OpenGov Dialogs Across Government

U.S. General Services Administration

OpenGov -- Citizen Engagement and Collaboration Across Government

The Challenge

The Open Government Directive required federal agencies to incorporate public feedback into their Open Government Plan.

The Solution

GSA negotiated an agreement under the Citizen Engagement License to use the IdeaScale dialog tool, a free cloud-based Software-as-a-Service product, to all federal cabinet agencies and other selected agencies.

The tool made it easier for agencies to:

Engage with the public during the development of their open government plans and beyond;
Promote citizen engagement with government;
Use government resources efficiently and effectively.

Twenty-three federal agencies used the IdeaScale tool to host their public dialogs. Through these web-based forums, citizens engaged directly with their government by sharing ideas and collaborating to make the best suggestions part of a larger discussion.

The Benefit

GSA greatly reduced the cost necessary for agencies to engage with the public negotiating the terms and conditions of the tool on behalf of all agencies. In return, the public utilized one simple tool rather than many different participatory tools that each agency may have chosen to use.