The General Services Administration has issued a request for information seeking public comments on ways to further improve U.S. federal transparency under the Sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan, set for drafting with stakeholder participation.
GSA wants public input from public, private, advocacy, non-profit and philanthropic groups, as well as government agency personnel, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy said in a blog post on Wednesday.
The RFI’s topics cover four focus areas, including public input on innovative approaches or emerging technologies that the government could adopt to improve transparency, public engagement and accountability.
The deadline for public input submission is on Nov. 12.
The RFI follows the GSA’s September announcement of the Open Government Challenge under which the agency will develop guidelines for community participation to promote broader and more meaningful public engagement of federal agencies.
A new federal PPCE toolkit will also be developed as a guidebook on case studies on best practices on public participation and engagement.
The transparency initiatives are driven by the U.S. membership in the Open Government Partnership, an international alliance among federal, state and local governments and civil society organizations advocating democratic principles and government accountability.
The OGP requires its members to create and commit to transparency plans every two to three years, as well as submit progress reports to independent monitoring and reporting bodies.