Aligning Open Data, Open Source, and Hybrid Cloud Adoption in Government

These developments have been acknowledged and formalized via governmentwide strategic initiatives including the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, the Federal Data Strategy and implementation of the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, and the Federal Source Code Policy.

To date, these domains have been addressed and implemented separately in agencies, with little focus on the manner in which they complement one another. Reviewing how best to implement them together will help make government information more transparent to the American public, promote effeciency in software development and interoperability across cloud domains, and increase the effectiveness and lower the costs of government operations.

In this report, authors Gurin and Ramsey examine how these trends in analytics and technology intersect and can mutually reinforce one another. The authors draw on insights from an expert roundtable that brought together leaders in government use of data, software, and cloud approaches to discuss how these domains can they best be integrated under current federal policies -- exploring how government leaders and stakeholders can leverage the intersection of open data, open source, and hybrid cloud models to drive improved performance and productivity.

The report assesses government progress in each domain, and then importantly reviews how the domains intersect. Based on this analysis, the authors present a series of recommendations for how government can best leverage the synergies across cloud, open source and open data. These recommendations include highlevel considerations like improving workforce skills and sharing success stories, as well as specific proposals to update policy approaches in ways that promote an integrative data and technology strategy.

This report builds on prior Center work around agency IT and data strategy, including: Making Agencies Evidence-Based: The Key Role of Learning Agendas by Nick Hart, Kathryn Newcomer, and Karol Olejniczak; Innovation and Emerging Technologies in Government: Keys to Success by Alan Shark; Data-Driven Government: The Role of Chief Data Officers by Jane Wiseman; and A Roadmap for IT Modernization in Government by Gregory Dawson.

We hope that the analysis and recommendations from this report, drawing on the insights of senior leaders in the expert roundtable discussion, will help government agencies and stakeholders in understanding and updating strategies that take advantage of the evolving capabilities presented by open data, open source software, and hybrid cloud implementation.