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Regulations help the federal government create and enforce policies, such as benefit programs and workplace safety rules that impact many aspects of American life. The public may give input on proposals through comments and meetings. Federal agencies do not often hear from underserved communities. To correct this, the government is working to include more diverse voices in regulatory decisions.
Sub-commitment
US0121.0
Description
Over the next year, the Federal Government commits to supporting greater community engagement in the rulemaking process, including through its efforts to modernize the regulatory review process, through tools, guidance, and other resources.
Agency and subagency
Executive Office of the President
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Status
Complete
Progress update:
Consistent with the guidance on Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process released on July 19, 2023, agencies included information on their public participation efforts in the Federal Government’s biannual release of the Regulatory Agenda. OMB publicly highlighted particularly noteworthy instances of agency public participation efforts and continues to invite public feedback on this process. OIRA also issued and received public comment on draft guidance on how to improve OIRA’s process for meeting with members of the public regarding regulatory actions under OIRA review. Solicitation of public input included a more than three-hour listening session on May 4, 2023, to hear from stakeholders about the proposed guidance. Reflecting that feedback, OIRA issued final guidance on December 20, 2023, along with an explanation and response to input. Both documents describe a number of steps OIRA is taking to encourage feedback from a broad array of stakeholders through these meetings, including making it easier to request meetings through OIRA’s online portal; providing plain language information on OIRA’s website to help individuals prepare for these meetings; posting a video how-to guide (in English and a Spanish version by OIRA Administrator Richard Revesz) on how to request meetings; and offering periodic and accessible public trainings on effective participation in these meetings.
Evidence:
Blog on agency public participation efforts discussed in the 2023 Fall Regulatory Agenda - The 2023 Fall Regulatory Agenda, OMB, The White House
Blog on Promoting Public Engagement in OIRA’s Regulatory Review Process — Promoting Public Engagement in OIRA’s Regulatory Review Process, OMB, The White House
Hearing from You: How OIRA Meets with the Public, The White House
Overview of Meetings on a Regulatory Action under Review with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (E.O. 12866 meetings) at How To Guide for E.O. 12866 Meetings.
VIDEO: E.O. 12866 Meeting Request How-To-Guide
VIDEO: Reuniones E.O. 12866: Una guía – Administrador Revesz
Progress for this commitment include a number of activities outlined below:
(a) In February 2023, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget shared a summary of learnings and potential recommendations on broadening public engagement in the Federal regulatory process at Broadening Public Engagement in the Federal Regulatory Process
OIRA invited feedback on the recommendations and held a listening session on March 7, 2023. The feedback from those engagements can be found at Public Submitted Material Posting Versions [ZIP]
OIRA published guidance drawing from that past engagement on Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process on July 19, 2023. That guidance can be found at Memo: Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process [PDF]
(b) OMB is identifying promising practices across agency activities and lifting up efforts that can be replicated. This inventory is available for federal agency staff.
(c) OIRA is also developing guidance on how OIRA staff schedule and conduct meetings with the public while regulations are under OIRA review. OIRA released draft guidance related to this effort at Draft Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of the Executive Order of April 6, 2023 [PDF]
OIRA also invited public comments on the draft guidance, which can be viewed at EO 12866 Meetings Guidance, Comments
Last, OIRA held a public listening session to hear from members of the public on the proposed guidance for how OIRA staff schedule and conduct meetings with the public. Those videos are posted at Hearing from You: How OIRA Meets with the Public
OIRA is currently finalizing this draft guidance.
Under Executive Order 13985, federal agencies are creating equity action plans to help underserved communities access government benefits, services, and contracts. These plans identify barriers and outline steps to overcome them, focusing on proactive public engagement.
Sub-commitment
US0122.0
Description
The Federal Government commits to supporting agencies as they pursue additional community engagement efforts as part of implementation of their equity action plans.
