GSA Blog

New Improvements to Regulations.gov Boost Transparency and Engagement

You asked.  We listened.

Almost a year ago, GSA launched a new version of Regulations.gov.  While the new version came with significant improvements, our customers requested the return of a few popular features from the previous version.  We are happy to announce progress on the highest priority requests: 

• Improved public access to posted comments 
• Docket subscriptions 

Improved public access to posted comments

In addition to viewing comments on each document, you can now view a consolidated list of all comments for a given docket.

Agencies publish dockets, which are collections of electronic documents related to a specific regulatory action. Members of the public comment on individual electronic documents within the docket. The agencies can then post those comments for public viewing on Regulations.gov.

Many of our customers are interested in accessing these posted comments from other members of the public to get an idea of what the rest of the community is talking about, potentially improving dialogue on important issues. Having a consolidated view, rather than navigating through different documents, makes it easier for our customers to engage in the rulemaking dialogue. 

To try this out, look for the new “Browse All Comments” tab on the “Docket Details” page. This tab will not appear if there have been no comments posted to any documents in the docket. 

When navigating to individual documents, you will still be able to view the comments posted for that specific document. However, this is no longer the sole means by which you can access and view comments posted by other users. 

Docket Subscriptions

Regulations.gov now enables the public to subscribe to email notifications for a specific docket so that the public can receive automatic updates whenever there is a change to the docket. 

Once you are subscribed, you will receive a daily email notification that displays up to 25 documents that have been added, removed, or modified within the specified docket.  If there are more than 25 documents, hyperlinks will be available at the bottom of the email notification directing you to the rest of the updated documents. 

Coming soon to Regulations.gov

Regulations.gov continues to undergo efforts to leverage the latest search technologies and tools. You will soon see bulk data export and bulk comment export features added to the Regulations.gov interface, enabling download of multiple documents at one time! 

Since it was established in 2002, Regulations.gov has provided the public with one-stop access to over 43 federal agencies and their components to read about and comment on regulatory and non-regulatory actions. The new version launched last year was delivered on a modern technology platform, which allows the website interface to adapt to multiple screen sizes for mobile devices. Additionally, we added a standardized and simplified commenting form, and added reCAPTCHA to reduce the proliferation of computer-generated comments from unknown actors.

Our customer engagement and service improvements will continue.