The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 requires federal agencies to submit annually to OMB and Congress a systematic plan for identifying and addressing policy questions. The plan must include, among other things
- questions for developing evidence to support policymaking;
- data the agency intends to collect, use, or acquire to facilitate the use of evidence in policymaking;
- methods and analytical approaches that may be used to develop evidence to support policymaking; and
- challenges to developing evidence to support policymaking, including any statutory or other restrictions to accessing relevant data.
The act also incorporated the OPEN Government Data Act, which requires public government data to be published as machine-readable, with the GSA charged to create a centralized online federal data catalog for public access to agency data. It also required each federal agency to create/maintain a comprehensive data inventory and designate a Chief Data Officer.