United States Results Report 2022-2024

The federal government of the United States developed its fifth open government national action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... (2022–2024) with limited civil society involvement. During implementation of the action plan, the U.S. General Services Administration established a secretariat and multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... to better support the OGP process and clarify commitments. While the implementation achieved moderate early resultsEarly results refer to concrete changes in government practice related to transparency, citizen participation, and/or public accountability as a result of a commitment’s implementation. OGP’s Inde... More in some areas, the second Trump administration has since reversed or weakened some of this progress.

Implementation

The fifth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan saw a high level of completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More, comparable to the previous one. Many of the commitments reflected the Biden administration’s previously existing priorities, were already mandated, or part of an ongoing initiative—contributing to a high overall completion rate.

All six commitments identified as “promising” in the Action Plan Review were either fully or substantially completed and led to moderate early results.^[1] However, even those commitments which showed some early results have since seen progress stalled under the second Trump administration or reversed with little prospect for sustained impact.

Compared to the previous action plan, a lower percentage of commitments achieved early results as many had limited ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... or an unclear open government lens. No commitments produced significant early results.

Participation and Co-Creation

Under President Joe Biden, the White House created and published the fifth action plan in December 2022 with limited civil society involvement. Engagement largely took place through digital forms, online forums, and virtual listening sessions, with no evidence of in-person meetings or collaborative workshops. Civil society stakeholders consulted for this report indicated that their proposals were either excluded or diluted, which contributed to a lack of interest in engaging with the plan’s implementation.

In September 2023, midway through the action plan cycle, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) established an Open Government Secretariat to strengthen support for open government initiatives.^[2] The Secretariat had dedicated staff and budget. It was responsible for leading the development and implementation of the national action plans, as well as engaging with the OGP Support Unit, the public, and federal agencies on U.S. open government efforts. In response to IRM recommendations from its 2022–2024 Action Plan Review, the Secretariat took several key steps to align U.S. practices with OGP minimum requirements and improve outreach to civil society and the public.^[3] The Secretariat clarified commitments by identifying sub-commitments and responsible agencies, developed a new public repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ... for tracking implementation progress, and launched the Open Government Federal Advisory Committee (OG FAC) with civil society participants to start planning for the next action plan. Secretariat officials considered OG FAC to be the closest the U.S. regulatory system allows to a multi-stakeholder forum in line with OGP Participation and Co-Creation StandardsCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders is at the heart of the OGP process. The Participation and Co-Creation Standards are intended to support this collaboration throug....

Implementation in Context

Implementation of the action plan achieved notable progress in some areas. However, many of these gains were vulnerable to political transitions as they did not have strong legal safeguards in place that could ensure their continuity. The end of the implementation cycle coincided with a major U.S. federal election. Since the end of the implementation period, the second Trump administration has reversed or weakened some of the early results achieved during the action plan period under the Biden administration. The second Trump administration revoked or replaced several executive orders that supported key commitments, including those related to equity, data transparency, and law enforcement accountability. It also disbanded the federal advisory committee in February 2025.^[4] These actions have undermined or halted the continuity and durability of reforms initiated during the action plan cycle.