Agency and subagency
Executive Office of the President
OMB/The Office of Performance and Personnel Management
Status
Complete
Progress update:
Progress related to community engagement around the implementation of equity action plans can be found at https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/equity/. Recent activities include the 2024 White House Equity Convening (February), which featured a gathering of over 30 organizations who provided feedback on how agencies could better engage the public.
OMB continues to manage the Equity Learning Community to create a durable space to promote champions of public participation in the work of federal government and to exchange learnings.
Lastly, OMB is developing a government-wide framework, common guidelines, and leading practices for agencies to conduct meaningful public participation and community engagement.
Evidence:
OMB released a request for information related to its equity initiatives that included extensive feedback and community engagement. Find links to the RFI and related activities.
Further support and progress related to community engagement around the implementation of equity action plans can be found at https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/equity/. Activities include the White House Equity Summit, which featured a gathering of over 50 organizations to provide feedback about how agencies could better engage the public.
Additionally, the Domestic Policy Council released a report in February 2023 detailing implementation of the equity action plans, Delivering on equity, access, and opportunity for the America People [PDF].
OMB also created the Equity Learning Community to create a durable space to promote champions of public participation in the work of federal government and to exchange learnings.
Lastly, the Office of Personnel Management continues to support agencies and post their equity action plans at Performance.gov/equity.
Public participation in science, such as through federal competitions and crowdsourcing, connects citizens to their communities and federal agencies. These tools improve understanding of science and foster better community relationships. Citizen science allows communities to voice their priorities while making scientific research more relevant. The Biden-Harris Administration supports these efforts, like the AI challenge with the U.K. government on privacy-preserving AI solutions, and will continue using competitions to drive innovation and address key challenges.
Sub-commitment
US0123.0
Description
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting citizen science efforts. Looking ahead, most agencies implementing prize competitions and challenges in recent years have indicated that they will continue to leverage such competitions and challenges, and the Biden-Harris Administration will commit to supporting these efforts to stimulate innovation, develop solutions to challenging problems, and advance core Administration and agency priorities.
Agency and subagency
General Services Administration
Federal Acquisition Service / Technology Transformation Services
Status
Complete
Progress update: Since August 2024, an additional 23 competitions have launched on Challenge.gov for a total of 126. The total prize purse to date is $146,296,740. The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy continue to be the primary sponsors of competitions on Challenge.gov. The federal prize and challenge community of practice has remained steady at around 700 members while public engagement with Challenge.gov continues to increase with over 15,000 public solver accounts on the platform and over 10,000 public subscribers to our monthly prize and challenge newsletter.
CitizenScience.gov has maintained the number of projects in the catalog and continues to raise awareness via social media about federal-wide use of citizen science activities to engage the public.
Progress update:
Since February 28th, an additional 35 competitions have launched on challenge.gov for a total of 103 and offering a prize purse of $130M to date in FY24. The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy continue to be the primary sponsors of competitions on challenge.gov. The federal prize and challenge community of practice has remained steady at around 700 members while public engagement with challenge.gov continues to increase with over 15,000 public solver accounts on the platform and over 10,000 public subscribers to our monthly prize and challenge newsletter.
Citizenscience.gov has maintained the number of projects in the catalog and continues to raise awareness via social media about federal-wide use of citizen science activities to engage the public.
In April, GSA worked closely with OMB and OSTP to support efforts aimed at increasing the federal government’s capacity for public engagement. This work was framed by two primary activities, a federal summit and a prize challenge.
We collaborated with President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, OMB, and OSTP to host the Public Engagement with Science Summit. The summit was well-attended by 98 federal leaders from 16 agencies. OSTP is currently working to draft a toolkit to promote effective strategies and approaches for public engagement with science.
In April, we partnered with OMB to host the PMA Learning Agenda: Public Participation and Community Engagement Evidence Challenge hosted on challenge.gov. This challenge is currently in the second phase of selection and will announce winners in early August.
In April, OSTP released the FY21-22 biennial report to Congress on Federally Sponsored Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, and Inducement Prize Activity.
