Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, 56708-56744 [2023-17664]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 159 / Friday, August 18, 2023 / Proposed Rules
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
5 CFR Part 1321
[Docket No. OMB–2023–0015]
RIN 0348–AB81
Fundamental Responsibilities of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units
Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the
President.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:
Public trust in Federal
statistics is essential to their value and
use in informing decisions across public
and private sectors. To promote public
trust in the statistical agencies and units
that produce Federal statistics, the
Office of Management and Budget
proposes to issue regulations pursuant
to Title III of the Foundations for
Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of
2018 (Evidence Act) that provide
direction to statistical agencies and
units. These proposed regulations also
would provide direction to other
Federal agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate statistical agencies and units in
carrying out four fundamental
responsibilities: produce and
disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information, conduct credible
and accurate statistical activities,
conduct objective statistical activities,
and ensure the confidentiality and
exclusive statistical use of data collected
for statistical purposes.
DATES: Send comments on or before
October 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments,
identified by Docket No. OMB–2023–
0015 and/or RIN number 0348–AB81,
by any of the following methods:
* Federal eRulemaking Portal:
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for sending comments.
* Email: TrustRegulation@
omb.eop.gov. Include Docket No. OMB–
2023–0015 and/or RIN number 0348–
AB81 in the subject line of the message.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name and
docket number or Regulatory
Information Number (RIN) for this
rulemaking. All comments received will
be posted without change to
www.regulations.gov. In addition,
comments submitted in response to this
notice may be subject to disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act.
For these reasons, please do not include
in your comments information of a
confidential nature, such as sensitive
personal information or proprietary
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SUMMARY:
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information. If you send an email
comment, your email address will be
automatically captured and included as
part of the comment that is placed in the
public docket; however,
www.regulations.gov does include the
option of commenting anonymously.
Please note that responses to this public
comment request containing any routine
notice about the confidentiality of the
communication will be treated as public
comments that may be made available to
the public notwithstanding the
inclusion of the routine notice.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to
www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kerrie Leslie, 202–395–5898,
TrustRegulation@omb.eop.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Executive Summary
The Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence
Act) became law on January 14, 2019.1
The Evidence Act seeks to ‘‘advance
evidence-building functions in the
Federal government by improving
access to data and expanding evaluation
capacity.’’ 2 Part of advancing evidencebuilding functions is enhancing the
foundation for generating high quality
evidence, including improving the
ability of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to produce relevant,
credible, and objective statistical
information. As such, Title III of the
Evidence Act (also known as the
Confidential Information Protection and
Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018,
CIPSEA 2018) updated and enhanced
CIPSEA 2002 3 by, among other things,
codifying the four fundamental
responsibilities of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and requiring other
Federal agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units in upholding these
responsibilities. These proposed
regulations seek to provide direction to
agencies in carrying out these
responsibilities. The four fundamental
responsibilities are:
(A) produce and disseminate relevant
and timely statistical information;
1 Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking
Act of 2018, Public Law 115–435, 132 Stat. 5529
(2019), available at https://www.congress.gov/115/
plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
2 Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking
Act of 2017, H. Rep. No. 115–411 (2017), available
at https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/
115th-congress/house-report/411.
3 E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107–347,
title V; 116 Stat. 2962 (2002), available at https://
www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ347/PLAW107publ347.pdf.
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(B) conduct credible and accurate
statistical activities;
(C) conduct objective statistical
activities; and
(D) protect the trust of information
providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical
use of their responses.
In codifying these responsibilities, the
Congress recognized the value of
maintaining and improving the
relevance, accuracy, and objectivity of
Federal statistical data as well as
securing the protection of confidential
information used in evidence-building.
In codifying the fourth fundamental
responsibility, the Evidence Act also
reaffirmed the central tenet of CIPSEA
2002—that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must have the
authority and capability to protect
confidential statistical data and to
assure information providers that any
information provided to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit for statistical
purposes under an obligation to
maintain confidentiality will be kept
strictly confidential and used
exclusively for statistical purposes.
While the principles addressed in this
proposed regulation are not new, and in
fact have long been a consistent subject
of OMB, Federal Government, and
international policy for almost as long
as governments have been charged with
collecting and disseminating
information about their societies, their
actual implementation in the form of
standards and practices can involve a
wide range of managerial and technical
challenges, especially as the Federal
Statistical System evolves in the face of
the unique modern data environment.
These proposed regulations seek to
provide some clarity in upholding these
requirements on Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and other Federal
agencies. While these proposed
regulations seek to learn from the long
history of policies developed to support
Federal statistics, they also seek to
promote moving Federal statistics
forward. It is important that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units continue
to move their methods, engagements,
and collaborations forward
productively, recognizing lessons
learned across their vast history while
embracing new ways of working.
B. Statutory Authority
As required by 44 U.S.C. 3563(c) and
the general authority in 44 U.S.C.
3562(a) to promulgate rules to ensure
consistent interpretation by agencies of
the requirements of CIPSEA 2018, OMB
is proposing these regulations to
provide direction to agencies in carrying
out the responsibilities described in
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section 3563. Section 3563 describes the
fundamental responsibilities that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must adhere to, and charges all
Federal agencies with enabling,
supporting, and facilitating Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in
meeting these responsibilities.
C. Brief History of the U.S. Federal
Statistical System and Related
Authorities
Federal statistics have informed
decision-making in the United States
since its founding. The first
constitutionally mandated census of
population and housing was in 1790.4
This 1790 Census planted the seeds for
what is referred to today as the Federal
Statistical System. Over the 19th
century, the system continued to
blossom into a specialized,
decentralized, interconnected network
to address emerging information
demands, including tax, agriculture,
education, and labor, for the growing
Nation. The 20th century presented new
and evolving policy needs leading to
further expansion of the Federal
Statistical System to include commerce,
public health, energy, justice,
transportation, and more. More than two
decades into the 21st century, the
Federal Statistical System continues to
provide the gold-standard for impartial,
trusted Federal statistics foundational to
informing decisions across the public
and private sectors.
The Federal Statistical System. The
Federal Statistical System collects and
transforms data into useful, objective
information and makes it readily and
equitably available to stakeholders
while protecting the responses of
individual data providers. Federal,
State, local, territorial, and Tribal
governments; businesses; and the public
all rely on this information to be
credible and reliable and, so they can
use it to make informed decisions. The
decentralized, interconnected network
includes:
Office of the Chief Statistician of the
United States. Led by the Chief
Statistician of the United States, the
Office of the Chief Statistician of the
United States at OMB has the statutory
responsibility 5 of coordinating the
Federal Statistical System to ensure its
efficiency and effectiveness, as well as
the integrity, objectivity, impartiality,
utility, and confidentiality of
information collected for statistical
purposes. This office accomplishes this
4 Carroll Wright, Comm’r of Labor, The History
and Growth of the United States Census, S. Doc. No.
194 (1900), available at https://www.census.gov/
history/pdf/wright-hunt.pdf.
5 44 U.S.C. 3504(e).
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by promulgating regulations, developing
and maintaining statistical policies and
standards, identifying priorities for
improving programs, assessing
statistical agency budgets, reviewing
and approving collections of
information from Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, and coordinating
U.S. participation in international
statistical activities, among other
functions.
Sixteen Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units. Thirteen of the
sixteen are considered to be principal
statistical agencies and units (see Table
1), which are agencies or organizational
units of the Executive Branch whose
missions are predominantly the
collection, compilation, processing, or
analysis of information for statistical
purposes,6 covering such topics as the
economy, workforce, energy,
agriculture, foreign trade, education,
housing, crime, transportation, and
health. In addition to those thirteen,
three additional statistical units across
the Federal Government are
‘‘recognized’’ by OMB under CIPSEA
2018.7 These three Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units are: the
Microeconomic Surveys Unit at the
Board of Directors of the Federal
Reserve System; the Center for
Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality
within the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration at the
Department of Health and Human
Services; and the National Animal
Health Monitoring System within the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service at the Department of
Agriculture.
Approximately 100 other statistical
programs.8 These statistical programs
produce and disseminate statistics in
support of other mission areas and
conduct a variety of evidence-building
functions, including program
evaluation, scientific research, data
collection, policy and program analysis,
and the provision of funding and other
support for external research.
Twenty-Four Statistical Officials.
Pursuant to the Evidence Act, each
6 44 U.S.C. 3561(12) (‘‘The term ‘Statistical
purpose’ (A) means the description, estimation, or
analysis of the characteristics of groups, without
identifying the individuals or organizations that
comprise such groups; and (B) includes the
development, implementation, or maintenance of
methods, technical or administrative procedures, or
information resources that support the purposes
described in subparagraph (A)’’).
7 More information on the history of OMB
‘‘recognition’’ is available later.
8 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, Statistical Programs of the United States
Government: Fiscal Years 2019/2020 (2020),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/statistical-programs20192020.pdf.
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Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO Act)
agency 9 has designated a senior staff
person in the agency to be the Statistical
Official with the authority and
responsibility to advise across the
agency on statistical policy, techniques,
and procedures, and to champion
statistical data quality and
confidentiality. At the 11 CFO Act
agencies that contain a principal
statistical agency or unit, the head of
that principal statistical agency or unit
has been designated the Statistical
Official, as required by OMB M–19–
23.10
Interagency Council on Statistical
Policy (ICSP). Chaired by the Chief
Statistician of the United States, the
ICSP 11 was established to advise and
assist OMB, through the Chief
Statistician of the United States, in
carrying out its statutory responsibility
to coordinate the Federal Statistical
System to ensure its efficiency and
effectiveness, as well as the objectivity,
impartiality, utility, and confidentiality
of information collected for statistical
purposes; to implement statistical
policies, principles, standards, and
guidelines; and assess statistical
program performance.12 The ICSP
supports implementation of the
statistical system’s vision to operate as
a seamless system, working together to
provide strategic vision and robust
implementation in support of the U.S.
Federal Statistical System’s critical
longstanding—and expanding—role for
supporting evidence-based decisionmaking. For example, the ICSP sets
strategic goals on issues such as
modernizing the statistical system,
ensuring data quality and
confidentiality, and providing safe and
appropriate data access, playing an
effective role in agency-wide data
governance, as well as enhancing
coordination and collaboration across
the system. ICSP currently includes 26
members in addition to the Chair.
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA), all 13 heads of the
principal statistical agencies and units
9 31
U.S.C. 901.
of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–19–23, Phase 1 Implementing of the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act
of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance (July 10, 2019), available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/
M-19-23.pdf. In the case of the Departments of
Agriculture and Commerce, which each host two
principal statistical agencies or units, the Statistical
Official role is rotated among the two principal
statistical agencies or units.
11 44 U.S.C. 3504(e).
12 Id.
10 Office
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are members.13 Pursuant to the
Evidence Act, all 24 Statistical Officials
are also members; however, 11 of the
Statistical Officials are also heads of
principal statistical agencies or units.
The ICSP is a forum for collaboration,
coordination, and information-sharing
among the principal statistical agencies
and units and additional statistical
programs across its member agencies,
including on issues such as ensuring
data quality and confidentiality,
attaining and providing data access, and
playing an effective role in agency-wide
data governance.
Brief History of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units. OMB first
recognized statistical agencies and units
in a June 1997 OMB Order, ‘‘Order
Providing for the Confidentiality of
Statistical Information,’’ (1997 Order).14
The 1997 Order sought to clarify, and
make consistent, government policy
protecting the privacy and
confidentiality interests of individuals
or organizations who furnish data for
Federal statistical programs, and in it,
OMB recognized 12 statistical agencies
and units subject to the order.15 About
five years later, the Confidential
Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA 2002)
was enacted and gave OMB the
authority to determine whether an
agency or unit could be considered a
statistical agency or unit for purposes of
CIPSEA 2002, including for using the
strong confidentiality protections it
afforded. Those considered by OMB to
be a statistical agency or unit for
purposes of CIPSEA 2002 were known
as recognized statistical agencies and
units. CIPSEA 2002 implementation
guidance recognized the 12 statistical
agencies and units from the 1997 Order
plus two additional statistical agencies
or units.16 Since then, two more
statistical agencies or units have been
recognized by OMB.17 CIPSEA 2018
reauthorized the OMB authority to make
this determination under section
3562.18 At current, there are 16
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. Table 1 provides a list of the
current 16 Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and their highestlevel organization, as well as an
identifier if the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit is also a principal
statistical agency or unit.
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TABLE 1—CURRENT RECOGNIZED STATISTICAL AGENCIES AND UNITS
Recognized statistical agency or unit
Highest level organization
Bureau of Economic Analysis ......................................................
Bureau of Justice Statistics ..........................................................
Bureau of Labor Statistics ............................................................
Bureau of the Census ..................................................................
Bureau of Transportation Statistics ..............................................
Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality ....................
Economic Research Service ........................................................
Energy Information Administration ...............................................
Microeconomic Surveys Unit .......................................................
National Agricultural Statistics Service ........................................
National Animal Health Monitoring System .................................
National Center for Education Statistics ......................................
National Center for Health Statistics ............................................
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics ..............
Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics ............................
Statistics of Income Division ........................................................
Department of Commerce ..........................................................
Department of Justice .................................................................
Department of Labor ...................................................................
Department of Commerce ..........................................................
Department of Transportation .....................................................
Department of Health and Human Services.
Department of Agriculture ...........................................................
Department of Energy .................................................................
Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve System.
Department of Agriculture ...........................................................
Department of Agriculture.
Department of Education ............................................................
Department of Health and Human Services ...............................
National Science Foundation ......................................................
Social Security Administration ....................................................
Department of the Treasury ........................................................
Principal
statistical
agency
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Related authorities. Critical to a
healthy, relevant Federal Statistical
System has been the development and
implementation of statutes, regulations,
policies, and principles (hereafter
collectively referred to as ‘‘authorities’’)
to support its growth. Over the years,
recognizing challenges faced by the
Federal Statistical System as it grew,
Congress, the Executive Branch, and
outside experts—both nationally and
internationally—have built a framework
of authorities to address such
challenges. For example, as inquiries
into business operations, personal lives,
and more began to expand and capture
more detailed, sometimes sensitive,
information, authorities evolved to
provide for the necessary protection of
such information (i.e., confidentiality)
and for such information to only be
used for exclusively statistical purposes
(i.e., not for enforcement,
administrative, or other non-statistical
purposes). In addition, maintaining the
public’s trust in the statistical
information produced by the Federal
Statistical System is critical to the
usefulness of the statistical information,
and authorities have been issued and
revised over time to promote the Federal
Statistical System’s ability to provide
relevant, credible, and objective
statistical information. Importantly,
many authorities, such as individual
entity authorizing statutes and crosssystem statutes, co-exist and are
complementary to promote a strong,
13 The ICSP was recently expanded to include the
three Recognized Statistical Units, which will bring
the ICSP membership up to 29 by fiscal year 2024.
14 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Order Providing for the Confidentiality of
Statistical Information, 62 FR 35044 (1997),
available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/
FR-1997-06-27/pdf/FR-1997-06-27.pdf.
15 Id. The term ‘‘designated’’ was used in the 1997
Order. For the purposes of this proposed regulation,
OMB uses the term recognized in this discussion of
the history of OMB’s role in identifying these
entities to provide consistency across the
discussion with the current implementation.
16 Implementation Guidance for Title V of the EGovernment Act, Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002
(CIPSEA) 72 FR 33362 (June 15, 2007), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-0615/pdf/E7-11542.pdf.
17 See Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
18 CIPSEA 2018 uses the term ‘‘designate’’ to
identify those statistical agencies or units that OMB
identifies under section 3562 and therefore are
subject to the responsibilities in section 3563.
CIPSEA 2018 also uses the term ‘‘designate’’ to
identify the three statistical agencies and units
given the authority to share business data with each
other in section 3576. To avoid confusion in this
proposed regulation, the term ‘‘recognized’’ is used,
consistent with past practice, to refer to those
statistical agencies and units identified under
section 3562 and subject to the responsibilities in
section 3563.
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vibrant, interconnected Federal
Statistical System.
What follows are brief descriptions of
the most relevant authorities, in order of
relevance, to these proposed regulations
for the fundamental responsibilities of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. These authorities generally
support the ability of the Federal
Statistical System to create relevant,
credible, accurate, and objective
statistics in a way that promotes the
trust of data providers.
Evidence Act, CIPSEA 2002, and
CIPSEA 2018. The Evidence Act was
enacted on January 14, 2019, and
emphasizes collaboration and
coordination to advance data and
evidence-building functions in the
Federal Government by statutorily
mandating Federal evidence-building
activities, open government data, and
confidential information protection and
statistical efficiency. It consists of four
titles:
Title I: Federal Evidence-Building
Activities
* Requires agency Evidence-Building
Plans, Evaluation Plans, and Capacity
Assessments.
* Requires that agencies designate an
Evaluation Officer and Statistical
Official for the coordination of
evaluation and statistical activities,
policies, and techniques, respectively.
* Requires that OMB establish an
Advisory Committee on Data for
Evidence Building.
* Requires that OMB issue program
evaluation standard and best practices.
* Requires that OPM establish a
program evaluation job series and career
path.
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Title II: OPEN Government Data Act
* Requires agency Open Data Plans to
make government data assets open to
the public.
* Requires agency comprehensive
data inventories of all agency data
assets.
* Requires that agencies designate a
Chief Data Officer for the coordination
of Title II activities and policies.
* Requires that OMB establish a Chief
Data Officer Council.
Title III: Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
of 2018 (CIPSEA 2018)
* Requires that OMB establish a
process to recognize new statistical
agencies or units.
* Codifies Statistical Policy Directive
No. 1, the ‘‘Trust Directive’’ for the
fundamental responsibilities of
statistical agencies or units.
* Presumes accessibility for statistical
agencies and units to obtain data from
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Federal agencies upon request for
evidence-building.
* Expands secure access to CIPSEA
data assets.
* Establishes a standard data
application process for researchers.
* Requires that OMB coordinate and
oversee confidentiality and disclosure
policies for executive or organizational
units identified or designated by the
Director of OMB, as statistical agencies
or units.
mandates a systematic rethinking of
government data management to better
facilitate access for evidence-building
activities and public consumption. The
Evidence Act builds upon longstanding
principles underlying Federal policies
and data infrastructure investments that
support information quality, access,
protection, and evidence-building. It
builds on these principles and provides
an improved legal framework for
enhancing and safeguarding data access.
The Evidence Act defines evidence as
Title IV: General Provisions
‘‘information produced as a result of
* Outlines restrictions on disclosure
statistical activities conducted for a
of data.
statistical purpose,’’ and OMB
* Requires agencies, to the extent
operationalized the definition in OMB
practicable, use existing procedures and M–19–23 as four interdependent
resources to carry out agency
components: foundational fact finding,
requirements.
policy analysis, program evaluation, and
The Evidence Act was a partial
performance measurement.
19
response to the recommendations
In particular and relevant to these
from the final report of the Commission
proposed regulations, the Evidence Act
on Evidence-Based Policymaking
creates the roles of Statistical Officials,
(CEP),20 established in 2016 pursuant to
Evaluation Officers, and Chief Data
the Evidence-Based Policymaking
Officers 22 to promote coordination and
Commission Act of 2016.21 The CEP was
collaboration on evidence issues across
charged with ‘‘[conducting] a
the entire agency. It also updated and
comprehensive study of the data
expanded CIPSEA 2002.23 CIPSEA 2002
inventory, data infrastructure, database
established
exclusively statistical uses
security, and statistical protocols related
of
information
collected under a pledge
to Federal policymaking and the
of confidentiality, provided for
agencies responsible for maintaining
permitting controlled access to limitedthat data’’ and to make
recommendations to Congress related to use data through Designated Agent
Agreements, and established strong
the access, integration, use, and control
penalties for willful violation of the
of data to facilitate research and
confidentiality provisions, among other
evidence-based evaluation of
provisions. With enactment of the
government programs. As part of its
Evidence Act, CIPSEA 2018 codifies the
conclusions, the CEP emphasized that
uniform data protection requirements
making data available for statistical
for Federal statistical collections, sets
purposes to advance evidence-building
minimum standards for safeguarding
could place that data at increased risk
of being used for nonstatistical purposes confidential statistical data, and ensures
the confidentiality of information
in ways that undermine the public’s
collected exclusively for statistical
willingness to provide data to the
purposes, in addition to numerous other
Federal Statistical System, and thus
recognized the need for ‘‘strict structural provisions promoting safe and secure
expanded access to restricted data.24
and institutional separation between
CIPSEA
2018 also:
statistical and nonstatistical uses of
(1) codified the four fundamental
data,’’ noting throughout its final report
responsibilities of statistical agencies
that a strong legal framework is needed
and units and the role of other Federal
to strengthen privacy and
agencies in supporting the statistical
confidentiality protections for the data.
agencies and units to meet their
The Evidence Act makes strides toward
responsibilities (the subject of this
creating this strong legal framework. It
proposed regulation);
19 Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking
Act of 2018, Public Law 115–435, 132 Stat. 5529
(2019), available at https://www.congress.gov/115/
plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
20 Comm’n Evidence-Based Policymaking, The
Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking (2017),
available at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/03/Full-Report-The-Promiseof-Evidence-Based-Policymaking-Report-of-theComission-on-Evidence-based-Policymaking.pdf.
21 Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act
of 2016, Public Law 114–140, 130 Stat. 317 (2016),
available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114thcongress/house-bill/1831/text.
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22 5 U.S.C. 314 (statistical official); 5 U.S.C. 313
(Evaluation Officer); 44 U.S.C. 3520 (Chief Data
Officer).
23 E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107–
347, title V; 116 Stat. 2962 (2002), available at
https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ347/
PLAW-107publ347.pdf.
24 Notably, nothing in CIPSEA 2018 ‘‘restrict[s] or
diminish[es] any confidentiality protections or
penalties for unauthorized disclosure that otherwise
apply to data or information collected for statistical
purposes or nonstatistical purposes.’’ 44 U.S.C.
3564(h).
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(2) required OMB to develop a process
for recognizing additional statistical
agencies and units;
(3) provided a presumption of
accessibility to other Federal agencies’
data for Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units; and
(4) required a standard framework to
allow expanding access to restricted
data and establishment of a Standard
Application Process.25
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA). The PRA makes OMB
responsible, among other requirements,
for coordination of the Federal
Statistical System through an appointed
Chief Statistician of the United States
who is a trained and experienced
professional statistician.26 The purpose
of this coordination is to ensure the
integrity, objectivity, impartiality,
utility, and confidentiality of
information collected for statistical
purposes.
Privacy Act of 1974 (Privacy Act). The
Privacy Act 27 establishes a code of fair
information practices that governs
handling of information about
individuals that is maintained in
systems of records by Federal agencies.
Among its many requirements are
provisions that limit information about
individuals maintained by Federal
agencies to that which is legally
authorized and is relevant and
necessary to accomplish an agency
purpose and provisions that govern, and
in some instances limit, the use and
disclosure of information. The Act
addresses disclosures for statistical
purposes and allows for exemption from
certain requirements for records
‘‘required by statute to be maintained
and used solely as statistical records.’’ 28
The Privacy Act defines a ‘‘statistical
record’’ for its purposes, as a record that
is ‘‘maintained for statistical research or
reporting purposes only and not used in
whole or in part in making a
25 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–23–04, Establishment of Standard
Application Process Requirements on Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units Department Support
for Implementation of Statistical Policy (Dec. 08,
2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2022/12/M-23-04.pdf. The
Standard Application Process, established in OMB
M–23–04, outlines how each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall meet its obligations under
CIPSEA 2018 to establish an identical application
process for access to confidential statistical data
assets. This includes not just the application form,
but also the criteria for determining whether to
grant an applicant access to the confidential
statistical data asset, timeframes for prompt
determinations, an appeals process for adverse
determinations, and reporting requirements for full
transparency of the process.
26 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7).
27 5 U.S.C. 552a.
28 5 U.S.C. 55a(b)(5), (k)(4).
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determination about an identifiable
individual.’’ 29
OMB Statistical Policy Directives.
These provide guidance to Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, and in
some cases other Federal agencies, to
promote accuracy, objectivity,
reliability, timeliness, and accessibility
of Federal statistics. Especially relevant
to this proposed regulation is OMB’s
Directive No. 1,30 which articulates the
four fundamental responsibilities of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and defines the requirements
governing the design, collection,
processing, editing, compilation,
storage, analysis, release, and
dissemination of statistical information
by Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. The Evidence Act codified, and
this proposed regulation is based on,
OMB’s Directive No. 1. OMB’s
Statistical Policy Directive No. 2:
Standards and Guidelines for Statistical
Surveys 31 describes specific practices
that support the quality of design,
collection, processing, production,
analysis, review, and dissemination of
information from statistical surveys.
OMB’s Statistical Policy Directive No. 3:
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of
Principal Federal Economic
Indicators 32 establishes requirements
for Federal agencies regarding the
compilation, release, and evaluation of
statistical series designated by OMB as
Principal Federal Economic Indicators,
which are influential and heavily relied
upon economic activity measures,
including Gross Domestic Product,
Consumer Price Index, and the
Employment Situation. OMB’s
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4:
Release and Dissemination of Statistical
Products Produced by Federal Statistical
Agencies 33 establishes requirements for
29 5
U.S.C. 552a(a)(6).
of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
31 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Standards and Guidelines for Statistical
Surveys, 71 FR 55522 (Sept. 22, 2006), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2006-0922/pdf/06-8044.pdf.
32 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive on
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept.
25, 1985), available at https://
archives.federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/
38908-38934.pdf#page=25.
33 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release
and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced
by Federal Statistical Agencies 73 FR 12622 (Mar.
7, 2008), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
30 Office
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Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units on the release and dissemination
of all statistical products, beyond just
the Principal Federal Economic
Indicators. Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units are required to
follow these Directives to ensure that
their release of information is equitable
across all users, policy-neutral,
transparent and understandable to the
public, and timely to the needs of data
users. These and other statistical
policies and standards issued by OMB
are available at www.whitehouse.gov/
omb/information-regulatory-affairs/
statistical-programs-standards/.
In addition to the related authorities
for the work of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, other external
entities—both domestic and
international—have published their
perspectives on how Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units should
meet their missions to produce reliable,
relevant, credible, and objective Federal
statistics. Below is a brief summary of
relevant publications, which offer
support for many aspects of the
proposed regulations.
* The National Academy of
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s
Principles and Practices for a Federal
Statistical Agency (referred to as
Principles and Practices). Principles and
Practices has guided managerial and
technical decisions made by national
and international statistical agencies for
decades. In the most recent 2021
edition, five principles are identified,
which broadly align with the four
fundamental responsibilities outlined in
the Evidence Act: 34
—Relevance to Policy Issues and
Society. Federal statistical agencies
must provide objective, accurate, and
timely information that is relevant to
important public policy issues.
—Credibility Among Data Users and
Stakeholders. Federal statistical
agencies must have credibility with
those who use their data and
information.
—Trust Among the Public and Data
Providers. Federal statistical agencies
must have the trust of those whose
information they obtain.
—Independence from Political and
Other Undue External Influence.35
34 Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
25885/.
35 As defined in the 2021 Principles and
Practices, ‘‘Undue external influences’’ are those
from outside the [Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit] that seek to undermine its impartiality,
nonpartisanship, or professional judgment.
However, it remains important for Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to remain relevant
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Federal statistical agencies must be
independent from political and other
undue external influence in
developing, producing, and
disseminating statistics.
—Continual Improvement and
Innovation. Federal statistical
agencies must continually seek to
improve and innovate their processes,
methods, and statistical products to
better measure an ever-changing
world.
* International Principles and
Practices. The United States is not alone
in identifying statistical principles and
practices, which seek to achieve similar
goals as the four fundamental
responsibilities in the Evidence Act.
The United Nations’ Fundamental
Principles of Official Statistics 36 affirm
ten fundamental principles that promote
and build the ‘‘essential trust of the
public in the integrity of official
statistical systems and confidence in
statistics.’’ These principles ensure that
national statistical systems in United
Nations member states produce high
quality and reliable data by adhering to
certain professional and scientific
standards. In addition, the European
Statistics Code of Practice 37 guides
European statistical systems by
affirming the European Union member
nations’ commitment to ensuring high
quality in the statistical production
process, protecting the confidentiality of
the information they collect, and
disseminating statistics in an objective,
professional, and transparent manner.
Over many years and based on lessons
learned, responsibilities, standards, and
certain protections have been developed
and implemented to strengthen the
Federal Statistical System’s ability to
meet its mission reliably and
objectively, which requires an
appropriate level of autonomy and
authority for Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units.38 The concept of
and solicit input from relevant stakeholders,
including policy officials, about what information
is needed to answer important questions and make
informed decisions.
36 United Nations General Assembly,
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
(adopted Jan. 29, 2014), available at https://
unstats.un.org/fpos/.
37 European Statistical System Committee,
European Statistics Code of Practice for the
National Statistical Authorities and Eurostat
(adopted Nov. 16, 2017), available at https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/
KS-02-18-142.
38 See Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act of 2017, H. Rep. No. 115–411
(2017), available at https://www.congress.gov/
congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/
411 (quoting Statistical Directive No. 1); see also
Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
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autonomy and authority as proposed to
be implemented in this regulation is an
important aspect of the ability of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet their fundamental
responsibilities outlined in 44 U.S.C.
3563. Where autonomy or authority are
important in some manner for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
meeting their fundamental
responsibilities, the discussion of key
provisions of these proposed regulations
provides more information and detail.
This autonomy and authority to meet
specific responsibilities must be
balanced with other responsibilities and
needs of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, as well as other Federal
agencies. These proposed regulations
aim to explicate where autonomous
decision-making authority is important
and why.
In addition, because CIPSEA 2018
contemplates a common framework for
protecting statistical data, acquiring
administrative/program data, and
disseminating statistical data securely, it
is important to ensure appropriate
interagency engagement and
coordination to ensure implementation
is successful across the board. This
proposed regulation seeks to lay the
foundation for advancing this common
framework, and the organizational
structure of agencies and departments in
relation to the 16 Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is important for
successful implementation of this
proposed regulation. Currently, each of
the 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units is part of a larger
organization, with varying reporting
structures. The heads of some of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are appointed by the President
(either with or without Senate
confirmation), while others are senior
career officials. Some heads of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units report directly to the Secretary, or
equivalent head, of their highest
organizational level, such as the
Department, while others have several
intervening layers of reporting within
their organizations. Throughout this
regulation, the term ‘‘parent agency’’
means every organizational level of an
agency, including sub-agencies, offices,
components, or units, as well as any
25885/(articulating the importance of independence
for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in
meeting their responsibilities) and Comm’n
Evidence-Based Policymaking, The Promise of
Evidence-Based Policymaking (2017), available at
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/
2019/03/Full-Report-The-Promise-of-EvidenceBased-Policymaking-Report-of-the-Comission-onEvidence-based-Policymaking.pdf (noting the
importance of independence).
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organizational units that contain a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
but the term does not include the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
itself.
A different provision of CIPSEA 2018
requires OMB to issue guidance on the
requirements and processes for seeking
and obtaining OMB ‘‘recognition’’ as a
new Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. That guidance is forthcoming;
however, it should be noted that, at a
minimum, agencies and units seeking
this designation, along with their parent
agencies, will be required to
demonstrate a commitment to
upholding the requirements in these
regulations. This is particularly relevant
to those agencies and units whose
activities are predominantly the design,
collection, processing, editing,
compiling, storage, analysis, release,
and dissemination of information for
statistical purposes, but which have not
been formally ‘‘recognized’’ by OMB as
Recognized Statistical Agencies or
Units. Those agencies and units should
look to these proposed regulations,
along with OMB’s Statistical Policy
Directives and the 2021 Principles and
Practices,39 for direction and best
practices.
E. Discussion of Key Provisions
This section provides an explanation
of the proposed regulations. As a
general matter, OMB has followed the
approach of adhering to the wider
principles and practices contained in
Directive No. 1, which contained both
the four fundamental principles now
codified in the CIPSEA 2018 and gave
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units more specific guidance on how to
adhere to those principles. Therefore, in
many cases, most of the particular
regulatory provisions described in more
detail below are drawn directly or
slightly adapted from provisions in
Directive No. 1. Additional context can
be found in the Federal Register Notice
announcing OMB’s adoption of
Directive No. 1.40 After nearly a decade
of the Federal Government operating
under Directive No. 1, experience has
clarified the fundamental
responsibilities and how to ensure
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are able to carry out those
39 Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
25885/.
40 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 159 / Friday, August 18, 2023 / Proposed Rules
responsibilities. In consideration of
those experiences, the draft regulation
seeks to address challenges, issues, or
emerging challenges or issues to create
a lasting and effective policy. While
there is some overlap between this
regulation and Directive No. 1, the
intent of this regulation is to address
additional ways outside of the current
language in Directive No. 1, for
example, ensuring Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have their
own websites and have an opportunity
to present their own budget requests, to
ensure that statistical agencies are able
to meet their fundamental
responsibilities.
OMB invites comments on any and all
aspects of our proposed approach to this
rule; in particular, whether it
thoroughly and adequately meets our
responsibilities under 44 U.S.C. 3563 to
direct Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units in meeting their fundamental
responsibilities, and agencies in
enabling, supporting, and facilitating
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in meeting their fundamental
responsibilities.
Additionally, OMB requests
comments on the regulatory options
proposed and described below, as well
as these following questions:
(1) How can OMB best articulate the
known and expected benefits of this
regulatory action?
(2) Under 44 U.S.C. 3563, all agencies
are required to enable, support, and
facilitate Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units. However, agencies
that are in the reporting structure of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units will likely provide the majority of
the support. Under the current proposed
regulation, all agencies, components,
and units are included under the
definition of parent agency.
If OMB were to create a distinction
between agencies, what should that
distinction be? For example, should a
distinction be considered for those in
the reporting structure of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit?
Should a distinction be considered for
agencies which do not contain a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit?
a. How should OMB draw this
distinction?
b. For what support functions should
each distinct group be responsible?
c. How should each distinct group
best enable, support, and facilitate
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units?
(3) OMB seeks comment on how, as
it relates to the implementation of the
term ‘‘parent agency’’, agencies’ unique
legal and regulatory responsibilities in
relation to the Recognized Statistical
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Agency or Unit should be considered in
this regulation.
(4) Under Proposed Section 1321.9
Compliance Review, OMB proposes
three options for consideration as a
means for providing accountability for
both the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and the parent agencies in
adhering to the proposed regulation.
OMB is interested in whether those
options would be adequate
accountability measures for Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units or if
others should be considered.
a. Does this regulation provide
adequate accountability measures for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ensure they are meeting their
fundamental responsibilities? If
additional accountability measures are
needed, what would additional
accountability measures look like?
b. Does this regulation provide
adequate accountability measures for
parent agencies to ensure they are
enabling, supporting, and facilitating
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in meeting their fundamental
responsibilities? If additional
accountability measures are needed,
what would additional accountability
measures look like?
Proposed § 1321.1—Purpose
Timely, accurate, objective, and
relevant statistical data are the bedrock
of evidence-based decision-making.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units play a vital role in generating data
that citizens, businesses, and
governments need to make informed
decisions. The foundation of these
programs is the public’s trust; trust in
the accuracy and objectivity of the data
and trust that any data provided to a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
under an obligation to keep those data
confidential will be kept confidential
and will only be used for statistical
purposes. OMB is issuing this proposed
regulation to implement 44 U.S.C. 3563,
which is a set of the requirements under
CIPSEA 2018 that will strengthen and
support the quality of Federal statistical
information.
Proposed § 1321.2—Definitions
This proposed regulation defines
terms used in the regulation. Definitions
were aligned with existing statute and
regulation wherever possible, and
information about those terms and their
alignment is discussed here:
The definitions of ‘‘accurate’’,
‘‘confidentiality’’, ‘‘objective’’, and
‘‘relevant’’ come from 44 U.S.C. 3563(d).
The definition of ‘‘agency’’ includes
agencies as defined in 31 U.S.C. 102 and
as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502.
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The definition of ‘‘confidential
statistical data’’ includes all data
acquired for exclusively statistical
purposes and under an obligation of
confidentiality. Under 44 U.S.C.
3563(a)(1)(D), Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units are responsible for
‘‘ensuring the confidentiality and
exclusive statistical use’’ of the
information they acquire. This proposed
definition is consistent with the
statutory definition of confidentiality
under 44 U.S.C. 3563(d)(2), which refers
to ‘‘an obligation not to disclose that
information to an unauthorized party’’
and the statutory language in 44 U.S.C.
3572(f) which provides a penalty for the
disclosure of information acquired ‘‘for
exclusively statistical purposes’’ the
disclosure of which is prohibited under
Subchapter III of Chapter 35 of Title 44,
United States Code.
The definition of ‘‘dissemination’’ is
from OMB Circular A–130.
The definition of ‘‘identifiable form’’
comes from 44 U.S.C. 3561. For this
proposed regulation, ‘‘individual or
entity’’ is used in place of ‘‘respondent’’
in an effort to include individuals or
entities who may not directly provide
their information to a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, but whose
information was provided by another
individual or entity or could be
determined based on other information
available.
The definitions of ‘‘nonstatistical
purpose’’, ‘‘respondent’’, ‘‘statistical
activities’’, and ‘‘statistical purpose’’
also come from 44 U.S.C. 3561.
The definition of ‘‘information’’ is
from the OMB Guidelines for Ensuring
and Maximizing the Quality,
Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of
Information Disseminated by Federal
Agencies.41
The definitions of ‘‘information
system’’ and ‘‘statistical laws’’ come
from 44 U.S.C. 3502.
The definition of ‘‘parent agency’’
includes the full organizational
structure, including every
organizational level (including subagencies, offices, components, and units
within the highest organizational level
such as the Department), as well as the
highest organizational level such as the
Department, including any agency and
aside from the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, and any organizational
units that contain the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit.
41 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing
the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of
Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies;
Republication, 67 FR 8452 (Feb. 22, 2002), available
at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-200202-22/pdf/R2-59.pdf.
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The definition of ‘‘statistical press
release’’ comes from OMB Statistical
Policy Directive No. 4.
The definition of ‘‘statistical
products’’ also comes from OMB
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4,42
except there is an additional
clarification that statistical products
take many different forms including
both printed and electronic form. It is
important from a confidentiality
perspective that statistical products
based on confidential statistical data not
identify an individual or entity.
Statistical products may be based on
confidential statistical data or other data
obtained by a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit. In addition, both
printed and electronic forms of
statistical products are included to
clarify that statistical products can be
issued in different ways as technology
and society advance and change.
The definition of ‘‘timeliness’’ (or
‘‘timely’’) is meant to capture both the
release happening at the expected time,
as well as the release occurring at a
reasonable time following the event
being measured.
Proposed § 1321.3—General Provisions
This section describes the scope of the
proposed regulations, the impact on
existing OMB guidance and policies,
including that these proposed
regulations if finalized would supersede
any provisions within Statistical Policy
Directives that conflict, and the parties
responsible for carrying out these
proposed regulations.
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Proposed § 1321.4—The Four
Fundamental Responsibilities
To operate efficiently and effectively,
the Nation relies on the flow of
objective, credible statistics to support
the decisions of individuals,
households, governments, educational
institutions, businesses, advocacy
groups, civic organizations, and other
parts and members of society. Any loss
of trust in the accuracy, objectivity, or
integrity of the Federal Statistical
System and its products has the
potential to cause uncertainty about the
validity of measures the Nation uses to
monitor and assess its performance,
progress, and needs, as well as
undermine the public’s confidence in
42 Statistical Policy Directive No. 4 defines
‘‘statistical products’’ as such: ‘‘Statistical products
are, generally, information dissemination products
that are published or otherwise made available for
public use that describe, estimate, forecast, or
analyze the characteristics of groups, customarily
without identifying the persons, organizations, or
individual data observations that comprise such
groups. Statistical products include general-purpose
tabulations, analyses, projections, forecasts, or other
statistical reports.’’
