President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government as his first executive action, ushering in a new era of open and accountable government meant to bridge the gap between the American people and their government: The Obama Administration is reshaping government according to three core values:

Transparency. Government should provide citizens with information about what their government is doing so that government can be held accountable.
Participation. Government should actively solicit expertise from outside Washington so that it makes policies with the benefit of the best information.
Collaboration. Government officials should work together with one another and with citizens as part of doing their job of solving national problems.

The Administration has issued an Open Government Directive – written instructions to every government agency to open its doors and its data to the American people.
The Open Government Directive and the Progress Report to the American People lay out how the Obama Administration is breaking down long-standing barriers between the Federal government and the people it serves. The Directive instructs agencies to take immediate, specific steps to open their doors and data to the American people.
At the U.S. Small Business Administration, we are working hard to become more transparent, participatory and collaborative by providing data that has not been previously available in an open format and a mechanism for the public to submit feedback. Within 120 days of December 8, 2009, SBA will develop and publish an Open Government Plan that will describe how it will improve transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities.

To read about Web Service API, please go to www.sba.gov/api.