Data Governance

Data Governance & Artificial Intelligence

As required by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act), EPA has assigned a Chief Data Officer. The EPA CDO implements Title 2 of the Evidence Act, formally titled - The OPEN Government Data Act. The main provisions of Title 2 includes creating a data governance body, improving data governance and data management practices, and making data that EPA manages publicly available in open electronic formats wherever necessary and feasible.

Advisory Councils

EPA’s Chief Information Officer has a Strategic Advisory Council referred to as CIO-SAC. The council provides advice on EPA’s IT/IM strategic direction to optimize support for the Agency’s mission and business needs. 

• Read the  Chief Information Officer Strategic Advisory Council Charter (pdf) (217.01 KB, July 2024)  to discover the background, purpose, scope and more related to the CIO-SAC.

Under the leadership of the CIO and the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, the Chief Data Officer established and leads a Data Governance Advisory Council, or DGAC, to support data governance projects within EPA. The Federal Data Strategy Action Plan and the Evidence Act define data governance goals for the DGAC.

Outputs of the AI subcommittee includes:

• Release of the 2025 AI Compliance Plan and Strategy documents. These documents are also shared with other government AI compliance and strategy plans on the https://community.connect.gov/ website.
• Collecting and updating EPA's Artificial Intelligence Use Case Inventory for the public. This inventory is also shared with other federal agency AI use cases on https://community.connect.gov/.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. AI tools can collect and process large amounts of data that may contain sensitive information, such as financial, confidential business and personally Identifiable Information.

AI also enables computers to perform a variety of functions, including:

• the ability to see, understand, and translate spoken and written language,
• analyze data, and
• make recommendations

In compliance with OMB M-25-21, EPA established an AI Governance Board for the purpose of managing and monitoring the roll-out of artificial intelligence at the EPA. It is chaired by the EPA Deputy Administrator and vice-chaired by the EPA Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer.

The AI Governance Board assumes all responsibilities outlined in OMB M-25-21, including oversight and coordination of the responsible use of AI across the agency. This group contains political leadership which set strategic vision and works with senior management across the agency to aligning resources and plans accordingly. These groups decide on agency priorities and approve governance policy.

Given the breadth of potential inputs into AI systems strong governance is required to maintain security and ethical use. In support of this, EPA established a subcommittee, referred to as the Data Governance Advisory Committee, dedicated to provide the necessary means to meet the agency requirements for the use of AI. The subcommittee is made up of key subject matter experts from across the agency. It is co-chaired by the EPA CAIO.