Committee Management Secretariat

The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) was enacted in 1972 to ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public. The Act formalized a process for establishing, operating, overseeing, and terminating these advisory bodies and created the Committee Management Secretariat to monitor compliance with the Act.

In 1976, Executive Order 12024 delegated to the Administrator of GSA all responsibilities of the President for implementing the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  These responsibilities have been further delegated to the Secretariat.  Secretariat operations are directed at reporting to the President and Congress on the activities of approximately 1,100 federal advisory committees.   Executive Orders and congressional revisions have further refined the extension and the application of the Act in 1993, 1997, and 1998, and the extent and nature of the Secretariat's reporting of the activities of the committees.

The Committee Management Secretariat provides Advice and Guidance on establishing and managing federal advisory committees; provides formal classroom Training that is given by subject matter experts working in the FACA community; conducts formal Consultations with agencies to ensure that Committees comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, conducts the Annual Comprehensive Review of advisory committees required by FACA; and interprets FACA and other Federal open meeting laws.  In mid 2011, the Secretariat created a new website (www.gsa.gov/eFACA) which increases public access to information on advisory committee costs, meetings, membership, contact information, and links to websites of many of the individual federal advisory committees.