Data Coalition Calls out “Spotty” Progress on US DATA Act
We follow open data initiatives pretty closely (see 10 Countries with Open Data). One massive implementation that garners a lot of attention is the DATA Act in the US, which requires every federal agency to begin reporting its spending information using a standardized data structure starting in May 2017. The law also requires every agency’s office of inspector general to evaluate and report on its agency’s progress. The Data Coalition, a group that advocates for the law’s implementation and works closely with XBRL US and other members of the XBRL community has compiled a list of these reports. With the deadline fast approaching, the results are, in a word, mixed. The Department of Commerce says that “meeting the goals of the DATA Act will be a significant challenge’; the Dept. of Health and Human Services is stalled on parts 1-4 of their 8 part plan; project management issues such as not having adequate tracking mechanisms in place are also delaying both reporting and implementation. Read a summary here for more information and a few bright spots.
