Introductory Letter from DOT Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez on DOT Open Government Plan 4.0
I am pleased to present the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2016 Open Government Plan. This updated plan is published in accordance with the President’s January 21, 2009, Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and the Office of Management and Budget’s December 8, 2009, Open Government Directive. The plan also addresses the July 14, 2016, memorandum from the U.S. Chief Information Officer and the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, which provided additional guidance for Open Government Plan updates.
Since DOT published its first Open Government Plan in 2010, we have made significant strides in promoting increased transparency, participation, and collaboration, and we have institutionalized the Open DOT culture by creating new policies, releasing more data, and streamlining our Web sites. We also have increased citizen participation on all fronts, including engaging the public on departmental policy and regulations and in local transportation decision-making through our Ladders of Opportunity efforts and initiatives such as the Every Place Counts challenge. Within DOT, we continue to encourage collaboration and innovation through IdeaHub, an innovative tool that allows DOT employees to offer and discuss ideas to improve the Department.
The DOT 2016 Open Government Plan will continue to advance our commitment to openness and engagement with the public, our stakeholders, and DOT employees. Their insights, knowledge, expertise, and experiences are critical to the way we do business at DOT and are reflected in the initiatives and activities proposed in this Plan. To meet the challenges of the future, DOT must continue to harness the ingenuity of the American people in new and innovative ways.
In 2016, our flagship initiative is the Federal Permitting Dashboard, an online tool for Federal agencies, project developers, and interested members of the public to track the Federal Government’s permitting and review process for large or complex infrastructure projects.
The tool increases transparency in review timelines and offers the potential for agencies to coordinate and synchronize review schedules so that the public can identify where and when they can be involved during the project development process.
We believe that the 2016 Open Government plan reflects the evolution of open Government at DOT. I am proud of our progress, and I look forward to more innovation in the coming years. We welcome your comments, and we encourage you to send feedback on this plan to open@dot.gov.
Sincerely,
Victor M. Mendez