Office of Science and Technology: Open Government

The mission of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is threefold; first, to provide the President and his senior staff with accurate, relevant, and timely scientific and technical advice on all matters of consequence; second, to ensure that the policies of the executive branch are informed by sound science; and third, to ensure that the scientific and technical work of the executive branch is properly coordinated so as to provide the greatest benefit to society.

In the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, issued on January 21, 2009, the President directed the Chief Technology Officer to develop recommendations for an Open Government Directive to be issued by the Office of Management and Budget.  In response, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy launched and led an unprecedented Open Government Initiative in the summer of 2009 in which the Administration reached out directly to the American people for specific policy recommendations.  Thousands of citizens participated in the online forums and offered ideas on how to transform the government into a more transparent, accountable, participatory operation. This rich set of ideas informed the historic Open Government Directive released on December 8, 2009.

In addition to having crafted recommendations and language for the Open Government Directive, OSTP supports Federal agencies as they adopt new technologies and other open-government tools that can empower Americans to influence the decisions that affect their lives. OSTP is also fully complying with the mandates in the Directive.

Share Your Ideas

Share your ideas for OSTP’s Open Government Plan. Your comments will help OSTP ensure greater transparency, participation, and collaboration to further our core mission join the discussion.

Datasets

On January 22nd, OSTP published three high value data sets to further our mission to fuel innovation through strategic investments in science and technology research and development. 

Aggregated Federal R&D Investments in Networking and Information Technology coordinated through the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development

A Decade of Investments in Innovation coordinated through the National Nanotechnology Initiative

Interagency Investments in Climate Research and Observations coordinated through the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Evaluating Our Progress

The Open Government Dashboard tracks agency progress on the milestones set out in the Directive.  Learn more about our Dashboard scores,  the steps we have taken, and how we are evaluating our progress towards achieving the goals of participation, collaboration, and transparency. OSTP has completed a self-evaluation of our Open Government Plan against the criteria laid out in the Directive.

Open Government Plan

OSTP Open Governmnet Plan, Version 4.0 (pdf) -- September 2016

OSTP Open Government Plan, Version 3.0 (pdf) -- June 2014

OSTP Open Government Plan, Version 2.0 (pdf) -- June 2012

The Office and Science Technology Open Government Plan -- April 2010

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