The DATA Act: One Small Step For Data, One (Potentially) Giant Step For Accountability

On May 9, 2014, President Barack Obama signed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) into law. This bipartisan legislation is an effort to modernize the way the government collects and publishes spending information. The new law assigns responsibility for the task and sets out a four-year timetable for implementation. For agencies and federal funding recipients, however, the time to act is now. Many government agencies' track records for data quality and publication leave much to be desired. CIOs of federal agencies and of funding recipients will need to use this time wisely to address gaps in skills, to align processes, and to explore the broader impact of the new mandates on budgets and resources. The DATA Act is indeed another unfunded mandate, but failure to comply will hit agencies and their funding recipients where it hurts — in the budget. A DATA Act readiness plan will lay the groundwork for compliance with new regulation.