GPO and OMB Issue Guidance for Congressionally Mandated Reports

Federal agencies are now required by law to submit congressionally mandated reports to the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) by the end of the year. Today, GPO and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo providing guidance to Federal agencies. The memo outlines instructions and deadlines for compliance with this mandate, including information about reports that are exempt from submission to GPO. The reports will be published and made available to the public on GPO’s online system, GovInfo. When fully deployed, this will be the first time congressionally mandated reports will be accessible to the public in one place. Under this new requirement, agencies will also continue to submit printed, signed copies of mandated reports to Congressional committees and subcommittees.

Link to memo: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/M-23-17-Access-to-Congressionally-Mandated-Reports-Act-Implementation-Guidance.pdf

“GPO is the best place to come for U.S. Government information and making these reports from Federal agencies available to the public to access in one place for the first time ever is an important step forward,” said GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern. “This guidance will help Federal agencies prepare for their role in cultivating an America Informed.”

Federal Agency responsibilities include:

• Designating a point of contact for report submission and registering for a GPO submission portal account beginning October 1, 2023;
• Submitting reports to the GPO portal beginning October 16, 2023;
• Continuing with existing process for submitting congressionally mandated reports to Congress, committees, or subcommittees; and
• Withholding from the GPO submission portal any information that is exempt from public disclosure in accordance with applicable law.

All resources related to congressionally mandated reports for Federal agencies can be found at https://www.gpo.gov/congressionally-mandated-reports.

Public Law 117-263, James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, sections 7241-7248, “Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act”: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ263/pdf/PLAW-117publ263.pdf#page=1283