OMB Re-Establishes the CDO Council, Advancing Data Coordination & Capacity

After Congress failed to re-authorize the Federal Chief Data Officer (CDO) Council in legislative actions in 2024, the CDO Council sunset in December 2024. This week, on January 15, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) administratively re-established the CDO Council – exactly one month after the CDO Council’s authorization expired. OMB’s re-establishment is a recognition of the importance OMB places on the coordination function of the CDO Council, providing administrative support for continued interagency coordination of data management, use, protection, and dissemination to improve government decision-making.

The CDO Council was originally established by Title II of the the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act), the OPEN Government Data Act, in 2019, which outlined the responsibilities of the CDO Council and included a provision for the CDO Council to sunset in 2024. Federal CDOs routinely indicate the value the CDO Council provides, helping CDOs achieve their missions. In recognition of this critical function and in anticipation of the 2024 sunset of the CDO Council, the Data Foundation has called for the continuation of the CDO Council based on evidence of its success. OMB’s administrative action once again formalizes the CDO Council’s interagency role to ensure continuity and leadership across government data management efforts.

While data management efforts in the federal government are not new, the Evidence Act was a significant shift in how federal leaders view data collected by the government – reframing data as a strategic federal asset that must be governed as such. As a result of the Evidence Act, new federal agencies established CDO offices that are responsible for creating data strategies and taking key steps to better use data to serve their agency missions. As data leaders paved the way for a new federal approach to data at their home agencies, the CDO Council offered a venue for coordination, collaboration, and learning. 

Consistent with the OPEN Government Data Act and OMB’s memo initiating implementation of the Evidence Act, OMB’s memo re-establishing the CDO Council outlines the the following functions for the CDO Council:

• Establish government-wide best practices for the use, protection, dissemination, and
• generation of data;
• Promote and encourage data sharing agreements between agencies;
• Identify ways in which agencies can improve upon the production of evidence for use
• in policymaking;
• Consult with the public and engage with private users of Government data and other
• stakeholders on how to improve access to data assets of the Federal Government; and
• Identify and evaluate new technology solutions for improving the collection and use of data.

The memo does not include an administrative sunset date for the CDO Council, though it directs the CDO Council to develop an implementation plan, revise its original charter, and revisit its goals, structure, roles, and responsibilities based on lessons from the CDO Council’s first five years. 

OMB’s re-establishment for the CDO Council comes at the same time as Phase II guidance of the Evidence Act, providing a long-awaited framework for implementing the OPEN Government Data Act and ensuring federal assets are “open by default” while maintaining stringent standards for privacy and security. OMB’s guidance assigns implementation of these key responsibilities to CDOs across agencies. While this guidance answers calls for clarity from CDOs, CDOs consistently cite limited resourcing and capacity within their offices. Further, CDOs report facing challenges with leadership support necessary to strengthen the capabilities of their offices and demonstrating the value of the CDO role for agency missions. The role of the CDO Council will be central to supporting CDOs as they embark on their journeys to implement OMB’s guidance – OMB’s establishment of the CDO Council in tandem with its open data guidance signifies that recognition. 

Just as other long-standing interagency councils have been deemed critical to the coordination of other information-related functions of the federal government – like the Chief Information Officers Council, Federal Privacy Council, or Interagency Council on Statistical Policy – OMB took an important step to ensuring federal data are leveraged strategically. In an age of rapidly-developing technologies and ever-growing data needs, OMB’s memo is a key step to strengthening federal data governance and facilitating better use of data for the American people.