Washington, DC

Executive Office of the Mayor
Request for Comments on the District of Columbia’s
Transparency and Open Government Initiative

The Executive Office of the Mayor encourages members of the public to participate in the formulation of the District’s Transparency and Open Government Initiative by submitting comments, ideas and proposals concerning possible initiatives and methods to increase openness and transparency in government. In Mayor’s Memorandum 2011-1, the Mayor embraced the three principles for promoting a transparent and open government: Transparency, Participation and Collaboration. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information to citizens about what their government is doing; Participation enhances the government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions by making use of knowledge that is widely dispersed in society; and collaboration harnesses innovative tools, methods and systems to promote cooperation across all levels of government and with the private sector.

The District government has a large quantity of dispersed information that is designed to make the government more open and transparent, including documents and information on the following websites: foia.dc.gov, data.dc.gov, track.dc.gov, greendashboard.dc.gov, ocap.dc.gov, grade.dc.gov, dcregs.dc.gov, contracts.dc.gov and budget.dc.gov. With emerging technology and 21st-century tools, the District is in a unique position to take advantage of that dispersed information to inform the policymaking process. This notice is an effort to use the principles of open government to obtain fresh ideas about open government itself. Ultimately, an Open Government Directive will be issued that will instruct executive agencies on specific actions to implement the principles set forth in the Mayor's Memorandum. The Office of Open Government (within the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability), and other governmental and private stakeholders will also be consulted during this process.

Comments that were received during the open period are viewable here.

Continue to submit comments by one of the following methods:
Email: [email protected]

Mail:
Mayor’s Correspondence Unit
Attn: Open Government Recommendations
Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 300
Washington, DC 20004