Federal agency efforts to implement the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) have been slow and in some cases nonexistent, according to a recent OMB Watch report.
In December 1994 the Office of Management and Budget gave agencies one year to compile an electronic inventory of agency information in both paper and electronic formats. The system, known as GILS, would include agencies' automated information systems, Privacy Act systems of records and locators covering all information dissemination products.
According to OMB Watch, a Washington-based watchdog group that promotes public access to government information, 33 agencies have not complied with the mandate and do not have any GILS records online in any format.
Culprits include the Justice Department, the Transportation Department, the Office of the Vice President, the U.S. Postal Service, the National Science Foundation and the National Security Counsel.
Of the 46 agencies that have GILS records online, only 18 have made updates to their records this year. Some agencies have not updated their GILS records since 1995, the report says.
"We were hopeful at its outset that, despite its obvious limitations, GILS could complement the use of the Internet by the federal government by providing a common metadata structure that could be utilized across the federal government. It has not become this, and it does not appear likely that it will," the report says.
Despite OMB Watch's findings, several agencies continue to be exemplary in providing access to government information. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior and the Defense Department offer the "most accessible," complete and convenient information from their Web sites, according to the report.
OMB Watch does not blame the agencies entirely for failing to comply with the GILS rule. OMB's lack of "commitment and vision" is causing GILS to fail, the report says.
OMB Watch recommends that OMB:
- Issue a new bulletin that brings its responsibilities, and the GILS, into compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act and the 1996 EFOIA Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act.
- Reestablish the GILS board to address usability and utility concerns.
- Identify to Congress and the public those agencies that are out of compliance with the law and what steps will be taken to bring them into compliance.
- Directly oversee and report publicly on the work it has delegated to the CIO Council and the Government Information Technology Services Board.
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