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the information released by the
Government. Consistent with wellestablished principles, such trust can be
maintained by ensuring proper
authority and autonomy of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and
ensuring that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have appropriate
and adequate authority in making, or
consulting with appropriate officials on,
decisions that could impact their ability
to uphold their fundamental
responsibilities. Maintaining trust in the
actions of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is even more critical
given their expanded authorities for
accessing data and responsibilities for
facilitating evidence building in the
Evidence Act.
The four fundamental responsibilities,
taken from Directive No. 1 and codified
in 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1), protect and
enhance public trust in the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, which
bolsters public trust in their statistical
products. The four fundamental
responsibilities are:
(1) to produce and disseminate
relevant and timely statistical
information;
(2) conduct credible and accurate
statistical activities;
(3) conduct objective statistical
activities; and
(4) protect the trust of information
providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical
use of their responses.
Proposed § 1321.4(a) identifies that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units carry the responsibility of
fulfilling the fundamental
responsibilities and parent agencies
play a key role in supporting the ability
of the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to meet their responsibilities.
This is particularly true for the parent
agencies that host a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit. Section
3563(b) states that: ‘‘The head of each
agency shall enable, support, and
facilitate statistical agencies or units in
carrying out the responsibilities
described in subsection (a)(1).’’
Parent agencies must exercise their
authorities in a way that allows
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet their fundamental
responsibilities. This recognizes the
importance of a broad commitment
across all government agencies to
support statistical agencies and units
can be found in a wide array of
domestic and international policies and
statements, including seven editions of
the National Academies’ Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical
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56715
Agency,43 Directive No. 1, the European
Statistics Code of Practice,44 and the
United Nation’s Fundamental Principles
for Official Statistics,45 for which the
United States is a signatory.
These proposed regulations take no
specific position with respect to the
placement of a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit within the
organizational structure of the highest
organizational unit within which they
sit. The Evidence Act, however,
provides some direction in this space:
(1) by giving an explicitly agency/
Department-wide role to the heads of
statistical agencies as Statistical
Officials to champion, advise, and lead
on statistical policy and methods, data
quality, and confidentiality; 46 (2) by
requiring delegation to the head of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit of
any Chief Data Officer function needed
to ensure compliance with statistical
law; 47 and (3) by requiring agencies to
ensure that their practices, including
organizational placement, ‘‘enable,
support, and facilitate’’ the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units’ ability to
comply with fundamental
responsibilities.48
Proposed § 1321.4(b) requires each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
maintain a distinctive, outward-facing
website 49 with its own domain name
and with adequate control over the
website content and management to
uphold the fundamental
responsibilities. Data users and
providers (i.e., respondents to statistical
collections, including individuals,
households, businesses, and
organizations) must be able to clearly
and easily discern when they are
receiving information from or providing
information to a Recognized Statistical
43 Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
25885/.
44 European Statistical System Committee,
European Statistics Code of Practice for the
National Statistical Authorities and Eurostat
(adopted November 16, 2017), available at https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/
KS-02-18-142.
45 United Nations General Assembly,
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
(adopted Jan. 29, 2014), available at https://
unstats.un.org/fpos/.
46 5 U.S.C. 314; see also Office of Mgmt. & Budget,
Exec Office of the President, M–19–23, Phase 1
Implementing of the Foundations for EvidenceBased Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas,
Personnel, and Planning Guidance (July 10, 2019),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf.
47 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(1).
48 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(2), 44 U.S.C. 3563(b).
49 Agencies should follow OMB policies,
including M–23–10, when issuing new websites.
See https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2023/02/M-23-10-DOTGOV-ActGuidance.pdf.
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Agency or Unit. These websites must be
clearly branded as belonging to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Proposed § 1321.4(b)(1) acknowledges
the parent agency’s role in enabling,
supporting, and facilitating the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s
responsibility to maintain a branded
website. This responsibility includes
ensuring the Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit has the necessary
resources to meet their requirements
under this regulation. The parent agency
should also support the Recognized
Statistical Agency and Unit in having
the autonomy to maintain the website in
a way that ensures that the branding
meaningfully reflects the identity of the
Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit.
They must have the capacity to update
the content in a timely manner.
Proposed § 1321.4(b)(2) acknowledges
the importance of using the website to
share key information with the public.
The website will communicate to the
public a ‘‘core mission of [Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units] is to
produce relevant and timely statistical
information to inform decision-makers
in governments, businesses, institutions,
and households.’’ 50 Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must
have in place a strong mission statement
that clearly communicates the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s objectives and that is further
refined through strategic planning. A
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s mission statement should provide
a clear understanding of the scope of its
responsibilities and goals, so its
stakeholders and users can properly
assess whether it is meeting its
responsibilities.
The commitment to the mission
should then be reflected in the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s publicly available strategic plan.
This proposed regulation would require
each Recognized Statistical Agency and
Unit to produce a strategic plan that
further describes the Recognized
Statistical Agency’s or Unit’s goals and
provides specific, measurable objectives
and performance metrics. OMB is
proposing that these plans should be
generally consistent with the statutory
requirements for strategic planning,51
which would require the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to reassess its
goals, objectives, and performance
50 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
51 5 U.S.C. 306.
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metrics no less than every four years
alongside and in alignment with the
parent agency’s strategic plan. This is an
opportunity to reassess the priorities
among different statistical programs and
the infrastructure needed to support
those programs, in light of advances in
technologies, use cases, and goals of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units, among other purposes, such as
reassessing the relevance of different
statistical programs. This review should
also afford Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and the parent
agency, in a collaborative way, the
opportunity to assess the efficiency and
effectiveness of the allocation of staff
time and resources among programs and
initiatives, along with appropriateness
of existing financial controls, enterprise
risk strategies, and the credibility and
defensibility of other business processes
of the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and parent agency.
Consistent with the spirit of the
requirement for the strategic plan, OMB
also proposes that any publicly
available findings, determinations, or
recommendations relevant to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
yielded by external evaluations, audits,
or other objective reviews conducted by
Federal Government entities be made
publicly available on the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit website, as
allowable by law, and recommend the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
also make publicly available on its
website concrete, measurable steps that
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit is taking to remediate such issues
in a timely and credible manner.
This section would also require each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
identify and gather in a single location
on its publicly available website the
various pieces of legislation,
regulations, and policies, including its
own and those of parent agencies, that
govern the four fundamental
responsibilities of each individual
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
By the nature of their designation as a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
under CIPSEA 2018, each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit will list the
Evidence Act, including CIPSEA 2018
(Title III), the OPEN Government Data
Act (Title II), and certain requirements
under Title I, as well as any authorizing
statute. However, the list should extend
much further than relevant statistical
laws. For example, they should include
any parent agency policies governing
the appearance or functionality of
websites; governing communication
with the press, Congress, or other
parties; or governing the quality of
information, such as scientific integrity
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policies. This requirement is based on
the demonstrated value of a similar
reporting requirement in OMB M–15–
03: Department Support for
Implementation of Statistical Policy
Directive No. 1: Fundamental
Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical
Units.52 If disagreements arise between
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and the parent agency, the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and the relevant officials at the
parent agency may reach out to OMB
through the Administrator of the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) to discuss and resolve.
The Evidence Act and OMB Statistical
Policy Directive No. 1 recognize the
essential role of Federal Departments in
supporting Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units as they implement
these responsibilities. Sharing of
Department practices, such as
incorporating recognition, support, and
clear authority for these responsibilities
in Departmental written policies,
facilitates interagency identification of
strengths and opportunities for
improvement. Over time, this
engagement, dialogue, and
implementation will provide a roadmap
for continued nurturing and
maintenance toward continued
achievement of these responsibilities
across the Federal Statistical System.
Accordingly, OMB M–15–03 required
each Department and Agency hosting a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
report to the OIRA Administrator,
within 120 days of the date of
publication of the Memorandum,
actions it took, were in the process of
taking, or were considering to support
achievement of the responsibilities
identified in OMB Statistical Policy
Directive No. 1, and to indicate if the
basis for such actions was found in
statute, Departmental policy, or
established Departmental practice.53
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(1) requires each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
produce a budget request 54 specific to
52 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–15–03, Department Support for
Implementation of Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units (Nov. 26,
2014), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/
memoranda/2015/m-15-03.pdf.
53 Id.
54 In this provision, ‘‘budget request’’ means the
request put forward to OMB from the highest
organizational unit as part of the fiscal year process
for the President’s Budget. It encompasses the
budget figures, budget justification, supplementary
submissions), and other requests from OMB issued
to Executive Branch agencies as part of the
President’s Budget process. Typically, requests in
addition to the budget figures and justifications are
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their agency, to be clearly presented as
the request for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit with figures
and justification specific to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit as
part of the highest organizational unit’s
annual budget submission and process,
and to participate directly, accompanied
by the highest organizational unit as
appropriate, in presenting their agency
specific request to OMB. If a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit does not have
sufficient staffing resources or expertise
to produce a budget, the parent agency
should assign a budget employee to
report, in whole or in part, to the head
of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. This provision does not
circumvent OMB’s authorities and
responsibilities in reviewing and
coordinating the budgets of the
Executive Branch more broadly or the
parent agencies’ authorities and
responsibilities in reviewing and
coordinating Departmental budgets.
This provision is intended to provide
transparency for both the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to the OMB
budget process and for OMB and the
highest organizational unit in
understanding the resource needs and
priorities for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to uphold the four
fundamental responsibilities. This
requirement will allow OMB to better
fulfill its responsibilities under 44
U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) to: ‘‘ensure that budget
proposals of agencies are consistent
with system-wide priorities for
maintaining and improving the quality
of Federal statistics.’’
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(2) requires
parent agencies to provide necessary
resources or communicate to OMB
through the Office of the Chief
Statistician of the United States about
the lack of available resources for
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units
to carry out their fundamental
responsibilities. The ability of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
meet its fundamental responsibilities
relies on access to sufficient resources.
Parent agencies must take these needs
into consideration when developing its
annual budget request to OMB and
allocating existing resources, offer
appropriate transparency about funding
decisions particularly to Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and to
OMB. Parent agencies must also allow
sufficient autonomy and authority to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
regards to how their positions are
allocated among job series, how their
staff are selected and trained, and how
outlined in ‘‘Spring Guidance’’ issued by OMB each
year.
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their budgets are deployed to ensure
their ability to meet their four
fundamental responsibilities.
Additionally, if the head of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
identifies a lack of sufficient resources
to meet the fundamental responsibilities
(e.g., through the agency Capacity
Assessment required by Title I of the
Evidence Act or other means), the
highest organizational unit within
which they sit should make efforts to
the extent possible to supply the
necessary resources. If the highest
organizational unit is not able to make
the required resources available, it must
notify OMB through the annual budget
request process and in accordance with
44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2), which requires the
Director of OMB to ‘‘ensure that budget
proposals of agencies are consistent
with system-wide priorities for
maintaining and improving the quality
of Federal statistics.’’
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(3) seeks to
promote greater communication,
collaboration, and understanding
between the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and its parent agency by
ensuring that they both have staff that
are capable of communicating
effectively with each other when the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
must rely on the parent agency’s
support functions. As codified in the
Evidence Act, Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have unique
responsibilities, which may require
unique provision of support services,
including information technology (IT),
legal services, procurement, budget,
human resources, or other core
functions of an agency. This section
requires that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have the necessary
staffing resources to have sufficient
expertise to communicate the needs of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to its parent agency. Similarly, this
section requires that the parent agency
has someone that is responsible for
understanding the needs of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
each support function that the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
must rely upon.
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(4) seeks to
promote the ability of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to
collaborate with their parent agencies to
establish joint requirements for services
to be shared across the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and other
agencies (whether within the same
organization or across organizations),
hereafter ‘‘shared services.’’ OMB
recognizes the value of shared services
and the efficiencies and cost savings
they can generate. In general, OMB
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encourages Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and the parent
agencies to collaborate to find shared
services solutions that meet the
requirements of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units as well as
achieve the goals of efficiency and cost
saving behind many of the shared
services priorities. This regulation
requests comments on two methods of
achieving this collaboration.
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(4) Option A
These provisions will minimize the risk
that lack of independently controlled
shared services poses to the ability of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
meet its fundamental responsibilities.
Clear requirements for services are
important to successful mission
implementation. For example, a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
must be able to ensure that IT staff who
have physical or logical access to stored
confidential statistical data adhere to
the requirements and be subject to the
criminal penalties of CIPSEA 2018 and
any other relevant policies and
procedures of CIPSEA 2018. Both the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and the parent agency shall make good
faith efforts to achieve such agreement.
If disagreements about shared services
arise between the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and the parent agency,
the head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and the relevant officials
at the parent agency may reach out to
OMB through the Administrator of
OIRA to discuss and resolve. To reduce
the potential for disagreement, the ICSP
and the Chief Information Officers (CIO)
Council should work together to share
best practices and successful
arrangements with parent agencies and
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.
To ensure that shared and
consolidated services do not impede a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s
ability to meet their fundamental
responsibilities, the specific
requirements for shared services must
be clearly developed and communicated
with the parent agency in writing, and
the parent agency must ensure that the
services meet these requirements. If the
parent agency is unable to meet these
requirements, they must enable the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
obtain those services elsewhere.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be able to enter agreements
for service with parent agencies without
endangering their ability to uphold their
fundamental responsibilities. This
provision seeks to minimize the risk
that lack of independent control over
services used by the Recognized
Statistical Agency and Unit poses to the
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ability of a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to meet its fundamental
responsibilities. When services are
intended to be used by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and parent
agencies (i.e., not solely servicing the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit),
the requirements for those services,
such as IT, printing, and contracting,
must be established and adhered to
jointly by the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and parent agencies.
For example, a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit must have the ability to
hold an open competition to acquire
services that support the mission if the
current options do not meet the
requirements necessary for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
uphold their fundamental
responsibilities.
OMB considered an alternative to this
proposed provision that would require
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to carry out all functions
autonomously. However, this would be
inefficient and infeasible for most
agencies.
Proposed § 1321.4(c)(4) Option B
provides a flexible process for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and their parent agencies, which
provides space for those agencies that
are working well together to keep their
current processes, while also providing
an opportunity for agencies to engage in
a more structured process. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have
unique needs that may require
specifically defined services or software.
This section requires parent agencies to
consult with Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units prior to making a
binding decision regarding services or
software that will directly affect the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s
ability to meet their fundamental
responsibilities. Depending on the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
the services may include cloud
computing, email servicing, janitorial
staffing, or any other type of staffing.
For some agencies, a simple
conversation between parent agency and
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
will suffice. For others, the parent
agency may ask for a written list
explicitly defining the requirements
needed for the particular service. When
necessary or valuable, the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit can ask that
any agreement they reach is reduced to
writing, which will provide clarity
about the expectations for the provision
of the service. In some cases, a parent
agency will not be able to meet the
needs of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in a manner that ensures
the fundamental responsibilities are
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met. In those cases, the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit may obtain
the service elsewhere and the parent
agency will need to either ensure the
resources are available for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
meet their needs through other means,
or the parent agency will need to notify
OMB that the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit lacks the resources
necessary to carry out their fundamental
responsibilities.
Proposed § 1321.4(d) requires that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have the appropriate decisionmaking authority within their agencies
for the specified provisions.
(Appropriate is described further in the
relevant key provisions above for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.)
The Evidence Act recognizes assigning
authority appropriately when it created
the new statutory role of the Chief Data
Officer (CDO) in 44 U.S.C. 3520. Section
3520 requires CDOs to delegate their
authorities in that section to the heads
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units when necessary to comply with
statistical laws.55
These sections of the regulation
follow this delegation model in section
3520 to ensure that other agency
officials in addition to CDOs are not
bearing responsibilities that are given to
the heads of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units in section 3520 and
other statistical laws. The intent is to
place responsibility and authority with
the appropriate agency officials with
regard to statistical data and statistical
products.
Proposed § 1321.4(e)(1) directs parent
agencies to review their regulations,
policies, and practices, and revise any
that impede a Recognized Statistical
Agency’s or Unit’s ability to meet its
statutory responsibilities because
agency regulations, policies, and
practices are so central to accomplishing
the purpose of section 3563(b). The
existing regulations, policies, and
practices of parent agencies can affect a
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s ability to meet its fundamental
responsibilities in several ways.
Regulations, policies, and practices that
require review and approval from
officials external to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit for their
statistical products, statistical press
releases, website appearance and
content, and other communications to
external stakeholders such as the press
and the Congress specifically addressing
statistical products or statistical press
releases can create perceived and actual
risk of interference with the Recognized
55 44
PO 00000
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Statistical Agency or Unit. Actual or
perceived undue influence harms the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
undermining trust and support for both.
Parent agencies must assess their
regulations, policies, and practices and
revise any that do not enable, support,
and facilitate the ability of their
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
meet their fundamental responsibilities.
If disagreements arise between the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and the parent agency as to the revision
of any parent agency regulation, policy,
or practice, the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and the
relevant officials at the parent agency
may reach to OMB through the
Administrator of OIRA to discuss and
resolve.
One of the most challenging
institutional factors affecting the
fundamental responsibilities are
overlapping or unclear lines of authority
between the heads of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and other
parent agency officials with authorities
that directly affect the fundamental
responsibilities, such as CDOs,
Evaluation Officers, Chief Information
Officers (CIOs), Senior Agency Officials
for Privacy (SAOPs), and others.
Similarly, statistical activities can at
times directly affect the responsibilities
of these other senior officials. Often
these overlapping authorities originate
in statute and adjudicating them can be
challenging. These regulations identify
the decisions and authorities that are
key to the ability of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to uphold
their fundamental responsibilities, and
requires either delegation to or
consultation with the head Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Proposed § 1321.4(e)(2) requires
consideration of the fundamental
responsibilities of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units when parent
agencies develop new regulations,
policies, and practices that may affect
the four fundamental responsibilities. If
disagreements arise between the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and the parent agency as to any new
parent agency regulation, policy, or
practice, the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and the
relevant officials at the parent agency
may reach to OMB through the
Administrator of OIRA discuss and
resolve.
The proliferation of new data sources,
uses, and authorities within Federal
agencies requires a coordinated and
inclusive approach. The agency Data
Governance Body required in OMB’s M–
19–23 Phase 1 Implementation of the
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Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning
Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance 56 should be the primary
mechanism for coordinating the
authorities within an agency for
developing data governance policies in
a manner that accounts for the four
fundamental responsibilities of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. OMB M–19–23 implementation
guidance articulates the expectation that
data governance ‘‘responsibility is
shared among multiple parties’’ and that
data governance bodies should set
agency data policy that ‘‘complements,
but does not supplant the authority of
established positions.’’
Proposed § 1321.4(e)(3) specifies that
timely updates and corrections to
statistical products are an important
factor in maintaining the trust of the
public in the statistics produced and
disseminated by Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units. If necessary, parent
agencies must support the publication
of updates and corrections as quickly as
is feasible once they are ready for public
release. For example, in cases where the
parent agency controls the IT resources
required to publish corrections, the
parent agency must support the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
publishing on its website as quickly as
is feasible after the correction is ready
for public release.
This also requires each parent agency
to develop policies articulating how the
parent agency will facilitate the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s ability to meet its responsibility
for producing relevant and timely
statistical products and make those
policies available to the public. These
policies should be developed in
collaboration with the Recognized
Statistical Agency and Unit. This
requirement creates additional
transparency and accountability to
further mitigate the risks posed by
reliance on parent agency resources and
services.
Proposed § 1321.4(f) requires OMB to
conduct its coordination of Federal
information policy in a manner
consistent with the Evidence Act and
these regulations. The Evidence Act’s
requirement under 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(2)
for the head of each Federal agency to
enable, support, and facilitate
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in carrying out their fundamental
56 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–19–23, Phase 1 Implementing of the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act
of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance (July 10, 2019), available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/
M-19-23.pdf.
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responsibilities extends beyond the
Federal agencies that contain a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Notably, OMB has a variety of
authorities that directly affect the ability
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet their responsibilities. This
section requires OMB to exercise those
authorities in a manner consistent with
the Evidence Act requirements and the
provisions of this regulation.
This provision identifies specific
statutory authorities of OMB found in
Chapter 35 of Title 44 of the U.S. Code.
These authorities are so central to the
objectivity and accuracy of statistical
products generated by Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units that the
provision requires that they be
delegated to the Chief Statistician of the
United States, a position in OMB
created by section 3504(e)(7)
specifically to coordinate and oversee
the Federal Statistical System and its
efficiency and effectiveness. Section
3504(e)(7) also specifies that the Chief
Statistician of the United States must be
‘‘a trained and experienced professional
statistician.’’
This provision does not diminish
OMB’s coordination and oversight
authorities, rather it ensures that the
specified authorities are exercised
without regard to any particular
political or program impacts, as the
Chief Statistician of the United States is
statutorily required to ensure objectivity
and impartiality of information
collected for statistical purposes. OMB’s
role is also important to promote
comparability of statistics across the
Federal Government, as well as to
promote high quality statistics in
support of informed decision-making by
both public and private statistical data
users. The specific authorities delegated
to the Chief Statistician of the United
States in this provision are:
(1) The review and approval of
proposed information collections
submitted by Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units under the PRA.
OMB review and approval ensures that
surveys and other information
collections maximize utility while
minimizing burden to businesses and
the public. Delegating the authority for
this function at OMB to the Chief
Statistician of the United States is
consistent with other provisions in this
regulation 57 whose intent is to provide
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units with the maximum feasible
control over the content of their
statistical products, while preserving
data quality and comparability
government-wide. This delegation is
57 See
PO 00000
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56719
also in alignment with the functions in
the PRA for the Chief Statistician of the
United States to ensure the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and
confidentiality of information collected
for statistical purposes, as well as to
oversee the implementation of Federal
Government-wide statistical standards
and guidelines.
(2) The statistical policy and
coordination functions described in
section 3504(e), including the
development and implementation of
governmentwide policies, principles,
standards, and guidelines concerning
statistical collection procedures and
methods, statistical data classification,
statistical information presentation and
dissemination, timely release of
statistical data, and such statistical data
sources as may be required for the
administration of Federal programs.
Similar to the requirement in proposed
§ 1321.7(b)(1) which directs agencies to
allow Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to publish statistical products
without requiring clearance of the
content from offices or officials outside
of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, this provision ensures that the
Chief Statistician of the United States
has the necessary authority within OMB
to carry out their functions in an
objective, impartial, and timely manner
that only takes into account statistical
considerations, and without
interference.
(3) The coordination and oversight of
confidentiality and disclosure policies
established in 44 U.S.C. 3562, which
requires OMB to develop a process to
designate agencies or organizational
units as Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units, along with implementation
guidance for this process. Because the
Chief Statistician of the United States
has the responsibility to oversee and
coordinate the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, the Chief
Statistician of the United States must
also have an appropriate level of control
over the designation process and
associated guidance.
(4) The functions assigned to OMB
through regulation or policy
promulgated under CIPSEA 2018. This
would include responsibilities under
this regulation, administration of the
Standard Application Process, and
several other forthcoming regulations.
Proposed § 1321.5—Relevance and
Timeliness
The first fundamental responsibility
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units is to produce and disseminate
relevant and timely statistical
information. At the core of this
responsibility is recognizing the high
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value of some statistical products. The
Evidence Act entrusts Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units with the
responsibility of making judgments
about balancing the value of their
statistical products against their costs,
burden, and risk; it maintains high
expectations about Recognized
Statistical Agencies’ and Units’
expertise in and commitment to
producing the most relevant statistics.
Section 1321.5 articulates these high
expectations by requiring Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to take
several actions.
Proposed § 1321.5(a) requires
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to produce and disseminate
relevant and timely statistical
information and for the parent agencies
to enable, support, and facilitate the
activities necessary to carry out that
responsibility. To carry out this
responsibility, Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must be able to
determine what statistical products to
disseminate and the timing of
dissemination. Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units should engage with
parent agencies about what statistical
products would be most valuable from
the perspective of the parent agency and
prioritize consideration of how to
address those needs.
Proposed § 1321.5(b) adopts the
provision in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘be knowledgeable about the
issues and requirements of programs
and policies relating to their subject
domains. This requires communication
and coordination among agencies and
within and across Departments when
planning information collection and
dissemination activities,’’ 58 including
through the stakeholder engagement
process on Learning Agendas, per OMB
policy, for example OMB M–19–23 and
OMB M–21–27.59 ‘‘In addition,
[Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units] must seek input regularly from
the broadest range of private- and
public-sector data users.’’ 60 It is the
core mission of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to produce relevant
58 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
59 Such OMB policies include M–19–23, M–21–
27, and Circular A–11 Section 290.
60 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
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and timely statistical information to
inform decision-makers in governments,
businesses, institutions, and
households.
This regular and continued input
from a broad range of users, including
from officials in the parent agency, is
essential for determining data needs,
and Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must regularly and continually
collaborate with other Federal agencies
in order to promote a strong Federal
Statistical System. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must
keep abreast of the interests and analytic
goals of current and potential new users
of statistical products including data
assets for research in order to ensure the
continued relevance of their statistical
products. Moreover, the information
sought may often span the mission areas
of more than one Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, necessitating joint
engagement of users both within and
possibly outside of government.
Effective Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units seek opportunities
to enhance the value of their statistical
products. These collaborations may
extend beyond other Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and may
take many forms, including bilateral and
multilateral agreements between
agencies. Examples of collaborative
efforts include two Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units using one
collection to satisfy the needs of both,
or a system-wide initiative to fund
methodological research.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must pay continual attention to
changes in policy and the social and
economic conditions affecting their
programs and subject domains,
including through regularly engaging
with officials at parent agencies to
understand changing and emerging
needs across the parent agencies
relevant to the statistical products of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. In instances where feedback
necessitates planning a new information
collection or revising an existing
information collection, Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units may need
to consult with OMB, as the agency
responsible for coordinating statistical
activities in the Federal Government.
There are numerous ways for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to further the collaboration with
OMB and other Federal entities, such as
participating in the Interagency Council
on Statistical Policy (ICSP),
participating in multi-agency advisory
groups, convening or participating in
working groups or workshops with
other offices within their respective
Federal Agencies or Departments that
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have similar responsibilities or are
stakeholders in their data, or
participating in working groups or
workshops and engaging with other
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units across the Federal Government
that have similar responsibilities or are
stakeholders in their data.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must also use formal methods
available to them for obtaining input
from users on issues relating to their
programs, products, and underlying
data. This should include a mix of
techniques including, but not limited to,
convening an advisory or user group, as
allowed under relevant law; conducting
a user survey; holding user workshops;
conducting user focus groups; analyzing
internet activity; analyzing data requests
including those through the Standard
Application Process required under 44
U.S.C. 3583; and providing notification
and seeking general input through
Federal Register notices. Importantly,
these activities should be done in
compliance with, and leveraging, other
relevant authorities.
Parent agencies should support the
responsibility to be relevant by
facilitating activities that promote ways
for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to learn about data user needs. This
section also specifies that advisory
groups and other means of systematic
engagement with interested parties and
communities should be part of the
process of developing timely and
relevant statistical products. As part of
that process, the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit must be allowed to
establish and manage these engagements
without undue influence from parent
agencies on the composition of groups
or the content of their agendas or
products. However, this does not
prevent the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit from considering input
from parent agencies. This requirement
reflects practices promoted by the
National Academies and the policies in
the recent Presidential Memorandum on
Restoring Trust in Government Through
Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based
Policymaking,61 (PM 2021) which
reaffirms and builds on the Presidential
Memorandum of March 9, 2009 (PM
2009), and the Director of the Office of
Science and Technology Policy’s
Memorandum of December 17, 2010
(OSTP 2010). The PM identifies that
scientific information, including
statistics, are central to sound policy
61 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Memorandum on Restoring Trust in
Government Through Scientific Integrity and
Evidence-Based Policymaking, 86 FR 8845 (Feb. 10,
2021), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/FR-2021-02-10/pdf/2021-02839.pdf.
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development and improvement and
equitable delivery of services across
government. Because of this, it notes
that ‘‘[s]cientific findings should never
be distorted by political
considerations.’’ Further, it identifies
that improper political interference in
science ‘‘undermines the welfare of the
Nation, contributes to systemic
inequities and injustices, and violates
the trust that the public places in
government to best serve its collective
interests.’’
As part of the work required by PM
2021, OSTP issued the Framework for
Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and
Practice (SI Framework) in January
2023.62 The Framework affirms that
‘‘[strong scientific integrity] policies and
effective practices protecting scientific
integrity are essential for the
development of evidence-based
policies.’’ 63 The SI Framework makes a
distinction between ‘‘interference’’ and
‘‘political interference.’’ Interference is
defined as ‘‘inappropriate, scientifically
unjustified intervention in the conduct,
management, communication, or use of
science. It includes censorship,
suppression, or distortion of scientific
or technological findings, data,
information, or conclusions; inhibiting
scientific independence during
clearance and review; scientifically
unjustified intervention in research and
data collection; and inappropriate
engagement or participation in peer
review processes or on Federal advisory
committees.’’ Whereas ‘‘political
interference’’ is limited to interference
‘‘conducted by political officials and/or
motivated by political considerations.’’
Consistent with the SI Framework, this
regulation is intended to guard against
inappropriate, statistically unjustified
interventions by ensuring statistical
activities are conducted by statistical
agencies without undue influence.
OMB intends this regulation to be
complementary to the SI Framework
and related principles. This is
consistent with the intent of the SI
Framework, which provides that
‘‘Agencies should consult OMB’s
implementing guidance, (including
OMB M–19–23, OMB M–20–12, and
OMB M–21–27, and Statistical Policy
Directive 1) to ensure that scientific
62 A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity
Policy and Practice (Jan. 2023), available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/
01-2023-Framework-for-Federal-Scientific-IntegrityPolicy-and-Practice.pdf.
63 Press Release, OSTP, OSTP Releases
Framework for Strengthening Federal Scientific
Integrity Policies and Practices (Jan. 12, 2023),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/
news-updates/2023/01/12/ostp-releases-frameworkfor-strengthening-federal-scientific-integritypolicies-and-practices/.
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integrity policies and procedures
complement and reinforce related
requirements of the Evidence Act.’’ The
SI Framework also acknowledges that in
some cases, subordinate agencies may
need to ‘‘enact stronger policies than
their parent [agencies]’’ and that the
parent agencies should not
inappropriately influence agency
Scientific Integrity matters.
Proposed § 1321.5(c) requires
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to minimize the time required
between collection of data and release of
the statistical products, subject to costs
and effects on other dimensions of data
quality. The interval between the time
to which the data or estimates refer and
the date when the data or estimates are
released should be as short as
practicable to promote the usefulness
and value of the data and to remove the
appearance of any intervention. Timely
release of statistical products promotes
the usefulness and value of the data in
both government and private decisionmaking, in measuring economic activity,
and for other uses of the data.
OMB policies have long recognized
that ‘‘prompt release . . . is of vital
importance to the proper management
of both private and public affairs.’’ 64
For example, timeliness is critically
important for statistical series used by
the government and private sector as
indicators of the current condition and
direction of the economy, such as the
Employment Situation and Gross
Domestic Product. Timeliness allows
policymakers and the private sector to
react promptly to any changes and more
quickly implement targeted policies. In
support of a prompt release, OMB
policies provide direction on how many
working days to afford between the
collection of data and release of data for
principal statistical series, with a
current standard of no more than 22
working days for Principal Federal
Economic Indicators 65 and a minimal
practicable interval for other Federal
statistical data products.66 In addition to
promoting the usefulness and value of
statistical data products, prompt release
reduces the likelihood of any
64 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Circular A–91, Prompt Compilation and
Release of Statistical Information (Feb. 12, 1969).
65 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive on
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept.
25, 1985), available at https://archives.
federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/3890838934.pdf#page=25.
66 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release
and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced
by Federal Statistical Agencies 73 FR 12622 (Mar.
7, 2008), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
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56721
unauthorized disclosure or premature
release of the data or estimates.
In addition, Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units shall follow OMB
guidance implementing section 3583,
which will include criteria for prompt
determinations about granting access to
data for evidence building by
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.67
Proposed § 1321.5(d) requires each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
publish a release calendar on its website
noting the date of each regular or
recurring statistical product for the
upcoming calendar year by no later than
the end of the previous calendar year.
This timing aligns with the current
policy outlined in OMB’s Statistical
Policy Directive No. 4. For example, a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
should publish the calendar year 2024’s
release calendar for all regular or
recurring statistical products no later
than December 31, 2023. In addition,
each Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit shall continue to meet any earlier
timelines for publishing the release
schedule, as required by other policies
such as OMB’s Statistical Policy
Directive No. 3 for Principal Federal
Economic Indicators. For non-regular or
non-recurring statistical products, each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
should publicly announce the date or
date range for release as soon as the date
or date range is established.
In support of transparency and
serving the needs of data users, each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall also designate an office
responsible for providing the release
schedule and make the contact
information for that office readily
available to the public through their
website, and through other means, as
appropriate. Finally, this section
requires that each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit only make changes to
the release schedule after it has been
announced for special, unforeseen
circumstances and requires that those
changes be announced publicly as soon
as possible and explained fully. As
required by other policies, notification
to other entities may also be required,
including for example notifying OMB of
changes to release dates for Principal
Federal Economic Indicators per
Directive No. 3. For example, in the
past, changes to the release dates of
some Principal Federal Economic
67 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–23–04, Establishment of Standard
Application Process Requirements on Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units Department Support
for Implementation of Statistical Policy (Dec. 08,
2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2022/12/M-23-04.pdf.
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Indicators have occurred because of
Federal Government shutdowns. This
requirement to provide a public
explanation of such unforeseen
circumstances—like a government
shutdown—helps prevent the
appearance of any partisan intervention.
Publication of release schedules
provides data users with a clear
expectation of when data are to be
released, helping them plan how to use
the data. In combination with the
timeliness provisions, publication of
release dates promotes trust and
confidence in the quality and integrity
of the data. Publication of release
schedules have been required for
statistical products in policies as far
back as 1969.68
To the extent that parent agencies are
involved in dissemination activities,
they are responsible for adhering to the
schedule as well. This may mean that
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit engages with the parent agency
during the development of the schedule
so that both parties are aware of factors
that may affect the schedule. This
should be done as soon as possible. For
parent agencies providing IT services or
other support functions that may impact
dissemination, they must be cognizant
of the schedule to avoid creating
barriers for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to keeping their promise
to the public to meet their publication
deadlines.
Proposed § 1321.6—Credibility and
Accuracy
The second fundamental
responsibility of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is to conduct
credible and accurate statistical
activities. Establishing credibility about
the accuracy of the products produced
and the scientifically rigorous processes
employed to create them is fundamental
to the role of a trusted provider of
evidence. The more accurate evidence
is, the greater value it has to the
decision-maker who uses it.
Any statistical product may contain
some level of inaccuracy, and statistics
always measure underlying concepts or
conditions with varying levels of
uncertainty. To confidently act on the
evidence, data users need to trust that
the accuracy of the statistical products
is communicated in a forthright,
explicit, and transparent manner. In
addition, providing public
documentation about the methodologies
and processes used by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in developing
68 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Circular A–91, Prompt Compilation and
Release of Statistical Information (Feb. 12, 1969).
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the statistical product promotes
credibility in its methods and processes.
Section 1321.6 describes several actions
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must take to build and protect
their credibility so that they can fill this
role effectively.
Proposed § 1321.6(a)(1) builds on the
requirement in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘apply sound statistical
methods to ensure statistical products
are accurate’’ by requiring Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to
develop policies on the quality of their
information and their statistical
products. The standards must ensure
that the data and statistical products are
accurate and credible. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units shall also
make those standards available publicly
to allow the public to evaluate the
quality of the information produced and
disseminated.
Directive No. 1 requires Recognized
Statistical Agencies ‘‘be vigilant in
seeking new methods and adopting new
technologies to ensure the quality and
efficiency of the information they
collect and produce.’’ 69 Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units shall seek
new methods, technologies, techniques,
procedures, and data sources to improve
the data and information products they
publish. This responsibility is especially
important in the modern data era. For
example, vigilance in seeking new
methods and adopting new technologies
allowed for the Bureau of the Census
Small Area Income and Poverty
Estimates Program to release annual
estimates of income and poverty for
every U.S. county, providing for more
granular data by more efficiently using
the data collected. In addition, through
increased use of satellite data, a newer
technology and data source for this
purpose, at the National Agricultural
Statistics Service, more accurate
estimates of crop acreage and
production have been produced.
Proposed § 1321.6(a)(2) adopts the
requirements in Directive No. 1 that
‘‘information about how the data were
collected and any known or potential
data limitations or sources of error (such
as population or market coverage, or
sampling, measurement, processing, or
modeling errors) should be described to
data users so they can evaluate the
suitability of the data for a particular
purpose’’ and ‘‘(e)rrata identified after
69 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
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data release should be described to data
users on an ongoing basis as verified.’’ 70
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must produce data that are
accurate and credible and that allow
data users to make sound decisions
based on these Federal data and
information products. In order to
achieve this, Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units shall use rigorous
statistical methodologies as well as
regularly assess, and update as
appropriate, the data and information
products they publicly release against
OMB and agency information quality
guidelines.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must make information about the
quality of their statistical products
publicly available to allow users to
evaluate fitness for use.71
In order for data users to assess the
suitability of data products for their
purposes, each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall publicly provide
descriptions of methods and procedures
used to develop statistical products,
subject to confidentiality and other
statutory requirements, and must use
plain language as much as possible. In
addition, they shall describe how data
were collected and compiled, as well as
other aspects of the process to create the
statistical product and any known data
limitations or sources of error such as,
population or market coverage, and/or
sampling, measurement, processing, or
modeling errors. As such, any data used
in generating the statistical product,
including third party or administrative
records, should be included in the
description of methods and procedures
for applicable part(s) of the process to
create the statistical product.
Furthermore, to promote transparency
and the ability of data users to assess
impacts of changes to the data, any
errors in the data identified after release
(i.e., errata) must be described to data
users on an ongoing basis. Similar
requirements have been in place for
decades under Directive Nos. 3 and 4
covering any unforeseen revisions to the
released data.72
70 Id.
71 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M–19–15, Improving Implementation of
the Information Quality Act (Apr. 24, 2019),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/M-19-15.pdf (‘‘Agencies
should provide the public with sufficient
documentation about each dataset released to allow
data users to determine the fitness of the data for
the purpose for which third parties may consider
using it.’’).
72 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive on
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept.
25, 1985), available at https://archives.
federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/38908-
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Proposed § 1321.6(a)(3) adopts the
requirements in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘achieve [accuracy in their
statistical products] by regularly
evaluating the data and information
products they publicly release against
the OMB Government-wide Information
Quality Guidelines as well as their
individual [Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit’s] information quality
guidelines’’ and to ‘‘periodically review
the techniques and procedures used to
implement their information quality
guidelines to keep pace with changes in
best practices and technology.’’ 73 This
section further expands on this practice
by requiring Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units to comply with all
OMB standards and guidance for
lifecycle data management practices.
Proposed § 1321.6(a)(4) requires that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are responsible for ensuring that,
when their staff participates in
authoring journal articles, authoring
professional conference papers and
participates in sessions, and peer review
activities those activities adhere to
current OMB peer review policies 74 and
they should to make these
determinations without undue influence
from the parent agency.
