OMB Memorandum M-25-06 Re-establishes Federal CDO Council

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued memorandum M-25-06 (PDF) in the final days of the Biden Administration to re-authorize the work of the Federal Chief Data Officer Council.

The statutory provisions that authorized the CDO Council — established by the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act of 2018 — expired on Dec. 15, 2024. The OMB memorandum states:

OMB is also committed to maintaining a venue for department and agency Chief Data Officers to coordinate and collaborate on issues related to data policy, management, and governance among themselves, as well as with other agency officials who conduct data-related activities. … To carry on the important work described above, and pursuant to the statutory authority of the Director of OMB to oversee the use of information resources, this Memorandum re-establishes the CDO Council to continue its efforts to improve the management, use, protection, dissemination, and generation of data in government decision-making and operations.

The re-established CDO Council will retain the same leadership and membership that existed before the Council’s legislative mandate expired. The Council chair is Kirsten Dalboe, CDO of the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency; the vice-chair is Rob King, CDO of the Department of Energy.

The Council’s Executive Committee is required to submit to the OMB Director an implementation plan for the re-established CDO Council, to include revisions to the June 2020 charter, with the goals, structure, roles, and responsibilities building on the lessons learned from the initial implementation of the Council.