Version 1.1 of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Open Government Plan continues the strong performance of the original version and addresses particular concerns raised by the open government community about the first version released on April 7, 2010. Specifically, EPA has announced that its Open Government Governance Structure is examining the recommendation to create a public communications policy that improves access to agency expertise. The agency should engage the public interest community for further input on developing such an agency-wide policy. Additional enhancements to the plan include steps to manage and respond to public comments received via the Internet and more information on free access to EPA publications. Version 1.1 is accompanied by valuable, concise progress reports for the numerous Flagship Initiative activities. As the initiatives mature, the regular progress reports should become more detailed. Overall, EPA appears to be making the agency's Open Government Plan a true living document that evolves in response to public input and real-world experience.

Future versions of the plan would be further strengthened by fully addressing how the agency is disseminating information about all open government actions being initiated by the agency. Although key partners have been identified for certain Flagship Initiatives, there needs to be a strategy for connecting the numerous other forums, databases, tools, and policies to the public stakeholders who may not yet be aware of them.

View the original evaluation here.

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