​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Background

In May 2014, President Obama signed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) (P.L. 113-101) into law. Once implemented, the DATA Act will make Federal spending data more accessible, searchable, and reliable. It will not only make it easier to understand how the Federal government spends taxpayer dollars but will also serve as a tool for better oversight, data-centric decision-making, and innovation both inside and outside of government. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are leading the government-wide implementation of the DATA Act. 

There are several components to the DATA Act: 

Setting Data Standards

The overall data standardization effort consists of two parallel, yet related efforts:

1.    Setting data standards that improve the quality of Federal spending data; and,

2.    Creating a standard data exchange (the way data is submitted) to codify this data in standard computer readable formats.

On August 31, 2015, OMB and Treasury, after consulting with Federal and non-Federal stakeholders, finalized the definitions of 57 standardized data elements. OMB and Treasury leveraged inter-agency councils to identify data elements and standardized definitions deemed useful across the Federal government. Furthermore, OMB and Treasury used GitHub, a publicly accessible website, to solicit feedback from all non-Federal stakeholders. After rigorous review in inter-agency councils, each data element was posted for a 3-week public input period on Github to ensure that all stakeholders had an adequate opportunity to provide valuable feedback during the data element standardization process. The public input we received informed our work, and we responded by updating the papers we posted on Github at Federal Spending Transparency. The final data standards are posted online at https://max.gov/datastandards.

While these data standards will help to ensure that information will be consistent and comparable, a standard data exchange will make financial management data accessible and reusable. By May 2017, all Federal agencies will provide data for posting on USAspending.gov using a standard data exchange called the "DATA Act Schema."  Information on the standard data exchange can be found here DATA Act Schema Summary.pdf

Agency Implementation​​

OMB has provided guidance to agencies through the following policy documents: 

• May 8, 2015: Memorandum (M-15-12)​​​​​​​, "Increasing Transparency of Federal Spending by Making Federal Spending Data Accessible, Searchable, and Reliable."  
  

• Decem​ber 4, 2015: Controller Alert, "DATA Act Implementation and Offices for Financial Assistance Awards."  
  

          This Controller Alert clarifies specific sections of M-15-12 and some related deadlines. 

• ​​May 3, 2016: Management Procedures Memorandum (MPM 2016-03​), "Additional Guidance for DATA Act Implementation: Implementing a Data-Centric Approach for Reporting Federal Spending Information." 
  

          This MPM provides guidelines regarding the linkage between financial and management systems, new requirements for reporting financial assistance data, new information on agency assurance of internal controls over the data, and information about authoritative sources for ​data. 

To assist agencies with implementation, OMB and Treasury have also created a playbook of eight recommendations that, if followed together, will help agencies fulfill the requirements of the DATA Act by leveraging existing capabilities and streamlining implementation efforts. As Federal agencies begin implementation, Treasury and OMB will continue to refine the playbook. Information on the playbook can be found here Summary of DATA Act Playbook.pdf​​​.

DATA Act Section 5 Pilot

OMB, in collaboration with the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the General Services Administration (GSA) is engaged in a multiphase, multifaceted approach that will result in recommendations to reduce reporting burden, standardize processes, and reduce costs for Federal awardees.