Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of a report examining the DOJ’s compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA). The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the DOJ has not fully complied with the GDA, that much of the DOJ’s progress to date has been made in the past few months, and that the DOJ’s progress has been fragmented and largely conducted by the individual DOJ components as opposed to a cohesive DOJ-wide effort.
The specific findings in the report include:
- Progress toward full compliance with the GDA. The DOJ has made progress toward meeting 8 of the 13 requirements related to geospatial resource allocation, recordkeeping, data use, and personal privacy protection; including recent actions taken in August 2020 to improve the DOJ’s geospatial data integration, and use of federal funds for geospatial data collection.
- Department action still needed. The DOJ has made little to no progress towards meeting 3 of the 13 requirements pertaining to geospatial data sharing, standardization, and industry coordination. This is largely due to the DOJ’s individual components separately managing their geospatial data activities.
- GDA Requirements Awaiting Additional Guidance. We were unable to fully assess the Department’s compliance with 2 of its 13 requirements, specifically, those related to supporting and contributing to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, because the Federal Geographic Data Committee has not yet developed the relevant performance standards.
Today’s report makes 2 recommendations to improve the DOJ’s efforts to comply with the GDA. The Department agreed with both of our recommendations.
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