New Dems Urge Federal Government to Broadly Implement Yelp
Washington, DC– Today, New Democrat Coalition Chairman Ron Kind led twenty of his colleagues in sending a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan urging him to work with federal agencies to integrate the Yelp platform into their operations.
“If we want to make government work better, we should make it easier for people to say what’s working – and what isn’t. That is why the New Democrat Coalition and I have been working for some time on harnessing already available technological capabilities to hold government agencies more accountable and provide an avenue for hardworking Americans to provide feedback on their experiences,” Chairman Kind stated. “I hope Director Donovan will immediately begin working diligently with all federal agencies to set up Yelp pages to better respond to public feedback.”
This comes on the heels of an agreement between the Genera; Services Administration (GSA) and Yelp to enable federal agencies to claim and operate Yelp pages. In its American Prosperity Agenda, the Coalition calls for Yelp for Government to make government smarter and more effective. Earlier this year, in a letter sent to GSA , Chairman Kind called for a swift process to facilitate a GSA agreement with Yelp to allow government agencies to use the platform.
To view the letter, see below or click here.
Dear Director Donovan:
As Members of the New Democrat Coalition, we write to share our belief that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should work with other federal agencies to enable them to effectively integrate the Yelp platform with their operations.
As New Democrats, we believe that government needs to work more effectively and more transparently for everyday Americans. Now more than ever, we have the technological capacity to ensure government is responsive to the people it's meant to serve. Earlier this year, we released our American Prosperity Agenda, which called for greater government accountability. We support broad adoption of a platform like Yelp for government - a modern method of allowing those who interact with government agencies to say what's working and what isn't. As part of our agenda, we encouraged the General Services Administration (GSA) to conclude an amended terms of services agreement with Yelp to allow government agencies to create and claim Yelp pages unique to each agency or department.
We were pleased to see that GSA and Yelp recently reached an agreement that will enable federal agencies to more directly interact with the Yelp platform. While we recognize this as positive step forward, the implementation of Yelp at each agency is still optional. As a next step, we believe you should issue guidance to require relevant agencies to take the necessary steps to adopt and maintain a Yelp page, consistent with your authority as OMB director. Additionally, we strongly encourage you to work with GSA to provide the necessary technical support and expertise needed for agencies to smoothly create or claim Yelp pages and other similar platforms to ensure those who interact with these agencies will have the chance to provide input as soon as possible.
Especially given the success with which most federal agencies have adopted many social media platforms, we are confident that, with appropriate guidance from OMB, agencies can promptly and successfully begin using Yelp to better respond to public feedback. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
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