Agency reporting lines
Agency CDOs will report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives, providing an annual report on the compliance of the agency.
These reports need to include information on each requirement that the agency could not carry out and, if applicable, what the agency needs to carry out such requirement in the future. It is hoped that this new approach to data will generate savings, efficiencies and new insights across all aspects of the US government and highlight the US as a leader in data.
Under the Code, any new CDO must demonstrate training and experience in “data management, governance (including creation, application and maintenance of data standards), collection, analysis, protection, use and dissemination, including with respect to any statistical and related techniques to protect and de-identify confidential data”.
Functions
Fourteen functions have been identified for CDOs, including:
- Be responsible for lifecycle data management.
- Coordinate with any official in the agency responsible for using, protecting, disseminating and generating data to ensure that the data needs of the agency are met.
- Manage data assets of the agency, including the standardisation of data format, sharing of data assets and publication of data assets in accordance with applicable law.
- Ensure that, to the extent practicable, agency data conforms with data management best practices.
- Engage agency employees, the public and contractors in using public data assets and encourage collaborative approaches on improving data use.
- Review the impact of the infrastructure of the agency on data asset accessibility and coordinate with the chief information officer of the agency to improve such infrastructure to reduce barriers that inhibit data asset accessibility.
- Ensure that, to the extent practicable, the agency maximises the use of data in the agency, including for the production of evidence, cybersecurity and the improvement of agency operations.
- Identify points of contact for roles and responsibilities related to open data use and implementation (as required by the director).
- Serve as the agency liaison to other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget on the best way to use existing agency data for statistical purposes.
Furthermore, the CDOs of each agency will have their responsibilities split into three delegations:
- In general: To the extent necessary to comply with statistical laws, the CDO of an agency shall delegate any responsibility under subsection (c) to the head of a statistical agency or unit within the agency.
- Consultation: To the extent permissible under law, the individual to whom a responsibility has been delegated under paragraph (1) shall consult with the CDO of the agency in carrying out such responsibility.
- Deference: The CDO of the agency shall defer to the individual to whom a responsibility has been delegated under paragraph (1) regarding the necessary delegation of such responsibility with respect to any data acquired, maintained or disseminated by the agency under applicable statistical law.
It will be interesting to see the evolution of data culture and literacy across the US government following the implementation of CDOs in this manner. It could be the start of a new era of data-driven government and – if success is found swiftly – it could see other nations adopting similar approaches for their own governmental structures.
The full details of the Code can be found here.
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