Government Source Verification Protocol

Status, question and scope

Research question

What checks should occur before a government source supports an ASPC claim?

Scope

Official publication does not remove the need to understand status, authorship, date, method, scope and later revision.

Key findings

The reviewed sources support the following bounded findings.

• CRS product pages expose product number, type, date, author, topics, status, text and version information.
• GAO report pages expose scope, methodology, findings, recommendations and current implementation status.
• Agency reports may accurately describe agency methods or portfolios while remaining agency-reported rather than external evaluation.

ASPC application and limitations

Proposed application

• Prefer the official product page and accessible report over search summaries or secondary quotations.
• Capture identifier, title, issuing body, publication date, revision status, access date and stable URL.
• Check whether a figure is current, historical, projected, estimated or agency-reported before drafting.

Limitations

• Link availability and agency content can change; source registers require scheduled review.