Fifth Open Government National Action Plan Issued

Dep’t of Justice, OIP Blog, Jan. 18, 2023

The U.S. Government recently issued the Fifth Open Government National Action Plan containing several commitments to increase the public’s access to data to better advance equity, engage the public in the regulatory process, make government records more accessible to the public, and improve the delivery of government services and benefits, among other areas.  The plan was developed through public engagement with hundreds of participants and consideration of written public comments.   

The Office of Information Policy is pleased to be leading work on multiple commitments related to strengthening access to government information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Building on its work to implement the Attorney General’s March 2022 FOIA Guidelines, the Department commits to further bolstering openness and transparency by:

1. Issuing an updated FOIA Self-Assessment Toolkit to reflect additional milestones for proactive disclosures, use of technology, and requirements of the Attorney General’s new FOIA Guidelines.

2. Leading the development of shared FOIA business standards to make it easier for agencies to acquire technology and, in turn, improve efficiency and consistency in processing FOIA requests.

3. Developing an interactive tool to help the public more easily locate records online or find the right agency to submit their FOIA requests when information is not already posted. 

You can read the White House press release here and visit https://open.usa.gov/ for information on the U.S. Government’s Open Government work as well as for future opportunities for engagement and feedback.  Continue to follow FOIA Post for updates on the above FOIA initiatives.

Read the original post here.