Proposed § 1321.6(b)(1) acknowledges
that the ability of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to establish,
maintain, and communicate the quality
of the data they release is key to their
ability to conduct credible and accurate
statistical activities, free from even the
appearance of manipulation. When any
parent agency official external to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
plays any formal role in reviewing or
approving the statistical product or the
quality of the statistical product issued
by the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, it can create an appearance that
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit does not have sufficient authority
and autonomy. Review or approval of
38934.pdf#page=25; Office of Mgmt. & Budget,
Exec. Office of the President, Statistical Policy
Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical
Agencies 73 FR 12622 (Mar. 7, 2008), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-0307/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
73 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
74 See, e.g., Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office
of the President, M–05–03, Final Information
Quality Bulletin for Peer Review (Dec 16, 2004),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/
memoranda/2005/m05-03.pdf.
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the statistical product in any form
creates a real risk that a parent agency
could attempt to alter or suppress a
statistical product by claiming that it
fails to meet the quality standards of the
parent agency. Accordingly, parent
agency regulations, policies, and
practices must clearly demonstrate that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have sole authority for oversight
of the quality of their statistical
products.
In some cases, parent agency officials
external to a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit are authorized by statute
to oversee the quality or objectivity of
statistical products released by the
agency.
When another statute overlaps with
the statutory provisions of the Evidence
Act regarding quality of statistical
products by authorizing another agency
to make determinations that directly
affect a Recognized Statistical Agency’s
or Unit’s ability to carry out its
fundamental responsibilities, OMB
proposes that the authorized agency
official delegate those determinations to
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. This proposed approach is similar
to the Evidence Act provisions
recognizing that the responsibilities of
the newly created Chief Data Officers
overlap with the responsibilities of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.75
OMB considered an alternative
regulatory approach to establish that
statistical products disseminated by
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are not subject to any quality
standards of their parent agencies.
However, while this approach would
accomplish the objective of ensuring
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are solely responsible for ensuring
the quality of their products, it could
suggest that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units could set less
stringent quality standards than their
parent agencies, which would not be
appropriate. Under this proposed
approach, the parent agency’s quality
standards remain in place, but the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is
solely responsible for evaluating
compliance with those standards.
Proposed § 1321.6(b)(3) specifies that
employees, contractors, and agents of
the parent agency or Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, other than
those designated by the releasing
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
75 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(1) (‘‘To the extent necessary
to comply with statistical laws, the Chief Data
Officer of an agency shall delegate any
responsibility under subsection (c) to the head of
a statistical agency or unit (as defined in section
3561) within the agency.’’).
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head, shall be prohibited from publicly
commenting on the content of any data
released by the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit until after the official
release of the data. More specifically, for
some statistical products such as those
covered by Directive No. 3 there are
additional requirements, including that
no public commentary may be made by
employees of the Executive Branch,
except for members of the staff of the
agency issuing the Principal Federal
Economic Indicator who have been
designated by the agency head to
provide technical explanations of the
data, until at least one hour after the
official release time. For other statistical
products, this provision aligns with the
existing Directive No. 4 that contains
policies about the independence of
policy statements and from the
technical data release, as well as
provisions for not breaking the data
embargo. A prohibition on public
comment prior to the official release of
the data supports a distinction between
the statistical data released and
interpretations of the data, including
policy interpretations. This distinction
is important for the credibility of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and the trust in the accuracy of
the data released.
Proposed § 1321.6(b)(4) requires that
parent agencies provide Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units with the
necessary authority to determine how
statistical products are released. Some
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units rely on components of their
parent agencies to maintain websites or
other dissemination platforms. In these
cases, the parent agency must not alter
the content or appearance of a statistical
product unless authorized by the head
of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. Policy officials at parent agencies
may work with the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit head to
ensure that policy pronouncements are
not included.
Proposed § 1321.6(b)(5) requires
parent agencies to ensure that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are permitted to determine the
appropriateness of and how their staff
engage in peer review and career
development activities such as
publication in refereed journals,
participation in statistical and other
scientific associations, and presentation
at professional conferences without
review or approval from the parent
agency, subject to applicable statutes.
However, review of publication or
participation may be appropriate where
the venue also includes matters of
policy, budget, or management. The
National Academies’ Principles and
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Practices 76 notes that ‘‘The long-term
credibility of a statistical agency
depends on the agency’s staff and the
culture they build and maintain for
quality and professionalism. An
agency’s subject-matter analysts should
be encouraged and have ample
opportunity to build networks with
analysts in other agencies, academia, the
private sector, other countries, and
relevant international organizations and
to present their work at relevant
conferences and in working papers and
refereed journal articles.’’ This
provision seeks to ensure the ability of
professional staff at the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to engage
in professional development activities
to build their network and skill sets,
learn new methodologies to apply to
statistical products, and share out the
research and development efforts that
support the improvements to the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Units’ statistical products. The National
Academies’ Principles and Practices
articulates this as important to ensuring
the qualifications of technical staff
doing the work at Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units.
In doing so, the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must ensure that
they abide by regulatory, policy, and
budgetary requirements that govern
these types of activity. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units that have
internal resources to evaluate adherence
to applicable laws and policies should
use their own resources. However, some
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are reliant on support functions of
the parent agency. In those cases, the
parent agency should consider assigning
support function staff to report to the
head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit for these purposes.
Parent agency support functions
supporting the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit would not have
approval authority unless the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit delegates such authority to the
support function. Without such
delegated authority, the support
function should provide to the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit sufficient information and analysis
for the head of the agency to make an
informed decision.
Proposed § 1321.7—Objectivity
The third fundamental responsibility
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units is to conduct objective and
76 Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
25885/.
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impartial statistical activities. Impartial
statistics are core to the concept of
evidence-based policymaking, which is
based on the fundamental practice of
using facts to guide policies. To support
rigorous decision-making actions, data
users need to be able trust that statistical
outputs are completely transparent and
policy-neutral; they therefore need to
rely upon a Recognized Statistical
Agency’s or Unit’s reputation as an
impartial source of information. The
requirements described in § 1321.7 to
implement this responsibility can be
divided into two related categories:
transparent application of rigorous and
best scientific methods to acquire,
process, and disseminate data; and
protection of the Recognized Statistical
Agency’s or Unit’s ability to control
these data processes free from undue
influence from outside of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
This section largely adopts several
provisions that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and parent agencies
are already following through their
adherence to Directive No. 1.
Proposed § 1321.7(a)(1) adopts the
requirement in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘produce data that are
impartial, clear, and complete and are
readily perceived as such by the
public.’’ 77
Proposed § 1321.7(a)(2) adopts the
provision in Directive No. 1 that the
‘‘objectivity of the information released
to the public is maximized by making
information available on an equitable,
policy-neutral, transparent, timely, and
punctual basis.’’ 78
It is essential that all data users (e.g.,
the general public, researchers, media,
and private and non-profit entities) are
provided equitable access to data
released by Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units. To achieve this,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall provide documentation on
dissemination policies with respect to
scheduling of statistical product
releases, requests for special tabulations,
and information on data collection
periods. Equitable access should cover a
variety of platforms keeping in mind
ease of use and that all data users
should have access to the data at the
same time, with limited exceptions for
targeted, specified purposes such as the
policies set forth in OMB’s Statistical
77 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
78 Id.
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Policy Directive No. 3. Equitable access
is meant to provide for delivery in a
manner that does not privilege any one
person or group over another.
Proposed § 1321.7(a)(3) adopts the
requirement in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘avoid even the appearance
that agency design, collection,
processing, editing, compilation,
storage, analysis, release, and
dissemination processes may be
manipulated. The actual and perceived
credibility of Federal statistics requires
assurance that the selection of
candidates for statistical positions is
based primarily on their scientific and
technical knowledge, credentials,
experience, and integrity. Moreover,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must maintain and develop inhouse staff who are trained in statistical
methodology to properly plan, design,
and implement core data collection
operations and to accurately analyze
their data.’’ 79
Proposed § 1321.7(a)(4) adopts the
requirement in Directive No. 1 for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ‘‘function in an environment
that is clearly separate and autonomous
from the other administrative,
regulatory, law enforcement, or
policymaking activities within their
respective Departments.’’ In particular,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be able independently
determine how to engage in statistical
activities, including what information to
collect and process, how to secure and
protect confidential statistical data,
which estimation methods to use, how
to disseminate statistical products, and
who to hire.80 This provision is not
meant as a prohibition on parent
agencies articulating data needs to
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units; instead, it is meant to clarify that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be allowed to act
autonomously in their determinations of
how to deliver on those articulated data
needs.
This longstanding policy in Directive
No. 1, proposed in regulation in this
action, of ‘‘functional separation’’
reinforces the requirement described in
§ 1321.6(a)(3) to promote the objectivity
of data through ensuring integrity of the
process for generating data. In addition,
functional separation between the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and parent agencies is vital to assure the
public that collection and handling of
all confidential statistical data acquired
by a Recognized Statistical Agency or
79 Id.
80 Id.
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Unit is consistent with CIPSEA 2018
and other applicable confidentiality
statutes. Under CIPSEA 2018,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units cannot provide access to and must
avoid the appearance that individually
identifiable data acquired by the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
for exclusively statistical purposes
might be accessed for administrative,
regulatory, or law enforcement uses.
Access to and use of confidential
statistical data managed by a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
must be limited to authorized
employees and agents of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit who are
legally prohibited from using the
confidential statistical data for any
nonstatistical purpose. Functional
separation bolsters a culture and
practice of respect for privacy and
protection of confidentiality.
Functional separation is also
important for other aspects of the data
lifecycle, including determining the
type of data to collect, dedication of
resources, and dissemination of
statistical products. Providing this
functional separation to the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units across the
data lifecycle promotes trust in the
resulting statistical data. The clear
distinctions between the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and the
parent agencies in this work facilitates
public perception and also the reality of
those decisions being made by the entity
responsible for impartial, objective
statistical data, and not by entities with
other missions and responsibilities.
However, functional separation is not
meant as a prohibition on parent
agencies articulating data needs to
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units; instead, it is meant to clarify that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be allowed to act
autonomously in their determinations of
how to deliver on those articulated data
needs.
Of course, statistical products issued
by the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, which do not disclose confidential
statistical data, can be used to inform
aggregate administrative, regulatory, or
law enforcement activity, which aligns
with the Recognized Statistical Agency’s
or Unit’s responsibility to produce and
disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information.
Proposed § 1321.7(b)(1) prohibits
parent agencies, including any other
sub-agency, office, or unit outside the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
from requiring prior clearance of
statistical products, and allows
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to respond to questions from
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external stakeholders (e.g., data users,
the media, the Congress) about
statistical products in a manner that
ensures appropriate consultation with
the parent agency if responses to
questions from external stakeholders
relate to policy, budget, or management
issues, in addition to matters affecting
current or future litigation. On
December 17, 2010, the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy
issued a memorandum that called for
Executive departments and agencies to
develop policies to ‘‘ensure a culture of
scientific integrity,’’ ‘‘strengthen the
actual and perceived credibility of
Government research,’’ ‘‘facilitate the
free flow of scientific and technological
information, consistent with privacy
and classification standards,’’ and
‘‘establish principles for conveying
scientific and technological information
to the public.’’ 81
At the time, the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units developed a
Statement of Commitment to Scientific
Integrity that documents in a single
place their response to the OSTP
memorandum,82 which includes the
following statement: ‘‘Independence
must include the statistical agency
having authority for professional
decisions over the scope, content, and
frequency of data collected; analysis, or
publishing of the information; authority
to release statistical information without
prior clearance; and adherence to
predetermined schedules for public
release of statistical information.’’
Because of the fundamental
responsibilities which Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must
uphold and their missions, it is critical
that there be no perceived or real
interference with the dissemination of
statistical products or technical
responses to questions from external
stakeholders.
Proposed § 1321.7(b)(2) requires
parent agencies to ensure that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are permitted to determine and
carry out methods for conducting
statistical activities for statistical
purposes. Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must function in an
environment that is clearly separate and
autonomous from nonstatistical
81 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Memorandum on Restoring Trust in
Government Through Scientific Integrity and
Evidence-Based Policymaking, 86 FR 8845 (Feb. 10,
2021), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/FR-2021-02-10/pdf/2021-02839.pdf.
82 Principal Statistical Agencies, Statement of
Commitment to Scientific Integrity (2010), available
at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/
about/about-the-bureau/policies_and_notices/
scientificintegrity/Scientific_Integrity_Statement_
of_the_Principal_Statistical_Agencies.pdf.
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56725
(administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement, or policymaking) activities
within their respective Federal Agency/
Department and must be able to conduct
statistical activities autonomously.
Perceived or real influence on statistical
activities by a non-statistical agency
interferes with the objectivity and
impartiality responsibilities of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and could diminish trust in the
resulting statistical data. Note that this
provision is not meant as a prohibition
on parent agencies articulating data
needs to Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units; instead, it is meant to clarify
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be allowed to act
autonomously in their determinations of
how to deliver on those articulated data
needs.
Proposed § 1321.7(b)(3) implements
the Evidence Act’s recognition that the
responsibilities and authorities granted
to the newly created Chief Data Officers
(CDOs) overlap with the authorities and
responsibilities essential to a
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s ability to meet its fundamental
responsibilities. Therefore section
3520(d) requires that, to the extent
necessary to comply with statistical
laws, the responsibilities granted to
CDOs for data governance and lifecycle
data management must be delegated in
writing to the heads of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in order
for them to meet their fundamental
responsibilities. The Chief Data Officer
of the agency shall defer to head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
regarding the necessary delegation of
duties with respect to any data acquired,
maintained, or disseminated by the
agency under applicable statistical law
including the authority to certify
information collection requests for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
under the Paperwork Reduction Act.83
Proposed § 1321.7(b)(4) and (5)
require parent agencies to allow
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to manage resources, including
confidential statistical data, in
accordance with their responsibility to
conduct objective statistical activities.
As outlined above for proposed § 1321.7
(a)(4), the functional separation between
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and parent agencies for this work
fosters public trust in the work of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. In particular, data providers must
be able to clearly determine if they are
providing data to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit or a parent
83 See 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(3); OMB M–19–23, at
24–25 & n.42.
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agency. There must be functional
separation between the administrative,
regulatory, or law enforcement parent
agency staff within the parent agency
and the work accomplished by the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s staff creating and supporting
statistical products. For example, IT
specialists are critical partners in the
production of statistical products.
Recognized Statistical Agencies’ and
Units’ IT systems are tasked with
conducting and analyzing complex
calculations, interactions, and
interdependencies that must be
executed with precision by IT
specialists. It is helpful if IT specialists
are familiar with the statistical programs
they support.
In consideration of the responsibility
of objectivity as it relates to the use of
shared services (IT, printing,
contracting, etc.), there are different
acceptable methods available to parent
agencies and the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit. However, methods
must adhere to the provisions in this
regulation.
As one example, assigning personnel
directly to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit affords the agency or
unit a straight-forward defense against
claims that parent agency personnel
have unauthorized access to Principal
Federal Economic Indicators or other
statistical products. When the numbers
produced by a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit are handled from start
to finish by the employees/contractors
of the Recognized Statistical Agencies or
Unit (and not those of the parent
agency), the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit along with their parent
agency are able to easily disprove claims
of falsified statistical products or
inappropriate access to the statistical
products. If agency personnel from
outside the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit are allowed access to
systems responsible for the production
and dissemination of statistical
products, they must be subject to the
same requirements and standards as
employees/contractors of Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units to ensure
protection against claims from the
public of external manipulation and
inappropriate influence.
Another approach is for Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to enter
into written agreements for shared
services with parent agencies that
include requirements and controls that
uphold the fundamental
responsibilities. These requirements and
controls would include that all
personnel providing the shared service
are subject to the same requirements
and standards as employees and
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contractors of Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units (e.g., the personnel
are designated as ‘‘agents’’ of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit).
The parent agency adhering to the
requirements and controls in the
agreement would provide the needed
protections to prevent unauthorized
access and to ensure the statistical
products are protected from external
manipulation and inappropriate
influence.
Proposed § 1321.8—Confidentiality
The fourth fundamental responsibility
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units is to protect the trust of
information providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical
use of their data. Data providers rely
upon Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to honor their commitments
and statutory requirements to protect
the confidentiality of data providers’
information and to ensure that the
confidential statistical data are used
exclusively for statistical purposes.
The Federal Statistical System is
largely dependent on the willingness of
individuals; businesses; and Federal,
State, local, territorial, and Tribal
governments to provide and allow their
data to be used for statistical purposes.
For example, even the perception that
agencies responsible for regulating
industries have unauthorized access to
data provided to Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units may have a
significant impact on survey response
rates or on the willingness of a private
sector entity to enter into a contract
with Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, and possibly thereby degrade data
quality for those Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and trust from the
public. Directive No. 1 highlights the
importance of protecting the
confidentiality of responses because it
‘‘reduces public confusion, uncertainty,
and concern about the treatment and
use of reported information’’ and
articulates the importance of the
‘‘organizational climate’’ by which
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units do their work which builds and
sustains the trust of the data
providers.84
In addition to giving data providers
confidence that their confidential
statistical data will be protected, these
protections also give the general public
confidence that the Recognized
84 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 1:
Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/
2014-28326.pdf.
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Statistical Agencies and Units will be
responsible stewards of the large
amounts of sensitive information with
which they are entrusted. The
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must have the authority to
determine the tools, practices, and
procedures employed to ensure the
effective security, including physical
and logical security, of protect the
confidentiality of, and provide
appropriate access to the confidential
statistical data. Such determination
includes whether personnel such as
economists, statisticians, data scientists,
IT specialists, and subject matter experts
who access confidential statistical data
are to be directly assigned to the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.
Proposed § 1321.8(a)(1) requires
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to appropriately secure all
confidential statistical data, by ensuring
that any information systems containing
confidential statistical data employ
effective barriers to appropriately
restrict access. Current OMB guidance 85
requires Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to exercise supervision and
control over agents authorized to access
confidential statistical data. They must
rely upon OMB and Department of
Homeland Security-issued guidance on
implementing the requirements of the
Federal Information Security
Management Modernization Act of 2014
(FISMA),86 as amended and as codified
at 44 U.S.C. 3551–3558, and the
National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) standards 87 used to
identify the level of impact and controls
for maintaining the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of all
information systems and all information
collected or maintained on behalf of a
Federal agency or department. If a
breach of confidentiality does occur,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must follow requirements in law
and policy, and establish effective
breach reporting procedures in
consultation with appropriate agency
personnel.
85 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Implementation Guidance for Title V of
the E-Government Act, Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002
(CIPSEA), 72 FR 33362 (June 15, 2007), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-0615/pdf/E7-11542.pdf.
86 More information is available at https://
www.cisa.gov/federal-information-securitymodernization-act.
87 E. McCallister et al., Nat’l Inst. of Standards &
Tech, Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of
Personally Identifiable Information (2010), available
at https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_
pdf.cfm?pub_id=904990.
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Proposed § 1321.8(a)(2) requires
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to ensure that confidential
statistical data are not used for any
nonstatistical purposes. Efforts to
protect against disclosure of
confidential statistical data should
include instituting a statistical
confidentiality disclosure review board,
as part of a broader confidentiality
program that incorporates training and
knowledge sharing, that provides
guidance, oversight, and approval for
disclosure limitation methods used for
publication of data products in a
manner that maintains respondent
confidentiality.
Ensuring that confidential statistical
data is not used for any nonstatistical
purpose requires the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to have
control over who gets access. This
requires coordination with the Chief
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Officer, maintaining supervision over
individuals authorized to have access,
and employing best practices to
minimize the risk of disclosure.
Proposed § 1321.8(a)(3) and (4)
require Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to communicate policies and
procedures for ensuring confidentiality
with data providers through a variety of
mechanisms in order to maintain public
trust.
Proposed § 1321.8(a)(5) specifies
requirements for Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to maintain and
develop access to professional staff that
are trained in statistical disclosure
limitation and restricted access
mechanisms to maximize the protection
of the confidential statistical data for the
entirety of the data lifecycle. Access to
well-trained professional staff are a
critical component of Recognized
Statistical Agencies’ and Units’ ability
to meet their obligations to maintain
confidentiality for respondents and
other data providers and participants,
and crucial for making sure data are
used for exclusively statistical purposes.
Proposed § 1321.8(a)(6) requires
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units inform employees, contractors,
and other approved agents of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units of the legal requirements to
protect confidential statistical data and
the associated penalties of willfully
disclosing confidential statistical data in
an identifiable manner. This reinforces
the commitment to confidentiality by
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. Under CIPSEA 2018, all
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are subject to the criminal penalty
in 44 U.S.C. 3572(f), which provides
that any officer, employee, or approved
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agents of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit who willfully discloses
confidential statistical data in an
identifiable form is subject to fines and
penalties, which include being guilty of
a class E felony and imprisoned for not
more than 5 years, or fined not more
than $250,000, or both. Other statistical
laws also include similar criminal
provisions for willful disclosure.
Proposed § 1321.8(b)(1) requires
parent agencies to ensure that the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have the sole authority to
determine appropriate access to
confidential statistical data. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units often ask
individuals and businesses to provide or
grant access to information that is
private, sensitive, or proprietary. The
requirements in this section are
designed to protect the trust necessary
to facilitate the sharing of sensitive
information by ensuring the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the
proper authority to protect confidential
statistical data.
Proposed § 1321.8(b)(2) requires
parent agencies to implement Federal
Information Technology Acquisition
Reform Act (FITARA) authorities in a
manner consistent with both FITARA
and section 3563 and to exercise their
authorities in a manner that enables,
supports, and facilitates the ability of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet their fundamental
responsibilities. The goal of FITARA is
to eliminate duplication and waste in IT
acquisition for the Federal Government.
Executive Order 13833: Enhancing the
Effectiveness of Agency Chief
Information Officers 88 and the
associated implementing regulations
from the Office of Personnel
Management, seek to enhance the
effectiveness of agency CIOs to
modernize IT systems, execute IT
programs more efficiently, reduce
cybersecurity risks, and serve the
American people well.
These goals are critical to ensuring
effective and efficient IT systems across
government. Furthermore, these goals,
and the authorities granted to agency
CIOs under FITARA and associated
policies, do not conflict with the goals
of the Evidence Act or with the goals of
this proposed regulation. Agency CIOs
must ensure, however, that the manner
in which FITARA authorities are
implemented and exercised within
agencies is consistent with both
88 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Enhancing the Effectiveness of Agency
Chief Information Officers, 83 FR 23345 (May 18,
2018), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/
documents/2018/05/18/2018-10855/enhancing-theeffectiveness-of-agency-chief-information-officers.
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FITARA and section 3563 and that they
exercise their authorities in a manner
that enables, supports, and facilitates
the ability of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to meet their
fundamental responsibilities.
Proposed § 1321.8(b)(3) seeks to
ensure that parent agencies enable,
support, and facilitate the ability of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
meet its obligations with respect to
protecting the privacy of information
provided by respondents within the
larger privacy oversight role performed
by the parent agency.
Proposed § 1321.8(c) could serve as a
substitute for other sections of this
regulation pertaining to the authority to
protect confidential statistical data.
OMB requests comments both on
whether this process would meet the
requirements under 44 U.S.C. 3563 as
well as which sections of this regulation
this process might replace.
Protection of confidential statistical
data from unauthorized access and use
is an essential authority that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must
have in order to carry out their
fundamental responsibilities. CIPSEA
2018 obligates every Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to carry out
the responsibility to ‘‘protect the trust of
information providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical
use’’ of confidential statistical data.
CIPSEA 2018 also applies penalties for
willful unauthorized disclosure of any
confidential statistical data in 44 U.S.C.
3572. It is inherent in the responsibility
to ensure confidentiality that the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
use the Congressionally established
fines and penalties to protect
confidential statistical data and it is
inherent in the requirement for parent
agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units that parent agencies
support and enable the use of these
fines and penalties.
Authority to determine which
individuals are permitted to access
confidential statistical data must rest
with the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit so that
statutory penalties apply to
unauthorized disclosure of identifiable
information. To exercise such authority
outside of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit creates an unintended
and harmful loophole to the penalty
established in 44 U.S.C. 3572. This
regulation would require that the entire
agency recognize and uphold the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s
exclusive authority to determine who
has access to confidential statistical
data. Importantly, Recognized Statistical
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Agencies and Units may have agencyspecific statistical laws that provide
penalties and those agencies should
ensure that all appropriate legal
penalties apply to unauthorized
disclosure of confidential statistical
data.
Additionally, exclusive authority
sitting with the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to determine access
underlies the commitment made to
confidential statistical data providers
that the data be used for exclusively
statistical purposes. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the
necessary expertise to determine what
constitutes statistical purposes and
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are statutorily obligated to keep
the commitment. To exercise such
authority outside of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit could
undermine data providers’ confidence
in the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit’s capacity to keep their
commitments.
Several sections of this regulation
would protect confidential statistical
data from unauthorized access by
ensuring Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have the sole
authority to make determinations about
access to confidential statistical data.
For example, § 1321.7(a)(4) provides
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units with exclusive authority for
granting access to confidential statistical
data, § 1321.7(b)(5) ensures Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the
appropriate authority regarding access
to confidential statistical data,
§ 1321.8(a)(1) requires Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to restrict
access to confidential statistical data,
and § 1321.8(b)(1) requires parent
agencies to ensure Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have sole
authority to provide access to
confidential statistical data by
delegating any other authority to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Paragraph (c) provides a more
detailed process to achieve the same
goal. Some Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units have sufficient
resources to maintain their own IT staff,
equipment, and software. In those cases,
it is likely unnecessary for parent
agency officials to access confidential
statistical data and a parent agency
would not need to do anything other
than to ensure that those resources are
maintained and ensure that parent
agency employees who are not
designated as agents understand they
are not permitted to access confidential
statistical data. However, some
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have a greater reliance on their
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parent agencies’ IT infrastructure. In
those cases where Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units meet their
obligations through reliance on parent
agency officials managing one or more
aspects of IT security and such officials
need to access confidential statistical
data for the limited purposes of
protecting that data from unauthorized
access or otherwise providing support
services for statistical activities, this
proposed section lays out a process
wherein the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit maintains authority to
determine the standards for accessing
the data and authority to designate for
who can access the data. The process
also provides transparency regarding the
standards for access and requires a
coordinated effort between the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and the parent agency to ensure that the
parent agency has the access it needs to
meet its responsibilities.
Paragraph (c) makes it clear the
responsibility to ensure that the data is
protected from unauthorized access
stretches across the entire agency—
including the responsibility to protect
the data from unauthorized access
within the agency itself. The regulation
would not alter any other requirements
for any agency officials to ensure that
data is protected from unauthorized
access. Instead, it would simply clarify
that, given the sensitive nature of
confidential statistical data and the
obligation to protect against disclosure
and nonstatistical use, the data receives
an extra layer of security by requiring
any person outside of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to be
designated by the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit as an agent of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
should they require access to
confidential statistical data. This
designation of agents and limitation on
access to anyone who is not an
employee or agent of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit is necessary
so that everyone accessing the
confidential statistical data is subject to
the same penalty for unauthorized
disclosure, which is another layer of
security against misuse of the data. A
requirement to be authorized to access
confidential data is not unique to
confidential statistical data. However,
this process also ensures that if there are
disagreements or challenges the head of
the agency and the Chief Statistician of
the United States are available and
involved in resolving the conflict.
Proposed § 1321.9—Compliance Review
This regulation seeks to ensure the
efficiency and effectiveness of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
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Units, as well as the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and
confidentiality of information collected
for statistical purposes. History has
shown that the ability of Federal
agencies to meet the requirements and
responsibilities described in the
previous sections will depend on the
creation of institutional processes that
result in meaningful incentives for
compliance.
This proposal offers three options to
address the need for a compliance
review:
(A) ICSP Review: Option A would
direct the ICSP to form a Peer Review
Committee, which will assess each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and its parent agency for compliance
with this regulation.
(B) Council of the Inspectors General
on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)
Review: Option B would direct the
Council for Inspector General Integrity
and Efficiency to form a statistical audit
committee, which would designate
certain Inspectors General as statistical
auditors and provide those statistical
auditors with support, education, and
resources. Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and its parent agency
would be audited for compliance with
this regulation.
(C) Inspector General Review: Option
C would direct each Inspector General
of each parent agency containing a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
conduct audits for compliance with this
regulation.
Under any option, each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and parent
agencies would be reviewed at least
once every three years, which is
consistent with the Paperwork
Reduction Act’s requirement for a
review of information collections every
three years. Each of these three options
includes requirements for transparency
of the results of the audits and tracking
progress on addressing any identified
deficiencies. These options also each
recognize the role of the Chief
Statistician of the United States in
coordinating and overseeing the Federal
Statistical System and ensuring
compliance with statistical laws. None
of the three options would authorize
access to confidential statistical data or
related information systems unless such
access was in compliance with this
regulation and any other applicable
statutes.
Option A would direct the
Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
to form a Peer Review Committee
(hereafter, ‘‘the Committee’’) under the
Council’s role in advising and assisting
the Director of OMB in carrying out the
Director’s statistical policy and
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coordination responsibilities, as
described in section 3504(e) and carried
out by the Chief Statistician of the
United States. The Committee, in
consultation with the Chief Statistician
of the United States, is required to
develop and govern procedures to
perform peer- and/or self-assessments of
each Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and relevant associated parent
agencies, at least once every three years
for compliance with the regulations
proposed here, and to make those
assessments available to the public on
the website of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in a timely manner. This
does not negate the ability of the Chief
Statistician of the United States or any
other oversight body to lead or conduct
other additional internal or external
oversight activities, as appropriate.
These proposed procedures are based
on domestic and international best
practices and are consistent with
requirements and best practices from
the National Academies, at the United
Nations, within Eurostat, and for the
United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.
For example, the National Academies
notes that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units ‘‘should have
processes in place to support regular
evaluations of their major statistical
programs and their overall portfolio of
programs. Such evaluations should
include internal reviews by staff and
external reviews by independent
groups.’’ 89 The United Nations’
Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics implementation guidance 90
recommends that systematic quality
assessments be performed, such as selfassessments, peer reviews, or quality
audits, or combinations thereof. The
Expert Group on National Quality
Assurance Framework, which was
commissioned by the United Nations
Statistical Commission (UNSC), defines
quality audits as a ‘‘systematic,
independent, and documented process’’
that seeks to obtain evidence about the
quality of statistical processes and to
assess it objectively. The quality audits
seek to understand the extent to which
‘‘policies, procedures, and requirements
on quality are fulfilled.’’ UNSC defines
peer reviews as external audits aimed to
‘‘assess a statistical process at a higher
89 Nat’l Acad. Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed.
2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/
25885/.
90 United Nations Statistics Division,
Supplementing the United Nations Fundamental
Principles of Official Statistics: Implementation
Guidelines (2019), available at https://
unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/50th-session/
documents/BG-Item3b-FPOS-Implementationguidelines-E.pdf.
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level’’ but not to check item by item
requirement conformity.91
The advantage of peer reviews over
self-assessments is the use of external
experts. Compared to formal quality
audits, peer reviews may be less formal
and broader while still meeting the goal
of examining a Recognized Statistical
Agency’s or Unit’s practices for
compliance with the Federal Statistical
System’s standards and practices.
The European Statistical System in
particular has a long, well-documented,
and very transparent history of using
peer reviews of national statistics
institutes. The objective of their peer
reviews is to ‘‘review the compliance/
alignment of the [European Statistical
System] with the Code of Practice and
to help the statistical authorities making
up the [European Statistical System] to
further improve and develop the
national statistical systems.’’ 92
To provide for transparency around
the results of the assessments, the
Committee shall require publication of
the results of the review on the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s public website in a timely
manner. The Committee should
consider whether all Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units should
place the results of the reviews in a
standardized location on the public
websites and should determine how
many business days after results are
available to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit that they are required to
be posted on their public website.
Requiring transparency of the results is
not unique to the U.S.; the United
Nations’ Fundamental Principals of
Official Statistics Implementation Guide
states that it is essential to the trust and
credibility of official statistics that ‘‘any
evaluation reports and audits of
statistical activities should be made
public.’’ 93
Options B and C would require each
agency that contains a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to undergo an
audit of compliance with these
regulations by an Inspector General.
Since 1978, Inspectors General have
been conducting audits of agencies to
91 United Nations Statistical Commission,
Guidelines For The Template For A Generic
National Quality Assurance Framework (2012),
available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/docsnqaf/GUIDELINES%208%20Feb%202012.pdf.
92 European Statistics System, Peer Reviews,
available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/
quality/peer-reviews.
93 Friends of the Chair Group on the
Implementation of the Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics, U.N. Stat. Comm’n, United
Nations Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics: Implementation Guidelines 66 (2015),
available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/
Implementation_Guidelines_FINAL_without_
edit.pdf.
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56729
promote efficiency and effectiveness of
Federal programs. They are uniquely
situated to provide an objective and
independent review of agency
operations.
Given the unique nature of statistical
laws and processes, both options would
require Inspectors General to consult
with the Chief Statistician of the United
States to ensure consistent
interpretation and application of
statistical laws and to promote a better
understanding of statistical processes.
Option B would further consistency and
statistical expertise among Inspectors
General by requiring the establishment
of a committee that would designate
certain Inspectors General as statistical
auditors. This option would benefit the
Federal Statistical System and the
Inspectors General community by
reducing the number of Inspectors
General that need to develop the
specialized expertise in statistical laws
and practices and reducing the number
of additional persons who may need to
seek authorization to access confidential
statistical data and related information
systems.
Under both options (B) and (C), the
head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall be considered a
responsible official for purposes of the
statistical audit and shall be given an
opportunity to review and respond to
the audit results.
F. Expected Impact of This Regulation
This proposed regulation applies to
Federal agencies, and does not impose
requirements on individuals,
businesses, associations, organizations,
or other private sector entities. The
purpose of this proposed regulation is
largely to conform existing regulations,
policies, and practices to the new
statutory requirements in the Evidence
Act, in particular for Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to meet
fundamental responsibilities and for
parent agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units in meeting their
fundamental responsibilities. These
proposed regulations fill in some policy
gaps, but any regulatory decisions will
have a marginal impact on transfers,
costs, and benefits, and this proposed
regulation goes no further than is
necessary to implement the statutory
requirements of the Evidence Act.
Without this proposed regulation, it will
be impossible for OMB to comply with
its obligations under the Evidence Act
to promulgate regulations implementing
these new statutory provisions, and
agencies will lack guidance concerning
how to effectuate their own obligations
under the Evidence Act.
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Affected Agencies and Current
Landscape
This proposed regulation affects the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units, as well as parent agencies, as
defined in this proposed regulation.
* Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units: As of this proposed
regulation, there are 16 Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units which
vary in size from around 50 full time
employees to around 7,000 full time
employees.94 Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units also vary in position
within their organizational units and
reporting structure.
* Parent agencies: Parent agencies
vary widely in size and organizational
structure.95 Because there is no
authoritative source on the number of
Federal agencies, for the purposes of
this proposed regulation, OMB is
counting the number of Federal agencies
in the following way:
—24 CFO Act agencies
—36 other or independent agencies,
taking the total number of agencies in
the Unified Agenda (60) 96 and
subtracting out the 24 CFO Act
agencies
—240 components of CFO Act agencies
using an average of 10 components
per CFO Act agency (inclusive of the
16 Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units)
Thus, for the purposes of this
proposed regulation, there are 300
parent agencies. Note that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units can be
considered parent agencies to other
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units under this proposed regulation.
OMB expects that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units are
generally already implementing most
requirements of this proposed
regulation. However, OMB expects that
the current landscape across parent
agencies varies widely. OMB expects
that for some parent agencies
implementation of this proposed
regulation will be resource intensive;
however, OMB also expects that some
parent agencies already have
regulations, policies, and practices that
align with a substantial number of the
requirements for this proposed
regulation. Also, for many parent
agencies, implementation of this
proposed regulation will not be resource
intensive and will be complete after
reviewing this proposed regulation—as
many parent agencies are expected to
not have any regulations, policies, or
practices that intersect with this
proposed regulation. Given the current
landscape, OMB is uncertain the exact
number of Federal regulations, policies,
and practices that will require revision
based on this proposed regulation.
Estimated Cost of Agencies Reviewing
This Regulation
This proposed regulation will require
Federal agencies to first review this
regulation. This step includes reading of
the full regulation and taking brief notes
on possible intersections with parent
agency regulations, policies, and
practices. It is likely that this review
will be performed by GS–14 Step 5 or
equivalent staff within the Federal
agencies, as this review will require a
deep understanding of the parent
agency’s regulations, policies, and
practices to understand for which and
how the parent agency’s regulations,
policies, and practices intersect with
this proposed regulation to inform the
next steps of reviewing and making
revisions to those regulations, policies,
and practices. It is also likely that the
staff will be based in the Washington,
DC, pay region, as many of the staff are
likely to work for the Federal agency
headquarters locations. The hourly rate
for a GS–14 Step 5 employee in the
Washington, DC, region per the Office of
Personnel Management for calendar
year 2023 is $71.88. OMB assumes that
the total dollar value of labor, which
includes wages, benefits, and overhead,
is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate,
resulting in a value of $143.76 per hour.
OMB expects that for the 24 CFO Act
agencies that a central office would do
the first review for all components,
except Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units, to identify which parts of the
regulation would apply to the different
components. OMB expects this to be
resource intensive for the central office,
but OMB expects review of the
regulation by components will be less
intensive because of the work done by
the central office to target the
components review. OMB expects other
agencies, independent agencies, and
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to do this review for their own
agency.
Because of this tiered review process,
review of this regulation is expected to
take different lengths of time for the
different parent agencies. In general,
OMB expects it will take the central
office for the 24 CFO Act agencies on
average 40 hours to do this review and
identify relevant parts of the regulation
for its components. This means it would
cost $5,750.40 per agency and
$138,009.60 across all 24 CFO Act
agencies. For the 224 components
except the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, OMB expects this
review to take on average 7 hours. This
average for components assumes a
longer review duration for parent
agencies in the reporting structure and
a much shorter review duration for
parent agencies not in the reporting
structure. This means it would cost
$1,006.32 per agency and $225,415.68
across all 224 components. For the 36
other agencies and independent
agencies, OMB expects this review to
take an average of 16 hours. This means
it would cost $2,300.16 per agency and
$82,805.76 across all 36 other agencies
and independent agencies. For the 16
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units, OMB expects this review to take
on average 16 hours. This means it
would cost $2,300.16 per agency and
$36,802.56 across all 16 Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units.
Therefore, across the 300 Federal
agencies, the Governmentwide cost for
reviewing this regulation would be
$483,033.60.
COST TO REVIEW THE REGULATION
Number of
agencies
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Type
RSAU ...................................................................................
CFO Act Agencies—Central Office .....................................
94 Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, Statistical Programs of the United States
Government: Fiscal Years 2019/2020 (2020),
available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/statistical-programs20192020.pdf.
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Hours to
review
16
24
Cost per
hour
16
40
95 For example, the Department of Education has
approximately 3,900 full time employees and the
Department of Veterans Affairs has approximately
342,000 full time employees. Also, there are parent
agencies that are smaller than the Department of
Education. See Office of Personnel Mgmt, Sizing Up
the Executive Branch Fiscal Year 2017, available at
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-
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$143.76
143.76
Cost per
agency
$2,300.16
5,750.40
Total costs
$36,802.56
138,009.60
analysis-documentation/federal-employmentreports/reports-publications/sizing-up-theexecutive-branch-2016.pdf.
96 Office of Info. & Reg. Affairs, Exec Office of the
President, About the Unified Agenda https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/UA_
About.myjsp (last visited May 1, 2023).
