II.C: Governmentwide Initiatives and Requirements

Provide an update on governmentwide initiatives and requirements

Other Information:

The OGD requested that we provide an update on governmentwide initiatives and requirements; this section provides the requested information as it relates to EPA’s activities and actions. 1. Governmentwide Transparency Initiatives a) Data.gov - As described earlier in this document, we have posted over 400 data sets on Data.gov in compliance with the OGD. EPA analyzes metrics from Data.gov and EPA’s Open Government Web site and uses these metrics to identify the EPA data sets most requested from that site. EPA’s future process for opening data through the Data.gov Web site will factor in items that most interest our stakeholders and the public. We will focus on keeping EPA’s holdings current and populated with the most accurate and desirable data available. Many of the data sets published to date are national TRI data, with individual sets for a year and by state and territory. We also published three new data sets after the OGD: * Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) data set, which has never before been made publicly accessible, is the list of chemical substances subject to TSCA reporting requirements. * Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality Database, which includes monitoring data about environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. * ToxCast Phase I data set, which provides information about chemical toxicity testing for over 300 chemicals. Visit our open government web site (www.epa.gov/open) to monitor our progress and make suggestions on future data sets to add. b) Regulations.gov - As a user of www.regulations.gov, EPA provides access to more than 12,000 proposed rulemakings, including those that are still open for public comment. EPA has received and posted approximately 280,000 public comments and 200,000 Agency scientific, legal and technical analyses related to rulemakings and notices on the Web site. As managing partner of the eRulemaking Program and Regulations.gov, EPA continues to improve the usefulness and experience of the rulemaking tools we offer to the public. In May 2009, EPA and our partner agencies launched the Regulations.gov/Exchange, an online forum for the public to explore proposed new changes to Regulations.gov and to post their own suggestions and ideas. The Regulations.gov Exchange uses new social media tools to obtain feedback and create a dialogue among visitors. The site enables visitors to: * Register and track discussion topics * Rate features using a five-star system * Join the discussion by posting opinions and ideas * Export data and content * Share discussion topics with others using social bookmarking tools In January 2010, new social media tools were incorporated into Regulations.gov. These tools are specifically tailored to provide EPA and all other partner agencies a platform to more directly engage the public to expand their participation in regulatory and non-regulatory actions underway and to continue public collaboration on setting the direction of the eRulemaking Program. Please visit www.regulations.gov/exchange to provide us feedback on regulations.gov. c) IT Dashboard - On June 30, 2009, OMB launched the Information Technology (IT) Dashboard (it.usaspending.gov/), which gives agencies and the public the opportunity to view details of federal IT Investments online and track their progress over time. This initiative was launched in the spirit of the Administration's shift toward transparency in all aspects of government, including IT capital assets. To comply with this initiative, we provide monthly updates to the IT Dashboard for cost, schedule and Chief Information Officer (CIO) investment evaluations. EPA currently has 21 projects on the IT Dashboard, representing the majority of our IT portfolio. d) Recovery.gov - Recovery.gov is the vehicle used by the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board (RATB) to share ARRA progress information with the public. There are two significant compliance requirements. One is met by agencies and departments, and the second is met by recipients of ARRA resources. EPA meets our direct Recovery.gov transparency compliance requirement by providing authoritative financial information from our Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) through a weekly financial activity report. EPA compiles this information, has it endorsed by the ARRA Senior Accountable Official, and then transmits the information to Recovery.gov. This process ensures EPA's obligations and outlays are accurately and regularly provided to the public through Recovery.gov. Recipients of ARRA resources report quarterly on progress associated with their funded projects and activities. Section 1512 of ARRA specifies required information from recipients. The reported information helps define each project and progress made. Reported information includes who is receiving ARRA dollars and in what amount, what projects are being funded, the completion status of projects, and the impact the projects have on job creation and retention. Federal agencies and departments do not directly receive this information, nor are they responsible for posting the quarterly reported information to Recovery.gov. While recipients are responsible for the quality of the data they submit, federal agencies and departments review recipients’ reports. (Generally, federal reviews begin on day 11 of each reporting cycle and are completed by day 29, prior to public posting of recipient information on day 30.) Federal agency reviews are an important accountability component of the process. e) USASpending.gov - EPA provides the public information on each contract, grant and award the Agency has awarded through the Web site USASpending.gov, a re-launch of (www.usaspending.gov). The data are largely from the Federal Procurement Data System, which contains information about federal contracts, and the Federal Assistance Award Data System, which contains information about federal financial assistance such as grants, loans, insurance and direct subsidies such as Social Security. EPA is proceeding as planned with all USASpending.gov requirements. The Data Quality Plan, due to OMB on May 14, 2010, will document our steps to comply with all requirements of USASpending.gov. f) Data Quality Plan - The OGD also requires the completion of a Data Quality Plan to ensure that all the data made available to the public is of the highest integrity. EPA’s commitment to Data Quality is not new. In 1979, Administrator Costle initiated the first Agencywide quality management system for data and information. Furthermore, EPA’s leadership, in implementing the Information Quality Act of 2001, issued the Agency’s Quality Policy (CIO Policy 2106) to expand the quality management of data, information, products, and services to meet the challenges of openness and transparency in agency operations. Under the direction of the agency Senior Accountable Official, EPA is using and enhancing our current processes in accordance with OMB Circular A-123 to satisfy the provisions of OMB’s February 8, 2010 framework guidance that requires the Agency to separately address the types of risks associated with federal spending information. EPA established an Open Government Spending Information Quality Work Group consisting of representatives from the Office of Grants and Debarment within OARM, Office of Financial Management (OFM) within OCFO, Office of Acquisition Management (OAM) within OARM, and the Quality Staff within OEI. The work group is being led by OFM and has met on a bi-weekly basis since February 4, 2010 to draft the Data Quality Plan. The plan will build upon the Agency’s management integrity experience to provide a framework for ensuring the quality of EPA spending information. It will specifically assess the risks to, and control environment over, Agency data submitted to USASpending.gov, and recommend improvements as necessary. 