New White Paper on the Standardization of the Government Specialist Position from Chief FOIA Officers Council Committee on Cross-Agency Collaboration and Innovation

A white paper issued by the Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) Council Committee on Cross-Agency Collaboration and Innovation (COCACI) has been published on FOIA.gov.  The white paper, written by COCACI’s Working Group for Standardizing the Government Information Specialist (GIS) Position (Working Group), presents its findings and recommendations on ways to standardize the GIS job series.

The Working Group surveyed FOIA practitioners and agency executives about four key areas: work demographics, FOIA experience, workplace environment, and career plan.  Taking the data from this research, the Working Group held conversations with FOIA leadership at several federal agencies, with the goal of identifying existing approaches in improving the professionalization and standardization of qualifications for FOIA professionals and determining the transferability of these approaches to the GIS job series. Additionally, the Working Group aimed to understand what made a FOIA program successful, what challenges were faced by FOIA programs, and how a cross-agency approach could improve a FOIA, and therefore GIS, professional’s career.

The Working Group identified a series of trends in leadership support, career development, the hiring landscape, and retention.  After analyzing its data, the Working Group developed five recommendations to aid in the standardization of the job series:

1. Promote GIS careers and create opportunities to raise career-field awareness;
2. Implement both in-agency and cross-agency GIS career support;
3. Cultivate employee engagement and transparency to create a more desirable work environment;
4. Create clear career advancement opportunities and re-examine the job series; and
5. Consider a certification program to enhance the job series.

Agency FOIA professionals, agency FOIA leadership, GIS career professionals, and members of the public are encouraged to review this white paper and consider how its findings and recommendations could benefit the GIS job series and agency FOIA programs.

For additional information about the CFO Council’s work, visit the Council page on FOIA.gov.  For additional information on the Working Group for Standardizing the GIS Position, review the Working Group’s charter on COCACI’s FOIA.gov page.