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COST TO REVIEW THE REGULATION—Continued
Number of
agencies
Type
Hours to
review
Cost per
hour
Cost per
agency
Total costs
Components of Departments, except RSAUs .....................
Other/Independents .............................................................
224
36
7
16
143.76
143.76
1,006.32
2,300.16
225,415.68
82,805.76
Totals ............................................................................
300
........................
........................
........................
483,033.60
Estimated Costs of Agencies Reviewing
Their Own Regulations, Policies, and
Practices To Determine Necessary
Action
After review of this regulation, parent
agencies will then review their own
regulations, policies, and practices to
determine necessary action. This step
may also require engagement across
components of the Federal agency,
including with staff of any Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units in the
organization.
Review of the regulations, policies,
and practices will vary across Federal
agencies, depending on the number of
regulations, policies, and practices
issued by the Federal agency. OMB
splits Federal agencies into four
categories for this analysis:
(1) 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units,
(2) 32 parent agencies that are in the
direct reporting structure for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,97
(3) 63 parent agencies that are not in
the direct reporting structure for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
but are likely to have regulations,
policies, or practices that require
review,98 and
(4) 189 parent agencies that are not in
the direct reporting structure for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
but are not likely to have regulations,
policies, or practices that require
review.99
OMB expects these four categories of
Federal agencies will have meaningfully
different costs for reviewing their
regulations, policies, and practices. For
all four categories, OMB is estimating
the review time on a per regulation,
policy, or practice basis.
For category 1, OMB estimates it will
take on average 4 hours for an employee
with an average hourly cost of $143.76
per regulation, policy, or practice to
review and determine necessary action.
OMB expects 4 hours given their
familiarity with and expectation that
most are already implementing most of
the requirements of this regulation.
OMB expects on average that
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units
will have 10 regulations, policies, or
practices to review. Therefore, for each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
OMB estimates it will cost $5,750.40 to
review their regulations, policies, and
practices. Across all 16 Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units, OMB
estimates it will cost $92,006.40.
For category 2, OMB estimates it will
take on average 16 hours for an
employee with an average hourly cost of
$143.76 per regulation, policy, or
practice to review and determine
necessary action. OMB expects it to take
more time for the parent agencies that
are in the direct reporting structure for
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit because they are likely to have
more intersecting regulations, policies,
and practices with this regulation. OMB
expects on average that parent agencies
in the direct reporting structure for a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
will have 20 regulations, policies, or
practices to review. Therefore, for each
parent agency that are in the direct
reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, OMB
estimates it will cost $46,003.20 to
review their regulations, policies, and
practices. Across all 32 parent agencies
that are in the direct reporting structure
for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, OMB estimates it will cost
$1,472,102.40.
For category 3, OMB estimates it will
take 8 hours for an employee with an
average hourly cost of $143.76 per
regulation, policy, or practice on
average to review and determine
necessary action. OMB expects it to take
less time for these parent agencies than
those that are in the direct reporting
structure for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, but more time than for
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. OMB expects on average that
parent agencies that are not in the direct
reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit but are likely
to have regulations, policies, or
practices that require review will have
10 regulations, policies, or practices to
review. Therefore, for each parent
agency that are not in the direct
reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit but are likely
to have regulations, policies, or
practices that require review, OMB
estimates it will cost $11,500.80 to
review their regulations, policies, and
practices. Across all 63 parent agencies
that are not in the direct reporting
structure for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit but are likely to have
regulations, policies, or practices that
require review, OMB estimates it will
cost $724,550.40.
For category 4, OMB expects it to be
very rare for an agency to need to review
their regulations, policies, or practices
to determine necessary action. Thus,
OMB estimates the time spent on this on
average to be zero hours and therefore
cost $0.
COSTS TO REVIEW AGENCY REGULATIONS, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES
Number of
agencies
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Category
1 ...................................................................................
2 ...................................................................................
97 Reporting structures across the Government
vary widely. As such, some Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units report directly to their agency’s
front office, while others report to one or more
interim agencies. Assuming for the 16 Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units that on average there
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16
32
Hours to
review
4
16
Cost per
hour
$143.76
143.76
are two agencies in the reporting structure, that
means 32 parent agencies are included in the direct
reporting structure for this estimate.
98 OMB estimates that 25 percent of the remaining
parent agencies will likely have regulations,
policies, or practices that require review.
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Number of
policies to
review
10
20
Cost per
agency
Total cost
$5,750.40
46,003.20
$92,006.40
1,472,102.40
99 OMB estimates that the remaining 75 percent
of parent agencies will likely not have regulations,
policies, or practices that require review.
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COSTS TO REVIEW AGENCY REGULATIONS, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES—Continued
Number of
agencies
Category
Hours to
review
Number of
policies to
review
Cost per
hour
Cost per
agency
Total cost
3 ...................................................................................
4 ...................................................................................
63
189
8
0
143.76
143.76
10
0
11,500.80
....................
724,550.40
........................
Total ......................................................................
....................
....................
....................
....................
....................
2,288,659.20
Estimated Costs of Agencies Revising
Their Own Regulations, Policies, and
Practices Where Needed
Where determined necessary, Federal
agencies will need to revise regulations,
policies, and practices because of this
regulation. OMB expects that revisions
will range from relatively small and
technical to substantive and resource
intensive, which means that the time
required to draft the revisions and
execute the revisions to issue a final
update will vary. Similar to the previous
analysis, OMB splits the analysis of the
estimated costs based on category of
agency. The following provides the
analysis for expected costs for the
drafting of the revisions to regulations,
policies, and practices.
For category 1, OMB estimates it will
take on average 40 hours for an
employee with an average hourly cost of
$143.76 per regulation, policy, or
practice to draft the revisions
appropriately. This is because OMB
expects that most of the regulations,
policies, or practices within the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units already align with this proposed
expected to be a total cost of
$172,512.00, and across all of this
category of agency is expected to be
$5,520,384.00.
For category 3, OMB estimates it will
take on average 80 hours for an
employee with an average hourly cost of
$143.76 per regulation, policy, or
practice to revise it appropriately.
Similar to category 2, OMB expects that
when a regulation, policy, or practice
requires revision, it will be substantive.
However, OMB expects a lower rate of
reviewed regulations, policies, and
practices to require revision, estimated
that about 25 percent may require
revisions. Therefore, OMB expects on
average 2.5—rounded up to 3—
regulations, policies, or practices to be
revised based on this regulation. Per
agency, this is expected to be a total cost
of $34,502.40, and across all of this
category of agency is expected to be
$2,173,651.20.
For category 4, OMB expects it to be
very rare for a regulation, policy, or
practice to require revision. Therefore,
OMB expects on average 0 policies to be
revised and $0 expected cost.
regulation, and OMB would expect the
revisions to be relatively small or
technical. OMB expects that up to half
of the reviewed regulations, policies,
and practices may require revisions.
Therefore, OMB expects on average 5
regulations, policies, or practices to be
revised based on this regulation. Per
agency, this is expected to be a total cost
of $28,752.00, and across all of this
category of agency is expected to be
$460,032.00.
For category 2, OMB estimates it will
take on average 80 hours for an
employee with an average hourly cost of
$143.76 per regulation, policy, or
practice to revise it appropriately. OMB
expects that parent agencies that are in
the direct reporting structure for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
will have more regulations, policies,
and practices that will require more
substantive revisions. In addition, OMB
expects a higher rate of regulations,
policies, and practices to require
revision and estimates this at 75 percent
of those reviewed. Therefore, OMB
expects on average 15 regulations,
policies, or practices to be revised based
on this regulation. Per agency, this is
COSTS TO DRAFT OR REVISE REGULATIONS
Number of
agencies
Category
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1
2
3
4
Policies to
revise
Hours to
draft
revisions
Cost per
hour
Cost per
agency
Total cost
across
category
...................................................................................
...................................................................................
...................................................................................
...................................................................................
16
32
139
139
5
15
3
0
40
80
80
0
$143.76
143.76
143.76
143.76
$28,752.00
172,512.00
34,502.40
....................
$460,032.00
5,520,384.00
4,795,833.60
........................
Total ......................................................................
....................
....................
....................
....................
....................
8,154,067.20
Next, the Federal agencies will need
to implement the draft revisions, which
includes steps such as gaining approval
from the appropriate authorities within
the Federal agencies and issuing, if
relevant, publicly available updates of
the affected regulations, policies, and
practices. OMB expects the majority of
revisions to be to policies and practices,
and for it to be rare that a regulation
require revision. Finalizing revised
policies and practices require far less
procedures than regulations. Thus, OMB
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on average expects that finalizing the
revisions of the regulations, policies,
and practices to be 80 hours per
regulation, policy, or practice. For this
analysis, OMB assumes the same
amount of time for all four categories of
agencies because procedures to finalize
revisions to regulations, policies, and
practices should be relatively consistent
across Federal agencies. To account for
the differing levels of engagement
within Federal agencies to approve the
final revisions to regulations, policies,
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and practices, OMB is using an average
hourly rate equivalent for a Senior
Executive Service Level IV employee
based in Washington, DC, which is
$84.75. OMB assumes that the total
dollar value of labor, which includes
wages, benefits, and overhead, is equal
to 200 percent of the wage rate, resulting
in a value of $169.52 per hour. Using
the number of regulations, policies, and
practices that require revision from the
previous analysis, the costs by category
of agency are as follows:
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For category 1, the costs per agency
are expected to be $67,808.00 and across
all of this category of agencies is
expected to be $1,084,928.00.
For category 2, the costs per agency
are expected to be $203,424.00 and
across all of this category of agencies is
expected to be $6,509,568.00.
For category 3, the costs per agency
are expected to be $40,684.80 and across
all of this category of agencies is
expected to be $2,563,142.40.
56733
For category 4, the costs per agency
are expected to be $0 and across all of
this category of agencies is expected to
be $0.
COSTS TO FINALIZE AND ISSUE REVISED POLICIES
Number of
agencies
Category
1
2
3
4
Policies
to revise
Hours to
finalize
and issue
revisions
Cost per
hour
Cost per
agency
Total cost
across
category
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
16
32
63
189
5
15
3
0
80
80
80
0
$169.52
169.52
169.52
169.52
$67,808.00
203,424.00
40,684.80
....................
$1,084,928.00
6,509,568.00
2,563,142.40
..........................
Total ....................................................................
....................
....................
....................
....................
....................
10,157,638.40
Therefore, across the Federal
Government, to review this regulation
and review and revise regulations,
policies, and practices as needed to
meet the requirements of this regulation,
the estimated costs total $21,083,398.40.
Estimated Costs of the Options Proposed
for the Compliance Review
This proposed regulation includes
three options under consideration for
ensuring compliance with this proposed
regulation.
For Option A: ICSP Peer Review
Committee, the first step will be to
establish a Peer Review Committee. This
proposed regulation does not specify the
structure of the Committee. To develop
estimated costs, OMB is assuming that
the Committee would include 8
agencies, half the number of current
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. For this purpose, OMB is using
an average hourly rate equivalent for a
Senior Executive Service Level IV
employee based in Washington, DC,
which is $84.75. OMB assumes that the
total dollar value of labor, which
includes wages, benefits, and overhead,
is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate,
resulting in a value of $169.52 per hour.
OMB uses this rate because it is likely
that members of the Committee will be
members of the ICSP, which is made up
largely of Senior Executive Service
employees. OMB estimates on average
that each member would spend about 96
hours per year dedicated to the startup
and ongoing work of the Committee.
Therefore, OMB estimates that this step
will cost $16,273.92 per agency and
$130,191.36 across the full Committee.
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ANNUAL COST FOR ICSP PEER REVIEW COMMITTEE
Number of agencies
(1 staff per agency)
Hours per year
dedicated to
committee work
Cost per
hour
Annual cost
per agency to
participate
Total annual
cost of full
committee to
participate
8 ...........................................................................................................
96
$169.52
$16,273.92
$130,191.36
Then, OMB estimates costs by activity
for each of the assessments across the 3year timeframe. Over the 3-year
timeframe, OMB expects all 16
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to have an assessment and that on
average time spent for each agency on
this participation would be 640 hours.
OMB expects this participation to be
done on average by employees at a GS–
14 Step 5 in the Washington, DC, region,
which results in a cost of $143.76 per
hour. This results in an expected
average cost per agency of $92,006.40
and across all agencies of $1,472,102.40.
In addition, OMB expects the 32 parent
agencies in the reporting structure for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to participate in the assessment.
Over the 3-year timeframe, on average
OMB expects each to spend 320 hours
participating in the assessment. OMB
expects this participation to be done on
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average by employees at a GS–14 Step
5 in the Washington, DC, region, which
results in a cost of $143.76 per hour.
This results in an expected average cost
per agency of $46,003.20 and across all
agencies $1,472,102.40. Then, OMB
expects all 16 Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to publish a
summary of findings on their website
and estimates on average that
publication to take 2 hours of time by
an employee with a cost of $143.76 per
hour. This results in expected costs of
$286.52 per agency and $4,600.32 across
all agencies. For the next two activities,
OMB is using an average hourly rate
equivalent for a Senior Executive
Service Level IV employee based in
Washington, DC, which is $84.75. OMB
assumes that the total dollar value of
labor, which includes wages, benefits,
and overhead, is equal to 200 percent of
the wage rate, resulting in a value of
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Sfmt 4702
$169.52 per hour. For the Chief
Statistician Engagement activity, it is
expected that all 16 Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units will need
to participate and that on average each
agency’s engagement would require 8
hours of the time of the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and 8 hours of time of the Chief
Statistician of the United States for a
total of 16 hours per agency. This
engagement would only occur once per
agency over the 3-year timeframe, and
would cost $2,712.32 per agency and
$43,397.12 across all agencies. Finally,
the Committee will be required to do
some additional work to govern the
assessments in addition to their time
doing Committee activities. OMB
estimates on average that each of the 8
Committee agencies would spend 4
hours per month governing assessments,
which results in a total of 144 hours
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across the 3-year timeframe. This results
in an estimated cost of $24,410.88 per
agency and $195,287.04 across the
Committee agencies.
COST OF ICSP PEER REVIEW COMMITTEE ASSESSMENTS OF RSAU & PARENT AGENCIES OVER 3-YEAR CYCLE
Hours per
agency across
3 years
Number of
agencies
Activity
RSAU Participation in Assessment ...............................................
Parent Agencies in Reporting Structure Participation in Assessment ...........................................................................................
Publish Summary of Findings ........................................................
Chief Statistician Engagement in Deficiencies ..............................
Committee Engagement to Govern Assessments ........................
For Option B: Statistical Auditors
Review, OMB estimates similar steps
and estimates of time and costs as
Option A. OMB similarly does not
Cost per
agency to
participate
Cost of
per hour
Total cost
across all
agencies
16
640
$143.76
$92,006.40
$1,472,102.40
32
16
16
8
320
2
16
144
143.76
143.76
169.52
169.52
46,003.20
287.52
2,712.32
24,410.88
1,472,102.40
4,600.32
43,397.12
195,287.04
describe the structure of such a
committee, and assumes 8 agencies
would be on the committee for this
purpose. OMB uses the higher employee
cost of $169.52 for the committee time
as well.
ANNUAL COST FOR CIGIE STATISTICAL AUDIT COMMITTEE
Number of agencies
(1 staff per agency)
Hours per year
dedicated to
committee work
Cost per
hour
Annual cost
per agency to
participate
Total annual
cost of full
committee to
participate
8 ...........................................................................................................
96
$169.52
$16,273.92
$130,191.36
Similarly, OMB breaks down this
option by activity steps to determine
estimated costs. OMB expects
participation in the assessment,
publishing a summary of findings, and
Chief Statistician engagement to be the
same estimated costs as Option A. OMB
also estimates the additional time the
CIGIE statistical auditors spend
governing the assessments would be
similar to the Option A estimates for the
committee. The table below provides
more details:
COST OF CIGIE COMMITTEE STATISTICAL AUDITS OF RSAU & PARENT AGENCIES OVER 3-YEAR CYCLE
Number of
agencies
Activity
RSAU Participation in Assessment ...........................................
Parent Agencies in Reporting Structure Participation in Assessment ................................................................................
Publish Summary of Findings ....................................................
Chief Statistician Engagement in Deficiencies ..........................
CIGIE Statistical Auditors Committee Engagement in Addition
to Committee Work ................................................................
For Option C: Inspectors General
Review, OMB does not expect a
committee to be formed, so there would
be no associated costs. This is in
contrast to both Options A and B. OMB
does expect most of the activities to
remain as similar time and cost
estimates to Options A and B. The
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Total cost
per agency to
participate
Total cost
across all
agencies
640
$143.76
$92,006.40
$1,472,102.40
32
16
16
320
2
16
143.76
143.76
169.52
46,003.20
287.52
2,712.32
1,472,102.40
4,600.32
43,397.12
8
144
169.52
24,410.88
195,287.04
Number of
agencies
RSAU participation in assessment ............................................
Parent Agencies in Reporting Structure Participation in Assessment ................................................................................
Publish Summary of Findings ....................................................
Chief Statistician Engagement in Deficiencies ..........................
IG Engagement ..........................................................................
Cost per
hour
16
difference from Options A and B is in
the last activity. Instead of the
Committee (Option A) or the CIGIE
Statistical Auditors (Option B) having
additional work to govern the
assessments, OMB expects inspectors
general (IGs) to incur time and costs
engaging for these assessments. OMB
Activity
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Hours per
agency across
3 years
Hours per
agency across
3 years
estimates that over the 3-year timeframe
all 16 separate assessments will need to
occur and for each IGs will spend on
average 216 hours across the 3 years.
Thus, OMB expects for this activity the
cost per agency to be $36,616.32 and
across all agencies to be $585,861.12.
Cost per
hour
Total cost
per agency to
participate
Total cost
across all
agencies
16
640
$143.76
$92,006.40
$1,472,102.40
32
16
16
16
320
2
16
216
143.76
143.76
169.52
169.52
46,003.20
287.52
2,712.32
36,616.32
1,472,102.40
4,600.32
43,397.12
585,861.12
Sfmt 4702
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In sum, OMB expects Options A and
B to have similar estimated costs to the
Government at $3,317,680.64. OMB
expects Option C to cost $3,578,063.36.
Regulatory Alternatives
For the most part, the changes
reflected in OMB’s proposed
implementing regulations are required
by statute and cannot be avoided or
further simplified. Some regulatory
alternatives include:
(1) Handling compliance review.
OMB details three options for proposed
compliance review requirements. Each
of these options leverages different
expertise and has different costs.
Another option is to completely remove
this compliance review from the
regulation. Having the ICSP Peer Review
Committee perform the compliance
review provides for those most familiar
with statistical laws to assess the
compliance with this statistical
regulation. However, this may influence
the results of the assessments to lean
more on whether parent agencies are in
compliance than whether Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units are in
compliance. Having a group of CIGIE
statistical auditors do this assessment
for compliance removes either set of
agencies subject to this regulation from
being part of the assessment. There is
risk, however, at least in the early years
after the effective date of this regulation,
that these CIGIE statistical auditors may
not be familiar enough with statistical
laws to perform the assessments with a
high degree of accuracy. This risk
decreases over time as this group of
auditors becomes more familiar with the
statistical laws and develops standard
assessment procedures. Having the IGs
do this assessment for compliance also
removes the possibility that an agency
subject to this regulation could be part
of the assessment. However, this
approach does not provide a mechanism
for IGs to develop a standard assessment
practice over time and means the risk of
IGs not being familiar enough with
statistical laws remains a risk over time
as well. Removing the compliance
review aspect of this regulation would
reduce the costs of this regulation;
however, this would also remove the
ability of the Chief Statistician of the
United States to assess governmentwide
implementation of this regulation. It
would also remove the ability of the
public to see where Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units are
complying with this regulation and
where improvements are needed. This
poses a risk to the trust of the public in
the work of the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, which undermines
the intent of this regulation.
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(2) Changing timeline for agencies to
revise regulations, policies, and
practices. Currently, this regulation
proposes for these revisions to occur
within 1 year of the effective date of this
regulation. However, this timeline could
be extended to 2 years, which would
decrease the annual costs detailed in the
prior section and spread those costs
over 2 years instead of 1. An extended
timeline would further exacerbate the
timeline to realize the full potential of
the Evidence Act, and risk the public’s
trust in the work of the Federal
Statistical System. Speeding up the
timeline would likely be infeasible
given the resources required to
implement the regulation’s
requirements.
(3) Preventing unauthorized
disclosure of confidential statistical
data. The proposed regulation offers
specific provisions to prevent
unauthorized disclosure of confidential
statistical data, but offers a broader
alternative approach that provides for
overarching authority and responsibility
for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit for all access to confidential
statistical data. Each approach meets the
requirements of the Evidence Act.
Benefits
These proposed regulations promote
trust in the work of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, which
ultimately promotes trust in the data
used by policymakers to inform their
decisions. Any loss of trust in the
accuracy, objectivity, or integrity of the
Federal Statistical System and its
statistical products has the potential to
cause uncertainty about the validity of
measures the Nation uses to monitor
and assess its performance, progress,
and needs, as well as undermine the
public’s confidence in the information
released by the Government. In
addition, these proposed regulations
provide transparency and clarity to
parent agencies and the public alike
about how best a parent agency can
enable, support, and facilitate the work
of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.
The compliance review is a tool to
ensure Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and parent agencies are
accountable to the provisions of this
proposed regulation. This means that
the compliance review enhances the
benefits of the rest of the regulation.
Each option offers a different approach,
but the resulting benefits of each should
be the same.
OMB seeks public comment on
additional benefits of these proposed
regulations.
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56735
G. Regulatory Procedures
Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory
Planning and Review’’ and Executive
Order 13563, ‘‘Improving Regulation
and Regulatory Review’’
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
direct agencies to assess all costs and
benefits of available regulatory
alternatives and, if regulation is
necessary, to select regulatory
approaches that maximize net benefits
(including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety
effects, distribute impacts, and equity).
Executive Order 13563 emphasizes the
importance of quantifying both costs
and benefits, of reducing costs, of
harmonizing rules, and of promoting
flexibility. This proposed rule is a
significant regulatory action under E.O.
12866.
Public Law 104–4, ‘‘Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act’’ (2 U.S.C. 1501–1571)
This proposed rule is not subject to
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
because it does not contain a Federal
mandate that may result in the
expenditure by state, local, and Tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100M or more in any
one year.
Public Law 96–354, ‘‘Regulatory
Flexibility Act’’ (5 U.S.C. 601–612)
The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget has certified
that this proposed rule is not subject to
the Regulatory Flexibility Act because it
does not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities. The proposed rule implements
the fundamental responsibilities for
statistical agencies and units and
requires other Federal agencies to
support, enable, and facilitate statistical
agencies and units in meeting their
fundamental responsibilities. Thus, the
proposed rule would have no direct
effect on non-governmental entities,
including small businesses.
Public Law 96–511, ‘‘Paperwork
Reduction Act’’ (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520)
This proposed rule does not impose
reporting or recordkeeping requirements
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (PRA). However, if in accordance
with any of the requirements proposed
in this rule an agency were to determine
a need to implement a reporting or
recordkeeping requirement subject to
the PRA, the agency should, on their
own accord, comply with the
requirements of the PRA.
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Executive Order 13132, ‘‘Federalism’’
Executive Order 13132 establishes
certain requirements that an agency
must meet when it promulgates a rule
that imposes substantial direct
requirement costs on state and local
governments, preempts state law, or
otherwise has federalism implications.
This proposed rule will not have a
substantial effect on state and local
governments, or otherwise have
federalism implications.
List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 1321
Statistics.
For the reasons stated in the
preamble, the Office of Management and
Budget proposes to amend 5 CFR
chapter III, subchapter B by adding part
1321 to read as follows:
PART 1321—RESPONSIBILITIES OF
RECOGNIZED STATISTICAL
AGENCIES AND UNITS
Sec.
1321.1 Purpose.
1321.2 Definitions.
1321.3 General provisions.
1321.4 The four fundamental
responsibilities.
1321.5 Relevance and timeliness.
1321.6 Credibility and accuracy.
1321.7 Objectivity.
1321.8 Confidentiality.
1321.9 Compliance review.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3563.
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§ 1321.1
Purpose.
This part is issued under the authority
of the Budget and Accounting
Procedures Act of 1950,1 the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995,2 the Information
Quality Act,3 and title III of the
Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act, also known as the
Confidential Information Protection and
Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018
(CIPSEA 2018).4 The Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), in its
role as coordinator of the Federal
Statistical System under the Paperwork
Reduction Act, is required to ensure the
efficiency and effectiveness of the
system, as well as the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and
confidentiality of information collected
and/or used for statistical purposes.
This part is issued to meet the
requirements under 44 U.S.C. 3563(c)
and to strengthen and support the
1 31
U.S.C. 1104(d).
U.S.C. 3504.
3 Information Quality Act, Treasury and General
Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year
2001, sec. 515, Public Law 106–554, 114 Stat.
2763A–154 (2000).
4 44 U.S.C. 3561–3583.
2 44
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quality of Federal statistical
information.
§ 1321.2
Definitions.
For purposes of implementing 5
U.S.C. 314 and all of title III of the
Evidence Act the following terms, as
used in this part, are defined as follows:
(a) The term accurate, when used
with respect to statistical activities,
means statistics are correct and
consistently match the events and
trends being measured.
(b) The term agency means any entity
that falls within the definition of the
term executive agency, as defined in 31
U.S.C. 102, or agency, as defined in 44
U.S.C. 3502.
(c) The term confidentiality means a
quality or condition accorded to
information as an obligation not to
disclose that information to an
unauthorized party.
(d) The term confidential statistical
data means any information that is
acquired for exclusively statistical
purposes and under an obligation not to
disclose the information to an
unauthorized party.
(e) The term data users denotes
individuals or groups of individuals
who use Federal statistical information.
(f) The term dissemination means the
government-initiated distribution of
information to a nongovernment entity,
including the public. The term
dissemination, does not include
distribution limited to Federal
Government employees, intra-agency or
interagency use or sharing of Federal
information, or responses to requests for
agency records under the Freedom of
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) or the
Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a).
(g) The term equitable access means
that statistical products are
disseminated in a manner that does not
privilege any one person or group over
another, with exceptions only as
provided in other statutes, or
regulations, or Office of Management
and Budget promulgated policies or
guidance promulgated by the Office of
Management and Budget.
(h) The term fundamental
responsibilities means the
responsibilities of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units listed in 44 U.S.C.
3563(a)(1).
(i) The term identifiable form means
any representation of information that
permits the identity of the individual or
entity to whom the information applies
to be reasonably inferred by either direct
or indirect means.
(j) The term information provider
denotes members of the public; other
agencies of the Federal Government;
and organizations outside of the Federal
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Government, such as State, territorial,
Tribal, and local governments,
businesses, and other organizations or
entities, that provide information to a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(k) The term information means any
communication or representation of
knowledge such as facts or data, in any
medium or form, including textual,
numerical, graphic, cartographic,
narrative, or audiovisual forms. This
definition includes information that an
agency disseminates from a web page,
but does not include the provision of
hyperlinks to information that others
disseminate. This definition does not
include opinions, where the agency’s
presentation makes it clear that what is
being offered is someone’s opinion
rather than fact or the agency’s views.
(l) The term information system
means a discrete set of information
resources organized for the collection,
processing, maintenance, use, sharing,
dissemination, or disposition of
information;
(m) The term integrity, when used
with respect to statistical information,
refers to the quality of information that
is protected against improper
modification or destruction, and
includes ensuring information
nonrepudiation and authenticity.
(n) The term nonstatistical purpose:
(1) Means the use of data in
identifiable form for any purpose that is
not a statistical purpose, including any
administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement, adjudicatory, or other
purpose that affects the rights,
privileges, or benefits of a particular
identifiable respondent; and
(2) Includes the disclosure under 5
U.S.C. 552 of data that are acquired for
exclusively statistical purposes under
an obligation of confidentiality.
(o) The term objective, when used
with respect to statistical activities,
means accurate, clear, complete, and
unbiased.
(p) The term parent agency means
each agency and every organizational
level within the agency, including subagencies, offices, components, or units
within the agency, as well as the highest
organizational level of such agency and
excluding the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in any agency with more
than one Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit, each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit is considered a parent
agency to any other Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit. This term is
meant to apply to the full organizational
structure.
(q) The term Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit (also referred to as
statistical agency or unit) means an
agency or organizational unit of the
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executive branch whose activities are
predominantly the creation or
collection, processing, dissemination,
use, storage, and disposition of data for
statistical purposes, as designated by the
Director of the Office of Management
and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3562.
(r) The term reference date is the time
period to which data refer.
(s) The term relevant, when used with
respect to statistical information, means
processes, activities, and other such
matters likely to be useful to
policymakers and public and private
sector data users.
(t) The term respondent means a
person who, or organization that, is
requested or required to supply
information to an agency, is the subject
of information requested or required to
be supplied to an agency, or provides
that information to an agency.
(u) The term statistical activities:
(1) Means the collection, compilation,
processing, or analysis of data for the
purpose of describing or making
estimates concerning the whole, or
relevant groups or components within
the economy, society, or the natural
environment, and
(2) Includes the development of
methods or resources that support those
activities, such as measurement
methods, models, statistical
classifications, or sampling frames.
(v) The term statistical information
means information produced from
statistical activities.
(w) The term statistical laws means 44
U.S.C. chapter 35, subchapter III, and
other laws pertaining to the protection
of information collected for statistical
purposes as designated by the Director
of the Office of Management and
Budget.
(x) The term statistical press release is
an announcement to media of a
statistical product release that contains
the title, subject matter, release date,
and internet address of, and other
available information about the
statistical product, as well as the name
of the statistical agency issuing the
product, and may include any executive
summary information or key findings
section as shown in the statistical
product. A statistical press release must
provide a policy neutral description of
the data and may not include policy
pronouncements.
(y) The term statistical products refers
to information dissemination products
that are published or otherwise made
available for public use that describe,
estimate, forecast, or analyze the
characteristics of groups, customarily
without identifying the persons,
organizations, or individual data
observations that comprise such groups.
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Statistical products include generalpurpose tabulations, analyses,
projections, forecasts, or other statistical
reports. Statistical products include
products of any form, including both
printed and electronic forms.
(z) The term statistical purpose:
(1) Means the description, estimation,
or analysis of the characteristics of
groups, without identifying the
individuals or organizations that
comprise such groups, and
(2) Includes the development,
implementation, or maintenance of
methods, technical or administrative
procedures, or information resources
that support the purposes described in
paragraph (z)(1) of this section.
(aa) The term support function means
a core function of an agency that
supports the programmatic functions in
achieving the agency’s mission,
including legal, human resources,
communications, legislative affairs,
budget, information technology (IT), or
procurement functions.
(bb) The term timeliness or timely
refers to the dissemination of statistical
products and information at their
scheduled release time, or in instances
where there is no scheduled release
time, the dissemination of statistical
products or information as close to the
event being measured as possible.
(cc) The term transparent means
characterized by providing as much
information about the quality of and
methods used to produce statistical
products as practicable without
compromising confidentiality.
§ 1321.3
General provisions.
(a) This part should be read as
complimentary to existing OMB
guidance or Statistical Policy Directives
to the extent they are consistent. This
part supersedes any Statistical Policy
Directives in effect [EFFECTIVE DATE
OF FINAL RULE], to the extent that they
conflict.
(b) Responsibilities assigned to the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units under this part are ultimately the
responsibility of the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
or their designee, unless otherwise
specified.
(c) Responsibilities assigned to a
parent agency under this part are
ultimately the responsibility of the head
of the agency, or their designee, unless
otherwise specified.
(d) To the extent that a parent agency
or Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
determines that it is either appropriate
or necessary to deviate from a standard
parent agency-level process to ensure
compliance with this part, the parent
agency and the Recognized Statistical
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Agency or Unit shall discuss and
determine the appropriateness of how to
address such deviation, including
determining where responsibility lies
for compliance with other applicable
laws and regulations.
§ 1321.4 The four fundamental
responsibilities.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units are charged with the four
fundamental responsibilities. Parent
agencies are directed to enable, support,
and facilitate Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units in carrying out the
four fundamental responsibilities.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall maintain a website
clearly branded with the name of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
provide information to information
providers, data users, and the general
public.
(1) The head of each parent agency
shall ensure its Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit has:
(i) Sufficient resources to develop and
maintain its website;
(ii) The necessary authority and
autonomy to determine the content,
functionality, appearance, and layout of
its website; and
(iii) The capacity to directly update
the content, functionality, appearance,
and layout of the website without
reliance on any parent agency official
unless the official is directly assigned to
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit.
(2) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall make available to
the public on the website required
under this paragraph (b):
(i) A mission statement that clearly
describes the purpose of the Recognized
Statistical Agency’s or Unit’s statistical
programs and their commitment to each
of the four fundamental responsibilities;
(ii) A strategic plan that is consistent
with the requirements in 5 U.S.C. 306,
which:
(A) Describes the Recognized
Statistical Agency’s or Unit’s goals and
provides specific, measurable objectives
and performance metrics; and
(B) Is reassessed no less than every
four years alongside and in alignment
with the parent agency’s strategic plans;
(iii) A list of relevant legislation,
regulation, and policies or management
orders, including those defining
organizational placement, that govern
the Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s ability to maintain its
commitment to these four fundamental
responsibilities;
(iv) Each policy or standard required
under this part; and
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(v) Any other information as
determined by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(c) For the heads of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to bear
the responsibilities given to them under
44 U.S.C. 3563, they shall have the
appropriate resources with respect to
their statistical products and statistical
information.
(1) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall produce a budget
request specific to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, that is fully
compliant with the requirements of
OMB Circular A–11, to be included
independently (i.e., clearly presented as
the request for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit with figures
and justification specific to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit)
as part of the highest organizational
unit’s annual budget submission and
process, and participate directly,
accompanied by the highest
organizational unit as appropriate, in
presenting their agency specific request
to the Office of Management and
Budget;
(2) If a parent agency or a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit identifies
(e.g., through the agency capacity
assessment or other means) that the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
lacks sufficient resources to carry out
the responsibilities set forth in this part,
then, to the extent practicable, the
parent agency that contains that
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
should be made the necessary resources
available to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit. If the necessary
resources cannot be made available, the
parent agency and the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit must notify
OMB within 60 days.
(3) When a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit relies on a support
function of the parent agency:
(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit shall, to the greatest extent
possible, allocate labor resources to
ensure a one or more employees,
depending on the size of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, are
knowledgeable of the support function,
its policies and processes, and best
practices for interacting with such
support function.
(ii) The parent agency shall:
(A) Designate at least one employee of
each support function to serve as a
liaison for the Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit; and
(B) Ensure each designated employee
is knowledgeable of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its
fundamental responsibilities and is
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capable of effective intra-agency
communication.
(iii) The parent agency’s support
function and the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall work
collaboratively to ensure the function
meets the needs of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in a manner
to that complies with this part and all
applicable laws.
Option A for Paragraph (c)(4)
(4)(i) Each parent agency shall when
providing any service to a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, enter into a
written agreement if requested by the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
and provide the service in conformance
with agreed upon requirements. If
unable to meet those requirements,
permit the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to obtain (via contracts,
other agreements, or hiring) and to
directly oversee any support services
required to fulfill their statistical
mission and responsibilities.
(ii) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall explicitly define
requirements needed to uphold these
responsibilities for any service provided
by another agency or entity, such as
centralized IT, contracting, or
acquisitions services. If needed,
document these requirements within
service-level agreements with the
agencies and organizations that provide
those services. To meet this
requirement, Recognized Statistical
Agency or Units shall interact directly
with all appropriate officials within the
parent agency who are officially
responsible for and have expertise in
acquisition planning and contracting,
including Contracting Officers.
(iii) Each parent agency shall consult
with Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units before making awards for
services and software that would impact
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to avoid binding actions and
decisions that would conflict with the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s ability to carry out its
responsibilities.
Option B for Paragraph (c)(4)
(4) Prior to making or renewing an
award for services or software that will
directly affect a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit’s ability to meet the
fundamental responsibilities, the
relevant parent agency official shall
consult with the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to avoid
binding actions and decisions that
would conflict with the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit’s ability to
carry out its fundamental
responsibilities.
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(i) The relevant parent agency official
shall ensure that the service or software
is sufficient for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its
requirement to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities. The head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall clearly communicate the needs of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to meet its requirement to carry out
its fundamental responsibilities. If
requested by the relevant parent agency
official, the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall provide
a written list explicitly defining the
requirements needed of the service or
software to meet its requirement to carry
out its fundamental responsibilities.
(ii) If requested by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
the head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and the head of the
office providing the service or software
shall enter into a written agreement, and
the parent agency shall provide the
service or software in accordance with
such agreement.
(iii) The Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit may obtain the service
or software separately from the parent
agency if:
(A) They are unable to reach an
agreement; or
(B) At any point in time, the parent
agency is unable to provide the service
or software in accordance with the
agreement.
(iv) If the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit determines it is
necessary to obtain services or software
separately from the parent agency, the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall notify the head of the agency. The
head of the agency shall make necessary
resources available or notify OMB
pursuant paragraph (c)(2) of this section.
(d) For the heads of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to bear
the responsibilities given to them under
44 U.S.C. 3563, they shall have the
appropriate decision-making authority
with respect to their statistical products,
statistical information, and statistical
activities.
(1) Unless prohibited by statute, when
a statute, regulation, or policy,
authorizes any other agency official to
make determinations directly affecting
the ability of a Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Unit to carry out the
fundamental responsibilities, the
authorized official may delegate that
responsibility in writing to the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit.
(2) To the extent permissible under
law, the individual to whom a
responsibility has been delegated under
paragraph (d)(1) of this section shall
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consult with the delegating official in
carrying out such responsibility.
(3) If the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit determines that
delegation is necessary to carry out its
fundamental responsibilities, the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall notify the head of the parent
agency.
(4) In making a determination
regarding delegation under this
paragraph (d), the head of the parent
agency shall:
(i) Consider the needs of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and ensure it has all necessary and
appropriate authority to carry out its
fundamental responsibilities; and
(ii) Ensure the decision is consistent
with the government-wide application
and interpretation of statistical laws and
may consult with the Chief Statistician
of the United States.
(e) In consultation with the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
each parent agency shall:
(1) Consistent with statutory
obligations, revise any regulations,
policies, practices or organizational
structures that impede a Recognized
Statistical Agency’s or Unit’s ability to
meet its statutory responsibilities;
(2) Consider these responsibilities
when new regulations, policies,
practices, organizational structures, or
budgets are developed; and
(3) Ensure that agency regulations,
policies, practices, and agreements
support the ability of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to:
(i) Present and maintain accurate
information;
(ii) Make timely corrections or
updates to their statistical products or
data when the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit determine such updates
are needed; and
(iii) Meet its responsibility for
producing relevant and timely statistical
products.
(f) The Office of Management and
Budget shall implement its authorities
and responsibilities under 44 U.S.C.
chapter 35 in a manner that enables,
supports, and facilitates Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in
carrying out their fundamental
responsibilities in a manner consistent
with this part. This shall include
delegating the following responsibilities
to the Chief Statistician of the United
States appointed under 44 U.S.C.
3504(e)(7):
(1) The review and approval of
proposed collections of information
submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget by Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units;
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(2) The authority to perform the
functions described in 44 U.S.C.
3504(e);
(3) The coordination and oversight of
confidentiality and disclosure policies
established in 44 U.S.C. 3562; and
(4) The authority to carry out any of
the functions or responsibilities in the
regulations in this part or policies
promulgated under 44 U.S.C. chapter
35, subchapter III.
