DATA Act:
OMB & TREASURY IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE
A DATA-CENTRIC APPROACH FOR REPORTING FEDERAL SPENDING
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 money, but also serve as a tool for better oversight, management decision-making, and innovation both inside and outside of government. On May 3, 2016, OMB provided updated guidance to federal agencies to comply with the 2017 financial reporting requirements.
HJS provides strategic and technical expertise to the Treasury on implementing and maintaining the DATA Act, as well as strategic counsel to entities wishing to successfully apply the requirements of the Act.
Specifically, HJS provides:
- Trusted advice and counsel
- Executive experience in the goals, development and shaping of the legislation
- Executive insight on the complexity of federal financial systems
- Industry recognized expertise and knowledge in the design and implementation of data standards, schema and XBRL
- Key relationships with agency and industry leaders in federal financial management
HJS helps to make the transition to the DATA Act simple, ensuring the implementation of the full benefits of the Act for agencies, vendors, state and local governments and not-for-profits by providing these services:
- First-hand knowledge and expertise on the design and architecture of the DATA Act standards, schema and Data Exchange methods including XBRL
- Shared service providers to leverage their financial management resources to facilitate
DATA Act implementation
- Working with financial management software vendors to identify and support agency pilot projects to determine best practices in the implementation of the DATA Act
- Assisting state and local governments and not for profit entities to understand the DATA Act and its architecture, and identify ways the DATA Act can facilitate reporting on grants and loans
- Helping agencies identify and address underreporting and errors in their reports to USASpending.gov
- Assisting state and local governments on using the schema architecture and framework to support their reporting requirements to the federal government. HJS can access these services through a variety of flexible contracting vehicles, contact us to find out more.
HJS has been at the forefront of promoting and providing educational literature on the DATA Act. Managing Director Dick Gregg is the HJS Subject Matter Expert on the DATA Act and has provided a number of articles and briefings on it. Dick also serves on the Board of Advisors of the Data Transparency Coalition, a longstanding proponent of transparency and accountability of government data. HJS has taken an active role in ensuring information regarding the DATA Act is available throughout the Federal Government. Here are some recent articles by Dick on the DATA Act.
- Getting into Preschool
- DATA Act-Many Paths, Same Destination
- The DATA Act: Unfunded Mandate or Core Requirement
See our latest DATA Act Brochure below:
Below are a few resources available to learn more about DATA Act implementation in your agency.
DATA Coalition Web Site
The Data Coalition advocates on behalf of the private sector and the public interest for the publication of government information as standardized, machine-readable data. This web site contains the latest information on DATA Act implementation and is an excellent reference for background information on the DATA Act. HJS Managing Director Dick Gregg is on the Coalition Board of Advisors.
DATA Act Updates
The DATA Foundation and Morgan Franklin Consulting recently published “The DATA Act: Vision & Value“. You can get a copy by clicking here.
Here is the latest OMB memo on DATA Act implementation.
This memo (Management Procedures Memo 2016-03) provides additional guidance to Federal agencies on reporting Federal appropriations account summary-level 1 and Federal award-level2 data to USASpending.gov. It also discusses the requirement for Federal agencies to associate data in agency financial systems with a unique award identification number (Award ID) to facilitate the linkage of these two levels of data.
Senator Warner discusses the DATA Act.
Here is an excellent article from GSA entitled “Treasury and the DATA Act; Full of Sunshine“
Click here to see a recent HHS presentation on DATA Act implementation.
At the recent AGA Financial Systems Summit (FSS) one of the work shops covered some aspects of the DATA Act implementation, moderated by HJS Executive Director Dick Gregg. Click here to access the report of that session from the Executive Summary of the FSS.
The DATA Act Task Force of the AGA Corporate Partners Advisory Group (CPAG) developed a set of suggested approaches and potential next steps for consideration by OMB. Click here to access the complete text of the DATA Act Task Force. The Task force is co-led by Danny Werfel from the Boston Consulting Group and HJS Managing Director Dick Gregg.
AGA DATA Act Resource Page Click on this link to access the Association of Government Accountants DATA Act Resource page. This is an excellent reference for all things related to the DATA Act.
See the latest HJS brochure on DATA Act to be distributed at the 2015 AGA PDT in Nashville.
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Latest HJS DATA Act brochure |
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Read Dick Gregg’s latest article in the Summer 2015 Journal.
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Dick Gregg’s DATA Act article in Summer 2015 AGA Journal |
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Managing Director, Dick Gregg’s article in Nexgov regarding the implementation of the DATA Act. Click here to read The article in Nextgov.
Web Resources
- Association of Government Accounts (AGA) DATA Act Resource Page
- Better Data, Better Decisions, Better Government blog by Dave Mader and Dave Lebryk
- DATA Act Playbook
- USA Spending.Gov Resources on DATA Act
- GITHub, (Excellent DATA Act resource)
- US Treasury Bureau of Fiscal Services DATA Act Web Page
- Data Transparency Coalition Web Page
- Data Transparency Coalition DATA Act Resources
- Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Video on DATA Act
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OMB Memo M 15-12, Increasing Transparency of Federal Spending by Making Federal Spending Data Accessible, Searchable, and Reliable |
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Electronic Payments Association DATA Act Panel |
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AGA DATA Act Slides |
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Draft Schema |
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DATA Act of 2014 |
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DATA Act Town Hall Slides |
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