On October 21, the White House Office of Management and Budget released the 2021 Federal Data Strategy Action Plan. Nick Hart, Data Foundation President issued the following statement on the action plan:

The Federal Data Strategy 2021 Action Plan is yet another sign of the continued maturation and leadership of federal Chief Data Officers. The new action plan builds on recommendations and advice provided in a public forum hosted a year ago by the Data Coalition and data experts from industry and academia.
The Data Coalition members appreciate that the action plan focuses on improving the data skills of the federal workforce and emphasizes the leadership role from the data, evaluation, and statistical officials created by the Evidence Act. There are still many barriers to using data in government, but with leadership from the federal CDO Council and sustained resources, we will be more likely to realize the benefits of evidence-informed policy in practice.

For more information about the role of CDOs in the federal government, see the Data Foundation's 2021 Survey of Federal CDOs.