4.2: Management and Administrative Policies

Change internal management and administrative policies to improve transparency, participation, and collaboration

Other Information:

CHANGES TO INTERNAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY, PARTICIPATION AND COLLABORATION The Open Government Directive requires information regarding potential changes to internal management and administrative policies to improve transparency, participation, and collaboration. Although much of what DOI does is bound by existing laws, regulations, policies, and treaties, there may be opportunities to review existing management practices and policies to enhance the principles of open government. Achieving a more open government will require the various professional disciplines within the Government – such as policy, legal, procurement, finance, and technology operations – to work together to define and to develop open government solutions. Providing the public with more information about the Government’s activities and promoting the participation and collaboration of the general public will affect DOI. While DOI is in the forefront in terms of releasing information to the public and following the principles of open and transparent government, care needs to be taken in its workings. New technologies provide new opportunities, but also may present risk to Agencies in ensuring conformance to legal constraints. For example, Agencies should be careful to ensure that use of new tools like Facebook, Twitter, etc., will not violate the Paperwork Reduction Act – any data collected from unofficial voting or from comments may violate the Act. When releasing information to the public, the quality of publicly disseminated information must conform to certain standards. The potential release of inaccurate information and data could have an unintended adverse effect on the public. Care must also be exercised to protect the rights of those who interact with the Department. The terms expressed in the gathering of information must be respected. Information released in support of open government could be too open. As capabilities exist to combine information in new and innovative ways, additional care must be paid to consider the potential impacts of aggregating seemingly unrelated information. For these reasons DOI is taking a measured approach to open government. The Department is committed to the principles of open government but is exercising care to reduce the potential for unintended consequences. The experience of the broader Government community will be invaluable in helping DOI identify where additional exploration makes sense. Policies such as Web standards and guidance, data releasability guidance, FOIA, etc., may undergo significant changes when they incorporate elements of Open Government. It is important that policies evolve to realize the potential of technology for open government. The following are brief descriptions of some policies which may be addressed, that would incorporate open government principles as they are updated in the future:

Objective(s):

4.2.1: Web Standards and Guidance Policies

4.2.2: FOIA

4.2.3: Social Media

4.2.4: Department of the Interior Acquisition Regulation (DIAR)

4.2.5: Data Releasability

4.2.6: Accessibility

4.2.7: Confidentiality

4.2.8: Infrastructure

4.2.9: Information Collection & Paperwork Reduction Act

4.2.10: Privacy

4.2.11: Quality

4.2.12: Records Management

4.2.13: Security

4.2.14: Terms of Service / Terms of Use

4.2.15: Availability to Persons With Limited English Proficiency

4.2.16: Availability of Information and Access to Persons without Internet Access

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