§ 1321.5
Relevance and timeliness.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to produce and
disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information. Parent agencies
shall enable, support, and facilitate
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in carrying out their responsibility
to produce and disseminate relevant
and timely statistical information.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall determine what statistical
products to disseminate, including in
the context of the Standard Application
Process required under 44 U.S.C. 3583;
the content of their statistical products;
and the timing of disseminations.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall continually seek to
understand the diverse interests and
needs of policymakers, current and
future data users, and the public to
ensure statistical products are relevant.
(1) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall:
(i) Consult with parent agency
officials to assess and seek
improvements to the relevance of its
statistical products to users’ needs and
to inform what statistical products to
produce and disseminate;
(ii) Consult with other data users to
assess and seek improvements to the
relevance of its statistical products to
users’ needs and to inform what
statistical products to produce and
disseminate;
(iii) Be knowledgeable about programs
and policies relating to their subject
domains;
(iv) Coordinate and communicate
across agencies when planning
information collections and
dissemination activities; and
(v) Keep abreast of interests and
analytical goals of data users.
(2) Parent Agencies shall:
(i) Share relevant policy and program
needs with sufficient detail to allow the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
be responsive to those needs;
(ii) Consult with Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units as part of
their stakeholder engagement process
when developing the agency learning
agendas, required under 5 U.S.C. 312, in
alignment with OMB guidance; and
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(iii) Allow Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units to establish,
determine the membership of, and
manage advisory groups or other means
of systematic stakeholder engagement,
in accordance with applicable law.
(c) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall maximize the timeliness
of statistical products by minimizing the
time interval between the release of
statistical products and the reference
date to the extent practicable,
considering available resources and the
effects on the other quality dimensions
of the information products. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units shall
consult with parent agencies regarding
the availability of relevant support
functions required to support the release
of statistical products. Parent agencies
shall support efforts to maximize
timeliness of statistical products by
ensuring Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units are aware of any
emerging needs and providing necessary
resources to respond to such emerging
need. In any instance where a parent
agency observes that a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit has failed to
maximize the timeliness of statistical
products by minimizing the interval
between the release of the statistical
products and the reference date to the
extent practicable, the head of the
parent agency shall notify the Chief
Statistician of the United States.
(d) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall publicly announce and
adhere to a schedule for the release of
statistical products.
(1) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall:
(i) Publish the schedule on the
website required under § 1321.4;
(ii) Publish schedules containing the
date of release of its regular and
recurring statistical products for the
next calendar year prior to the
beginning of that calendar year;
(iii) Publish the date for release of
non-regular or non-recurring statistical
products as soon as the date is
established;
(iv) Designate an office that is
responsible for providing the release
schedule and make its contact
information readily available to the
public on the website required under
§ 1321.4;
(v) Minimize changes to the release
schedule after it has been published to
accommodate only special, unforeseen
circumstances; and
(vi) If needed after the schedule has
been published, publicly announce any
change to the schedule as soon as
possible and provide a detailed
explanation for such change.
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(2) Each parent agency shall support
adherence to the published schedule by:
(i) Communicating any parent agency
activities or processes that could impact
the timing of dissemination activities to
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units
before the schedule is published; and
(ii) If involved in dissemination
activities, preparing for dissemination of
statistical products in accordance with
the published schedule.
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§ 1321.6
Credibility and accuracy.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to conduct credible and
accurate statistical activities.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall determine the appropriate
methods, processes, policies, and
general conduct of their statistical
activities. Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall:
(1) Maintain publicly available
policies and standards on the quality of
the information used by the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and
statistical products they disseminate,
by:
(i) Developing and making available
to the public policies and standards to
ensure the credibility and accuracy of
all statistical products and data
disseminated by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit;
(ii) Regularly reviewing, maintaining,
and improving the policies in paragraph
(a)(1)(i) of this section and the methods
used to implement them to ensure they
are current and effective; and
(iii) Establishing policies and
procedures, in consultation with the
parent agency’s Chief Data Officer and
Evaluation Officer, for assessing the
quality of data used by the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units not
originating in the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units;
(2) Publicly provide documentation
for its statistical products, including:
(i) Descriptions of methods and
procedures used in collection design,
collecting, methods, data processing,
editing, compiling, storing, analyzing,
and disseminating information to users,
as applicable;
(ii) Indicators of data quality
sufficient to allow data users to assess
the fitness of the data for their own
purposes;
(iii) Descriptions of known limitations
or sources of error in the data;
(iv) Citation to source materials where
feasible; and
(v) Identification of errors in the
statistical products discovered after
their release;
(3) Ensure that Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit lifecycle data
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management practices adhere to all
applicable statutes, and standards and
guidance issued by the Office of
Management and Budget; and
(4) Adhere to all applicable statutes
and current Office of Management and
Budget peer review policies when
submitting articles to refereed journals,
presenting at professional conferences,
and engaging in peer review activities,
including OMB M–05–03: Final
Information Quality Bulletin for Peer
Review and any successor policies.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable,
support, and facilitate the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in
carrying out their responsibility to
conduct credible and accurate statistical
activities. Each parent agency shall:
(1) Ensure Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have sufficient
autonomy to maintain their own
standards for the quality of the data
used and the statistical information they
produce and to determine whether their
statistical products are of sufficient
quality for dissemination. Unless
prohibited by statute, when a statute,
regulation, or policy authorizes any
other agency official to make such
determinations, that responsibility shall
be delegated to the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
(2) Prohibit its employees,
contractors, and agents, other than those
designated by the releasing Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit head, from
publicly commenting on any data
released by the associated Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units until after
the official release of the data;
(3) Permit Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to determine if
statistical disseminations, including
related statistical press releases or
publicity materials not containing
policy pronouncements, are to be
disseminated by or through a parent
agency and ensure that statistical
information attributable to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
disseminated by or through a parent
agency is not altered in any way not
authorized by the head of such
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
and
(4) Allow Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to submit articles
that do not address policy, management,
or budget issues to refereed journals,
present at professional conferences, and
engage in peer review activities without
requiring approval from outside of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
unless such approval is required by law.
(i) For parent agency support function
reviews of a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, such as ethics reviews,
the parent agency shall either:
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(A) Assign support function personnel
that will conduct these reviews to report
to the head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit; or
(B) Ensure that the support function
personnel conducting the review works
with the liaison designated in § 1321.4
to provide sufficient information and
advice, including a recommendation if
appropriate, to the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit so
that such head may make an informed
decision regarding approval.
(ii) The head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall ensure
all statutory requirements, such as
ethics, continue to be met.
§ 1321.7
Objectivity.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to conduct objective
statistical activities. In fulfillment of
this responsibility, Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units shall
determine the policies and practices
that ensure objectivity of their statistical
activities, including ensuring objectivity
and equitable access to the statistical
products they disseminate. Each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall:
(1) Produce statistical products that
are impartial and free from undue
influence and the appearance of undue
influence, by:
(i) Employing transparent and
reproducible methods and processes in
producing statistical products, to the
extent feasible and consistent with the
protection of confidential statistical
data;
(ii) Impartially disseminating
statistical products in a clear and
complete manner, without limitation or
selection to promote a particular policy
position or group interest;
(iii) Announcing dissemination
activities in a manner designed to be
factual, comprehensive, accurate, easily
understood by the public, and without
favor to a particular policy position or
group interest, such as through
statistical press releases or on the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s website; and
(2) Ensure data users have equitable
access to its statistical products, by:
(i) Making public releases available to
all data users at the same time, with
limited exceptions as allowable in OMB
Statistical Policy Directives, in
accordance with the scheduled release
date; and
(ii) Disseminating and making
available to the public free of charge any
statistical product deemed suitable for
public dissemination that has been
provided to any other data user. For
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confidential statistical data that are not
deemed suitable for public
dissemination, ensuring policies and
procedures for granting access are
applied consistently, in accordance with
statute, and regulation and guidance
issued by the Office of Management and
Budget to implement 44 U.S.C. 3582
and 3583, or other applicable
authorities, that govern access to
confidential statistical data;
(3) Determine the necessary
qualifications and allocate available
labor resources among different job
positions supporting the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit’s lifecycle
data management (e.g., economists,
statisticians, data scientists, IT
specialists, and other subject matter
experts) and evaluate candidates based
on assessments of scientific and
technical knowledge, credentials,
experience, and integrity; and
(4) Maintain functional separation
from any administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement, and policymaking
functions at any parent agency or at the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
by maintaining exclusive authority with
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit for granting access to its
confidential statistical data and the
information systems that hold
confidential statistical data in
accordance with this section and
applicable law and policy.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable,
support, and facilitate the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in
carrying out their responsibility to
conduct objective statistical activities.
Each parent agency shall:
(1) Allow the publication of statistical
products without requiring clearance of
the content from offices or officials
outside of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, and allow Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to
respond to inquiries from external
interested communities and
stakeholders, including the media, the
Congress, and others, about their
statistical products in a manner that
ensures appropriate consultation
without the parent agency requiring
review, approval, or edits to the
response, unless responses to those
inquiries include matters related to
policy, budget, or management;
(2) Support the impartiality of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in their production and
dissemination of statistical products by
ensuring they are permitted to
determine the methods for conducting
statistical activities for statistical
purposes. Unless prohibited by statute,
when a statute, regulation, or policy
authorizes any other agency official to
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make such determinations, that
responsibility shall be delegated to the
head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, as described in
§ 1321.4(b);
(3) Ensure compliance with 44 U.S.C.
3520(d);
(4) Ensure that the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit has resources
dedicated to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and is able to manage
those resources in accordance with the
responsibilities described in this part,
by allowing it to:
(i) Maintain and determine the
functional requirements, specifications,
and performance capabilities of the
information technology it uses to
conduct statistical activities and
disseminate statistical products;
(ii) Determine the content,
functionality, appearance, and layout of
its website, the presentation of
statistical information, and the timing of
when statistical information is
disseminated;
(iii) Allocate its labor resources
among different job positions;
(iv) Develop, explain, and respond
directly to queries about resource needs
through congressional and executive
branch budget processes, as those
processes are established through OMB
Circular A–11; and
(5) Support the autonomy of each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
manage and control its data by ensuring
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have the authority to make all
determinations regarding:
(i) The governance of its data;
(ii) Access to its confidential
statistical data and the information
systems that hold confidential statistical
data; and
(iii) The approval, direction, and
management of the use of its
confidential statistical data by external
parties for purposes of developing
evidence, as defined in the 44 U.S.C.
3561 and relevant OMB policies,
including authority for ensuring
compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3583.
§ 1321.8
Confidentiality.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to protect the trust of
information providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusively
statistical use of data acquired under an
obligation to maintain confidentiality.
In fulfillment of this responsibility,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall determine whether the tools,
practices, and procedures employed to
ensure the effective security of the
confidential statistical data they hold
comply with this part and with
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statistical laws. Each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(1) Secure all confidential statistical
data against unauthorized access by
ensuring that any information systems
containing confidential statistical data
employ effective barriers to restrict
access such that only employees of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units or their authorized agents have
access to such data in accordance with
the requirements of CIPSEA 2018, other
applicable statistical laws, and policies
and guidance issued by the Office of
Management and Budget, while also
ensuring compliance with the Federal
Information Security Modernization Act
of 2014, as amended and as codified at
44 U.S.C. 3551–3558, and other
applicable laws and policies by:
(i) Ensuring required security policies,
configurations, and controls placed on
information technology assets are
appropriate to protect the
confidentiality of statistical information
throughout the data lifecycle;
(ii) Controlling logical access to data
storage assets containing confidential
statistical data and restricting access to
authorized personnel; and
(iii) Maintaining and securing access
logs for all personnel authorized to
access confidential statistical data;
(2) Ensure that confidential statistical
data are not used for any nonstatistical
purposes by:
(i) Coordinating with the agency Chief
Freedom of Information Act Officer to
ensure appropriate application of
exemptions pertaining to confidential
statistical data in response to Freedom
of Information Act requests;
(ii) Employing current best practices,
including statistical disclosure
avoidance methods and procedures, to
minimize the risk of disclosing
confidential statistical data;
(iii) Maintaining supervision and
control over individuals authorized to
have access to confidential statistical
data through a confidentiality program;
and
(iv) Determining, in collaboration
with the relevant parent agency,
whether agent status or direct
assignment to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit for personnel such as
statisticians, data scientists, information
technology specialists, and subject
matter experts who access confidential
statistical data is appropriate;
(3) Provide information to the public
about the integrity, confidentiality, and
impartiality of all confidential statistical
data acquired and maintained under its
authority, so that it retains the trust of
its information providers and data users,
by:
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(i) Making readily accessible, e.g.,
through its website, information about
its policies on confidentiality and
information security;
(ii) Developing and maintaining a
comprehensive data inventory as
required under 44 U.S.C. 3511 and
related guidance; and
(iii) Complying with the Standard
Application Process required under 44
U.S.C. 3583 and related guidance;
(4) Provide sufficient information to
respondents to enable them to make an
informed decision about whether to
provide the requested information by:
(i) Providing notification statements
to survey respondents consistent with
the regulations in this part
implementing 44 U.S.C. 3506, to
include the intended uses of the
information being collected, potential
future uses, their relevance for public
purposes, and the extent of
confidentiality protection that will be
provided; and
(ii) When acquiring data from another
agency, ensuring that the agreement
with the providing agency addresses
any legal requirements for notice and
consent consistent with applicable law
and applicable regulations in this part
implementing 44 U.S.C. 3581;
(5) Maintain and develop professional
staff, or identify appropriate ways to
access professional staff, that are trained
in statistical disclosure limitation and
restricted access mechanisms to
maximize the protection of the
confidential statistical data throughout
the data lifecycle, including creation or
collection, processing, dissemination,
use, storage, and disposition; and
(6) Inform employees, contractors,
and other approved agents of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units of their responsibility to not
willfully disclose confidential statistical
data in an identifiable form, and of the
legal consequences of such disclosure,
such as the penalty in 44 U.S.C. 3572(f)
that provides that any officer, employee,
or approved agents of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit who willfully
discloses such information is subject to
fines and penalties, to include being
guilty of a class E felony and
imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or
fined not more than $250,000, or both.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable,
support, and facilitate Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units in
carrying out their responsibility to
protect the trust of information
providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusively
statistical use of their information. Each
parent agency shall:
(1) Ensure that the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the
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sole authority to provide access to
confidential statistical data. Unless
prohibited under statute, when a statute,
regulation, or policy authorizes any
other official to make such
determinations, that responsibility shall
be delegated to the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(2) Ensure that implementation of the
Federal Information Technology
Acquisition Reform Act is consistent
with Recognized Statistical Agencies’
and Units’ responsibility to protect
confidential statistical data from
unauthorized use or disclosure, by:
(i) Ensuring that information
technology policies appropriately
safeguard and protect the integrity,
confidentiality, and availability of
confidential statistical data to ensure
that the information is secure against
unauthorized access, editing, deletion,
dissemination, or use; and
(ii) Ensuring that confidential
statistical data are protected by any
effective security standards established
by the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit in writing.
(3) Ensure that the Senior Agency
Official for Privacy (SAOP) consults
with any relevant Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit when the SAOP
performs their duties related to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s
statistical activities, including under 5
U.S.C. 552a, the E-Government Act of
2002, and other applicable statutory
requirements. This includes but is not
limited to:
(i) Conducting Privacy Impact
Assessments on information technology
systems, as required by law and OMB
guidance, that store and process
confidential statistical data;
(ii) Responding to Privacy Act
requests to access or amend confidential
statistical data maintained by the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
and
(iii) Responding to breaches of
confidential statistical data in a way that
complies with law and policy and is
sensitive to the Recognized Statistical
Agency’s or Unit’s need to maintain the
public trust.
(c) Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units are responsible for protecting
the confidentiality of confidential
statistical data. Parent agencies shall,
enable, support, and facilitate the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
carrying out its responsibility to protect
the confidentiality of confidential
statistical data.
(1) The head of each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(i) Determine who is authorized to
access confidential statistical data;
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(ii) Ensure access to confidential
statistical data is limited to officers and
employees of such Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its
designated agents; and
(iii) Establish written standards and
processes by which the head of such
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
designates a person as an agent, which
shall:
(A) Comply with 44 U.S.C. 3572 and
other applicable statistical law;
(B) Ensure designated agents are fully
informed of and have agreed to comply
with all legal requirements to access
confidential statistical data; and
(C) Define the scope of such agent’s
authorization to access confidential
statistical data.
(2) The head of the parent agency
shall:
(i) Ensure confidential statistical data
is secure from access by any individual
unless such individual has been
authorized to access such confidential
statistical data by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this
section;
(ii) Prohibit agency officers or
employees from accessing confidential
statistical data unless authorized under
paragraph (c)(1) of this section; and
(iii) Ensure the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit has the resources
necessary to ensure confidential
statistical data is secure from
unauthorized access.
(3) Nothing in this part authorizes the
head of the parent agency to access
confidential statistical data, unless the
head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit has designated such
individual as an agent.
(4) The head of any office or
component within a parent agency that
needs access to confidential statistical
data shall:
(i) Establish policies to prohibit access
to confidential statistical data by any
individual unless such individual has
been authorized by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this
section;
(ii) Ensure that any officer or
employee that needs to access
confidential statistical data meets the
written requirements issued by the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
(iii) To the greatest extent possible,
limit necessary access to confidential
statistical data;
(iv) Coordinate with the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to determine
the number of persons needing access to
confidential statistical data; and
(v) Provide the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit with any information
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necessary for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to make a determination
regarding access to confidential
statistical data.
(5) The head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall
coordinate with the head of any office
or component requiring access to
confidential statistical data as described
in paragraph (c)(2) of this section to
identify and designate necessary agents
to fulfill the office’s or component’s
responsibilities.
(6) If the head of a parent agency finds
that the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit is unable to designate a
sufficient number of agents for the
parent agency to fulfill its
responsibilities, the head of the parent
agency shall consult with the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and the Chief Statistician of the
United States to resolve the issue.
(7) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall track access to
confidential statistical data and
maintain an access log that details the
individual and time of access. The
parent agency shall ensure the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
has sufficient technology resources to
ensure all access to confidential
statistical data is tracked in an access
log.
(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit shall monitor the access log to
ensure only authorized persons have
accessed confidential statistical data.
(ii) If any unauthorized person has
accessed confidential statistical data,
the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit shall notify the head of the parent
agency and the Chief Statistician of the
United States, and the head of the
parent agency and the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall:
(A) Address any deficiencies that led
to such unauthorized access to ensure
unauthorized access does not occur in
the future; and
(B) Provide a written report to the
Chief Statistician of the United States
within 30 days detailing the
remediation efforts.
§ 1321.9
Compliance review.
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Option A for § 1321.9
(a) The Chief Statistician of the
United States, in coordination with the
Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
(ICSP), established under 44 U.S.C.
3504(e)(8), shall establish a
Responsibilities Peer Review Committee
(Committee) to develop and govern
procedures to assess each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency for compliance with this part.
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These assessments shall begin within
one year of [EFFECTIVE DATE OF
FINAL RULE]. The ICSP will develop a
schedule to ensure that each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency is audited not less frequently
than once every three years. These
assessments shall:
(1) Take place for each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit at least once
every three years, although special
assessments may be conducted by the
Committee due to exigent circumstances
if a simple majority of the Committee
votes to undertake such a special
evaluation; and
(2) Result in a summary of major
findings and, if deficiencies are
identified during the review, a set of
recommendations for improving
compliance with this part, which shall
be made available to the public on the
Recognized Statistical Agency’s or
Unit’s public website in a timely
manner to be determined by the
Committee.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit being assessed shall
comply with requests for information or
documents from the Committee, except
where prohibited by law.
(c) Each parent agency shall enable,
support, and facilitate such assessments
by complying with requests for
information or documents that directly
relate to the assessment of compliance
with this part from the Committee,
except where prohibited by law.
(d) The Chief Statistician of the
United States shall:
(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit, and the parent agency
that contains them, to address any
deficiencies included in the
Committee’s assessment;
(2) Include a list of recommendations
made by the Committee and the status
of addressing each recommendation in
the annual report required in 44 U.S.C.
3504(e)(2) or similar Office of
Management and Budget report to
Congress; and
(3) Include standards that outline the
potential loss of an agency’s status as a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
including for persistent failures to
comply with this part, in the guidance
to implement the designation process
required under 44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Option B for § 1321.9
(a) The Council of the Inspectors
General on Integrity and Efficiency
(CIGIE) shall establish a committee on
statistical audits (Committee) to develop
expertise in statistical laws and
processes necessary to ensure the
integrity of statistical agencies. The
Committee shall:
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(1) Regularly consult with the Chief
Statistician of the United States on the
appropriate interpretation and
application of statistical laws and
practices;
(2) Develop criteria for statistical
audits, including compliance with this
part and other relevant statistical laws
and whether the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit has sufficient resources
to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities;
(3) Designate Inspectors General with
expertise in statistical laws and
practices as statistical auditors;
(4) Develop necessary interagency and
funding agreements to facilitate the use
of such designated statistical auditors to
conduct audits of agency compliance
with this part; and
(5) Develop a schedule to ensure that
each Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and its parent agency is audited
not less frequently than once every three
years.
(b) Not less frequently than once
every three years, a statistical auditor as
designated under paragraph (a) of this
section shall audit each Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency.
(c) Inspectors General may conduct
off-schedule audits.
(1) The Interagency Council on
Statistical Policy (ICSP), established
under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(8), may request
an off-schedule audit of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency if the ICSP has reason to believe
there is a substantial change in
circumstances regarding compliance
with this part. The ICSP shall submit a
written request with a detailed
explanation to CIGIE.
(2) The Committee shall review any
ICSP request for an audit, determine
whether an audit is appropriate, and
provide a written response to the ICSP
within 30 days of receiving such
request.
(d) The statistical auditor conducting
the audit shall submit the results of any
statistical audit s to the head of the
agency, the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, the Chief
Statistician of the United States, and
relevant congressional committees. For
purposes of this audit, the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency shall be
considered a responsible official.
(e) The Chief Statistician of the
United States shall:
(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit, and the parent agency
that contains them, to address any
deficiencies identified in the statistical
audit;
(2) Include a list of findings or
recommendations and the status of
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addressing each finding or
recommendation in the annual report
required in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) or
similar Office of Management and
Budget report to Congress;
(3) Make available appropriate
materials, training, or other relevant
resources to the Committee regarding
statistical laws and practices; and
(4) Include standards for the possible
loss of the agency’s status as a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
for persistent failures to comply with
this part in the guidance to implement
the designation process required under
44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Option C for § 1321.9
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(a) Not less frequently than once every
three years, each Inspector General of an
agency that contains a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall conduct
an audit of each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and its parent agency.
The audit shall evaluate compliance
with this part and other relevant
statistical laws and whether the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
has sufficient resources to carry out its
fundamental responsibilities. To ensure
consistent interpretation and
application of statistical laws, the
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Inspector General shall consult with the
Chief Statistician of the United States.
(b) Inspectors General may conduct
off-schedule audits.
(1) The Interagency Council on
Statistical Policy (ICSP), established
under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(8), may request
an off-schedule audit of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency if the ICSP has reason to believe
there is a substantial change in
circumstances regarding compliance
with this part. The ICSP shall submit a
written request with a detailed
explanation to the Inspector General.
(2) The Inspector General shall review
any ICSP request for an audit, determine
whether an audit is appropriate, and
provide a written response to the ICSP
within 30 days of receiving such
request.
(c) The statistical auditor conducting
the audit shall submit the results of any
statistical audit s to the head of the
agency, the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, the Chief
Statistician of the United States, and
relevant congressional committees. For
purposes of this audit, the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency shall be
considered a responsible official.
(d) The Chief Statistician of the
United States shall:
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(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical
Agency and Unit, and the parent agency
that contains them, to address any
deficiencies identified in the statistical
audit;
(2) Include a list of findings or
recommendations and the status of
addressing each finding or
recommendation in the annual report
required in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) or
similar Office of Management and
Budget report to Congress;
(3) Make available appropriate
materials, training, or other relevant
resources to the Council for Inspector
General Integrity and Efficiency
regarding statistical laws and practices;
and
(4) Include standards for the possible
loss of the agency’s status as a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
for persistent failures to comply with
this part in the guidance to implement
the designation process required under
44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Dated: August 11, 2023.
Shalanda D. Young,
Director, Office of Management and Budget.
[FR Doc. 2023–17664 Filed 8–15–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110–01–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 159 (Friday, August 18, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 56708-56744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17664]
[[Page 56707]]
Vol. 88
Friday,
No. 159
August 18, 2023
Part II
Office of Management and Budget
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5 CFR Part 1321
Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units; Proposed Rule
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 159 / Friday, August 18, 2023 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 56708]]
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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
5 CFR Part 1321
[Docket No. OMB-2023-0015]
RIN 0348-AB81
Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units
AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the
President.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Public trust in Federal statistics is essential to their value
and use in informing decisions across public and private sectors. To
promote public trust in the statistical agencies and units that produce
Federal statistics, the Office of Management and Budget proposes to
issue regulations pursuant to Title III of the Foundations for
Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) that provide
direction to statistical agencies and units. These proposed regulations
also would provide direction to other Federal agencies to enable,
support, and facilitate statistical agencies and units in carrying out
four fundamental responsibilities: produce and disseminate relevant and
timely statistical information, conduct credible and accurate
statistical activities, conduct objective statistical activities, and
ensure the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of data
collected for statistical purposes.
DATES: Send comments on or before October 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket No. OMB-2023-
0015 and/or RIN number 0348-AB81, by any of the following methods:
* Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for sending comments.
* Email: [email protected]. Include Docket No. OMB-2023-
0015 and/or RIN number 0348-AB81 in the subject line of the message.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) for this
rulemaking. All comments received will be posted without change to
www.regulations.gov. In addition, comments submitted in response to
this notice may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act. For these reasons, please do not include in your
comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive
personal information or proprietary information. If you send an email
comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included
as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket; however,
www.regulations.gov does include the option of commenting anonymously.
Please note that responses to this public comment request containing
any routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will
be treated as public comments that may be made available to the public
notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kerrie Leslie, 202-395-5898,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Executive Summary
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018
(Evidence Act) became law on January 14, 2019.\1\ The Evidence Act
seeks to ``advance evidence-building functions in the Federal
government by improving access to data and expanding evaluation
capacity.'' \2\ Part of advancing evidence-building functions is
enhancing the foundation for generating high quality evidence,
including improving the ability of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to produce relevant, credible, and objective statistical
information. As such, Title III of the Evidence Act (also known as the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of
2018, CIPSEA 2018) updated and enhanced CIPSEA 2002 \3\ by, among other
things, codifying the four fundamental responsibilities of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and requiring other Federal agencies to
enable, support, and facilitate the Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in upholding these responsibilities. These proposed regulations
seek to provide direction to agencies in carrying out these
responsibilities. The four fundamental responsibilities are:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018,
Public Law 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 (2019), available at https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
\2\ Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017, H.
Rep. No. 115-411 (2017), available at https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/411.
\3\ E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, title V; 116
Stat. 2962 (2002), available at https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ347/PLAW-107publ347.pdf.
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(A) produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical
information;
(B) conduct credible and accurate statistical activities;
(C) conduct objective statistical activities; and
(D) protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses.
In codifying these responsibilities, the Congress recognized the
value of maintaining and improving the relevance, accuracy, and
objectivity of Federal statistical data as well as securing the
protection of confidential information used in evidence-building. In
codifying the fourth fundamental responsibility, the Evidence Act also
reaffirmed the central tenet of CIPSEA 2002--that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must have the authority and capability
to protect confidential statistical data and to assure information
providers that any information provided to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit for statistical purposes under an obligation to maintain
confidentiality will be kept strictly confidential and used exclusively
for statistical purposes.
While the principles addressed in this proposed regulation are not
new, and in fact have long been a consistent subject of OMB, Federal
Government, and international policy for almost as long as governments
have been charged with collecting and disseminating information about
their societies, their actual implementation in the form of standards
and practices can involve a wide range of managerial and technical
challenges, especially as the Federal Statistical System evolves in the
face of the unique modern data environment. These proposed regulations
seek to provide some clarity in upholding these requirements on
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and other Federal agencies.
While these proposed regulations seek to learn from the long history of
policies developed to support Federal statistics, they also seek to
promote moving Federal statistics forward. It is important that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units continue to move their
methods, engagements, and collaborations forward productively,
recognizing lessons learned across their vast history while embracing
new ways of working.
B. Statutory Authority
As required by 44 U.S.C. 3563(c) and the general authority in 44
U.S.C. 3562(a) to promulgate rules to ensure consistent interpretation
by agencies of the requirements of CIPSEA 2018, OMB is proposing these
regulations to provide direction to agencies in carrying out the
responsibilities described in
[[Page 56709]]
section 3563. Section 3563 describes the fundamental responsibilities
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must adhere to, and
charges all Federal agencies with enabling, supporting, and
facilitating Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in meeting these
responsibilities.
C. Brief History of the U.S. Federal Statistical System and Related
Authorities
Federal statistics have informed decision-making in the United
States since its founding. The first constitutionally mandated census
of population and housing was in 1790.\4\ This 1790 Census planted the
seeds for what is referred to today as the Federal Statistical System.
Over the 19th century, the system continued to blossom into a
specialized, decentralized, interconnected network to address emerging
information demands, including tax, agriculture, education, and labor,
for the growing Nation. The 20th century presented new and evolving
policy needs leading to further expansion of the Federal Statistical
System to include commerce, public health, energy, justice,
transportation, and more. More than two decades into the 21st century,
the Federal Statistical System continues to provide the gold-standard
for impartial, trusted Federal statistics foundational to informing
decisions across the public and private sectors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Carroll Wright, Comm'r of Labor, The History and Growth of
the United States Census, S. Doc. No. 194 (1900), available at
https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/wright-hunt.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Federal Statistical System. The Federal Statistical System
collects and transforms data into useful, objective information and
makes it readily and equitably available to stakeholders while
protecting the responses of individual data providers. Federal, State,
local, territorial, and Tribal governments; businesses; and the public
all rely on this information to be credible and reliable and, so they
can use it to make informed decisions. The decentralized,
interconnected network includes:
Office of the Chief Statistician of the United States. Led by the
Chief Statistician of the United States, the Office of the Chief
Statistician of the United States at OMB has the statutory
responsibility \5\ of coordinating the Federal Statistical System to
ensure its efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information
collected for statistical purposes. This office accomplishes this by
promulgating regulations, developing and maintaining statistical
policies and standards, identifying priorities for improving programs,
assessing statistical agency budgets, reviewing and approving
collections of information from Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units, and coordinating U.S. participation in international statistical
activities, among other functions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ 44 U.S.C. 3504(e).
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Sixteen Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. Thirteen of the
sixteen are considered to be principal statistical agencies and units
(see Table 1), which are agencies or organizational units of the
Executive Branch whose missions are predominantly the collection,
compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical
purposes,\6\ covering such topics as the economy, workforce, energy,
agriculture, foreign trade, education, housing, crime, transportation,
and health. In addition to those thirteen, three additional statistical
units across the Federal Government are ``recognized'' by OMB under
CIPSEA 2018.\7\ These three Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
are: the Microeconomic Surveys Unit at the Board of Directors of the
Federal Reserve System; the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and
Quality within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services; and the
National Animal Health Monitoring System within the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service at the Department of Agriculture.
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\6\ 44 U.S.C. 3561(12) (``The term `Statistical purpose' (A)
means the description, estimation, or analysis of the
characteristics of groups, without identifying the individuals or
organizations that comprise such groups; and (B) includes the
development, implementation, or maintenance of methods, technical or
administrative procedures, or information resources that support the
purposes described in subparagraph (A)'').
\7\ More information on the history of OMB ``recognition'' is
available later.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Approximately 100 other statistical programs.\8\ These statistical
programs produce and disseminate statistics in support of other mission
areas and conduct a variety of evidence-building functions, including
program evaluation, scientific research, data collection, policy and
program analysis, and the provision of funding and other support for
external research.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President,
Statistical Programs of the United States Government: Fiscal Years
2019/2020 (2020), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/statistical-programs-20192020.pdf.
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Twenty-Four Statistical Officials. Pursuant to the Evidence Act,
each Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO Act) agency \9\ has designated a
senior staff person in the agency to be the Statistical Official with
the authority and responsibility to advise across the agency on
statistical policy, techniques, and procedures, and to champion
statistical data quality and confidentiality. At the 11 CFO Act
agencies that contain a principal statistical agency or unit, the head
of that principal statistical agency or unit has been designated the
Statistical Official, as required by OMB M-19-23.\10\
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\9\ 31 U.S.C. 901.
\10\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
19-23, Phase 1 Implementing of the Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance (July 10, 2019), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf. In the case of the
Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, which each host two
principal statistical agencies or units, the Statistical Official
role is rotated among the two principal statistical agencies or
units.
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Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP). Chaired by the
Chief Statistician of the United States, the ICSP \11\ was established
to advise and assist OMB, through the Chief Statistician of the United
States, in carrying out its statutory responsibility to coordinate the
Federal Statistical System to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness,
as well as the objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality
of information collected for statistical purposes; to implement
statistical policies, principles, standards, and guidelines; and assess
statistical program performance.\12\ The ICSP supports implementation
of the statistical system's vision to operate as a seamless system,
working together to provide strategic vision and robust implementation
in support of the U.S. Federal Statistical System's critical
longstanding--and expanding--role for supporting evidence-based
decision-making. For example, the ICSP sets strategic goals on issues
such as modernizing the statistical system, ensuring data quality and
confidentiality, and providing safe and appropriate data access,
playing an effective role in agency-wide data governance, as well as
enhancing coordination and collaboration across the system. ICSP
currently includes 26 members in addition to the Chair. Pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), all 13 heads of the principal
statistical agencies and units
[[Page 56710]]
are members.\13\ Pursuant to the Evidence Act, all 24 Statistical
Officials are also members; however, 11 of the Statistical Officials
are also heads of principal statistical agencies or units. The ICSP is
a forum for collaboration, coordination, and information-sharing among
the principal statistical agencies and units and additional statistical
programs across its member agencies, including on issues such as
ensuring data quality and confidentiality, attaining and providing data
access, and playing an effective role in agency-wide data governance.
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\11\ 44 U.S.C. 3504(e).
\12\ Id.
\13\ The ICSP was recently expanded to include the three
Recognized Statistical Units, which will bring the ICSP membership
up to 29 by fiscal year 2024.
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Brief History of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. OMB
first recognized statistical agencies and units in a June 1997 OMB
Order, ``Order Providing for the Confidentiality of Statistical
Information,'' (1997 Order).\14\ The 1997 Order sought to clarify, and
make consistent, government policy protecting the privacy and
confidentiality interests of individuals or organizations who furnish
data for Federal statistical programs, and in it, OMB recognized 12
statistical agencies and units subject to the order.\15\ About five
years later, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA 2002) was enacted and gave OMB the
authority to determine whether an agency or unit could be considered a
statistical agency or unit for purposes of CIPSEA 2002, including for
using the strong confidentiality protections it afforded. Those
considered by OMB to be a statistical agency or unit for purposes of
CIPSEA 2002 were known as recognized statistical agencies and units.
CIPSEA 2002 implementation guidance recognized the 12 statistical
agencies and units from the 1997 Order plus two additional statistical
agencies or units.\16\ Since then, two more statistical agencies or
units have been recognized by OMB.\17\ CIPSEA 2018 reauthorized the OMB
authority to make this determination under section 3562.\18\ At
current, there are 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. Table
1 provides a list of the current 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and their highest-level organization, as well as an identifier if
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is also a principal
statistical agency or unit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Order Providing for the Confidentiality of Statistical Information,
62 FR 35044 (1997), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1997-06-27/pdf/FR-1997-06-27.pdf.
\15\ Id. The term ``designated'' was used in the 1997 Order. For
the purposes of this proposed regulation, OMB uses the term
recognized in this discussion of the history of OMB's role in
identifying these entities to provide consistency across the
discussion with the current implementation.
\16\ Implementation Guidance for Title V of the E-Government
Act, Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency
Act of 2002 (CIPSEA) 72 FR 33362 (June 15, 2007), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-06-15/pdf/E7-11542.pdf.
\17\ See Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental
Responsibilities of Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized
Statistical Units, 79 FR 71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
\18\ CIPSEA 2018 uses the term ``designate'' to identify those
statistical agencies or units that OMB identifies under section 3562
and therefore are subject to the responsibilities in section 3563.
CIPSEA 2018 also uses the term ``designate'' to identify the three
statistical agencies and units given the authority to share business
data with each other in section 3576. To avoid confusion in this
proposed regulation, the term ``recognized'' is used, consistent
with past practice, to refer to those statistical agencies and units
identified under section 3562 and subject to the responsibilities in
section 3563.
Table 1--Current Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Principal
Recognized statistical agency Highest level statistical
or unit organization agency
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Economic Analysis.... Department of Commerce. X
Bureau of Justice Statistics... Department of Justice.. X
Bureau of Labor Statistics..... Department of Labor.... X
Bureau of the Census........... Department of Commerce. X
Bureau of Transportation Department of X
Statistics. Transportation.
Center for Behavioral Health Department of Health
Statistics and Quality. and Human Services.
Economic Research Service...... Department of X
Agriculture.
Energy Information Department of Energy... X
Administration.
Microeconomic Surveys Unit..... Board of Directors of
the Federal Reserve
System.
National Agricultural Department of X
Statistics Service. Agriculture.
National Animal Health Department of
Monitoring System. Agriculture.
National Center for Education Department of Education X
Statistics.
National Center for Health Department of Health X
Statistics. and Human Services.
National Center for Science and National Science X
Engineering Statistics. Foundation.
Office of Research, Evaluation, Social Security X
and Statistics. Administration.
Statistics of Income Division.. Department of the X
Treasury.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related authorities. Critical to a healthy, relevant Federal
Statistical System has been the development and implementation of
statutes, regulations, policies, and principles (hereafter collectively
referred to as ``authorities'') to support its growth. Over the years,
recognizing challenges faced by the Federal Statistical System as it
grew, Congress, the Executive Branch, and outside experts--both
nationally and internationally--have built a framework of authorities
to address such challenges. For example, as inquiries into business
operations, personal lives, and more began to expand and capture more
detailed, sometimes sensitive, information, authorities evolved to
provide for the necessary protection of such information (i.e.,
confidentiality) and for such information to only be used for
exclusively statistical purposes (i.e., not for enforcement,
administrative, or other non-statistical purposes). In addition,
maintaining the public's trust in the statistical information produced
by the Federal Statistical System is critical to the usefulness of the
statistical information, and authorities have been issued and revised
over time to promote the Federal Statistical System's ability to
provide relevant, credible, and objective statistical information.
Importantly, many authorities, such as individual entity authorizing
statutes and cross-system statutes, co-exist and are complementary to
promote a strong,
[[Page 56711]]
vibrant, interconnected Federal Statistical System.
What follows are brief descriptions of the most relevant
authorities, in order of relevance, to these proposed regulations for
the fundamental responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units. These authorities generally support the ability of the Federal
Statistical System to create relevant, credible, accurate, and
objective statistics in a way that promotes the trust of data
providers.
Evidence Act, CIPSEA 2002, and CIPSEA 2018. The Evidence Act was
enacted on January 14, 2019, and emphasizes collaboration and
coordination to advance data and evidence-building functions in the
Federal Government by statutorily mandating Federal evidence-building
activities, open government data, and confidential information
protection and statistical efficiency. It consists of four titles:
Title I: Federal Evidence-Building Activities
* Requires agency Evidence-Building Plans, Evaluation Plans, and
Capacity Assessments.
