§ 102-3.95 Principles for managing advisory committees.

Agencies are to apply the following principles to the management of their advisory committees: (a) Provide adequate support and access. Before establishing an advisory committee, agencies should identify requirements and ensure that adequate resources are available to support anticipated activities, such as work and meeting space, necessary technology, supplies and equipment (e.g., adequate virtual meeting capabilities), Federal staff support, access to key decisionmakers, and member access to meetings. (b) Practice openness. Agencies should seek to be as transparent and timely as possible when providing public access to advisory committee activities and materials. Agencies should create public-facing websites at both the agency and advisory committee level to help the public understand an agency's advisory committee program, and use additional notification methods, as appropriate, to reach advisory committee stakeholders, pursuant to sec. 10 of the Act (codified at 5 U.S.C. 1009). (c) Fiscal restraint. Agencies should actively seek to minimize costs associated with advisory committees and should be transparent about all expenditures. Each agency shall keep records fully disclosing the amount budgeted to each committee, a detailed account of all committee expenditures and agency expenditures on behalf of the committee, and the nature and extent of their activities. This information should be provided as part of the annual comprehensive review and be reported by the Secretariat. If the committee has a website, the agency should provide accurate and up to date information regarding all committee expenditures and the justification for each expenditure on an annual basis.