Transparency In Government
Financial
Management Services, Inc. is dedicated to improving
transparency into the financial activities of the Federal government
for the benefit of the American people. Through this web page, FMSI
presents Public and Private Sector reports and systems that provide
transparency into how the Federal government collects, spends, and
manages taxpayer dollars.
This FMSI
home page provides Internet links to various public and
private web sites that presents information regarding the management of the Federal Government with specific interest in the
results achieved by the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), Senate
Bill S.3077, ,Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in
Federal Spending Act of 2008, and the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008.
Goals of the Transparency In
Government Program
Goals of the Transparency in
Government Program include, but are not limited to the following:
- Enhancing individuals
understanding of and access to federal financial information
sources.
- Providing a mechanism for
individual citizens to provide oversight to Federal revenue
sources and spending.
- Improving communication between
the citizen and federal government officials including
legislative, executive, and judicial branch organizations.
- Identifying improvements in
reporting and access to financial information that are important
to the public.
- Develop training programs for
the public to better understand the operations of the federal
government and access to information regarding its operation and
management.
- Establish a feedback mechanism for
the public to request information regarding the operation and
management of the federal government.
Governance of the Transparency In
Government Program
The Transparency In Government
Program is governed by a Steering Committee that is co-chaired
by private and public sector officials and a representative of the
Financial Management Services, Inc.. The Steering Committee is
comprised of the following members:
- Co-Chairman:
- Irvin Faunce, President,
Financial Management Services, Inc. former Deputy Commissioner,
Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service
- Gerald Murphy, Senior Advisor,
Financial Management Services, Inc. Advisory Board, former
Fiscal Assistant Secretary, Department of the Treasury.
- Clyde McShan, Senior Advisor,
Financial Management Services, Inc. Advisory Board, former
Deputy CFO, Department of Commerce.
- Members:
The Steering Committee determines
projects that the Transparency In Government Program will
undertake and appoints special work groups to complete these
projects. The work groups report to the Steering Committee on a
periodic basis. Steering Committee Members will be
assigned projects to organize, monitor, and report project
status to the Steering Committee.
Criteria for Selecting New Projects
Criteria for selecting Partnership
projects shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
- The project should:
- relate to government and public
transparency issues;
- be of mutual interest to
governments and the public;
- be crosscutting in that it will be
applicable to more than one program and
- clearly define the
role for the Transparency In Government Program, i.e., whether it is
education, training, publication of best practices, or
development of common approaches to addressing an issue.
- The Steering Committee should:
- have a consensus among the members
to proceed with a project;
- avoid undertaking projects that
focus on issues that are likely to require congressional action
for resolution or that are the direct result of congressional
action;
- validate – either formally or
informally – that a potential project addresses a significant
problem;
- not undertake projects that
duplicate other initiatives, but it may undertake projects that
complement other initiatives;
- establish the duration,
milestones, outcomes and expected achievement of each project;
- include staff resources that
represent government, private sector, and the public and
- approve all personnel that
volunteer for a project.
Transparency In
Government Projects
The following projects have been
approved by the Steering Committee:
