Today, OMB Watch asked the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to help ensure the finalization of new government-wide policies on scientific integrity. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was to have developed recommendations on scientific integrity for review by President Obama, but the recommendations have been delayed for more than a year.

Representing OMB Watch, I gave remarks during the public comment period of a PCAST meeting. “PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President and the Executive Office of the President” on big picture science and technology issues and priorities for the government.

The council has the ear of the president and could express support for scientific integrity reform. OMB Watch asked PCAST to “take up the cause of the delayed recommendations and urge President Obama to finalize new government‐wide guidance for scientific integrity as quickly as possible.”

The recent kerfuffle over accusations that the White House Office of Management and Budget censored oil spill estimate data highlights the need for the policies:

That controversy erupted at least in part because it remains unclear what the White House’s standards for scientific integrity are, and because the White House has not done enough to advance disclosure as a safeguard against scientific abuse – for example, by disclosing OMB comments on agency materials. 

OSTP has not provided the public with an update on the status of the recommendations since June.