DATA Act: As Reporting Deadline Nears, Challenges Remain That Will Affect Data Quality, GAO-17-496: Published: Apr 28, 2017. Publicly Released: Apr 28, 2017. “Under the DATA Act, federal agencies must improve the federal spending data that are available to the public through the USASpending.gov website. We’ve reviewed the implementation of the DATA Act and found that financial management challenges at federal agencies, as well as issues with OMB’s reporting guidance, will affect the quality of the data published on the website. OMB also established a Data Standards Committee to provide advice on these data. However, this committee has not made the topics and outcomes of its proceedings public. We recommended they do so.”