Evidence:
Progress update:
In 2024 we continue to see growth and widespread federal interest in the use of prize competitions as an important innovation sourcing mechanism. Since January 19 federal agencies have launched 68 prize competitions on Challenge.Gov. These competitions have offered almost $100M in prize awards to the public. Prize competitions sponsored by cabinet level agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy make up over a third of all competitions launched this year on the Challenge.Gov platform and this indicates that agencies are scaling their use of prize competitions to engage the public in innovation. Interest among federal agencies has increased and the federal prize and challenge community of practice has expanded to over 700 members who represent prize managers and innovation leaders across government.
Similarly, the catalog of projects on CitizenScience.Gov grew to over 550 projects in 2023. Agencies including NOAA, NASA, EPA and others are seeing increased public interest and engagement with these projects that span a variety of models including community science, participatory research, and citizen science.
GSA will be hosting a federal meeting focused on Public Engagement in Science in partnership with the White House, PCAST, and the Wilson Center in mid April 2024. One outcome of the meeting will be the draft of a toolkit to support strategies for public engagement in science.
In the Spring of 2024 OSTP plans to release the FY21-22 biennial report to Congress on Federally Sponsored Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, and Inducement Prize Activity.
Evidence:
In 2023 we are seeing continued growth of the use of prize competitions as an important sourcing mechanism. Since January 19 federal agencies have launched 68 prize competitions on Challenge.Gov. These competitions have offered almost $100M in prize awards to the public. Prize competitions sponsored by cabinet level agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy make up over a third of all competitions launched this year on the Challenge.Gov platform and this indicates that agencies are scaling their use of prize competitions to engage the public in innovation. Interest among federal agencies has increased and the federal prize and challenge community of practice has expanded to over 700 members who represent prize managers and innovation leaders across government.
Similarly, the catalog of projects on CitizenScience.Gov has grown to over 500 projects in 2023. Agencies including NOAA, NASA, EPA and others are seeing increased public interest and engagement with these projects that span a variety of models including community science, participatory research, and citizen science.
The federal government needs to spend taxpayer money wisely and prevent waste. With a large portion of spending going to contractors, contracts must offer the best value. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy uses open innovation crowdsourcing to improve government procurement. This approach has expanded participation, provided new insights, explored solutions, and sped up the identification of promising ideas for reform. The government will continue using these techniques to engage experts and stakeholders in procurement matters.
Sub-commitment
US0124.0
Description
During Fiscal Year 2023 the Federal Government commits to continuing to use open innovation techniques and crowd- sourcing tools to foster meaningful dialogue with individuals and organizations with expertise and interest in Federal procurement matters.
Agency and subagency
Executive Office of the President
OMB / Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Status
Complete
Progress update:
The Office of Management and Budget, Office of Federal Procurement Policy has made significant strides leveraging open innovation crowdsourcing tools and techniques to foster meaningful dialogue with the public in federal procurement matters. Three notable examples of open innovation crowdsourcing campaigns conducted by OFPP include:
These and other campaigns hosted by OFPP have successfully engaged individuals, organizations, and businesses, from over 43 states across the country in robust conversations about federal procurement. As a result, the campaigns have provided hundreds of ideas and thousands of votes and comments on procurement matters, enabling the federal government to gain fresh new perspectives and insights on procurement matters, validate issues, uncovered stakeholder needs and priorities, and surface creative ideas for further exploration and implementation.
Evidence:
Progress update:
The federal government continues to use open innovation crowdsourcing, supported by an online platform, to collaborate with the public on improving federal procurement. Two examples of crowdsourcing campaigns conducted by the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) include:
Evidence:
Unveiling the Future of Procurement Forecasts!
Navigating Supply Chain Challenges:
The federal government continues to host crowdsourcing campaigns to gather valuable insights and feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders. These campaigns have been helpful in ensuring a more inclusive and informed decision-making approach on Federal procurement matters. Active campaigns are posted on https://www.challenge.gov/#active-challenges.
U.S. General Services Administration