* Requires that agencies designate an Evaluation Officer and
Statistical Official for the coordination of evaluation and statistical
activities, policies, and techniques, respectively.
* Requires that OMB establish an Advisory Committee on Data for
Evidence Building.
* Requires that OMB issue program evaluation standard and best
practices.
* Requires that OPM establish a program evaluation job series and
career path.
Title II: OPEN Government Data Act
* Requires agency Open Data Plans to make government data assets
open to the public.
* Requires agency comprehensive data inventories of all agency data
assets.
* Requires that agencies designate a Chief Data Officer for the
coordination of Title II activities and policies.
* Requires that OMB establish a Chief Data Officer Council.
Title III: Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2018 (CIPSEA 2018)
* Requires that OMB establish a process to recognize new
statistical agencies or units.
* Codifies Statistical Policy Directive No. 1, the ``Trust
Directive'' for the fundamental responsibilities of statistical
agencies or units.
* Presumes accessibility for statistical agencies and units to
obtain data from Federal agencies upon request for evidence-building.
* Expands secure access to CIPSEA data assets.
* Establishes a standard data application process for researchers.
* Requires that OMB coordinate and oversee confidentiality and
disclosure policies for executive or organizational units identified or
designated by the Director of OMB, as statistical agencies or units.
Title IV: General Provisions
* Outlines restrictions on disclosure of data.
* Requires agencies, to the extent practicable, use existing
procedures and resources to carry out agency requirements.
The Evidence Act was a partial response \19\ to the recommendations
from the final report of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
(CEP),\20\ established in 2016 pursuant to the Evidence-Based
Policymaking Commission Act of 2016.\21\ The CEP was charged with
``[conducting] a comprehensive study of the data inventory, data
infrastructure, database security, and statistical protocols related to
Federal policymaking and the agencies responsible for maintaining that
data'' and to make recommendations to Congress related to the access,
integration, use, and control of data to facilitate research and
evidence-based evaluation of government programs. As part of its
conclusions, the CEP emphasized that making data available for
statistical purposes to advance evidence-building could place that data
at increased risk of being used for nonstatistical purposes in ways
that undermine the public's willingness to provide data to the Federal
Statistical System, and thus recognized the need for ``strict
structural and institutional separation between statistical and
nonstatistical uses of data,'' noting throughout its final report that
a strong legal framework is needed to strengthen privacy and
confidentiality protections for the data. The Evidence Act makes
strides toward creating this strong legal framework. It mandates a
systematic rethinking of government data management to better
facilitate access for evidence-building activities and public
consumption. The Evidence Act builds upon longstanding principles
underlying Federal policies and data infrastructure investments that
support information quality, access, protection, and evidence-building.
It builds on these principles and provides an improved legal framework
for enhancing and safeguarding data access.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018,
Public Law 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 (2019), available at https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
\20\ Comm'n Evidence-Based Policymaking, The Promise of
Evidence-Based Policymaking (2017), available at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Full-Report-The-Promise-of-Evidence-Based-Policymaking-Report-of-the-Comission-on-Evidence-based-Policymaking.pdf.
\21\ Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of 2016, Public
Law 114-140, 130 Stat. 317 (2016), available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1831/text.
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The Evidence Act defines evidence as ``information produced as a
result of statistical activities conducted for a statistical purpose,''
and OMB operationalized the definition in OMB M-19-23 as four
interdependent components: foundational fact finding, policy analysis,
program evaluation, and performance measurement.
In particular and relevant to these proposed regulations, the
Evidence Act creates the roles of Statistical Officials, Evaluation
Officers, and Chief Data Officers \22\ to promote coordination and
collaboration on evidence issues across the entire agency. It also
updated and expanded CIPSEA 2002.\23\ CIPSEA 2002 established
exclusively statistical uses of information collected under a pledge of
confidentiality, provided for permitting controlled access to limited-
use data through Designated Agent Agreements, and established strong
penalties for willful violation of the confidentiality provisions,
among other provisions. With enactment of the Evidence Act, CIPSEA 2018
codifies the uniform data protection requirements for Federal
statistical collections, sets minimum standards for safeguarding
confidential statistical data, and ensures the confidentiality of
information collected exclusively for statistical purposes, in addition
to numerous other provisions promoting safe and secure expanded access
to restricted data.\24\ CIPSEA 2018 also:
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\22\ 5 U.S.C. 314 (statistical official); 5 U.S.C. 313
(Evaluation Officer); 44 U.S.C. 3520 (Chief Data Officer).
\23\ E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, title V; 116
Stat. 2962 (2002), available at https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ347/PLAW-107publ347.pdf.
\24\ Notably, nothing in CIPSEA 2018 ``restrict[s] or
diminish[es] any confidentiality protections or penalties for
unauthorized disclosure that otherwise apply to data or information
collected for statistical purposes or nonstatistical purposes.'' 44
U.S.C. 3564(h).
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(1) codified the four fundamental responsibilities of statistical
agencies and units and the role of other Federal agencies in supporting
the statistical agencies and units to meet their responsibilities (the
subject of this proposed regulation);
[[Page 56712]]
(2) required OMB to develop a process for recognizing additional
statistical agencies and units;
(3) provided a presumption of accessibility to other Federal
agencies' data for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units; and
(4) required a standard framework to allow expanding access to
restricted data and establishment of a Standard Application
Process.\25\
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\25\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
23-04, Establishment of Standard Application Process Requirements on
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units Department Support for
Implementation of Statistical Policy (Dec. 08, 2023), available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/M-23-04.pdf.
The Standard Application Process, established in OMB M-23-04,
outlines how each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall meet
its obligations under CIPSEA 2018 to establish an identical
application process for access to confidential statistical data
assets. This includes not just the application form, but also the
criteria for determining whether to grant an applicant access to the
confidential statistical data asset, timeframes for prompt
determinations, an appeals process for adverse determinations, and
reporting requirements for full transparency of the process.
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Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The PRA makes OMB
responsible, among other requirements, for coordination of the Federal
Statistical System through an appointed Chief Statistician of the
United States who is a trained and experienced professional
statistician.\26\ The purpose of this coordination is to ensure the
integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of
information collected for statistical purposes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7).
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Privacy Act of 1974 (Privacy Act). The Privacy Act \27\ establishes
a code of fair information practices that governs handling of
information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records
by Federal agencies. Among its many requirements are provisions that
limit information about individuals maintained by Federal agencies to
that which is legally authorized and is relevant and necessary to
accomplish an agency purpose and provisions that govern, and in some
instances limit, the use and disclosure of information. The Act
addresses disclosures for statistical purposes and allows for exemption
from certain requirements for records ``required by statute to be
maintained and used solely as statistical records.'' \28\ The Privacy
Act defines a ``statistical record'' for its purposes, as a record that
is ``maintained for statistical research or reporting purposes only and
not used in whole or in part in making a determination about an
identifiable individual.'' \29\
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\27\ 5 U.S.C. 552a.
\28\ 5 U.S.C. 55a(b)(5), (k)(4).
\29\ 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(6).
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OMB Statistical Policy Directives. These provide guidance to
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, and in some cases other
Federal agencies, to promote accuracy, objectivity, reliability,
timeliness, and accessibility of Federal statistics. Especially
relevant to this proposed regulation is OMB's Directive No. 1,\30\
which articulates the four fundamental responsibilities of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and defines the requirements governing
the design, collection, processing, editing, compilation, storage,
analysis, release, and dissemination of statistical information by
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. The Evidence Act codified,
and this proposed regulation is based on, OMB's Directive No. 1. OMB's
Statistical Policy Directive No. 2: Standards and Guidelines for
Statistical Surveys \31\ describes specific practices that support the
quality of design, collection, processing, production, analysis,
review, and dissemination of information from statistical surveys.
OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators \32\ establishes
requirements for Federal agencies regarding the compilation, release,
and evaluation of statistical series designated by OMB as Principal
Federal Economic Indicators, which are influential and heavily relied
upon economic activity measures, including Gross Domestic Product,
Consumer Price Index, and the Employment Situation. OMB's Statistical
Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of Statistical
Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies \33\ establishes
requirements for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units on the
release and dissemination of all statistical products, beyond just the
Principal Federal Economic Indicators. Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units are required to follow these Directives to ensure that their
release of information is equitable across all users, policy-neutral,
transparent and understandable to the public, and timely to the needs
of data users. These and other statistical policies and standards
issued by OMB are available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/statistical-programs-standards/.
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\30\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
\31\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys, 71 FR 55522 (Sept.
22, 2006), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2006-09-22/pdf/06-8044.pdf.
\32\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive on Compilation, Release, and Evaluation
of Principal Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept. 25,
1985), available at https://archives.federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/38908-38934.pdf#page=25.
\33\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies 73 FR
12622 (Mar. 7, 2008), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
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In addition to the related authorities for the work of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, other external entities--both domestic
and international--have published their perspectives on how Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units should meet their missions to produce
reliable, relevant, credible, and objective Federal statistics. Below
is a brief summary of relevant publications, which offer support for
many aspects of the proposed regulations.
* The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's
Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency (referred to
as Principles and Practices). Principles and Practices has guided
managerial and technical decisions made by national and international
statistical agencies for decades. In the most recent 2021 edition, five
principles are identified, which broadly align with the four
fundamental responsibilities outlined in the Evidence Act: \34\
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\34\ Nat'l Acad. Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices
for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at
https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/.
--Relevance to Policy Issues and Society. Federal statistical agencies
must provide objective, accurate, and timely information that is
relevant to important public policy issues.
--Credibility Among Data Users and Stakeholders. Federal statistical
agencies must have credibility with those who use their data and
information.
--Trust Among the Public and Data Providers. Federal statistical
agencies must have the trust of those whose information they obtain.
--Independence from Political and Other Undue External Influence.\35\
[[Page 56713]]
Federal statistical agencies must be independent from political and
other undue external influence in developing, producing, and
disseminating statistics.
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\35\ As defined in the 2021 Principles and Practices, ``Undue
external influences'' are those from outside the [Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit] that seek to undermine its impartiality,
nonpartisanship, or professional judgment. However, it remains
important for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to remain
relevant and solicit input from relevant stakeholders, including
policy officials, about what information is needed to answer
important questions and make informed decisions.
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--Continual Improvement and Innovation. Federal statistical agencies
must continually seek to improve and innovate their processes, methods,
and statistical products to better measure an ever-changing world.
* International Principles and Practices. The United States is not
alone in identifying statistical principles and practices, which seek
to achieve similar goals as the four fundamental responsibilities in
the Evidence Act. The United Nations' Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics \36\ affirm ten fundamental principles that promote
and build the ``essential trust of the public in the integrity of
official statistical systems and confidence in statistics.'' These
principles ensure that national statistical systems in United Nations
member states produce high quality and reliable data by adhering to
certain professional and scientific standards. In addition, the
European Statistics Code of Practice \37\ guides European statistical
systems by affirming the European Union member nations' commitment to
ensuring high quality in the statistical production process, protecting
the confidentiality of the information they collect, and disseminating
statistics in an objective, professional, and transparent manner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\36\ United Nations General Assembly, Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics (adopted Jan. 29, 2014), available at https://unstats.un.org/fpos/.
\37\ European Statistical System Committee, European Statistics
Code of Practice for the National Statistical Authorities and
Eurostat (adopted Nov. 16, 2017), available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/KS-02-18-142.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over many years and based on lessons learned, responsibilities,
standards, and certain protections have been developed and implemented
to strengthen the Federal Statistical System's ability to meet its
mission reliably and objectively, which requires an appropriate level
of autonomy and authority for Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units.\38\ The concept of autonomy and authority as proposed to be
implemented in this regulation is an important aspect of the ability of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to meet their fundamental
responsibilities outlined in 44 U.S.C. 3563. Where autonomy or
authority are important in some manner for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in meeting their fundamental responsibilities, the
discussion of key provisions of these proposed regulations provides
more information and detail. This autonomy and authority to meet
specific responsibilities must be balanced with other responsibilities
and needs of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, as well as
other Federal agencies. These proposed regulations aim to explicate
where autonomous decision-making authority is important and why.
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\38\ See Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of
2017, H. Rep. No. 115-411 (2017), available at https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/411 (quoting Statistical Directive No. 1); see also Nat'l Acad.
Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices for a Federal
Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/(articulating the importance of independence for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in meeting their
responsibilities) and Comm'n Evidence-Based Policymaking, The
Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking (2017), available at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Full-Report-The-Promise-of-Evidence-Based-Policymaking-Report-of-the-Comission-on-Evidence-based-Policymaking.pdf (noting the importance of
independence).
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In addition, because CIPSEA 2018 contemplates a common framework
for protecting statistical data, acquiring administrative/program data,
and disseminating statistical data securely, it is important to ensure
appropriate interagency engagement and coordination to ensure
implementation is successful across the board. This proposed regulation
seeks to lay the foundation for advancing this common framework, and
the organizational structure of agencies and departments in relation to
the 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units is important for
successful implementation of this proposed regulation. Currently, each
of the 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units is part of a larger
organization, with varying reporting structures. The heads of some of
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are appointed by the
President (either with or without Senate confirmation), while others
are senior career officials. Some heads of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units report directly to the Secretary, or equivalent
head, of their highest organizational level, such as the Department,
while others have several intervening layers of reporting within their
organizations. Throughout this regulation, the term ``parent agency''
means every organizational level of an agency, including sub-agencies,
offices, components, or units, as well as any organizational units that
contain a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, but the term does not
include the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit itself.
A different provision of CIPSEA 2018 requires OMB to issue guidance
on the requirements and processes for seeking and obtaining OMB
``recognition'' as a new Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. That
guidance is forthcoming; however, it should be noted that, at a
minimum, agencies and units seeking this designation, along with their
parent agencies, will be required to demonstrate a commitment to
upholding the requirements in these regulations. This is particularly
relevant to those agencies and units whose activities are predominantly
the design, collection, processing, editing, compiling, storage,
analysis, release, and dissemination of information for statistical
purposes, but which have not been formally ``recognized'' by OMB as
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units. Those agencies and units
should look to these proposed regulations, along with OMB's Statistical
Policy Directives and the 2021 Principles and Practices,\39\ for
direction and best practices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\39\ Nat'l Acad. Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices
for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at
https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Discussion of Key Provisions
This section provides an explanation of the proposed regulations.
As a general matter, OMB has followed the approach of adhering to the
wider principles and practices contained in Directive No. 1, which
contained both the four fundamental principles now codified in the
CIPSEA 2018 and gave Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units more
specific guidance on how to adhere to those principles. Therefore, in
many cases, most of the particular regulatory provisions described in
more detail below are drawn directly or slightly adapted from
provisions in Directive No. 1. Additional context can be found in the
Federal Register Notice announcing OMB's adoption of Directive No.
1.\40\ After nearly a decade of the Federal Government operating under
Directive No. 1, experience has clarified the fundamental
responsibilities and how to ensure Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units are able to carry out those
[[Page 56714]]
responsibilities. In consideration of those experiences, the draft
regulation seeks to address challenges, issues, or emerging challenges
or issues to create a lasting and effective policy. While there is some
overlap between this regulation and Directive No. 1, the intent of this
regulation is to address additional ways outside of the current
language in Directive No. 1, for example, ensuring Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have their own websites and have an
opportunity to present their own budget requests, to ensure that
statistical agencies are able to meet their fundamental
responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\40\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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OMB invites comments on any and all aspects of our proposed
approach to this rule; in particular, whether it thoroughly and
adequately meets our responsibilities under 44 U.S.C. 3563 to direct
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in meeting their fundamental
responsibilities, and agencies in enabling, supporting, and
facilitating the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in meeting
their fundamental responsibilities.
Additionally, OMB requests comments on the regulatory options
proposed and described below, as well as these following questions:
(1) How can OMB best articulate the known and expected benefits of
this regulatory action?
(2) Under 44 U.S.C. 3563, all agencies are required to enable,
support, and facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units.
However, agencies that are in the reporting structure of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units will likely provide the majority of the
support. Under the current proposed regulation, all agencies,
components, and units are included under the definition of parent
agency.
If OMB were to create a distinction between agencies, what should
that distinction be? For example, should a distinction be considered
for those in the reporting structure of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit? Should a distinction be considered for agencies which
do not contain a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit?
a. How should OMB draw this distinction?
b. For what support functions should each distinct group be
responsible?
c. How should each distinct group best enable, support, and
facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units?
(3) OMB seeks comment on how, as it relates to the implementation
of the term ``parent agency'', agencies' unique legal and regulatory
responsibilities in relation to the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit should be considered in this regulation.
(4) Under Proposed Section 1321.9 Compliance Review, OMB proposes
three options for consideration as a means for providing accountability
for both the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and the parent
agencies in adhering to the proposed regulation. OMB is interested in
whether those options would be adequate accountability measures for
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units or if others should be
considered.
a. Does this regulation provide adequate accountability measures
for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ensure they are
meeting their fundamental responsibilities? If additional
accountability measures are needed, what would additional
accountability measures look like?
b. Does this regulation provide adequate accountability measures
for parent agencies to ensure they are enabling, supporting, and
facilitating Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in meeting their
fundamental responsibilities? If additional accountability measures are
needed, what would additional accountability measures look like?
Proposed Sec. 1321.1--Purpose
Timely, accurate, objective, and relevant statistical data are the
bedrock of evidence-based decision-making. Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units play a vital role in generating data that citizens,
businesses, and governments need to make informed decisions. The
foundation of these programs is the public's trust; trust in the
accuracy and objectivity of the data and trust that any data provided
to a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit under an obligation to keep
those data confidential will be kept confidential and will only be used
for statistical purposes. OMB is issuing this proposed regulation to
implement 44 U.S.C. 3563, which is a set of the requirements under
CIPSEA 2018 that will strengthen and support the quality of Federal
statistical information.
Proposed Sec. 1321.2--Definitions
This proposed regulation defines terms used in the regulation.
Definitions were aligned with existing statute and regulation wherever
possible, and information about those terms and their alignment is
discussed here:
The definitions of ``accurate'', ``confidentiality'',
``objective'', and ``relevant'' come from 44 U.S.C. 3563(d).
The definition of ``agency'' includes agencies as defined in 31
U.S.C. 102 and as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502.
The definition of ``confidential statistical data'' includes all
data acquired for exclusively statistical purposes and under an
obligation of confidentiality. Under 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1)(D),
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are responsible for
``ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use'' of the
information they acquire. This proposed definition is consistent with
the statutory definition of confidentiality under 44 U.S.C. 3563(d)(2),
which refers to ``an obligation not to disclose that information to an
unauthorized party'' and the statutory language in 44 U.S.C. 3572(f)
which provides a penalty for the disclosure of information acquired
``for exclusively statistical purposes'' the disclosure of which is
prohibited under Subchapter III of Chapter 35 of Title 44, United
States Code.
The definition of ``dissemination'' is from OMB Circular A-130.
The definition of ``identifiable form'' comes from 44 U.S.C. 3561.
For this proposed regulation, ``individual or entity'' is used in place
of ``respondent'' in an effort to include individuals or entities who
may not directly provide their information to a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, but whose information was provided by another
individual or entity or could be determined based on other information
available.
The definitions of ``nonstatistical purpose'', ``respondent'',
``statistical activities'', and ``statistical purpose'' also come from
44 U.S.C. 3561.
The definition of ``information'' is from the OMB Guidelines for
Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and
Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies.\41\
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\41\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity,
Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal
Agencies; Republication, 67 FR 8452 (Feb. 22, 2002), available at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2002-02-22/pdf/R2-59.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The definitions of ``information system'' and ``statistical laws''
come from 44 U.S.C. 3502.
The definition of ``parent agency'' includes the full
organizational structure, including every organizational level
(including sub-agencies, offices, components, and units within the
highest organizational level such as the Department), as well as the
highest organizational level such as the Department, including any
agency and aside from the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, and
any organizational units that contain the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit.
[[Page 56715]]
The definition of ``statistical press release'' comes from OMB
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4.
The definition of ``statistical products'' also comes from OMB
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4,\42\ except there is an additional
clarification that statistical products take many different forms
including both printed and electronic form. It is important from a
confidentiality perspective that statistical products based on
confidential statistical data not identify an individual or entity.
Statistical products may be based on confidential statistical data or
other data obtained by a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. In
addition, both printed and electronic forms of statistical products are
included to clarify that statistical products can be issued in
different ways as technology and society advance and change.
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\42\ Statistical Policy Directive No. 4 defines ``statistical
products'' as such: ``Statistical products are, generally,
information dissemination products that are published or otherwise
made available for public use that describe, estimate, forecast, or
analyze the characteristics of groups, customarily without
identifying the persons, organizations, or individual data
observations that comprise such groups. Statistical products include
general-purpose tabulations, analyses, projections, forecasts, or
other statistical reports.''
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The definition of ``timeliness'' (or ``timely'') is meant to
capture both the release happening at the expected time, as well as the
release occurring at a reasonable time following the event being
measured.
Proposed Sec. 1321.3--General Provisions
This section describes the scope of the proposed regulations, the
impact on existing OMB guidance and policies, including that these
proposed regulations if finalized would supersede any provisions within
Statistical Policy Directives that conflict, and the parties
responsible for carrying out these proposed regulations.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4--The Four Fundamental Responsibilities
To operate efficiently and effectively, the Nation relies on the
flow of objective, credible statistics to support the decisions of
individuals, households, governments, educational institutions,
businesses, advocacy groups, civic organizations, and other parts and
members of society. Any loss of trust in the accuracy, objectivity, or
integrity of the Federal Statistical System and its products has the
potential to cause uncertainty about the validity of measures the
Nation uses to monitor and assess its performance, progress, and needs,
as well as undermine the public's confidence in the information
released by the Government. Consistent with well-established
principles, such trust can be maintained by ensuring proper authority
and autonomy of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and ensuring
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have appropriate and
adequate authority in making, or consulting with appropriate officials
on, decisions that could impact their ability to uphold their
fundamental responsibilities. Maintaining trust in the actions of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units is even more critical given
their expanded authorities for accessing data and responsibilities for
facilitating evidence building in the Evidence Act.
The four fundamental responsibilities, taken from Directive No. 1
and codified in 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1), protect and enhance public trust
in the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, which bolsters public
trust in their statistical products. The four fundamental
responsibilities are:
(1) to produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical
information;
(2) conduct credible and accurate statistical activities;
(3) conduct objective statistical activities; and
(4) protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the
confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(a) identifies that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units carry the responsibility of fulfilling the
fundamental responsibilities and parent agencies play a key role in
supporting the ability of the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
to meet their responsibilities. This is particularly true for the
parent agencies that host a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Section 3563(b) states that: ``The head of each agency shall enable,
support, and facilitate statistical agencies or units in carrying out
the responsibilities described in subsection (a)(1).''
Parent agencies must exercise their authorities in a way that
allows Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to meet their
fundamental responsibilities. This recognizes the importance of a broad
commitment across all government agencies to support statistical
agencies and units can be found in a wide array of domestic and
international policies and statements, including seven editions of the
National Academies' Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical
Agency,\43\ Directive No. 1, the European Statistics Code of
Practice,\44\ and the United Nation's Fundamental Principles for
Official Statistics,\45\ for which the United States is a signatory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\43\ Nat'l Acad. Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices
for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at
https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/.
\44\ European Statistical System Committee, European Statistics
Code of Practice for the National Statistical Authorities and
Eurostat (adopted November 16, 2017), available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/KS-02-18-142.
\45\ United Nations General Assembly, Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics (adopted Jan. 29, 2014), available at https://unstats.un.org/fpos/.
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These proposed regulations take no specific position with respect
to the placement of a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit within the
organizational structure of the highest organizational unit within
which they sit. The Evidence Act, however, provides some direction in
this space: (1) by giving an explicitly agency/Department-wide role to
the heads of statistical agencies as Statistical Officials to champion,
advise, and lead on statistical policy and methods, data quality, and
confidentiality; \46\ (2) by requiring delegation to the head of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit of any Chief Data Officer
function needed to ensure compliance with statistical law; \47\ and (3)
by requiring agencies to ensure that their practices, including
organizational placement, ``enable, support, and facilitate'' the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units' ability to comply with
fundamental responsibilities.\48\
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\46\ 5 U.S.C. 314; see also Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec
Office of the President, M-19-23, Phase 1 Implementing of the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning
Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance (July 10, 2019), available
at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf.
\47\ 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(1).
\48\ 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(2), 44 U.S.C. 3563(b).
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Proposed Sec. 1321.4(b) requires each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to maintain a distinctive, outward-facing website \49\
with its own domain name and with adequate control over the website
content and management to uphold the fundamental responsibilities. Data
users and providers (i.e., respondents to statistical collections,
including individuals, households, businesses, and organizations) must
be able to clearly and easily discern when they are receiving
information from or providing information to a Recognized Statistical
[[Page 56716]]
Agency or Unit. These websites must be clearly branded as belonging to
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
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\49\ Agencies should follow OMB policies, including M-23-10,
when issuing new websites. See https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/M-23-10-DOTGOV-Act-Guidance.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(b)(1) acknowledges the parent agency's role
in enabling, supporting, and facilitating the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit's responsibility to maintain a branded website. This
responsibility includes ensuring the Recognized Statistical Agency and
Unit has the necessary resources to meet their requirements under this
regulation. The parent agency should also support the Recognized
Statistical Agency and Unit in having the autonomy to maintain the
website in a way that ensures that the branding meaningfully reflects
the identity of the Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit. They must
have the capacity to update the content in a timely manner.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(b)(2) acknowledges the importance of using
the website to share key information with the public. The website will
communicate to the public a ``core mission of [Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units] is to produce relevant and timely statistical
information to inform decision-makers in governments, businesses,
institutions, and households.'' \50\ Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units must have in place a strong mission statement that clearly
communicates the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's objectives
and that is further refined through strategic planning. A Recognized
Statistical Agency's or Unit's mission statement should provide a clear
understanding of the scope of its responsibilities and goals, so its
stakeholders and users can properly assess whether it is meeting its
responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\50\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The commitment to the mission should then be reflected in the
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's publicly available strategic
plan. This proposed regulation would require each Recognized
Statistical Agency and Unit to produce a strategic plan that further
describes the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's goals and
provides specific, measurable objectives and performance metrics. OMB
is proposing that these plans should be generally consistent with the
statutory requirements for strategic planning,\51\ which would require
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to reassess its goals,
objectives, and performance metrics no less than every four years
alongside and in alignment with the parent agency's strategic plan.
This is an opportunity to reassess the priorities among different
statistical programs and the infrastructure needed to support those
programs, in light of advances in technologies, use cases, and goals of
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, among other purposes,
such as reassessing the relevance of different statistical programs.
This review should also afford Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and the parent agency, in a collaborative way, the opportunity to
assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the allocation of staff time
and resources among programs and initiatives, along with
appropriateness of existing financial controls, enterprise risk
strategies, and the credibility and defensibility of other business
processes of the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and parent
agency.
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\51\ 5 U.S.C. 306.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consistent with the spirit of the requirement for the strategic
plan, OMB also proposes that any publicly available findings,
determinations, or recommendations relevant to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit yielded by external evaluations, audits, or
other objective reviews conducted by Federal Government entities be
made publicly available on the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
website, as allowable by law, and recommend the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit also make publicly available on its website concrete,
measurable steps that the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is
taking to remediate such issues in a timely and credible manner.
This section would also require each Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit to identify and gather in a single location on its publicly
available website the various pieces of legislation, regulations, and
policies, including its own and those of parent agencies, that govern
the four fundamental responsibilities of each individual Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit. By the nature of their designation as a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit under CIPSEA 2018, each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit will list the Evidence Act,
including CIPSEA 2018 (Title III), the OPEN Government Data Act (Title
II), and certain requirements under Title I, as well as any authorizing
statute. However, the list should extend much further than relevant
statistical laws. For example, they should include any parent agency
policies governing the appearance or functionality of websites;
governing communication with the press, Congress, or other parties; or
governing the quality of information, such as scientific integrity
policies. This requirement is based on the demonstrated value of a
similar reporting requirement in OMB M-15-03: Department Support for
Implementation of Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental
Responsibilities of Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized
Statistical Units.\52\ If disagreements arise between the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and the parent agency, the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and the relevant officials at the
parent agency may reach out to OMB through the Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to discuss and
resolve.
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\52\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
15-03, Department Support for Implementation of Statistical Policy
Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical
Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units (Nov. 26, 2014), available
at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/memoranda/2015/m-15-03.pdf.
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The Evidence Act and OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 1
recognize the essential role of Federal Departments in supporting
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units as they implement these
responsibilities. Sharing of Department practices, such as
incorporating recognition, support, and clear authority for these
responsibilities in Departmental written policies, facilitates
interagency identification of strengths and opportunities for
improvement. Over time, this engagement, dialogue, and implementation
will provide a roadmap for continued nurturing and maintenance toward
continued achievement of these responsibilities across the Federal
Statistical System.
Accordingly, OMB M-15-03 required each Department and Agency
hosting a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to report to the OIRA
Administrator, within 120 days of the date of publication of the
Memorandum, actions it took, were in the process of taking, or were
considering to support achievement of the responsibilities identified
in OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 1, and to indicate if the basis
for such actions was found in statute, Departmental policy, or
established Departmental practice.\53\
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\53\ Id.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(1) requires each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to produce a budget request \54\ specific to
[[Page 56717]]
their agency, to be clearly presented as the request for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit with figures and justification specific to
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit as part of the highest
organizational unit's annual budget submission and process, and to
participate directly, accompanied by the highest organizational unit as
appropriate, in presenting their agency specific request to OMB. If a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit does not have sufficient staffing
resources or expertise to produce a budget, the parent agency should
assign a budget employee to report, in whole or in part, to the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. This provision does not
circumvent OMB's authorities and responsibilities in reviewing and
coordinating the budgets of the Executive Branch more broadly or the
parent agencies' authorities and responsibilities in reviewing and
coordinating Departmental budgets. This provision is intended to
provide transparency for both the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
to the OMB budget process and for OMB and the highest organizational
unit in understanding the resource needs and priorities for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to uphold the four fundamental
responsibilities. This requirement will allow OMB to better fulfill its
responsibilities under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) to: ``ensure that budget
proposals of agencies are consistent with system-wide priorities for
maintaining and improving the quality of Federal statistics.''
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\54\ In this provision, ``budget request'' means the request put
forward to OMB from the highest organizational unit as part of the
fiscal year process for the President's Budget. It encompasses the
budget figures, budget justification, supplementary submissions),
and other requests from OMB issued to Executive Branch agencies as
part of the President's Budget process. Typically, requests in
addition to the budget figures and justifications are outlined in
``Spring Guidance'' issued by OMB each year.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(2) requires parent agencies to provide
necessary resources or communicate to OMB through the Office of the
Chief Statistician of the United States about the lack of available
resources for Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units to carry out
their fundamental responsibilities. The ability of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its fundamental responsibilities
relies on access to sufficient resources. Parent agencies must take
these needs into consideration when developing its annual budget
request to OMB and allocating existing resources, offer appropriate
transparency about funding decisions particularly to Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and to OMB. Parent agencies must also
allow sufficient autonomy and authority to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in regards to how their positions are allocated among
job series, how their staff are selected and trained, and how their
budgets are deployed to ensure their ability to meet their four
fundamental responsibilities. Additionally, if the head of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit identifies a lack of sufficient resources to
meet the fundamental responsibilities (e.g., through the agency
Capacity Assessment required by Title I of the Evidence Act or other
means), the highest organizational unit within which they sit should
make efforts to the extent possible to supply the necessary resources.
If the highest organizational unit is not able to make the required
resources available, it must notify OMB through the annual budget
request process and in accordance with 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2), which
requires the Director of OMB to ``ensure that budget proposals of
agencies are consistent with system-wide priorities for maintaining and
improving the quality of Federal statistics.''
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(3) seeks to promote greater communication,
collaboration, and understanding between the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and its parent agency by ensuring that they both have
staff that are capable of communicating effectively with each other
when the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must rely on the parent
agency's support functions. As codified in the Evidence Act, Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have unique responsibilities, which may
require unique provision of support services, including information
technology (IT), legal services, procurement, budget, human resources,
or other core functions of an agency. This section requires that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have the necessary staffing
resources to have sufficient expertise to communicate the needs of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to its parent agency. Similarly,
this section requires that the parent agency has someone that is
responsible for understanding the needs of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit in each support function that the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit must rely upon.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(4) seeks to promote the ability of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to collaborate with their
parent agencies to establish joint requirements for services to be
shared across the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and other
agencies (whether within the same organization or across
organizations), hereafter ``shared services.'' OMB recognizes the value
of shared services and the efficiencies and cost savings they can
generate. In general, OMB encourages Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and the parent agencies to collaborate to find shared
services solutions that meet the requirements of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units as well as achieve the goals of
efficiency and cost saving behind many of the shared services
priorities. This regulation requests comments on two methods of
achieving this collaboration.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(4) Option A These provisions will minimize
the risk that lack of independently controlled shared services poses to
the ability of a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its
fundamental responsibilities. Clear requirements for services are
important to successful mission implementation. For example, a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must be able to ensure that IT
staff who have physical or logical access to stored confidential
statistical data adhere to the requirements and be subject to the
criminal penalties of CIPSEA 2018 and any other relevant policies and
procedures of CIPSEA 2018. Both the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and the parent agency shall make good faith efforts to achieve
such agreement. If disagreements about shared services arise between
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and the parent agency, the
head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and the relevant
officials at the parent agency may reach out to OMB through the
Administrator of OIRA to discuss and resolve. To reduce the potential
for disagreement, the ICSP and the Chief Information Officers (CIO)
Council should work together to share best practices and successful
arrangements with parent agencies and Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units.
To ensure that shared and consolidated services do not impede a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit's ability to meet their
fundamental responsibilities, the specific requirements for shared
services must be clearly developed and communicated with the parent
agency in writing, and the parent agency must ensure that the services
meet these requirements. If the parent agency is unable to meet these
requirements, they must enable the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to obtain those services elsewhere.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must be able to enter
agreements for service with parent agencies without endangering their
ability to uphold their fundamental responsibilities. This provision
seeks to minimize the risk that lack of independent control over
services used by the Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit poses to
the
[[Page 56718]]
ability of a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its
fundamental responsibilities. When services are intended to be used by
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and parent agencies (i.e.,
not solely servicing the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit), the
requirements for those services, such as IT, printing, and contracting,
must be established and adhered to jointly by the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units and parent agencies. For example, a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must have the ability to hold an
open competition to acquire services that support the mission if the
current options do not meet the requirements necessary for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to uphold their fundamental
responsibilities.
OMB considered an alternative to this proposed provision that would
require the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to carry out all
functions autonomously. However, this would be inefficient and
infeasible for most agencies.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(c)(4) Option B provides a flexible process
for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and their parent
agencies, which provides space for those agencies that are working well
together to keep their current processes, while also providing an
opportunity for agencies to engage in a more structured process.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have unique needs that may
require specifically defined services or software. This section
requires parent agencies to consult with Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units prior to making a binding decision regarding services
or software that will directly affect the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit's ability to meet their fundamental responsibilities. Depending
on the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, the services may include
cloud computing, email servicing, janitorial staffing, or any other
type of staffing. For some agencies, a simple conversation between
parent agency and Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit will suffice.
For others, the parent agency may ask for a written list explicitly
defining the requirements needed for the particular service. When
necessary or valuable, the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit can
ask that any agreement they reach is reduced to writing, which will
provide clarity about the expectations for the provision of the
service. In some cases, a parent agency will not be able to meet the
needs of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in a manner that
ensures the fundamental responsibilities are met. In those cases, the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit may obtain the service elsewhere
and the parent agency will need to either ensure the resources are
available for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to meet their
needs through other means, or the parent agency will need to notify OMB
that the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit lacks the resources
necessary to carry out their fundamental responsibilities.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(d) requires that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have the appropriate decision-making authority
within their agencies for the specified provisions. (Appropriate is
described further in the relevant key provisions above for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.) The Evidence Act recognizes
assigning authority appropriately when it created the new statutory
role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) in 44 U.S.C. 3520. Section 3520
requires CDOs to delegate their authorities in that section to the
heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units when necessary to
comply with statistical laws.\55\
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\55\ 44 U.S.C. 3502(23).
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These sections of the regulation follow this delegation model in
section 3520 to ensure that other agency officials in addition to CDOs
are not bearing responsibilities that are given to the heads of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in section 3520 and other
statistical laws. The intent is to place responsibility and authority
with the appropriate agency officials with regard to statistical data
and statistical products.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(e)(1) directs parent agencies to review their
regulations, policies, and practices, and revise any that impede a
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to meet its statutory
responsibilities because agency regulations, policies, and practices
are so central to accomplishing the purpose of section 3563(b). The
existing regulations, policies, and practices of parent agencies can
affect a Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to meet its
fundamental responsibilities in several ways. Regulations, policies,
and practices that require review and approval from officials external
to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for their statistical
products, statistical press releases, website appearance and content,
and other communications to external stakeholders such as the press and
the Congress specifically addressing statistical products or
statistical press releases can create perceived and actual risk of
interference with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. Actual or
perceived undue influence harms the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, undermining trust and support for both. Parent agencies must
assess their regulations, policies, and practices and revise any that
do not enable, support, and facilitate the ability of their Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to meet their fundamental responsibilities.
If disagreements arise between the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and the parent agency as to the revision of any parent agency
regulation, policy, or practice, the head of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and the relevant officials at the parent agency may
reach to OMB through the Administrator of OIRA to discuss and resolve.
One of the most challenging institutional factors affecting the
fundamental responsibilities are overlapping or unclear lines of
authority between the heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units and other parent agency officials with authorities that directly
affect the fundamental responsibilities, such as CDOs, Evaluation
Officers, Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Senior Agency Officials
for Privacy (SAOPs), and others. Similarly, statistical activities can
at times directly affect the responsibilities of these other senior
officials. Often these overlapping authorities originate in statute and
adjudicating them can be challenging. These regulations identify the
decisions and authorities that are key to the ability of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to uphold their fundamental
responsibilities, and requires either delegation to or consultation
with the head Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(e)(2) requires consideration of the
fundamental responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units when parent agencies develop new regulations, policies, and
practices that may affect the four fundamental responsibilities. If
disagreements arise between the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and the parent agency as to any new parent agency regulation, policy,
or practice, the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and
the relevant officials at the parent agency may reach to OMB through
the Administrator of OIRA discuss and resolve.
The proliferation of new data sources, uses, and authorities within
Federal agencies requires a coordinated and inclusive approach. The
agency Data Governance Body required in OMB's M-19-23 Phase 1
Implementation of the
[[Page 56719]]
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning
Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance \56\ should be the primary
mechanism for coordinating the authorities within an agency for
developing data governance policies in a manner that accounts for the
four fundamental responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units. OMB M-19-23 implementation guidance articulates the
expectation that data governance ``responsibility is shared among
multiple parties'' and that data governance bodies should set agency
data policy that ``complements, but does not supplant the authority of
established positions.''
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\56\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
19-23, Phase 1 Implementing of the Foundations for Evidence-Based
Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance (July 10, 2019), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.4(e)(3) specifies that timely updates and
corrections to statistical products are an important factor in
maintaining the trust of the public in the statistics produced and
disseminated by Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. If
necessary, parent agencies must support the publication of updates and
corrections as quickly as is feasible once they are ready for public
release. For example, in cases where the parent agency controls the IT
resources required to publish corrections, the parent agency must
support the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in publishing on its
website as quickly as is feasible after the correction is ready for
public release.
