implementation, including a description of one internal agency-specific e-gov initiative and how it is transforming agency operations, if it has. OMB issued another memo recently that essentially asked agencies for e-gov success stories to bolster its effort to drive the initiative forward.
This latest memo calls on agencies to explain how they maintain an ongoing dialog with interested parties to find innovative ways to use IT for the initiative, asked them to identify external partners who collaborate on the initiative, identify improved performance by tracking performance measures supporting agency objectives and strategic goals, and to qualify the cost savings and cost avoidance achieved through implementing the initiative.
They should also describe their processes for determining what information is to be made available on agency public websites, including information on processes for determining which government information the agency intends to make available, a copy of the priorities and schedules for making information available and accessible, explain how and when that will happen, link to the final determinations posted on agency websites, and identify progress implementing Internet search functionality of agency documents within agency websites.
The guidance does not cover information about the 24 presidential e-gov initiatives and lines of business — that information will be collected at a later date, OMB said, adding that the e-gov reports must be suitable for public disclosure and published online.
