Government Agency

A government agency, or state agency, also known as an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions. The cited article says there is a notable variety of agency types, that a government agency is normally distinct both from a department or ministry and from other types of public body established by government, and that the functions of an agency are normally executive in character. Architecture organizations recorded in the atlas as government agencies are grouped under this concept.