To me, the salient question is why is the government officially adopting a proprietary file format? Why is it important to optimize for the trivial convenience of patent applicants?
It seems more like rationalization than reason.
It seems more like rationalization than reason.
Interestingly, a section in the wiki article linked mentioned the standard proposal was controversial because ODF already existed (and ODF was considered less complicated as a specification).
Nevertheless, good point. It depends on what you mean by "open".