Search Documents and Resources

    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
Project On Government Oversight
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
  • Afghanistan
  • More Topics
  • About
  • Mission & History
  • Board & Staff
  • Financials
  • Take Action
  • For Federal Employees
  • COVID-19: Tips
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
Project On Government Oversight
    • Mission and Vision
    • Board & Staff
    • Financials
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donor Privacy Policy
    • Explore our work
    • Center for Defense Information
    • The Constitution Project
    • Congressional Oversight Initiative
    • Policy Letters
    • Reports
    • Testimony
    • For Oversight Staff
    • Whistleblower Resources
    • Report Corruption
  • Take Action
  • Sign Up
  • Donate
Accountability

Civil Society Calls on Appropriators to Support Oversight.gov

By Peter Tyler | Filed under letter | May 15, 2018

The Honorable James Lankford
Chairman
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Tom Graves
Chairman
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Christopher Coons
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Mike Quigley
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:

We, the undersigned, are writing to urge support for congressional funding of Oversight.gov, the federal inspector general community’s new central website.

Last year, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) established a central repository for all federal agency inspector general reports at Oversight.gov. The website represents a major step forward in improved accountability of the inspectors general and accessibility to their work product. Congress, the inspector general community, and the general public can now search in one place for many of the recent reports from 68 of the 73 federal inspectors general. Oversight.gov includes the ability to look across the government for reports on a particular topic.

Oversight.gov is an impressive proof of concept, and is already very useful. For example, it is helping inspectors general identify best practices from other agency inspectors general and implement them in-house. However, Congress should empower CIGIE to move the site from prototype to robust implementation, including making available the full array of reports, search capabilities, and features that congressional overseers would expect.

Congress should provide dedicated funding for Oversight.gov to continue operations, improve its functionality, and provide expanded services. The current website was established primarily through in-kind work by individual inspectors general. CIGIE does not receive a direct appropriation for any of its work through a dedicated line item. Rather, all financial resources for CIGIE operations are financed by its constituent inspector general entities through a revolving fund.

Dedicated funds would allow some important next steps for the website. Most of the recent inspector general reports are currently on the site and future reports will be added as they are completed by each inspector general, but reports from previous years should be made available as well. In addition, Oversight.gov could provide inspector general recommendations in a searchable format that clearly tracks the status of implementation by federal agencies. If resources are available, CIGIE could also consider the capacity to help direct whistleblowers to the appropriate inspector general.

Thank you for your consideration. If you or your staff would like to discuss the issue further, please contact Peter Tyler of the Project On Government Oversight at 202-347-1122 and [email protected], or Daniel Schuman of Demand Progress Action at 240-237-3930 and [email protected].

Sincerely,

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Demand Progress Action

Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association

Federal Managers Association

Government Accountability Project

Government Information Watch

GovTrack.us

National Security Counselors

Open the Government

Professional Managers Association

Project On Government Oversight

R Street Institute

Senior Executives Association

Author

  • Author

    Peter Tyler

    Peter Tyler was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Project On Government Oversight.

Related Tags

    Accountability Transparency Inspectors General

Related Content

Site Footer

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • Press Center
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Briefing
  • Newsletters
  • Publications
  • Report Corruption
Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity CharityWatch Top Rated Charity Great Nonprofits 2021 Top-Rated Charity Navigator Four-Star Charity

©2023 POGO | Privacy Policy

Project On Government Oversight logo

Project On Government Oversight

Oversight in your inbox.