This also requires each parent agency to develop policies
articulating how the parent agency will facilitate the Recognized
Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to meet its responsibility for
producing relevant and timely statistical products and make those
policies available to the public. These policies should be developed in
collaboration with the Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit. This
requirement creates additional transparency and accountability to
further mitigate the risks posed by reliance on parent agency resources
and services.
Proposed Sec. 1321.4(f) requires OMB to conduct its coordination
of Federal information policy in a manner consistent with the Evidence
Act and these regulations. The Evidence Act's requirement under 44
U.S.C. 3563(a)(2) for the head of each Federal agency to enable,
support, and facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in
carrying out their fundamental responsibilities extends beyond the
Federal agencies that contain a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Notably, OMB has a variety of authorities that directly affect the
ability of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to meet their
responsibilities. This section requires OMB to exercise those
authorities in a manner consistent with the Evidence Act requirements
and the provisions of this regulation.
This provision identifies specific statutory authorities of OMB
found in Chapter 35 of Title 44 of the U.S. Code. These authorities are
so central to the objectivity and accuracy of statistical products
generated by Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units that the
provision requires that they be delegated to the Chief Statistician of
the United States, a position in OMB created by section 3504(e)(7)
specifically to coordinate and oversee the Federal Statistical System
and its efficiency and effectiveness. Section 3504(e)(7) also specifies
that the Chief Statistician of the United States must be ``a trained
and experienced professional statistician.''
This provision does not diminish OMB's coordination and oversight
authorities, rather it ensures that the specified authorities are
exercised without regard to any particular political or program
impacts, as the Chief Statistician of the United States is statutorily
required to ensure objectivity and impartiality of information
collected for statistical purposes. OMB's role is also important to
promote comparability of statistics across the Federal Government, as
well as to promote high quality statistics in support of informed
decision-making by both public and private statistical data users. The
specific authorities delegated to the Chief Statistician of the United
States in this provision are:
(1) The review and approval of proposed information collections
submitted by Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units under the PRA.
OMB review and approval ensures that surveys and other information
collections maximize utility while minimizing burden to businesses and
the public. Delegating the authority for this function at OMB to the
Chief Statistician of the United States is consistent with other
provisions in this regulation \57\ whose intent is to provide
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units with the maximum feasible
control over the content of their statistical products, while
preserving data quality and comparability government-wide. This
delegation is also in alignment with the functions in the PRA for the
Chief Statistician of the United States to ensure the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information
collected for statistical purposes, as well as to oversee the
implementation of Federal Government-wide statistical standards and
guidelines.
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\57\ See for example Sec. Sec. 1321.5 and 1321.7.
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(2) The statistical policy and coordination functions described in
section 3504(e), including the development and implementation of
governmentwide policies, principles, standards, and guidelines
concerning statistical collection procedures and methods, statistical
data classification, statistical information presentation and
dissemination, timely release of statistical data, and such statistical
data sources as may be required for the administration of Federal
programs. Similar to the requirement in proposed Sec. 1321.7(b)(1)
which directs agencies to allow Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to publish statistical products without requiring clearance of
the content from offices or officials outside of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, this provision ensures that the Chief
Statistician of the United States has the necessary authority within
OMB to carry out their functions in an objective, impartial, and timely
manner that only takes into account statistical considerations, and
without interference.
(3) The coordination and oversight of confidentiality and
disclosure policies established in 44 U.S.C. 3562, which requires OMB
to develop a process to designate agencies or organizational units as
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, along with implementation
guidance for this process. Because the Chief Statistician of the United
States has the responsibility to oversee and coordinate the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, the Chief Statistician of the United
States must also have an appropriate level of control over the
designation process and associated guidance.
(4) The functions assigned to OMB through regulation or policy
promulgated under CIPSEA 2018. This would include responsibilities
under this regulation, administration of the Standard Application
Process, and several other forthcoming regulations.
Proposed Sec. 1321.5--Relevance and Timeliness
The first fundamental responsibility of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is to produce and disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information. At the core of this responsibility is
recognizing the high
[[Page 56720]]
value of some statistical products. The Evidence Act entrusts
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units with the responsibility of
making judgments about balancing the value of their statistical
products against their costs, burden, and risk; it maintains high
expectations about Recognized Statistical Agencies' and Units'
expertise in and commitment to producing the most relevant statistics.
Section 1321.5 articulates these high expectations by requiring
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to take several actions.
Proposed Sec. 1321.5(a) requires Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical
information and for the parent agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate the activities necessary to carry out that responsibility.
To carry out this responsibility, Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must be able to determine what statistical products to
disseminate and the timing of dissemination. Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units should engage with parent agencies about what
statistical products would be most valuable from the perspective of the
parent agency and prioritize consideration of how to address those
needs.
Proposed Sec. 1321.5(b) adopts the provision in Directive No. 1
for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``be knowledgeable
about the issues and requirements of programs and policies relating to
their subject domains. This requires communication and coordination
among agencies and within and across Departments when planning
information collection and dissemination activities,'' \58\ including
through the stakeholder engagement process on Learning Agendas, per OMB
policy, for example OMB M-19-23 and OMB M-21-27.\59\ ``In addition,
[Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units] must seek input regularly
from the broadest range of private- and public-sector data users.''
\60\ It is the core mission of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to produce relevant and timely statistical information to inform
decision-makers in governments, businesses, institutions, and
households.
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\58\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
\59\ Such OMB policies include M-19-23, M-21-27, and Circular A-
11 Section 290.
\60\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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This regular and continued input from a broad range of users,
including from officials in the parent agency, is essential for
determining data needs, and Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
must regularly and continually collaborate with other Federal agencies
in order to promote a strong Federal Statistical System. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must keep abreast of the interests and
analytic goals of current and potential new users of statistical
products including data assets for research in order to ensure the
continued relevance of their statistical products. Moreover, the
information sought may often span the mission areas of more than one
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, necessitating joint engagement
of users both within and possibly outside of government. Effective
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units seek opportunities to enhance
the value of their statistical products. These collaborations may
extend beyond other Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and may
take many forms, including bilateral and multilateral agreements
between agencies. Examples of collaborative efforts include two
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units using one collection to
satisfy the needs of both, or a system-wide initiative to fund
methodological research.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must pay continual
attention to changes in policy and the social and economic conditions
affecting their programs and subject domains, including through
regularly engaging with officials at parent agencies to understand
changing and emerging needs across the parent agencies relevant to the
statistical products of the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units.
In instances where feedback necessitates planning a new information
collection or revising an existing information collection, Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units may need to consult with OMB, as the
agency responsible for coordinating statistical activities in the
Federal Government. There are numerous ways for Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to further the collaboration with OMB and other
Federal entities, such as participating in the Interagency Council on
Statistical Policy (ICSP), participating in multi-agency advisory
groups, convening or participating in working groups or workshops with
other offices within their respective Federal Agencies or Departments
that have similar responsibilities or are stakeholders in their data,
or participating in working groups or workshops and engaging with other
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units across the Federal Government
that have similar responsibilities or are stakeholders in their data.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must also use formal
methods available to them for obtaining input from users on issues
relating to their programs, products, and underlying data. This should
include a mix of techniques including, but not limited to, convening an
advisory or user group, as allowed under relevant law; conducting a
user survey; holding user workshops; conducting user focus groups;
analyzing internet activity; analyzing data requests including those
through the Standard Application Process required under 44 U.S.C. 3583;
and providing notification and seeking general input through Federal
Register notices. Importantly, these activities should be done in
compliance with, and leveraging, other relevant authorities.
Parent agencies should support the responsibility to be relevant by
facilitating activities that promote ways for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to learn about data user needs. This section
also specifies that advisory groups and other means of systematic
engagement with interested parties and communities should be part of
the process of developing timely and relevant statistical products. As
part of that process, the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must be
allowed to establish and manage these engagements without undue
influence from parent agencies on the composition of groups or the
content of their agendas or products. However, this does not prevent
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit from considering input from
parent agencies. This requirement reflects practices promoted by the
National Academies and the policies in the recent Presidential
Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific
Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking,\61\ (PM 2021) which
reaffirms and builds on the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009
(PM 2009), and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy's Memorandum of December 17, 2010 (OSTP 2010). The PM identifies
that scientific information, including statistics, are central to sound
policy
[[Page 56721]]
development and improvement and equitable delivery of services across
government. Because of this, it notes that ``[s]cientific findings
should never be distorted by political considerations.'' Further, it
identifies that improper political interference in science ``undermines
the welfare of the Nation, contributes to systemic inequities and
injustices, and violates the trust that the public places in government
to best serve its collective interests.''
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\61\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific
Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking, 86 FR 8845 (Feb. 10,
2021), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-02-10/pdf/2021-02839.pdf.
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As part of the work required by PM 2021, OSTP issued the Framework
for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice (SI Framework) in
January 2023.\62\ The Framework affirms that ``[strong scientific
integrity] policies and effective practices protecting scientific
integrity are essential for the development of evidence-based
policies.'' \63\ The SI Framework makes a distinction between
``interference'' and ``political interference.'' Interference is
defined as ``inappropriate, scientifically unjustified intervention in
the conduct, management, communication, or use of science. It includes
censorship, suppression, or distortion of scientific or technological
findings, data, information, or conclusions; inhibiting scientific
independence during clearance and review; scientifically unjustified
intervention in research and data collection; and inappropriate
engagement or participation in peer review processes or on Federal
advisory committees.'' Whereas ``political interference'' is limited to
interference ``conducted by political officials and/or motivated by
political considerations.'' Consistent with the SI Framework, this
regulation is intended to guard against inappropriate, statistically
unjustified interventions by ensuring statistical activities are
conducted by statistical agencies without undue influence.
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\62\ A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and
Practice (Jan. 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/01-2023-Framework-for-Federal-Scientific-Integrity-Policy-and-Practice.pdf.
\63\ Press Release, OSTP, OSTP Releases Framework for
Strengthening Federal Scientific Integrity Policies and Practices
(Jan. 12, 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2023/01/12/ostp-releases-framework-for-strengthening-federal-scientific-integrity-policies-and-practices/.
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OMB intends this regulation to be complementary to the SI Framework
and related principles. This is consistent with the intent of the SI
Framework, which provides that ``Agencies should consult OMB's
implementing guidance, (including OMB M-19-23, OMB M-20-12, and OMB M-
21-27, and Statistical Policy Directive 1) to ensure that scientific
integrity policies and procedures complement and reinforce related
requirements of the Evidence Act.'' The SI Framework also acknowledges
that in some cases, subordinate agencies may need to ``enact stronger
policies than their parent [agencies]'' and that the parent agencies
should not inappropriately influence agency Scientific Integrity
matters.
Proposed Sec. 1321.5(c) requires Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units to minimize the time required between collection of data and
release of the statistical products, subject to costs and effects on
other dimensions of data quality. The interval between the time to
which the data or estimates refer and the date when the data or
estimates are released should be as short as practicable to promote the
usefulness and value of the data and to remove the appearance of any
intervention. Timely release of statistical products promotes the
usefulness and value of the data in both government and private
decision-making, in measuring economic activity, and for other uses of
the data.
OMB policies have long recognized that ``prompt release . . . is of
vital importance to the proper management of both private and public
affairs.'' \64\ For example, timeliness is critically important for
statistical series used by the government and private sector as
indicators of the current condition and direction of the economy, such
as the Employment Situation and Gross Domestic Product. Timeliness
allows policymakers and the private sector to react promptly to any
changes and more quickly implement targeted policies. In support of a
prompt release, OMB policies provide direction on how many working days
to afford between the collection of data and release of data for
principal statistical series, with a current standard of no more than
22 working days for Principal Federal Economic Indicators \65\ and a
minimal practicable interval for other Federal statistical data
products.\66\ In addition to promoting the usefulness and value of
statistical data products, prompt release reduces the likelihood of any
unauthorized disclosure or premature release of the data or estimates.
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\64\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Circular A-91, Prompt Compilation and Release of Statistical
Information (Feb. 12, 1969).
\65\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive on Compilation, Release, and Evaluation
of Principal Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept. 25,
1985), available at https://archives.federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/38908-38934.pdf#page=25.
\66\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies 73 FR
12622 (Mar. 7, 2008), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
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In addition, Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall follow
OMB guidance implementing section 3583, which will include criteria for
prompt determinations about granting access to data for evidence
building by Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units.\67\
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\67\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
23-04, Establishment of Standard Application Process Requirements on
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units Department Support for
Implementation of Statistical Policy (Dec. 08, 2023), available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/M-23-04.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.5(d) requires each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to publish a release calendar on its website noting the
date of each regular or recurring statistical product for the upcoming
calendar year by no later than the end of the previous calendar year.
This timing aligns with the current policy outlined in OMB's
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4. For example, a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit should publish the calendar year 2024's
release calendar for all regular or recurring statistical products no
later than December 31, 2023. In addition, each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit shall continue to meet any earlier timelines for
publishing the release schedule, as required by other policies such as
OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 for Principal Federal Economic
Indicators. For non-regular or non-recurring statistical products, each
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit should publicly announce the date
or date range for release as soon as the date or date range is
established.
In support of transparency and serving the needs of data users,
each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall also designate an
office responsible for providing the release schedule and make the
contact information for that office readily available to the public
through their website, and through other means, as appropriate.
Finally, this section requires that each Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit only make changes to the release schedule after it has been
announced for special, unforeseen circumstances and requires that those
changes be announced publicly as soon as possible and explained fully.
As required by other policies, notification to other entities may also
be required, including for example notifying OMB of changes to release
dates for Principal Federal Economic Indicators per Directive No. 3.
For example, in the past, changes to the release dates of some
Principal Federal Economic
[[Page 56722]]
Indicators have occurred because of Federal Government shutdowns. This
requirement to provide a public explanation of such unforeseen
circumstances--like a government shutdown--helps prevent the appearance
of any partisan intervention.
Publication of release schedules provides data users with a clear
expectation of when data are to be released, helping them plan how to
use the data. In combination with the timeliness provisions,
publication of release dates promotes trust and confidence in the
quality and integrity of the data. Publication of release schedules
have been required for statistical products in policies as far back as
1969.\68\
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\68\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Circular A-91, Prompt Compilation and Release of Statistical
Information (Feb. 12, 1969).
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To the extent that parent agencies are involved in dissemination
activities, they are responsible for adhering to the schedule as well.
This may mean that the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit engages
with the parent agency during the development of the schedule so that
both parties are aware of factors that may affect the schedule. This
should be done as soon as possible. For parent agencies providing IT
services or other support functions that may impact dissemination, they
must be cognizant of the schedule to avoid creating barriers for the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to keeping their promise to the
public to meet their publication deadlines.
Proposed Sec. 1321.6--Credibility and Accuracy
The second fundamental responsibility of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is to conduct credible and accurate statistical
activities. Establishing credibility about the accuracy of the products
produced and the scientifically rigorous processes employed to create
them is fundamental to the role of a trusted provider of evidence. The
more accurate evidence is, the greater value it has to the decision-
maker who uses it.
Any statistical product may contain some level of inaccuracy, and
statistics always measure underlying concepts or conditions with
varying levels of uncertainty. To confidently act on the evidence, data
users need to trust that the accuracy of the statistical products is
communicated in a forthright, explicit, and transparent manner. In
addition, providing public documentation about the methodologies and
processes used by the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
developing the statistical product promotes credibility in its methods
and processes. Section 1321.6 describes several actions that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must take to build and protect their
credibility so that they can fill this role effectively.
Proposed Sec. 1321.6(a)(1) builds on the requirement in Directive
No. 1 for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``apply sound
statistical methods to ensure statistical products are accurate'' by
requiring Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to develop policies
on the quality of their information and their statistical products. The
standards must ensure that the data and statistical products are
accurate and credible. Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall
also make those standards available publicly to allow the public to
evaluate the quality of the information produced and disseminated.
Directive No. 1 requires Recognized Statistical Agencies ``be
vigilant in seeking new methods and adopting new technologies to ensure
the quality and efficiency of the information they collect and
produce.'' \69\ Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall seek
new methods, technologies, techniques, procedures, and data sources to
improve the data and information products they publish. This
responsibility is especially important in the modern data era. For
example, vigilance in seeking new methods and adopting new technologies
allowed for the Bureau of the Census Small Area Income and Poverty
Estimates Program to release annual estimates of income and poverty for
every U.S. county, providing for more granular data by more efficiently
using the data collected. In addition, through increased use of
satellite data, a newer technology and data source for this purpose, at
the National Agricultural Statistics Service, more accurate estimates
of crop acreage and production have been produced.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\69\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.6(a)(2) adopts the requirements in Directive
No. 1 that ``information about how the data were collected and any
known or potential data limitations or sources of error (such as
population or market coverage, or sampling, measurement, processing, or
modeling errors) should be described to data users so they can evaluate
the suitability of the data for a particular purpose'' and ``(e)rrata
identified after data release should be described to data users on an
ongoing basis as verified.'' \70\
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\70\ Id.
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Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must produce data that
are accurate and credible and that allow data users to make sound
decisions based on these Federal data and information products. In
order to achieve this, Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall
use rigorous statistical methodologies as well as regularly assess, and
update as appropriate, the data and information products they publicly
release against OMB and agency information quality guidelines.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must make information
about the quality of their statistical products publicly available to
allow users to evaluate fitness for use.\71\
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\71\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President, M-
19-15, Improving Implementation of the Information Quality Act (Apr.
24, 2019), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/M-19-15.pdf (``Agencies should provide the public
with sufficient documentation about each dataset released to allow
data users to determine the fitness of the data for the purpose for
which third parties may consider using it.'').
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In order for data users to assess the suitability of data products
for their purposes, each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall
publicly provide descriptions of methods and procedures used to develop
statistical products, subject to confidentiality and other statutory
requirements, and must use plain language as much as possible. In
addition, they shall describe how data were collected and compiled, as
well as other aspects of the process to create the statistical product
and any known data limitations or sources of error such as, population
or market coverage, and/or sampling, measurement, processing, or
modeling errors. As such, any data used in generating the statistical
product, including third party or administrative records, should be
included in the description of methods and procedures for applicable
part(s) of the process to create the statistical product. Furthermore,
to promote transparency and the ability of data users to assess impacts
of changes to the data, any errors in the data identified after release
(i.e., errata) must be described to data users on an ongoing basis.
Similar requirements have been in place for decades under Directive
Nos. 3 and 4 covering any unforeseen revisions to the released
data.\72\
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\72\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive on Compilation, Release, and Evaluation
of Principal Federal Economic Indicators, 50 FR 38932 (Sept. 25,
1985), available at https://archives.federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1985/9/25/38908-38934.pdf#page=25; Office of Mgmt. &
Budget, Exec. Office of the President, Statistical Policy Directive
No. 4: Release and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced by
Federal Statistical Agencies 73 FR 12622 (Mar. 7, 2008), available
at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/E8-4570.pdf.
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[[Page 56723]]
Proposed Sec. 1321.6(a)(3) adopts the requirements in Directive
No. 1 for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``achieve
[accuracy in their statistical products] by regularly evaluating the
data and information products they publicly release against the OMB
Government-wide Information Quality Guidelines as well as their
individual [Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit's] information
quality guidelines'' and to ``periodically review the techniques and
procedures used to implement their information quality guidelines to
keep pace with changes in best practices and technology.'' \73\ This
section further expands on this practice by requiring Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units to comply with all OMB standards and
guidance for lifecycle data management practices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\73\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.6(a)(4) requires that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units are responsible for ensuring that, when their staff
participates in authoring journal articles, authoring professional
conference papers and participates in sessions, and peer review
activities those activities adhere to current OMB peer review policies
\74\ and they should to make these determinations without undue
influence from the parent agency.
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\74\ See, e.g., Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the
President, M-05-03, Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer
Review (Dec 16, 2004), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/memoranda/2005/m05-03.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.6(b)(1) acknowledges that the ability of a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to establish, maintain, and
communicate the quality of the data they release is key to their
ability to conduct credible and accurate statistical activities, free
from even the appearance of manipulation. When any parent agency
official external to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit plays
any formal role in reviewing or approving the statistical product or
the quality of the statistical product issued by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, it can create an appearance that the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit does not have sufficient
authority and autonomy. Review or approval of the statistical product
in any form creates a real risk that a parent agency could attempt to
alter or suppress a statistical product by claiming that it fails to
meet the quality standards of the parent agency. Accordingly, parent
agency regulations, policies, and practices must clearly demonstrate
that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have sole authority for
oversight of the quality of their statistical products.
In some cases, parent agency officials external to a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit are authorized by statute to oversee the
quality or objectivity of statistical products released by the agency.
When another statute overlaps with the statutory provisions of the
Evidence Act regarding quality of statistical products by authorizing
another agency to make determinations that directly affect a Recognized
Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities, OMB proposes that the authorized agency official
delegate those determinations to the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit. This proposed approach is similar to the Evidence Act provisions
recognizing that the responsibilities of the newly created Chief Data
Officers overlap with the responsibilities of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units.\75\
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\75\ 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(1) (``To the extent necessary to comply
with statistical laws, the Chief Data Officer of an agency shall
delegate any responsibility under subsection (c) to the head of a
statistical agency or unit (as defined in section 3561) within the
agency.'').
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OMB considered an alternative regulatory approach to establish that
statistical products disseminated by Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units are not subject to any quality standards of their parent
agencies. However, while this approach would accomplish the objective
of ensuring that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are solely
responsible for ensuring the quality of their products, it could
suggest that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units could set less
stringent quality standards than their parent agencies, which would not
be appropriate. Under this proposed approach, the parent agency's
quality standards remain in place, but the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit is solely responsible for evaluating compliance with
those standards.
Proposed Sec. 1321.6(b)(3) specifies that employees, contractors,
and agents of the parent agency or Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, other than those designated by the releasing Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit head, shall be prohibited from publicly
commenting on the content of any data released by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit until after the official release of the
data. More specifically, for some statistical products such as those
covered by Directive No. 3 there are additional requirements, including
that no public commentary may be made by employees of the Executive
Branch, except for members of the staff of the agency issuing the
Principal Federal Economic Indicator who have been designated by the
agency head to provide technical explanations of the data, until at
least one hour after the official release time. For other statistical
products, this provision aligns with the existing Directive No. 4 that
contains policies about the independence of policy statements and from
the technical data release, as well as provisions for not breaking the
data embargo. A prohibition on public comment prior to the official
release of the data supports a distinction between the statistical data
released and interpretations of the data, including policy
interpretations. This distinction is important for the credibility of
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and the trust in the
accuracy of the data released.
Proposed Sec. 1321.6(b)(4) requires that parent agencies provide
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units with the necessary authority
to determine how statistical products are released. Some Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units rely on components of their parent
agencies to maintain websites or other dissemination platforms. In
these cases, the parent agency must not alter the content or appearance
of a statistical product unless authorized by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. Policy officials at parent
agencies may work with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit head
to ensure that policy pronouncements are not included.
Proposed Sec. 1321.6(b)(5) requires parent agencies to ensure that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are permitted to determine
the appropriateness of and how their staff engage in peer review and
career development activities such as publication in refereed journals,
participation in statistical and other scientific associations, and
presentation at professional conferences without review or approval
from the parent agency, subject to applicable statutes. However, review
of publication or participation may be appropriate where the venue also
includes matters of policy, budget, or management. The National
Academies' Principles and
[[Page 56724]]
Practices \76\ notes that ``The long-term credibility of a statistical
agency depends on the agency's staff and the culture they build and
maintain for quality and professionalism. An agency's subject-matter
analysts should be encouraged and have ample opportunity to build
networks with analysts in other agencies, academia, the private sector,
other countries, and relevant international organizations and to
present their work at relevant conferences and in working papers and
refereed journal articles.'' This provision seeks to ensure the ability
of professional staff at the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
to engage in professional development activities to build their network
and skill sets, learn new methodologies to apply to statistical
products, and share out the research and development efforts that
support the improvements to the Recognized Statistical Agency's or
Units' statistical products. The National Academies' Principles and
Practices articulates this as important to ensuring the qualifications
of technical staff doing the work at Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\76\ Nat'l Acad. Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices
for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at
https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In doing so, the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must
ensure that they abide by regulatory, policy, and budgetary
requirements that govern these types of activity. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units that have internal resources to evaluate
adherence to applicable laws and policies should use their own
resources. However, some Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are
reliant on support functions of the parent agency. In those cases, the
parent agency should consider assigning support function staff to
report to the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for
these purposes. Parent agency support functions supporting the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit would not have approval authority
unless the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit delegates
such authority to the support function. Without such delegated
authority, the support function should provide to the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit sufficient information and
analysis for the head of the agency to make an informed decision.
Proposed Sec. 1321.7--Objectivity
The third fundamental responsibility of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is to conduct objective and impartial statistical
activities. Impartial statistics are core to the concept of evidence-
based policymaking, which is based on the fundamental practice of using
facts to guide policies. To support rigorous decision-making actions,
data users need to be able trust that statistical outputs are
completely transparent and policy-neutral; they therefore need to rely
upon a Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's reputation as an
impartial source of information. The requirements described in Sec.
1321.7 to implement this responsibility can be divided into two related
categories: transparent application of rigorous and best scientific
methods to acquire, process, and disseminate data; and protection of
the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to control these
data processes free from undue influence from outside of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit. This section largely adopts several
provisions that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and parent
agencies are already following through their adherence to Directive No.
1.
Proposed Sec. 1321.7(a)(1) adopts the requirement in Directive No.
1 for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``produce data that
are impartial, clear, and complete and are readily perceived as such by
the public.'' \77\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\77\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.7(a)(2) adopts the provision in Directive No. 1
that the ``objectivity of the information released to the public is
maximized by making information available on an equitable, policy-
neutral, transparent, timely, and punctual basis.'' \78\
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\78\ Id.
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It is essential that all data users (e.g., the general public,
researchers, media, and private and non-profit entities) are provided
equitable access to data released by Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units. To achieve this, Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
shall provide documentation on dissemination policies with respect to
scheduling of statistical product releases, requests for special
tabulations, and information on data collection periods. Equitable
access should cover a variety of platforms keeping in mind ease of use
and that all data users should have access to the data at the same
time, with limited exceptions for targeted, specified purposes such as
the policies set forth in OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3.
Equitable access is meant to provide for delivery in a manner that does
not privilege any one person or group over another.
Proposed Sec. 1321.7(a)(3) adopts the requirement in Directive No.
1 for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``avoid even the
appearance that agency design, collection, processing, editing,
compilation, storage, analysis, release, and dissemination processes
may be manipulated. The actual and perceived credibility of Federal
statistics requires assurance that the selection of candidates for
statistical positions is based primarily on their scientific and
technical knowledge, credentials, experience, and integrity. Moreover,
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must maintain and develop in-
house staff who are trained in statistical methodology to properly
plan, design, and implement core data collection operations and to
accurately analyze their data.'' \79\
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\79\ Id.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.7(a)(4) adopts the requirement in Directive No.
1 for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to ``function in an
environment that is clearly separate and autonomous from the other
administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or policymaking activities
within their respective Departments.'' In particular, Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must be able independently determine how
to engage in statistical activities, including what information to
collect and process, how to secure and protect confidential statistical
data, which estimation methods to use, how to disseminate statistical
products, and who to hire.\80\ This provision is not meant as a
prohibition on parent agencies articulating data needs to Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units; instead, it is meant to clarify that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must be allowed to act
autonomously in their determinations of how to deliver on those
articulated data needs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\80\ Id.
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This longstanding policy in Directive No. 1, proposed in regulation
in this action, of ``functional separation'' reinforces the requirement
described in Sec. 1321.6(a)(3) to promote the objectivity of data
through ensuring integrity of the process for generating data. In
addition, functional separation between the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and parent agencies is vital to assure the public that
collection and handling of all confidential statistical data acquired
by a Recognized Statistical Agency or
[[Page 56725]]
Unit is consistent with CIPSEA 2018 and other applicable
confidentiality statutes. Under CIPSEA 2018, Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units cannot provide access to and must avoid the
appearance that individually identifiable data acquired by the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for exclusively statistical
purposes might be accessed for administrative, regulatory, or law
enforcement uses. Access to and use of confidential statistical data
managed by a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must be limited to
authorized employees and agents of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit who are legally prohibited from using the confidential statistical
data for any nonstatistical purpose. Functional separation bolsters a
culture and practice of respect for privacy and protection of
confidentiality.
Functional separation is also important for other aspects of the
data lifecycle, including determining the type of data to collect,
dedication of resources, and dissemination of statistical products.
Providing this functional separation to the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units across the data lifecycle promotes trust in the
resulting statistical data. The clear distinctions between the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and the parent agencies in this
work facilitates public perception and also the reality of those
decisions being made by the entity responsible for impartial, objective
statistical data, and not by entities with other missions and
responsibilities. However, functional separation is not meant as a
prohibition on parent agencies articulating data needs to Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units; instead, it is meant to clarify that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must be allowed to act
autonomously in their determinations of how to deliver on those
articulated data needs.
Of course, statistical products issued by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, which do not disclose confidential
statistical data, can be used to inform aggregate administrative,
regulatory, or law enforcement activity, which aligns with the
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's responsibility to produce and
disseminate relevant and timely statistical information.
Proposed Sec. 1321.7(b)(1) prohibits parent agencies, including
any other sub-agency, office, or unit outside the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, from requiring prior clearance of
statistical products, and allows Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to respond to questions from external stakeholders (e.g., data
users, the media, the Congress) about statistical products in a manner
that ensures appropriate consultation with the parent agency if
responses to questions from external stakeholders relate to policy,
budget, or management issues, in addition to matters affecting current
or future litigation. On December 17, 2010, the Director of the Office
of Science and Technology Policy issued a memorandum that called for
Executive departments and agencies to develop policies to ``ensure a
culture of scientific integrity,'' ``strengthen the actual and
perceived credibility of Government research,'' ``facilitate the free
flow of scientific and technological information, consistent with
privacy and classification standards,'' and ``establish principles for
conveying scientific and technological information to the public.''
\81\
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\81\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific
Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking, 86 FR 8845 (Feb. 10,
2021), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-02-10/pdf/2021-02839.pdf.
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At the time, the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
developed a Statement of Commitment to Scientific Integrity that
documents in a single place their response to the OSTP memorandum,\82\
which includes the following statement: ``Independence must include the
statistical agency having authority for professional decisions over the
scope, content, and frequency of data collected; analysis, or
publishing of the information; authority to release statistical
information without prior clearance; and adherence to predetermined
schedules for public release of statistical information.'' Because of
the fundamental responsibilities which Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units must uphold and their missions, it is critical that there be
no perceived or real interference with the dissemination of statistical
products or technical responses to questions from external
stakeholders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\82\ Principal Statistical Agencies, Statement of Commitment to
Scientific Integrity (2010), available at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/about/about-the-bureau/policies_and_notices/scientificintegrity/Scientific_Integrity_Statement_of_the_Principal_Statistical_Agencies.pdf.
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Proposed Sec. 1321.7(b)(2) requires parent agencies to ensure that
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are permitted to determine
and carry out methods for conducting statistical activities for
statistical purposes. Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must
function in an environment that is clearly separate and autonomous from
nonstatistical (administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or
policymaking) activities within their respective Federal Agency/
Department and must be able to conduct statistical activities
autonomously. Perceived or real influence on statistical activities by
a non-statistical agency interferes with the objectivity and
impartiality responsibilities of the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and could diminish trust in the resulting statistical data.
Note that this provision is not meant as a prohibition on parent
agencies articulating data needs to Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units; instead, it is meant to clarify that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must be allowed to act autonomously in their
determinations of how to deliver on those articulated data needs.
Proposed Sec. 1321.7(b)(3) implements the Evidence Act's
recognition that the responsibilities and authorities granted to the
newly created Chief Data Officers (CDOs) overlap with the authorities
and responsibilities essential to a Recognized Statistical Agency's or
Unit's ability to meet its fundamental responsibilities. Therefore
section 3520(d) requires that, to the extent necessary to comply with
statistical laws, the responsibilities granted to CDOs for data
governance and lifecycle data management must be delegated in writing
to the heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in order for
them to meet their fundamental responsibilities. The Chief Data Officer
of the agency shall defer to head of the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit regarding the necessary delegation of duties with respect to
any data acquired, maintained, or disseminated by the agency under
applicable statistical law including the authority to certify
information collection requests for the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit under the Paperwork Reduction Act.\83\
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\83\ See 44 U.S.C. 3520(d)(3); OMB M-19-23, at 24-25 & n.42.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed Sec. 1321.7(b)(4) and (5) require parent agencies to
allow Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to manage resources,
including confidential statistical data, in accordance with their
responsibility to conduct objective statistical activities. As outlined
above for proposed Sec. 1321.7 (a)(4), the functional separation
between Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and parent agencies
for this work fosters public trust in the work of the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units. In particular, data providers must be
able to clearly determine if they are providing data to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit or a parent
[[Page 56726]]
agency. There must be functional separation between the administrative,
regulatory, or law enforcement parent agency staff within the parent
agency and the work accomplished by the Recognized Statistical Agency's
or Unit's staff creating and supporting statistical products. For
example, IT specialists are critical partners in the production of
statistical products. Recognized Statistical Agencies' and Units' IT
systems are tasked with conducting and analyzing complex calculations,
interactions, and interdependencies that must be executed with
precision by IT specialists. It is helpful if IT specialists are
familiar with the statistical programs they support.
In consideration of the responsibility of objectivity as it relates
to the use of shared services (IT, printing, contracting, etc.), there
are different acceptable methods available to parent agencies and the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. However, methods must adhere to
the provisions in this regulation.
As one example, assigning personnel directly to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit affords the agency or unit a straight-
forward defense against claims that parent agency personnel have
unauthorized access to Principal Federal Economic Indicators or other
statistical products. When the numbers produced by a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit are handled from start to finish by the
employees/contractors of the Recognized Statistical Agencies or Unit
(and not those of the parent agency), the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit along with their parent agency are able to easily disprove
claims of falsified statistical products or inappropriate access to the
statistical products. If agency personnel from outside the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit are allowed access to systems responsible
for the production and dissemination of statistical products, they must
be subject to the same requirements and standards as employees/
contractors of Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units to ensure
protection against claims from the public of external manipulation and
inappropriate influence.
Another approach is for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
to enter into written agreements for shared services with parent
agencies that include requirements and controls that uphold the
fundamental responsibilities. These requirements and controls would
include that all personnel providing the shared service are subject to
the same requirements and standards as employees and contractors of
Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units (e.g., the personnel are
designated as ``agents'' of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit).
The parent agency adhering to the requirements and controls in the
agreement would provide the needed protections to prevent unauthorized
access and to ensure the statistical products are protected from
external manipulation and inappropriate influence.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8--Confidentiality
The fourth fundamental responsibility of Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units is to protect the trust of information providers by
ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their
data. Data providers rely upon Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to honor their commitments and statutory requirements to protect
the confidentiality of data providers' information and to ensure that
the confidential statistical data are used exclusively for statistical
purposes.
The Federal Statistical System is largely dependent on the
willingness of individuals; businesses; and Federal, State, local,
territorial, and Tribal governments to provide and allow their data to
be used for statistical purposes. For example, even the perception that
agencies responsible for regulating industries have unauthorized access
to data provided to Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units may have
a significant impact on survey response rates or on the willingness of
a private sector entity to enter into a contract with Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, and possibly thereby degrade data quality
for those Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units and trust from the
public. Directive No. 1 highlights the importance of protecting the
confidentiality of responses because it ``reduces public confusion,
uncertainty, and concern about the treatment and use of reported
information'' and articulates the importance of the ``organizational
climate'' by which Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units do their
work which builds and sustains the trust of the data providers.\84\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\84\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities of
Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units, 79 FR
71610 (Dec. 2, 2014), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-12-02/pdf/2014-28326.pdf.
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In addition to giving data providers confidence that their
confidential statistical data will be protected, these protections also
give the general public confidence that the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units will be responsible stewards of the large amounts of
sensitive information with which they are entrusted. The Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units must have the authority to determine the
tools, practices, and procedures employed to ensure the effective
security, including physical and logical security, of protect the
confidentiality of, and provide appropriate access to the confidential
statistical data. Such determination includes whether personnel such as
economists, statisticians, data scientists, IT specialists, and subject
matter experts who access confidential statistical data are to be
directly assigned to the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(a)(1) requires Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to appropriately secure all confidential statistical
data, by ensuring that any information systems containing confidential
statistical data employ effective barriers to appropriately restrict
access. Current OMB guidance \85\ requires Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to exercise supervision and control over agents
authorized to access confidential statistical data. They must rely upon
OMB and Department of Homeland Security-issued guidance on implementing
the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management
Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA),\86\ as amended and as codified at 44
U.S.C. 3551-3558, and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) standards \87\ used to identify the level of impact
and controls for maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of all information systems and all information collected
or maintained on behalf of a Federal agency or department. If a breach
of confidentiality does occur, Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units must follow requirements in law and policy, and establish
effective breach reporting procedures in consultation with appropriate
agency personnel.
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\85\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Implementation Guidance for Title V of the E-Government Act,
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
of 2002 (CIPSEA), 72 FR 33362 (June 15, 2007), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-06-15/pdf/E7-11542.pdf.
\86\ More information is available at https://www.cisa.gov/federal-information-security-modernization-act.
\87\ E. McCallister et al., Nat'l Inst. of Standards & Tech,
Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable
Information (2010), available at https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=904990.
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[[Page 56727]]
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(a)(2) requires Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to ensure that confidential statistical data are not
used for any nonstatistical purposes. Efforts to protect against
disclosure of confidential statistical data should include instituting
a statistical confidentiality disclosure review board, as part of a
broader confidentiality program that incorporates training and
knowledge sharing, that provides guidance, oversight, and approval for
disclosure limitation methods used for publication of data products in
a manner that maintains respondent confidentiality.
Ensuring that confidential statistical data is not used for any
nonstatistical purpose requires the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to have control over who gets access. This requires coordination
with the Chief Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer, maintaining
supervision over individuals authorized to have access, and employing
best practices to minimize the risk of disclosure.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(a)(3) and (4) require Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to communicate policies and procedures for ensuring
confidentiality with data providers through a variety of mechanisms in
order to maintain public trust.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(a)(5) specifies requirements for Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to maintain and develop access to
professional staff that are trained in statistical disclosure
limitation and restricted access mechanisms to maximize the protection
of the confidential statistical data for the entirety of the data
lifecycle. Access to well-trained professional staff are a critical
component of Recognized Statistical Agencies' and Units' ability to
meet their obligations to maintain confidentiality for respondents and
other data providers and participants, and crucial for making sure data
are used for exclusively statistical purposes.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(a)(6) requires Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units inform employees, contractors, and other approved
agents of the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units of the legal
requirements to protect confidential statistical data and the
associated penalties of willfully disclosing confidential statistical
data in an identifiable manner. This reinforces the commitment to
confidentiality by the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. Under
CIPSEA 2018, all Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are subject
to the criminal penalty in 44 U.S.C. 3572(f), which provides that any
officer, employee, or approved agents of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit who willfully discloses confidential statistical data in
an identifiable form is subject to fines and penalties, which include
being guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than 5
years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both. Other statistical laws
also include similar criminal provisions for willful disclosure.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(b)(1) requires parent agencies to ensure that
the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have the sole authority
to determine appropriate access to confidential statistical data.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units often ask individuals and
businesses to provide or grant access to information that is private,
sensitive, or proprietary. The requirements in this section are
designed to protect the trust necessary to facilitate the sharing of
sensitive information by ensuring the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units have the proper authority to protect confidential statistical
data.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(b)(2) requires parent agencies to implement
Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA)
authorities in a manner consistent with both FITARA and section 3563
and to exercise their authorities in a manner that enables, supports,
and facilitates the ability of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet their fundamental responsibilities. The goal of FITARA is
to eliminate duplication and waste in IT acquisition for the Federal
Government. Executive Order 13833: Enhancing the Effectiveness of
Agency Chief Information Officers \88\ and the associated implementing
regulations from the Office of Personnel Management, seek to enhance
the effectiveness of agency CIOs to modernize IT systems, execute IT
programs more efficiently, reduce cybersecurity risks, and serve the
American people well.
