The Federal Chief Data Officers Council and the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology are pleased to announce the successful completion of the Building Trust and FAIRness Into The Process for Finding and Using Government Data Project (FAIRness Project). Under the leadership of Tod Dabolt from the Department of the Interior, Michael Ratcliffe from the U.S. Census Bureau, Ashley Schafer from the Department of Education, and in close collaboration with the CDO Council, the Data Inventory Working Group, the Interagency on Council on Statistical Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the FAIRness Project team has submitted its final recommendations for updating the Data Catalog-US (DCAT-US) Schema to version 3.0. These recommendations are now under review by OMB for adoption.
The primary objective of the FAIRness Project is to make federal data more discoverable and useful by modernizing the Federal Government’s data cataloging system. The project will help agencies transition from the decade-old DCAT-US 1.1 schema to the newly proposed DCAT-US 3.0. The existing DCAT-US 1.1 schema became increasingly insufficient for meeting Evidence Act requirements and staying current with international standards. The proposed DCAT-US 3.0 schema is designed to address these challenges – including those associated with geospatial data –and equips data providers across the Federal Government with the information necessary to accurately and efficiently document federal data for public and internal re-use.
In addition to recommending the adoption of DCAT-US 3.0 as a metadata standard, the FAIRness Project team emphasizes the importance of establishing a robust governance process to continue to evolve the standard and improve customer experience. This governance framework intends to facilitate ongoing reviews and updates to the schema, ensuring that it remains aligned with evolving data, AI requirements and technological advancements. The project is available for public inspection online and the development process will be summarized at a session in the upcoming FCSM research and policy conference in October.
The Council looks forward to OMB’s review and adoption of these important recommendations, which will enhance the Federal Government’s ability to manage and share data in a way that is transparent, reliable, and in line with the highest standards of FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability).