The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and was established by the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976. The mission of the OSTP is, in part, to provide advice to the President and EOP on matters related to science and technology and work with federal agencies to create plans, strategies and policies.
In 2013, the OSTP issued a memorandum (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible), often called the Holdren Memo after the Director of the OSTP at the time, Dr. John P. Holdren. This memorandum directed a subset of federal agencies to make the results of publicly funded research (including data) publicly available. Federal agencies over a certain R&D expenditure amount were tasked with developing public access plans in order to increase access to publications and digital data by the general public without charge. For most agencies, this means that grant applications must include a plan for how data will be managed during and after the proposed project. These public access plans are available on each agency's government website.
In August 2022, another OSTP memorandum (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible), the Nelson Memo, entitled "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research" was issued. This memorandum recommended that all federally-funded research and data be openly available without an embargo, regardless of funding agency. In accordance with the memorandum, "federal agencies should develop new, or update existing, public access plans as soon as possible" (p. 3). The plans must be completed and published no later than December 31, 2024 and go into effect no later than one year after the publication date. In most cases, a "Data Management Plan" or "Data Management and Sharing Plan" will be required as part of a grant application.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published a table comparing the two memorandums (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible).