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GAO-16-824R 1 (2016-08-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaakcp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 August 3, 2016 DATA Act: Initial Observations on Technical Implementation Congressional Addressees: The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) holds considerable promise to improve the transparency and accuracy of data on the approximately $3.7 trillion spent annually by the federal government.1 The Data Act identifies the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) as the two agencies responsible for leading government-wide implementation. A key component of ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of federal spending data is Treasury's development of technical guidance and OMB's release of related policy guidance for submission and publication of the data.2 Treasury has issued technical implementation guidance which establishes the technical format and supporting systems to facilitate agency reporting. With less than a year before agencies will be required to report data in accordance with the act, there is limited time to complete technical changes and adjustments to facilitate effective implementation. This report is the latest work in response to a mandate for GAO to assess DATA Act implementation efforts.3 It provides an update and initial observations on the status of efforts by Treasury and OMB regarding technical implementation of the act. Specifically, this report describes (1) the development of a DATA Act Broker (a system to standardize data formatting and assist reporting agencies in validating their data submissions) and (2) the components of the technical guidance for agencies' data submissions, known as the DATA Act Information Model Schema (DAIMS) version 1.0.4 We will provide additional information on the technical implementation of the act including the extent to which the broker addresses data quality issues 1Pub. L. No. 113-101, 128 Stat. 1146 (May 9, 2014). The DATA Act amended the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA). Pub. L. No. 109-282, 120 Stat. 1186 (Sept. 26, 2006), codified at 31 U.S.C. § 6101 note. 2A key objective of the technical guidance or schema is to specify the format, structure, tagging, and transmission of each data element in order to enable consistency and comparability. 3For more information on our prior products related to OMB's and Treasury's effort to establish data standards, see GAO, DATA Act: Progress Made in Initial Implementation but Challenges Must be Addressed as Efforts Proceed, GAO-1 5-752T (Washington, D.C.: July 29, 2015); GAO, Federal Data Transparency- Effective Implementation of the DATA Act Would Help Address Government-wide Management Challenges and Improve Oversight, GAO-15-241 T (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 3, 2014); and GAO, DATA Act: Data Standards Established, but More Complete and Timely Guidance is Needed to Ensure Effective Implementation, GAO-1 6-261 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 29, 2016). For more information on DATA Act implementation by federal agencies see GAO, DATA Act: Improvements Needed in Reviewing Agency Implementation Plans and Monitoring Progress, GAO-1 6-698 (Washington, D.C.: July 29, 2016). 4The DATA Act Broker is a system that collects agency data and validates that data against the DATA Act Schema. GAO-16-824R DATA Act Technical Implementation Update Page 1

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