Federal Data Strategy History

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Purpose of the Federal Data Strategy

The use of data is transforming the world. The way the Federal Government provides, maintains, and uses data has a unique place in society, and maintaining trust in Federal data is pivotal to a democratic process. To meet the changing role of data and needs of democracy, the Federal Government created a coordinated and integrated data strategy that better enables data to deliver on mission, serve the public, and steward resources while respecting privacy and confidentiality.

The mission of the Federal Data Strategy was to fully leverage the value of federal data for mission, service, and the public good by guiding the Federal Government in practicing ethical governance, conscious design, and a learning culture.

The Strategy was designed to derive value from data while supporting robust data governance and protecting security, privacy, and confidentiality. It had two working parts:

• The Strategy itself, made up of the Mission Statement, Principles, and Practices, which provided a whole-of-government vision and guidance on how agencies should manage and use federal data.
• Annual government-wide Action Plans, which identified concrete steps for agencies in a given year.

How the Federal Data Strategy was initiated

In March 2018, the President’s Management Agenda laid out a new Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal: Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset, to develop and implement a comprehensive Federal Data Strategy. Based on this initiative, with input from the full spectrum of government and non-government stakeholders, the first government-wide data strategy was developed, along with the 2020 Action Plan for implementation.

Who developed the Federal Data Strategy

The CAP goal co-leads and a cross-agency development team managed the project. The Federal Data Strategy and the 2020 Action Plan were built on the expertise and input of those who contributed ideas, examples, comments, and suggestions in response to several requests for stakeholder input.

The Federal Data Strategy was developed iteratively. A team of 57 members from across the Federal Government, representing 23 agencies, drafted the Federal Data Strategy and 2020 Action Plan. As drafts were created, the team actively sought and incorporated feedback from federal employees and the public through a series of requests for comments, Federal Forums, and Public Forums. At each step the team published draft documents, asked for feedback, then synthesized that feedback and updated the Strategy and Action Plan.

How the Principles were created ### How were the Principles Created

On behalf of the development team, the Department of Commerce published a Request for Comments (RFC) in the Federal Register on June 27, 2018. The RFC included a set of 10 draft Principles and asked the public to review and comment on their clarity, appropriateness, completeness, and potential duplications. Comments were also submitted through the Federal Data Strategy website and GitHub.

The RFC closed on July 27, 2018 and the website closed to comments on July 30. The team hosted a Federal Forum on July 25, 2018 and attended a Public Forum on July 30, 2018. This process generated close to 100 comments related to the draft Principles. Feedback was positive, and commenters offered many suggestions that were incorporated into the 10 revised Principles.

In developing the Principles, the draft Principles originally published on June 27, 2018 were revised to incorporate alternative or additional concepts and specific word choices suggested by commenters. The category labels were changed to Ethical Governance, Conscious Design, and Culture of Learning, providing a framework that better reflected the revised Principles. A mission statement was added to connect the Principles to the goal of leveraging data as a strategic asset. In some cases, comments were addressed by changes other than what was directly suggested. For example, in response to a suggestion that state and local governments be explicitly mentioned as stakeholders, the introductory paragraph added federally-sponsored data to the types of data encompassed by the Strategy.

To see the Principles themselves, see Federal Data Strategy Principles.

How the Practices were created

On behalf of the team, the Department of Commerce published a Request for Comments in the Federal Register on October 16, 2018. The RFC included six specific questions about the draft Practices and asked the public to propose Action Steps that should be associated with particular Practices. Comments were also submitted through the Federal Data Strategy website and GitHub.

The RFC closed on November 16 and the website closed to comments on November 23, 2018. The team hosted a Federal Forum on November 25, 2018 and joined with the Bipartisan Policy Center to host a Public Forum on November 8, 2018.

In developing the final set of Practices, the draft Practices were revised in response to public comment and expert review. This included adding new Practices suggested by reviewers, merging Practices where overlap or duplication was identified, and incorporating alternative or additional concepts to improve specific Practices. The draft Practices had been grouped under five broad objectives. After stakeholder feedback, the revised Practices were organized under three umbrella categories: Building a Culture that Values Data and Promotes Public Use, Governing, Managing, and Protecting Data, and Promoting Efficient and Appropriate Data Use. The revised Practices were designed to inform agency actions on a regular basis, to be continually relevant, and to be general enough to apply at all federal agencies and across all missions.

To see the Practices themselves, see Federal Data Strategy Practices.

How the 2020 Action Plan was created

The October 16, 2018 Request for Comments asked the public to propose specific Action Steps to associate with particular Practices. On June 4, 2019, the Department of Commerce published another RFC in the Federal Register requesting comments on the draft 2020 Action Plan. Comments were again accepted through the Federal Data Strategy website and GitHub. Stakeholders also offered comments at a Federal Forum on June 25, 2019 and a Public Forum on July 8, 2019.

Many commenters provided feedback on the 16 Actions in the draft plan, identifying opportunities for clarification and suggesting additional Actions to address gaps. The 16 original Action Steps were reorganized and four more were added based on that feedback. The revised plan added a new foreword, an expanded introduction, more detailed descriptions of the Action Steps, and a discussion of the role of future Action Plans.

All published documents

Every document published on the former strategy.data.gov site is hosted here. Drafts are labeled as drafts. Where a later final version exists elsewhere on resources.data.gov, that is noted.

Changelog