2. Compliance with Records Management and Information Requests - All federal agencies have legal requirements on records retention, responding to requests for information from the public and Congress, and on declassifying information to respond to such requests. Brief descriptions and links to the appropriate EPA Web pages for Agency procedures to meet these requirements are provided below. a) Web Links to EPA’s Records Management Program - Information about EPA’s records management program, which includes approved record schedules and a description of how we meet record responsibilities, can be accessed at (www.epa.gov/records/). b) EPA’s FOIA Program - EPA is committed to the letter and spirit of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Agency's CIO is the Chief FOIA Officer responsible for EPAwide FOIA policy and administration. EPA’s FOIA Public Liaison assists with resolving disputes between requesters and the Agency. The Public Liaison facilitates timely FOIA responses, provides information on the status of requests, and fosters greater openness and transparency in the Agency’s FOIA administration activities. The national FOIA staff, under the leadership of the Agency FOIA Officer, provide national oversight and manage FOIA processing activities, including training, developing policies and procedures, overseeing Agencywide FOIA responses, operating an electronic tracking system and managing the Agency’s FOIA Web site. The national FOIA staff report to the FOIA Public Liaison. The Agency continues to proactively ensure that the presumption of openness is applied to its FOIA decisions and administrative appeal processes. To ensure Agency awareness of the President's FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines, Administrator Jackson issued a memorandum, ― Transparency in EPA’s Operations,‖ to all employees on April 23, 2009, that communicates the Agency’s full commitment to these policies (www.epa.gov/Administrator/operationsmemo.html). EPA's program and regional offices analyze and respond to more than 10,000 FOIA requests each year. Over the past several years, EPA aggressively tackled its backlog of overdue requests while responding to new requests in a timely manner. In 2001, there were 23,514 overdue FOIA requests. The Agency revised its FOIA procedures and processes, deployed new information technology tools, and collaboratively worked with subject matter experts across the Agency to reduce overdue requests to less than 10% of the number of new requests received. By fiscal year 2007, we met our goal and continued to reduce our backlog so that by the end of fiscal year 2009, the Agency's backlog totaled only 332. To ensure consistency in the application of statutory criteria, we moved all fee waivers and expedited processing decisions from the regions to our national office in 2009. EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs completely redesigned its electronic FOIA reading room to make thousands of highly sought after pesticide science data and regulatory records available without filing a FOIA request (www.epa.gov/pesticides/foia/reading_room.htm). The reading room provides access to a database of 13,000 scientific reviews and 300 pesticide active ingredients. In addition, the public can find 800 pesticide product registrations containing 150,000 pages at the Regulations.gov Web site (www.regulations.gov). Since making the database and documents available online, FOIA requests to this office have decreased by 17%. In addition, EPA streamlined the process by which the public electronically files FOIA requests by providing an online form for request submission (www.epa.gov/foia/requestform.html). In March 2009, we launched a Web page that allows the public to track the status of their FOIA requests (www.epa.gov/foia/foia_request_status.html). Finally, EPA increased transparency and access to information by posting frequently requested information online. For example, an individual who would like to export a vehicle has to produce a certificate issued by EPA. In the past, the individual would make a FOIA request for the certificate which might take days or weeks to receive. Now, anyone can go online to EPA's FOIA site and print the certificate from the database. In recognition that not all stakeholders have access to new and emerging technologies, EPA continues to support FOIA requests in non-electronic form at the following address: National Freedom of Information Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 2822T 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20460 The National FOIA Office, in partnership with the Office of General Counsel, conducts a variety of FOIA training sessions at EPA headquarters and in the Agency’s 10 regional offices. EPA sponsors national training for employees and contractors. The Agency holds bi-weekly conference calls with regional FOIA Officers; monthly meetings with FOIA contacts in the headquarters program offices; and semi-annual meetings with regional FOIA Officers. All of these meetings involve - and some are entirely focused on - educating, informing and training employees who support FOIA activities in diverse ways on new developments in the FOIA program, including Administration policies. EPA continues to look for ways to increase transparency and provide more information online for public access. EPA is collaborating with other agencies (e.g., the Department of Justice, National Archives and Records Administration) to explore how to provide the public with one-stop access to submit and track FOIA requests. More information on EPA's FOIA program is available at our FOIA Web page (www.epa.gov/foia). c) EPA’s Congressional Requests Process - Information about EPA’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations (OCIR) Web site, which describes the organizational structure, staffing and processes the Agency uses to respond to Congressional requests, is located at (http://www.epa.gov/ocir/). d) EPA’s Declassification Process - EPA’s declassification process follows Executive Order 12958, as amended, Part 3 Declassification and Downgrading. Any individual or organization may request a review of classified information for declassification, and the Agency will ensure that requests for declassification are processed in accordance with the provisions of law. See www.epa.gov/open for EPA’s declassification procedures.

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