Some federal agencies, including such heavyweights as the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department, are getting sharply higher marks for their open government plans under revised rankings released this week by OpenTheGovernment.org

The advocacy group generally grades the plans on a 60-point scale, although it also awards bonus points for going beyond the basic requirements. Among the factors considered in the ratings: the level of detail; the extent to which agencies seek to improve public participation; and what steps are outlined to trim significant backlogs in individual agencies' Freedom of Information Act requests.

After ranking dead last in the group's first report card in May, the Justice Department reworked its plan and moved up to eighth place among 39 agencies, the new list shows. The organization praised Justice for offering more specifics about its plans for a FOIA dashboard, as well as its agreement to provide access to significant court filings through its website.

HHS advanced from 20th place to runner-up behind top-ranked NASA. The new rankings credit the department for furnishing more information on how it is clearing its FOIA backlog and for committing to report how it is performing on all aspects of service delivery. Other agencies didn't progress so dramatically, "but it's still encouraging that they are still responding to feedback and continuing to improve their plans," said Amy Bennett, a program associate at the OpenTheGovernment.org.

The Office of Management and Budget, a key overseer of the Obama administration's transparency agenda, also bettered its standing from near-last to 20th, in part by offering a link to an inventory of high-value data sets. OMB got chided, however, for failing to offer enough details to be held accountable.

Among major federal agencies, the Energy Department continued to trail. Although the department's overall point score went up in this round, the fact that other agencies also improved left it in 35th place.

Founded several years ago, OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition made up of watchdog groups, journalism organizations and others, with the goal of seeking "to advance the public's right to know and to reduce secrecy in government," according to its website.

President Obama required the plans under a directive issued last December. The initial blueprints were posted online in April and recently revised.

For its team of volunteer reviewers, OpenTheGovernment.org turned to the American Library Association, the Union of Concerned Scientists and other organizations.

OpenTheGovernment.org is now focused on developing yardsticks to measure implementation of the plans and their real-world impact, Bennett said.