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A Milestone for Government Technology Transparency
In March 2011, the code behind the federal IT Dashboard was released to the public as open source software, marking a significant step forward for government technology transparency and reuse. The IT Dashboard had been one of the most visible open government initiatives since its launch in the summer of 2009, and making its source code freely available meant that any government agency, at any level, could deploy its own version.
The decision to open source the Dashboard also meant that contractors and service providers could build businesses around deploying and customizing the tool, a critical ingredient for practical adoption by governments that lack in-house technical capacity.
What the IT Dashboard Does
The federal IT Dashboard provides a visually oriented overview of how government information technology investments are performing. With the federal government spending approximately $80 billion annually on IT across 27 agencies, the sheer scale of technology investment makes performance tracking essential.
The Dashboard allows government officials and the public to see at a glance which IT projects are on track, which are experiencing problems, and which may need intervention or cancellation. By surfacing this information in an accessible format, it transforms raw spending data into actionable intelligence.
An Accountability Tool
The Dashboard was designed not as a project management tool but as an accountability mechanism. Its primary function is to provide visibility into project performance so that oversight bodies can identify where closer examination is needed. When problems are identified, separate review processes and management tools are brought to bear to address them.
This distinction matters because it illustrates a common pattern in civic technology: tools that create transparency and visibility often produce outsized impact relative to their technical complexity. The Dashboard does not manage projects. It simply makes performance data visible, and that visibility alone drives behavior change across agencies.
The Impact of Transparency
The results of the Dashboard and its associated review processes were substantial. In conjunction with structured review sessions that examined troubled projects identified through Dashboard data, the initiative helped reduce costs by over $3 billion from the federal IT portfolio.
These savings came through a combination of mechanisms:
- Project cancellation when reviews determined that troubled projects were not recoverable
- Scope adjustment when visibility into performance data revealed that original plans were unrealistic
- Vendor accountability when public performance data created pressure for better execution
- Resource reallocation when agencies could see clearly where investments were and were not producing results
Why Open Sourcing Mattered
Making the Dashboard open source extended its impact far beyond the federal government. State governments, large counties, and municipalities all manage significant IT portfolios that would benefit from the same kind of transparency tooling. By releasing the code, the federal government enabled these jurisdictions to deploy their own versions without bearing the full development cost.
The open source release also aligned with broader policy goals around government software reuse. If taxpayer dollars fund the development of useful software, the argument goes, that software should be available to any government that can benefit from it. The IT Dashboard release demonstrated this principle at the highest level of visibility.
Practical Considerations
The release was handled thoughtfully. The source code was published in a public repository where any developer could access, review, and contribute to it. Documentation was included to help new users understand the system architecture and deployment requirements. A discussion channel was established for agencies and developers to share experiences and ask questions.
The intent was not simply to dump code into the public domain but to create the conditions for a functioning open source project that could evolve beyond its federal origins.
Lessons for Government Software
The IT Dashboard open sourcing offered several lessons that remain relevant for government technology:
- Plan for open source from the start. Software developed with the expectation of eventual public release is easier to open source than software developed in isolation.
- Documentation matters as much as code. Without clear documentation, published source code is difficult for outside parties to use effectively.
- Support ecosystem development. Allowing contractors to build businesses around open source government software creates a sustainable model for deployment and maintenance.
- Transparency creates accountability. Simply making performance data visible can drive significant improvement without requiring heavy-handed intervention.
The IT Dashboard remains a landmark example of how government technology can serve both transparency and practical reuse, demonstrating that open source and open government are not abstract principles but concrete tools for better governance.