Collaboration
with External Partners
Due to the crosscutting nature of many of HUD's open government activities,
its relationships with its external partners are of vital importance. From
other Federal Agencies to community-based non-profits, HUD will utilize a
framework that is mindful of each group's own priorities and goals.
The ultimate
goal of this incentive structure is the long-term institutionalization of the
external partnerships that facilitate open government. HUD understands that
its partners are a diverse group of individuals and organizations, and that
it will need to have a flexible and adaptive framework for engaging them on a
sustainable basis.
Collection
of Necessary Data
HUD realizes that there are datasets vital to the success of its new
initiatives that are either available internally within the Department or in
the possession of its partner organizations. HUD will work continuously in
order to standardize its own internal data collection methods, and to create
flexible, adaptive, and sustainable mechanisms for sharing vital data with
other Agencies and organizations.
Empowering
and Providing Support to its Employees
HUD is dedicated to institutionalizing the cultural changes necessary for the
successful implementation of this Open Government Plan. A significant
challenge to this goal is empowering managers at all levels to absorb and
utilize open government concepts in their daily and strategic business
activities. Their subordinates must be able to, for example, identify archaic
or inefficient policies, and then be encouraged to elevate them to the
relevant stakeholders within the Department.
Indentifying
Long-Term Funding Streams
HUD understands that the key to the long-term success of open government is
the identification of sustainable long-term funding streams. The Department
will work diligently with both its internal stakeholders and its external
partners to formulate a clear understanding on the budget expenditures that
are necessary to fund open government activities.
Policy Management
HUD's
implementation of open government will require policy changes in areas
ranging from the use of social media to data quality and security. Due to the
rapid evolution of technology, HUD will establish a continuous review process
in order to keep its policies and available tools up to date. The following
lists HUD's main areas of focus in regards to policy management:
Accessibility
Open government must include people with disabilities. Federal law requires
that programs and resources provide comparable access and equivalent
communications to people with disabilities, including alternative methods and
formats, unless it would be an undue burden on the agency.
Acquisition
To acquire services in support of this initiative, HUD must follow policies
identified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).
Confidentiality
Web pages or any other open government related activities or processes must
not publicly release sensitive information. Due to the nature of open
government, it will be impossible to vet all data as not containing any
sensitive information, especially when information from multiple agencies is
combined. As is the case with Data.gov, HUD will retain the right to redact
any previously published data or processes if such a situation occurs. In
such cases, HUD will convene a privacy working group to investigate how the
compromise happened, and in the case of inter-Agency compromises, establish
necessary partnerships with other Agencies to convene a ‘lessons learned
summit.'
Data
Quality
Due to HUD's reliance on data for many of its missions, HUD has an extensive
data quality policy. In order to release data in a timely manner, HUD will
investigate the necessary governance and policy changes that must be made in
order to ensure the public has the most accurate and up-to-date information.
Data standards will still comply with all Federal laws and regulations as
consistent with the Data Quality Act.
Employee
Behavior/Ethics
Due to the direct contact that many HUD employees have with the public,
standards and guidelines must be set in regard to the professional behavior
that they must maintain, including in on-line venues.
Enterprise
Architecture
Enterprise architecture will play a key role in developing the necessary
plans to align open government efforts with modernization roadmaps and
setting realistic timelines to implementation.
Infrastructure
Open government solutions, especially technology-based ones, will place an
increased load on HUD's Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. HUD's
OCIO will investigate necessary policy changes and IT infrastructure
investments to ensure the Department will have the necessary resources to
launch new open government solutions.
Information
Collection
HUD currently has an extensive information collection operation and mandate
due to its interaction with many groups outside of the Federal government.
The Department will closely monitor the Office of Management and Budget's
(OMB) efforts to modify the Paperwork Reduction Act exemption process to
align with 21st century delivery mediums. It will also investigate its own
avenues to obtain necessary PRA exemptions in order to reduce time to
implementation for open government solutions.
Intellectual
Property
Due to the two-way feedback mechanism of open government, intellectual
property issues may become a significant impediment to HUD's open government
solutions. It will work closely with its Office of General Counsel in order
to establish relevant policies that anticipate the kinds of issues that may
arise from the novel ways in which it will receive information, suggestions,
and ideas from the public. Additionally, HUD will identify best practices
from across the Federal government in this realm and seek to establish and
participate in inter-Agency working groups to develop unified policies across
cross-functional domains to reduce systemic risk in intellectual property
issues across the Federal government.
Open
Formats
HUD will utilize open formats that are platform independent, machine
readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede
the re-use of that information. All data will have relevant metadata that is
standardized across the Department, and proper context and use instructions
will be given to HUD's data consumers and customers in order to provide
guidelines on what are the proper and improper ways to utilize each dataset.
Privacy
HUD realizes that a potentially significant impediment to the collection and
use of information or data received through open government is the public's
worry that privacy information may somehow be collected. HUD currently has
clear policies for collecting and managing personally identifiable
information (PII), and what solicitation mediums or activities allow this
collection. These policies will be modified as necessary to fit with HUD's
open government needs.
Prizes
HUD will modify and update its existing policies to enable open government
initiatives to incentivize the public and other stakeholders via monetary and
non-monetary prizes and competitions. These will be vital to increasing the
public's participation in HUD's open government activities. Non-monetary
prizes may include meetings with senior leaders to present novel ideas or
other such opportunities for recognizing those with the best feedback and
ideas.
Security
HUD will continue to ensure its IT security policy is compliant with the
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. As previously stated under
‘Privacy' above, a situation may arise where a HUD dataset merged with
another Agency's dataset could reveal privacy or security issues. HUD will
deal with any such issues on a case-by-case basis, and set policy for any
recurring scenarios that may arise from such analysis.
Terms
of Service/Terms of Use
Terms of Service (TOS) and Terms of Use (TOU) establish the agreement between
the provider and the Government for use of, for example, social media tools
such as Facebook. Many provider TOS agreements are not acceptable for
Government use unless modified. Even when common terms have been negotiated,
legal and CIO review must be obtained prior to use to ensure HUD policies and
guidelines are not nullified or superseded by the TOS or TOU.
Web/Internet
Any information posted on the Web must align with HUD's web policy, and all
data presented will be Section 508 compliant. This may include the use of
captions in videos for the hearing impaired, or any number of solutions to
address accessibility issues on the Internet.
Provide feedback on HUD's Open
Government Plan
