Sunday, September 16, 2012
President's Obama's first executive action was to sign the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, which sought to bridge the gap between the American people and their government.
This website, launched in response to the subsequent Open Government Directive, aims to document the U.S. Department of Commerce's efforts to become more open, participatory and collaborative.
Scott B. Quehl
Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration,
Head of Open Government Working Group
open@doc.gov
Simon Szykman (Acting)
Chief Privacy Officer and Director of Open Government
Joey Hutcherson
Deputy Director for Open Government
Interact with Commerce on the social media sites you already use every day.
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whitehouse.gov/open - Learn more about the President's efforts to increase transparency, participation, and collaboration throughout government.
Recovery.gov - See open government in action by tracking the spending associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Data.gov - Access and discover new uses for the range of data produced by the federal government from one central location.
Open.commerce.gov Links
Office of the Secretary Links
Department of Commerce Person Finder
Office of the Secretary Report to Congress
Office of the Secretary Speeches and Testimony
In response to the White House's Open Government Directive, Commerce created and released a Department-wide plan for Open Government on April 7, 2010. Commerce has previously published two versions, 1.0 and 1.5 of the plan that can be found in the plan archive. Commerce is continually working to improve transparency, participation and collaboration. Many of these efforts are identified in the Commerce Open Government Plan Version 2.0 released April 5, 2012.
As outlined in the Directive itself, our Open Government Plan will serve as a "public roadmap that details how [Commerce] will incorporate the principles of the president’s January 21, 2009, Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government into the core mission objectives of [the Department]."
In version 2.0 Commerce talks about 43 programs and initiatives. Previously these programs and initiatives were listed in a single table with the descriptions following laid out under the operating unit responsible for completion. In the new plan, the single table has been separated into tables of initiatives by operating unit with status and estimate/actual completion dates. The operating units have also been added into the table of contents so you can link directly to an operating unit to find its initiatives.
Comments Encouraged
Throughout the process, Commerce's Open Government Team has taken ideas and suggestions from employees and the public. Many of the changes in Commerce initiatives and programs have been generated through this open partnership. As Commerce moves forward in the support of American businesses, it is vital that this communication of ideas continues to grow. To help Commerce keep the conversation fluid, email your ideas and suggestion to open@doc.gov.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) creates the conditions for economic growth and opportunity by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and stewardship informed by world-class scientific research and information.
Commerce places a premium on effectively and efficiently delivering customer services. Customer Service is one of the six major themes of the Department's Strategic Plan and Balanced Scorecard, which the Secretary uses to track each bureau's progress towards key programmatic and management goals on a quarterly basis. Accordingly, Commerce includes customer service goals and objectives in the performance plan for every employee throughout the Department.
As required by Executive Order 13571 on Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service, Commerce has developed a plan that identifies specific actions and initiatives to further advance its customer service delivery over the next year, focusing on key service areas and technology-driven initiatives. This plan outlines the key elements of these initiatives.
Our first initiative is Commerce Connect, a collaborative partnership of all Commerce bureaus to streamline public access, through a one-stop model, to over 70 Department-wide programs that support U.S. businesses. Our other initiatives represent best practices of individual bureaus.
The International Trade Administration is upgrading the content and navigability of its web site in support of the National Export Initiative. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is pursuing several projects to provide ready access to its backlog and pendency metrics, to accelerate its examination of patents for environmentally-friendly and conversation technologies, and to make bulk patent and trademark data readily available to the public, free of charge, on Google.
The Economic Development Administration will implement customer surveys on its upgraded grant application process, launch a microsite to highlight best practices in regional innovation, and facilitate the exchange of innovative ideas and perspectives in economic development. The Bureau of Economic Analysis has upgraded the features and functionality of its web site and will survey users for their feedback. The U.S. Census Bureau has implemented a search tool that enables readily searchable and exportable access to detailed economic data. Lastly, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is working to preserve and enable searchable public access to the extensive multi-agency data related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The White House's Open Government Directive requires Cabinet-level agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, to pass certain milestones as part of our efforts to be more open and transparent. The timeline below details the specific benchmarks we're moving toward, and shows the Department's progress in achieving them.
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45 days—January 22, 2010
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| 3 of 3 |
60 days—February 6, 2010
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| 5 of 5 |
120 days—April 7, 2010
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