The Partnership for Public Service and USAFacts announce 2024 Federal Data Excellence Award winners 

February 20, 2025

Inaugural awards program celebrates exceptional federal data products that measure foreign assistance, the federal employee experience and mental and substance abuse  

WASHINGTON – The nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, in partnership with USAFacts, today announced the winners of the first-ever Federal Data Excellence Awards, a new program developed to recognize and celebrate agencies’ efforts to improve federal data practices and spotlight the importance of accessible, transparent government data. 

Federal data offers insights into nearly every aspect of American society, from the strength of the job market and economy to the health care needs of veterans and the impact of natural disasters. This data has been a cornerstone of modern and effective government, and now more than ever it is critical for agencies to ensure it remains available to the public.  

“The winning data products offer a positive vision of what our government can achieve. By making federal data more widely available, they empower leaders to make better decisions, enable more agency accountability and, ultimately, reignite public faith in government,” said Max Stier, the Partnership’s president and CEO.   

“For our government to most effectively serve the public, the Trump administration must focus on making it more modern, transparent and accountable – and evolving federal data best practices should play a key role in that strategy,” Stier continued. 

In the fall of 2024, the Partnership and USAFacts assessed more than 55 nominations submitted for data resources in three categories: financial, administrative and statistical. This year’s winners make data on foreign assistance, the federal employee experience, and substance use and mental health needs across the country easy to access, use and understand. They will be honored by the Partnership and USAFacts on Thursday, Feb. 20.  

“We congratulate the federal agencies on being recognized for their commitment to data transparency and accessibility,” said Chief Research Officer Richard Coffin. “The American people are able to obtain data on issues like mental health, substance abuse, and foreign assistance, in large part due to their hard work.” 

2024 Federal Data Excellence Program Winners: 

The Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development’s Foreign Assistance Dashboard is the recipient of the Financial Product Award. ForeignAssistance.gov is the government’s flagship product for making U.S. foreign assistance data available to policymakers and the public, featuring a user-friendly interface and data visualizations to report on the scale, targeted sectors and managing agencies of U.S. aid programs. Regardless of changes in the scope of foreign assistance, this tool has offered important insights to the public about how those aid dollars are deployed.  

The Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Dashboard will receive the Administrative Product Award. The dashboard provides data on the federal employee experience and government performance trends that can be leveraged by agency leaders to build better workplace cultures and improve organizational goals for public service. Across multiple administrations, the FEVS has been an important tool for agency leaders to understand how to improve employee engagement and, ultimately, government’s ability to effectively deliver critical services for the public.  

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health’s State Estimates Dashboard will be recognized with the Statistical Product Award. This tool’s easily accessible mental health and substance use data has become an invaluable resource to public health officials, government leaders and researchers working to address the public’s unmet health care needs in communities across the country. 

Additionally, the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey Data Tables will receive an honorable mention for providing data that is crucial for evaluating trends in academic research and development funding, supporting policy decisions, and analyzing the role of universities in innovation and economic growth. 

Experts from USAFacts, the Partnership and several federal agencies developed the criteria to assess federal data products. Data scientists, evaluators, analysts and program officers from the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Homeland Security, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Science Foundation and Census Bureau provided feedback on the criteria’s clarity, validity and weighting.  

Visit the Federal Data Excellence Program page to learn more about this year’s winners and upcoming programming. 

During the past 24 years, the nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service has been dedicated to building a better government and a stronger democracy. We work across administrations to help transform the way government works by providing agencies with the data insights they need to succeed, developing effective leaders, inspiring the next generation to public service, facilitating smooth presidential transitions and recognizing exceptional federal employees.   

Visit ourpublicservice.org, follow us @PublicService and subscribe today to get the latest federal news, information on upcoming Partnership programs and events, and more.     

USAFacts is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic organization that makes government data easy for the public to access and understand. Employing a team of researchers, analysts, statisticians and communications professionals, the organization gathers, examines and synthesizes data on U.S. spending, revenue, demographics and policy outcomes to help ground public debate in facts. 

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