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\88\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President,
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Agency Chief Information Officers, 83
FR 23345 (May 18, 2018), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/05/18/2018-10855/enhancing-the-effectiveness-of-agency-chief-information-officers.
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These goals are critical to ensuring effective and efficient IT
systems across government. Furthermore, these goals, and the
authorities granted to agency CIOs under FITARA and associated
policies, do not conflict with the goals of the Evidence Act or with
the goals of this proposed regulation. Agency CIOs must ensure,
however, that the manner in which FITARA authorities are implemented
and exercised within agencies is consistent with both FITARA and
section 3563 and that they exercise their authorities in a manner that
enables, supports, and facilitates the ability of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to meet their fundamental
responsibilities.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(b)(3) seeks to ensure that parent agencies
enable, support, and facilitate the ability of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its obligations with respect to
protecting the privacy of information provided by respondents within
the larger privacy oversight role performed by the parent agency.
Proposed Sec. 1321.8(c) could serve as a substitute for other
sections of this regulation pertaining to the authority to protect
confidential statistical data. OMB requests comments both on whether
this process would meet the requirements under 44 U.S.C. 3563 as well
as which sections of this regulation this process might replace.
Protection of confidential statistical data from unauthorized
access and use is an essential authority that Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units must have in order to carry out their fundamental
responsibilities. CIPSEA 2018 obligates every Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to carry out the responsibility to ``protect the trust
of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive
statistical use'' of confidential statistical data. CIPSEA 2018 also
applies penalties for willful unauthorized disclosure of any
confidential statistical data in 44 U.S.C. 3572. It is inherent in the
responsibility to ensure confidentiality that the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit use the Congressionally established fines
and penalties to protect confidential statistical data and it is
inherent in the requirement for parent agencies to enable, support, and
facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units that parent
agencies support and enable the use of these fines and penalties.
Authority to determine which individuals are permitted to access
confidential statistical data must rest with the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit so that statutory penalties apply to
unauthorized disclosure of identifiable information. To exercise such
authority outside of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit creates
an unintended and harmful loophole to the penalty established in 44
U.S.C. 3572. This regulation would require that the entire agency
recognize and uphold the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit's
exclusive authority to determine who has access to confidential
statistical data. Importantly, Recognized Statistical
[[Page 56728]]
Agencies and Units may have agency-specific statistical laws that
provide penalties and those agencies should ensure that all appropriate
legal penalties apply to unauthorized disclosure of confidential
statistical data.
Additionally, exclusive authority sitting with the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to determine access underlies the commitment
made to confidential statistical data providers that the data be used
for exclusively statistical purposes. Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units have the necessary expertise to determine what constitutes
statistical purposes and Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are
statutorily obligated to keep the commitment. To exercise such
authority outside of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit could
undermine data providers' confidence in the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit's capacity to keep their commitments.
Several sections of this regulation would protect confidential
statistical data from unauthorized access by ensuring Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the sole authority to make
determinations about access to confidential statistical data. For
example, Sec. 1321.7(a)(4) provides Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units with exclusive authority for granting access to confidential
statistical data, Sec. 1321.7(b)(5) ensures Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units have the appropriate authority regarding access to
confidential statistical data, Sec. 1321.8(a)(1) requires Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units to restrict access to confidential
statistical data, and Sec. 1321.8(b)(1) requires parent agencies to
ensure Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have sole authority to
provide access to confidential statistical data by delegating any other
authority to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
Paragraph (c) provides a more detailed process to achieve the same
goal. Some Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units have sufficient
resources to maintain their own IT staff, equipment, and software. In
those cases, it is likely unnecessary for parent agency officials to
access confidential statistical data and a parent agency would not need
to do anything other than to ensure that those resources are maintained
and ensure that parent agency employees who are not designated as
agents understand they are not permitted to access confidential
statistical data. However, some Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units have a greater reliance on their parent agencies' IT
infrastructure. In those cases where Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units meet their obligations through reliance on parent agency
officials managing one or more aspects of IT security and such
officials need to access confidential statistical data for the limited
purposes of protecting that data from unauthorized access or otherwise
providing support services for statistical activities, this proposed
section lays out a process wherein the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit maintains authority to determine the standards for accessing the
data and authority to designate for who can access the data. The
process also provides transparency regarding the standards for access
and requires a coordinated effort between the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and the parent agency to ensure that the parent agency
has the access it needs to meet its responsibilities.
Paragraph (c) makes it clear the responsibility to ensure that the
data is protected from unauthorized access stretches across the entire
agency--including the responsibility to protect the data from
unauthorized access within the agency itself. The regulation would not
alter any other requirements for any agency officials to ensure that
data is protected from unauthorized access. Instead, it would simply
clarify that, given the sensitive nature of confidential statistical
data and the obligation to protect against disclosure and
nonstatistical use, the data receives an extra layer of security by
requiring any person outside of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to be designated by the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit as
an agent of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit should they
require access to confidential statistical data. This designation of
agents and limitation on access to anyone who is not an employee or
agent of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is necessary so that
everyone accessing the confidential statistical data is subject to the
same penalty for unauthorized disclosure, which is another layer of
security against misuse of the data. A requirement to be authorized to
access confidential data is not unique to confidential statistical
data. However, this process also ensures that if there are
disagreements or challenges the head of the agency and the Chief
Statistician of the United States are available and involved in
resolving the conflict.
Proposed Sec. 1321.9--Compliance Review
This regulation seeks to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, as well as the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information
collected for statistical purposes. History has shown that the ability
of Federal agencies to meet the requirements and responsibilities
described in the previous sections will depend on the creation of
institutional processes that result in meaningful incentives for
compliance.
This proposal offers three options to address the need for a
compliance review:
(A) ICSP Review: Option A would direct the ICSP to form a Peer
Review Committee, which will assess each Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit and its parent agency for compliance with this regulation.
(B) Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
(CIGIE) Review: Option B would direct the Council for Inspector General
Integrity and Efficiency to form a statistical audit committee, which
would designate certain Inspectors General as statistical auditors and
provide those statistical auditors with support, education, and
resources. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent
agency would be audited for compliance with this regulation.
(C) Inspector General Review: Option C would direct each Inspector
General of each parent agency containing a Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to conduct audits for compliance with this regulation.
Under any option, each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and
parent agencies would be reviewed at least once every three years,
which is consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act's requirement for
a review of information collections every three years. Each of these
three options includes requirements for transparency of the results of
the audits and tracking progress on addressing any identified
deficiencies. These options also each recognize the role of the Chief
Statistician of the United States in coordinating and overseeing the
Federal Statistical System and ensuring compliance with statistical
laws. None of the three options would authorize access to confidential
statistical data or related information systems unless such access was
in compliance with this regulation and any other applicable statutes.
Option A would direct the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
to form a Peer Review Committee (hereafter, ``the Committee'') under
the Council's role in advising and assisting the Director of OMB in
carrying out the Director's statistical policy and
[[Page 56729]]
coordination responsibilities, as described in section 3504(e) and
carried out by the Chief Statistician of the United States. The
Committee, in consultation with the Chief Statistician of the United
States, is required to develop and govern procedures to perform peer-
and/or self-assessments of each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and relevant associated parent agencies, at least once every three
years for compliance with the regulations proposed here, and to make
those assessments available to the public on the website of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in a timely manner. This does not
negate the ability of the Chief Statistician of the United States or
any other oversight body to lead or conduct other additional internal
or external oversight activities, as appropriate.
These proposed procedures are based on domestic and international
best practices and are consistent with requirements and best practices
from the National Academies, at the United Nations, within Eurostat,
and for the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico. For example, the
National Academies notes that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
``should have processes in place to support regular evaluations of
their major statistical programs and their overall portfolio of
programs. Such evaluations should include internal reviews by staff and
external reviews by independent groups.'' \89\ The United Nations'
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics implementation guidance
\90\ recommends that systematic quality assessments be performed, such
as self-assessments, peer reviews, or quality audits, or combinations
thereof. The Expert Group on National Quality Assurance Framework,
which was commissioned by the United Nations Statistical Commission
(UNSC), defines quality audits as a ``systematic, independent, and
documented process'' that seeks to obtain evidence about the quality of
statistical processes and to assess it objectively. The quality audits
seek to understand the extent to which ``policies, procedures, and
requirements on quality are fulfilled.'' UNSC defines peer reviews as
external audits aimed to ``assess a statistical process at a higher
level'' but not to check item by item requirement conformity.\91\
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\89\ Nat'l Acad. Sci., Eng'g, & Med., Principles and Practices
for a Federal Statistical Agency (7th ed. 2021), available at
https://www.nap.edu/read/25885/.
\90\ United Nations Statistics Division, Supplementing the
United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics:
Implementation Guidelines (2019), available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/50th-session/documents/BG-Item3b-FPOS-Implementation-guidelines-E.pdf.
\91\ United Nations Statistical Commission, Guidelines For The
Template For A Generic National Quality Assurance Framework (2012),
available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/docs-nqaf/GUIDELINES%208%20Feb%202012.pdf.
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The advantage of peer reviews over self-assessments is the use of
external experts. Compared to formal quality audits, peer reviews may
be less formal and broader while still meeting the goal of examining a
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's practices for compliance with
the Federal Statistical System's standards and practices.
The European Statistical System in particular has a long, well-
documented, and very transparent history of using peer reviews of
national statistics institutes. The objective of their peer reviews is
to ``review the compliance/alignment of the [European Statistical
System] with the Code of Practice and to help the statistical
authorities making up the [European Statistical System] to further
improve and develop the national statistical systems.'' \92\
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\92\ European Statistics System, Peer Reviews, available at
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/peer-reviews.
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To provide for transparency around the results of the assessments,
the Committee shall require publication of the results of the review on
the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's public website in a
timely manner. The Committee should consider whether all Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units should place the results of the reviews
in a standardized location on the public websites and should determine
how many business days after results are available to the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit that they are required to be posted on their
public website. Requiring transparency of the results is not unique to
the U.S.; the United Nations' Fundamental Principals of Official
Statistics Implementation Guide states that it is essential to the
trust and credibility of official statistics that ``any evaluation
reports and audits of statistical activities should be made public.''
\93\
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\93\ Friends of the Chair Group on the Implementation of the
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, U.N. Stat. Comm'n,
United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics:
Implementation Guidelines 66 (2015), available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/Implementation_Guidelines_FINAL_without_edit.pdf.
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Options B and C would require each agency that contains a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to undergo an audit of compliance
with these regulations by an Inspector General. Since 1978, Inspectors
General have been conducting audits of agencies to promote efficiency
and effectiveness of Federal programs. They are uniquely situated to
provide an objective and independent review of agency operations.
Given the unique nature of statistical laws and processes, both
options would require Inspectors General to consult with the Chief
Statistician of the United States to ensure consistent interpretation
and application of statistical laws and to promote a better
understanding of statistical processes. Option B would further
consistency and statistical expertise among Inspectors General by
requiring the establishment of a committee that would designate certain
Inspectors General as statistical auditors. This option would benefit
the Federal Statistical System and the Inspectors General community by
reducing the number of Inspectors General that need to develop the
specialized expertise in statistical laws and practices and reducing
the number of additional persons who may need to seek authorization to
access confidential statistical data and related information systems.
Under both options (B) and (C), the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall be considered a responsible official
for purposes of the statistical audit and shall be given an opportunity
to review and respond to the audit results.
F. Expected Impact of This Regulation
This proposed regulation applies to Federal agencies, and does not
impose requirements on individuals, businesses, associations,
organizations, or other private sector entities. The purpose of this
proposed regulation is largely to conform existing regulations,
policies, and practices to the new statutory requirements in the
Evidence Act, in particular for Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to meet fundamental responsibilities and for parent agencies to
enable, support, and facilitate the Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in meeting their fundamental responsibilities. These proposed
regulations fill in some policy gaps, but any regulatory decisions will
have a marginal impact on transfers, costs, and benefits, and this
proposed regulation goes no further than is necessary to implement the
statutory requirements of the Evidence Act. Without this proposed
regulation, it will be impossible for OMB to comply with its
obligations under the Evidence Act to promulgate regulations
implementing these new statutory provisions, and agencies will lack
guidance concerning how to effectuate their own obligations under the
Evidence Act.
[[Page 56730]]
Affected Agencies and Current Landscape
This proposed regulation affects the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units, as well as parent agencies, as defined in this
proposed regulation.
* Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units: As of this proposed
regulation, there are 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
which vary in size from around 50 full time employees to around 7,000
full time employees.\94\ Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units also
vary in position within their organizational units and reporting
structure.
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\94\ Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Office of the President,
Statistical Programs of the United States Government: Fiscal Years
2019/2020 (2020), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/statistical-programs-20192020.pdf.
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* Parent agencies: Parent agencies vary widely in size and
organizational structure.\95\ Because there is no authoritative source
on the number of Federal agencies, for the purposes of this proposed
regulation, OMB is counting the number of Federal agencies in the
following way:
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\95\ For example, the Department of Education has approximately
3,900 full time employees and the Department of Veterans Affairs has
approximately 342,000 full time employees. Also, there are parent
agencies that are smaller than the Department of Education. See
Office of Personnel Mgmt, Sizing Up the Executive Branch Fiscal Year
2017, available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/reports-publications/sizing-up-the-executive-branch-2016.pdf.
--24 CFO Act agencies
--36 other or independent agencies, taking the total number of agencies
in the Unified Agenda (60) \96\ and subtracting out the 24 CFO Act
agencies
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\96\ Office of Info. & Reg. Affairs, Exec Office of the
President, About the Unified Agenda https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/UA_About.myjsp (last visited May 1, 2023).
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--240 components of CFO Act agencies using an average of 10 components
per CFO Act agency (inclusive of the 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units)
Thus, for the purposes of this proposed regulation, there are 300
parent agencies. Note that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
can be considered parent agencies to other Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units under this proposed regulation.
OMB expects that Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are
generally already implementing most requirements of this proposed
regulation. However, OMB expects that the current landscape across
parent agencies varies widely. OMB expects that for some parent
agencies implementation of this proposed regulation will be resource
intensive; however, OMB also expects that some parent agencies already
have regulations, policies, and practices that align with a substantial
number of the requirements for this proposed regulation. Also, for many
parent agencies, implementation of this proposed regulation will not be
resource intensive and will be complete after reviewing this proposed
regulation--as many parent agencies are expected to not have any
regulations, policies, or practices that intersect with this proposed
regulation. Given the current landscape, OMB is uncertain the exact
number of Federal regulations, policies, and practices that will
require revision based on this proposed regulation.
Estimated Cost of Agencies Reviewing This Regulation
This proposed regulation will require Federal agencies to first
review this regulation. This step includes reading of the full
regulation and taking brief notes on possible intersections with parent
agency regulations, policies, and practices. It is likely that this
review will be performed by GS-14 Step 5 or equivalent staff within the
Federal agencies, as this review will require a deep understanding of
the parent agency's regulations, policies, and practices to understand
for which and how the parent agency's regulations, policies, and
practices intersect with this proposed regulation to inform the next
steps of reviewing and making revisions to those regulations, policies,
and practices. It is also likely that the staff will be based in the
Washington, DC, pay region, as many of the staff are likely to work for
the Federal agency headquarters locations. The hourly rate for a GS-14
Step 5 employee in the Washington, DC, region per the Office of
Personnel Management for calendar year 2023 is $71.88. OMB assumes that
the total dollar value of labor, which includes wages, benefits, and
overhead, is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate, resulting in a
value of $143.76 per hour.
OMB expects that for the 24 CFO Act agencies that a central office
would do the first review for all components, except Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, to identify which parts of the
regulation would apply to the different components. OMB expects this to
be resource intensive for the central office, but OMB expects review of
the regulation by components will be less intensive because of the work
done by the central office to target the components review. OMB expects
other agencies, independent agencies, and Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to do this review for their own agency.
Because of this tiered review process, review of this regulation is
expected to take different lengths of time for the different parent
agencies. In general, OMB expects it will take the central office for
the 24 CFO Act agencies on average 40 hours to do this review and
identify relevant parts of the regulation for its components. This
means it would cost $5,750.40 per agency and $138,009.60 across all 24
CFO Act agencies. For the 224 components except the Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, OMB expects this review to take on
average 7 hours. This average for components assumes a longer review
duration for parent agencies in the reporting structure and a much
shorter review duration for parent agencies not in the reporting
structure. This means it would cost $1,006.32 per agency and
$225,415.68 across all 224 components. For the 36 other agencies and
independent agencies, OMB expects this review to take an average of 16
hours. This means it would cost $2,300.16 per agency and $82,805.76
across all 36 other agencies and independent agencies. For the 16
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, OMB expects this review to
take on average 16 hours. This means it would cost $2,300.16 per agency
and $36,802.56 across all 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units.
Therefore, across the 300 Federal agencies, the Governmentwide cost
for reviewing this regulation would be $483,033.60.
Cost To Review the Regulation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Hours to Cost per
Type agencies review Cost per hour agency Total costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSAU............................ 16 16 $143.76 $2,300.16 $36,802.56
CFO Act Agencies--Central Office 24 40 143.76 5,750.40 138,009.60
[[Page 56731]]
Components of Departments, 224 7 143.76 1,006.32 225,415.68
except RSAUs...................
Other/Independents.............. 36 16 143.76 2,300.16 82,805.76
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Totals...................... 300 .............. .............. .............. 483,033.60
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Estimated Costs of Agencies Reviewing Their Own Regulations, Policies,
and Practices To Determine Necessary Action
After review of this regulation, parent agencies will then review
their own regulations, policies, and practices to determine necessary
action. This step may also require engagement across components of the
Federal agency, including with staff of any Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units in the organization.
Review of the regulations, policies, and practices will vary across
Federal agencies, depending on the number of regulations, policies, and
practices issued by the Federal agency. OMB splits Federal agencies
into four categories for this analysis:
(1) 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units,
(2) 32 parent agencies that are in the direct reporting structure
for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,\97\
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\97\ Reporting structures across the Government vary widely. As
such, some Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units report directly
to their agency's front office, while others report to one or more
interim agencies. Assuming for the 16 Recognized Statistical
Agencies or Units that on average there are two agencies in the
reporting structure, that means 32 parent agencies are included in
the direct reporting structure for this estimate.
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(3) 63 parent agencies that are not in the direct reporting
structure for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit but are likely
to have regulations, policies, or practices that require review,\98\
and
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\98\ OMB estimates that 25 percent of the remaining parent
agencies will likely have regulations, policies, or practices that
require review.
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(4) 189 parent agencies that are not in the direct reporting
structure for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit but are not
likely to have regulations, policies, or practices that require
review.\99\
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\99\ OMB estimates that the remaining 75 percent of parent
agencies will likely not have regulations, policies, or practices
that require review.
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OMB expects these four categories of Federal agencies will have
meaningfully different costs for reviewing their regulations, policies,
and practices. For all four categories, OMB is estimating the review
time on a per regulation, policy, or practice basis.
For category 1, OMB estimates it will take on average 4 hours for
an employee with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation,
policy, or practice to review and determine necessary action. OMB
expects 4 hours given their familiarity with and expectation that most
are already implementing most of the requirements of this regulation.
OMB expects on average that Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units
will have 10 regulations, policies, or practices to review. Therefore,
for each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, OMB estimates it will
cost $5,750.40 to review their regulations, policies, and practices.
Across all 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units, OMB estimates
it will cost $92,006.40.
For category 2, OMB estimates it will take on average 16 hours for
an employee with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation,
policy, or practice to review and determine necessary action. OMB
expects it to take more time for the parent agencies that are in the
direct reporting structure for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit because they are likely to have more intersecting regulations,
policies, and practices with this regulation. OMB expects on average
that parent agencies in the direct reporting structure for a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit will have 20 regulations, policies, or
practices to review. Therefore, for each parent agency that are in the
direct reporting structure for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit, OMB estimates it will cost $46,003.20 to review their
regulations, policies, and practices. Across all 32 parent agencies
that are in the direct reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, OMB estimates it will cost $1,472,102.40.
For category 3, OMB estimates it will take 8 hours for an employee
with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation, policy, or
practice on average to review and determine necessary action. OMB
expects it to take less time for these parent agencies than those that
are in the direct reporting structure for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, but more time than for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit. OMB expects on average that parent agencies that are
not in the direct reporting structure for the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit but are likely to have regulations, policies, or
practices that require review will have 10 regulations, policies, or
practices to review. Therefore, for each parent agency that are not in
the direct reporting structure for the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit but are likely to have regulations, policies, or practices that
require review, OMB estimates it will cost $11,500.80 to review their
regulations, policies, and practices. Across all 63 parent agencies
that are not in the direct reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit but are likely to have regulations,
policies, or practices that require review, OMB estimates it will cost
$724,550.40.
For category 4, OMB expects it to be very rare for an agency to
need to review their regulations, policies, or practices to determine
necessary action. Thus, OMB estimates the time spent on this on average
to be zero hours and therefore cost $0.
Costs To Review Agency Regulations, Policies, and Practices
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Category Number of Hours to Cost per policies to Cost per Total cost
agencies review hour review agency
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.............................. 16 4 $143.76 10 $5,750.40 $92,006.40
2.............................. 32 16 143.76 20 46,003.20 1,472,102.40
[[Page 56732]]
3.............................. 63 8 143.76 10 11,500.80 724,550.40
4.............................. 189 0 143.76 0 ........... ..............
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total...................... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... 2,288,659.20
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Costs of Agencies Revising Their Own Regulations, Policies,
and Practices Where Needed
Where determined necessary, Federal agencies will need to revise
regulations, policies, and practices because of this regulation. OMB
expects that revisions will range from relatively small and technical
to substantive and resource intensive, which means that the time
required to draft the revisions and execute the revisions to issue a
final update will vary. Similar to the previous analysis, OMB splits
the analysis of the estimated costs based on category of agency. The
following provides the analysis for expected costs for the drafting of
the revisions to regulations, policies, and practices.
For category 1, OMB estimates it will take on average 40 hours for
an employee with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation,
policy, or practice to draft the revisions appropriately. This is
because OMB expects that most of the regulations, policies, or
practices within the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units already
align with this proposed regulation, and OMB would expect the revisions
to be relatively small or technical. OMB expects that up to half of the
reviewed regulations, policies, and practices may require revisions.
Therefore, OMB expects on average 5 regulations, policies, or practices
to be revised based on this regulation. Per agency, this is expected to
be a total cost of $28,752.00, and across all of this category of
agency is expected to be $460,032.00.
For category 2, OMB estimates it will take on average 80 hours for
an employee with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation,
policy, or practice to revise it appropriately. OMB expects that parent
agencies that are in the direct reporting structure for the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit will have more regulations, policies, and
practices that will require more substantive revisions. In addition,
OMB expects a higher rate of regulations, policies, and practices to
require revision and estimates this at 75 percent of those reviewed.
Therefore, OMB expects on average 15 regulations, policies, or
practices to be revised based on this regulation. Per agency, this is
expected to be a total cost of $172,512.00, and across all of this
category of agency is expected to be $5,520,384.00.
For category 3, OMB estimates it will take on average 80 hours for
an employee with an average hourly cost of $143.76 per regulation,
policy, or practice to revise it appropriately. Similar to category 2,
OMB expects that when a regulation, policy, or practice requires
revision, it will be substantive. However, OMB expects a lower rate of
reviewed regulations, policies, and practices to require revision,
estimated that about 25 percent may require revisions. Therefore, OMB
expects on average 2.5--rounded up to 3--regulations, policies, or
practices to be revised based on this regulation. Per agency, this is
expected to be a total cost of $34,502.40, and across all of this
category of agency is expected to be $2,173,651.20.
For category 4, OMB expects it to be very rare for a regulation,
policy, or practice to require revision. Therefore, OMB expects on
average 0 policies to be revised and $0 expected cost.
Costs To Draft or Revise Regulations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours to Total cost
Category Number of Policies to draft Cost per Cost per across
agencies revise revisions hour agency category
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.............................. 16 5 40 $143.76 $28,752.00 $460,032.00
2.............................. 32 15 80 143.76 172,512.00 5,520,384.00
3.............................. 139 3 80 143.76 34,502.40 4,795,833.60
4.............................. 139 0 0 143.76 ........... ..............
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total...................... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... 8,154,067.20
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next, the Federal agencies will need to implement the draft
revisions, which includes steps such as gaining approval from the
appropriate authorities within the Federal agencies and issuing, if
relevant, publicly available updates of the affected regulations,
policies, and practices. OMB expects the majority of revisions to be to
policies and practices, and for it to be rare that a regulation require
revision. Finalizing revised policies and practices require far less
procedures than regulations. Thus, OMB on average expects that
finalizing the revisions of the regulations, policies, and practices to
be 80 hours per regulation, policy, or practice. For this analysis, OMB
assumes the same amount of time for all four categories of agencies
because procedures to finalize revisions to regulations, policies, and
practices should be relatively consistent across Federal agencies. To
account for the differing levels of engagement within Federal agencies
to approve the final revisions to regulations, policies, and practices,
OMB is using an average hourly rate equivalent for a Senior Executive
Service Level IV employee based in Washington, DC, which is $84.75. OMB
assumes that the total dollar value of labor, which includes wages,
benefits, and overhead, is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate,
resulting in a value of $169.52 per hour. Using the number of
regulations, policies, and practices that require revision from the
previous analysis, the costs by category of agency are as follows:
[[Page 56733]]
For category 1, the costs per agency are expected to be $67,808.00
and across all of this category of agencies is expected to be
$1,084,928.00.
For category 2, the costs per agency are expected to be $203,424.00
and across all of this category of agencies is expected to be
$6,509,568.00.
For category 3, the costs per agency are expected to be $40,684.80
and across all of this category of agencies is expected to be
$2,563,142.40.
For category 4, the costs per agency are expected to be $0 and
across all of this category of agencies is expected to be $0.
Costs To Finalize and Issue Revised Policies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours to
Number of Policies to finalize Cost per Cost per Total cost
Category agencies revise and issue hour agency across category
revisions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................. 16 5 80 $169.52 $67,808.00 $1,084,928.00
2............................. 32 15 80 169.52 203,424.00 6,509,568.00
3............................. 63 3 80 169.52 40,684.80 2,563,142.40
4............................. 189 0 0 169.52 ........... ...............
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total..................... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... 10,157,638.40
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, across the Federal Government, to review this regulation
and review and revise regulations, policies, and practices as needed to
meet the requirements of this regulation, the estimated costs total
$21,083,398.40.
Estimated Costs of the Options Proposed for the Compliance Review
This proposed regulation includes three options under consideration
for ensuring compliance with this proposed regulation.
For Option A: ICSP Peer Review Committee, the first step will be to
establish a Peer Review Committee. This proposed regulation does not
specify the structure of the Committee. To develop estimated costs, OMB
is assuming that the Committee would include 8 agencies, half the
number of current Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units. For this
purpose, OMB is using an average hourly rate equivalent for a Senior
Executive Service Level IV employee based in Washington, DC, which is
$84.75. OMB assumes that the total dollar value of labor, which
includes wages, benefits, and overhead, is equal to 200 percent of the
wage rate, resulting in a value of $169.52 per hour. OMB uses this rate
because it is likely that members of the Committee will be members of
the ICSP, which is made up largely of Senior Executive Service
employees. OMB estimates on average that each member would spend about
96 hours per year dedicated to the startup and ongoing work of the
Committee. Therefore, OMB estimates that this step will cost $16,273.92
per agency and $130,191.36 across the full Committee.
Annual Cost for ICSP Peer Review Committee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours per year Annual cost per Total annual cost
Number of agencies (1 staff per dedicated to Cost per hour agency to of full committee
agency) committee work participate to participate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8..................................... 96 $169.52 $16,273.92 $130,191.36
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then, OMB estimates costs by activity for each of the assessments
across the 3-year timeframe. Over the 3-year timeframe, OMB expects all
16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to have an assessment and
that on average time spent for each agency on this participation would
be 640 hours. OMB expects this participation to be done on average by
employees at a GS-14 Step 5 in the Washington, DC, region, which
results in a cost of $143.76 per hour. This results in an expected
average cost per agency of $92,006.40 and across all agencies of
$1,472,102.40. In addition, OMB expects the 32 parent agencies in the
reporting structure for Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to
participate in the assessment. Over the 3-year timeframe, on average
OMB expects each to spend 320 hours participating in the assessment.
OMB expects this participation to be done on average by employees at a
GS-14 Step 5 in the Washington, DC, region, which results in a cost of
$143.76 per hour. This results in an expected average cost per agency
of $46,003.20 and across all agencies $1,472,102.40. Then, OMB expects
all 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to publish a summary
of findings on their website and estimates on average that publication
to take 2 hours of time by an employee with a cost of $143.76 per hour.
This results in expected costs of $286.52 per agency and $4,600.32
across all agencies. For the next two activities, OMB is using an
average hourly rate equivalent for a Senior Executive Service Level IV
employee based in Washington, DC, which is $84.75. OMB assumes that the
total dollar value of labor, which includes wages, benefits, and
overhead, is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate, resulting in a
value of $169.52 per hour. For the Chief Statistician Engagement
activity, it is expected that all 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units will need to participate and that on average each agency's
engagement would require 8 hours of the time of the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and 8 hours of time of the Chief
Statistician of the United States for a total of 16 hours per agency.
This engagement would only occur once per agency over the 3-year
timeframe, and would cost $2,712.32 per agency and $43,397.12 across
all agencies. Finally, the Committee will be required to do some
additional work to govern the assessments in addition to their time
doing Committee activities. OMB estimates on average that each of the 8
Committee agencies would spend 4 hours per month governing assessments,
which results in a total of 144 hours
[[Page 56734]]
across the 3-year timeframe. This results in an estimated cost of
$24,410.88 per agency and $195,287.04 across the Committee agencies.
Cost of ICSP Peer Review Committee Assessments of RSAU & Parent Agencies Over 3-Year Cycle
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours per Cost per Total cost
Activity Number of agency across Cost of per agency to across all
agencies 3 years hour participate agencies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSAU Participation in Assessment........ 16 640 $143.76 $92,006.40 $1,472,102.40
Parent Agencies in Reporting Structure 32 320 143.76 46,003.20 1,472,102.40
Participation in Assessment............
Publish Summary of Findings............. 16 2 143.76 287.52 4,600.32
Chief Statistician Engagement in 16 16 169.52 2,712.32 43,397.12
Deficiencies...........................
Committee Engagement to Govern 8 144 169.52 24,410.88 195,287.04
Assessments............................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Option B: Statistical Auditors Review, OMB estimates similar
steps and estimates of time and costs as Option A. OMB similarly does
not describe the structure of such a committee, and assumes 8 agencies
would be on the committee for this purpose. OMB uses the higher
employee cost of $169.52 for the committee time as well.
Annual Cost for CIGIE Statistical Audit Committee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours per year Annual cost per Total annual cost
Number of agencies (1 staff per dedicated to Cost per hour agency to of full committee
agency) committee work participate to participate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8..................................... 96 $169.52 $16,273.92 $130,191.36
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Similarly, OMB breaks down this option by activity steps to
determine estimated costs. OMB expects participation in the assessment,
publishing a summary of findings, and Chief Statistician engagement to
be the same estimated costs as Option A. OMB also estimates the
additional time the CIGIE statistical auditors spend governing the
assessments would be similar to the Option A estimates for the
committee. The table below provides more details:
Cost of CIGIE Committee Statistical Audits of RSAU & Parent Agencies Over 3-Year Cycle
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours per Total cost per Total cost
Activity Number of agency across Cost per agency to across all
agencies 3 years hour participate agencies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSAU Participation in Assessment..... 16 640 $143.76 $92,006.40 $1,472,102.40
Parent Agencies in Reporting 32 320 143.76 46,003.20 1,472,102.40
Structure Participation in
Assessment..........................
Publish Summary of Findings.......... 16 2 143.76 287.52 4,600.32
Chief Statistician Engagement in 16 16 169.52 2,712.32 43,397.12
Deficiencies........................
CIGIE Statistical Auditors Committee 8 144 169.52 24,410.88 195,287.04
Engagement in Addition to Committee
Work................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Option C: Inspectors General Review, OMB does not expect a
committee to be formed, so there would be no associated costs. This is
in contrast to both Options A and B. OMB does expect most of the
activities to remain as similar time and cost estimates to Options A
and B. The difference from Options A and B is in the last activity.
Instead of the Committee (Option A) or the CIGIE Statistical Auditors
(Option B) having additional work to govern the assessments, OMB
expects inspectors general (IGs) to incur time and costs engaging for
these assessments. OMB estimates that over the 3-year timeframe all 16
separate assessments will need to occur and for each IGs will spend on
average 216 hours across the 3 years. Thus, OMB expects for this
activity the cost per agency to be $36,616.32 and across all agencies
to be $585,861.12.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours per Total cost per Total cost
Activity Number of agency across Cost per agency to across all
agencies 3 years hour participate agencies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSAU participation in assessment..... 16 640 $143.76 $92,006.40 $1,472,102.40
Parent Agencies in Reporting 32 320 143.76 46,003.20 1,472,102.40
Structure Participation in
Assessment..........................
Publish Summary of Findings.......... 16 2 143.76 287.52 4,600.32
Chief Statistician Engagement in 16 16 169.52 2,712.32 43,397.12
Deficiencies........................
IG Engagement........................ 16 216 169.52 36,616.32 585,861.12
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 56735]]
In sum, OMB expects Options A and B to have similar estimated costs
to the Government at $3,317,680.64. OMB expects Option C to cost
$3,578,063.36.
Regulatory Alternatives
For the most part, the changes reflected in OMB's proposed
implementing regulations are required by statute and cannot be avoided
or further simplified. Some regulatory alternatives include:
(1) Handling compliance review. OMB details three options for
proposed compliance review requirements. Each of these options
leverages different expertise and has different costs. Another option
is to completely remove this compliance review from the regulation.
Having the ICSP Peer Review Committee perform the compliance review
provides for those most familiar with statistical laws to assess the
compliance with this statistical regulation. However, this may
influence the results of the assessments to lean more on whether parent
agencies are in compliance than whether Recognized Statistical Agencies
or Units are in compliance. Having a group of CIGIE statistical
auditors do this assessment for compliance removes either set of
agencies subject to this regulation from being part of the assessment.
There is risk, however, at least in the early years after the effective
date of this regulation, that these CIGIE statistical auditors may not
be familiar enough with statistical laws to perform the assessments
with a high degree of accuracy. This risk decreases over time as this
group of auditors becomes more familiar with the statistical laws and
develops standard assessment procedures. Having the IGs do this
assessment for compliance also removes the possibility that an agency
subject to this regulation could be part of the assessment. However,
this approach does not provide a mechanism for IGs to develop a
standard assessment practice over time and means the risk of IGs not
being familiar enough with statistical laws remains a risk over time as
well. Removing the compliance review aspect of this regulation would
reduce the costs of this regulation; however, this would also remove
the ability of the Chief Statistician of the United States to assess
governmentwide implementation of this regulation. It would also remove
the ability of the public to see where Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units are complying with this regulation and where improvements are
needed. This poses a risk to the trust of the public in the work of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, which undermines the intent
of this regulation.
(2) Changing timeline for agencies to revise regulations, policies,
and practices. Currently, this regulation proposes for these revisions
to occur within 1 year of the effective date of this regulation.
However, this timeline could be extended to 2 years, which would
decrease the annual costs detailed in the prior section and spread
those costs over 2 years instead of 1. An extended timeline would
further exacerbate the timeline to realize the full potential of the
Evidence Act, and risk the public's trust in the work of the Federal
Statistical System. Speeding up the timeline would likely be infeasible
given the resources required to implement the regulation's
requirements.
(3) Preventing unauthorized disclosure of confidential statistical
data. The proposed regulation offers specific provisions to prevent
unauthorized disclosure of confidential statistical data, but offers a
broader alternative approach that provides for overarching authority
and responsibility for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for
all access to confidential statistical data. Each approach meets the
requirements of the Evidence Act.
Benefits
These proposed regulations promote trust in the work of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units, which ultimately promotes trust in the
data used by policymakers to inform their decisions. Any loss of trust
in the accuracy, objectivity, or integrity of the Federal Statistical
System and its statistical products has the potential to cause
uncertainty about the validity of measures the Nation uses to monitor
and assess its performance, progress, and needs, as well as undermine
the public's confidence in the information released by the Government.
In addition, these proposed regulations provide transparency and
clarity to parent agencies and the public alike about how best a parent
agency can enable, support, and facilitate the work of Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units.
The compliance review is a tool to ensure Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units and parent agencies are accountable to the
provisions of this proposed regulation. This means that the compliance
review enhances the benefits of the rest of the regulation. Each option
offers a different approach, but the resulting benefits of each should
be the same.
OMB seeks public comment on additional benefits of these proposed
regulations.
G. Regulatory Procedures
Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' and Executive
Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review''
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess all
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public
health and safety effects, distribute impacts, and equity). Executive
Order 13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and
benefits, of reducing costs, of harmonizing rules, and of promoting
flexibility. This proposed rule is a significant regulatory action
under E.O. 12866.
Public Law 104-4, ``Unfunded Mandates Reform Act'' (2 U.S.C. 1501-1571)
This proposed rule is not subject to the Unfunded Mandates Reform
Act because it does not contain a Federal mandate that may result in
the expenditure by state, local, and Tribal governments, in the
aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100M or more in any one year.
Public Law 96-354, ``Regulatory Flexibility Act'' (5 U.S.C. 601-612)
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget has certified
that this proposed rule is not subject to the Regulatory Flexibility
Act because it does not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The proposed rule implements the
fundamental responsibilities for statistical agencies and units and
requires other Federal agencies to support, enable, and facilitate
statistical agencies and units in meeting their fundamental
responsibilities. Thus, the proposed rule would have no direct effect
on non-governmental entities, including small businesses.
Public Law 96-511, ``Paperwork Reduction Act'' (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520)
This proposed rule does not impose reporting or recordkeeping
requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). However,
if in accordance with any of the requirements proposed in this rule an
agency were to determine a need to implement a reporting or
recordkeeping requirement subject to the PRA, the agency should, on
their own accord, comply with the requirements of the PRA.
[[Page 56736]]
Executive Order 13132, ``Federalism''
Executive Order 13132 establishes certain requirements that an
agency must meet when it promulgates a rule that imposes substantial
direct requirement costs on state and local governments, preempts state
law, or otherwise has federalism implications. This proposed rule will
not have a substantial effect on state and local governments, or
otherwise have federalism implications.
List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 1321
Statistics.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Office of Management
and Budget proposes to amend 5 CFR chapter III, subchapter B by adding
part 1321 to read as follows:
PART 1321--RESPONSIBILITIES OF RECOGNIZED STATISTICAL AGENCIES AND
UNITS
Sec.
1321.1 Purpose.
1321.2 Definitions.
1321.3 General provisions.
1321.4 The four fundamental responsibilities.
1321.5 Relevance and timeliness.
1321.6 Credibility and accuracy.
1321.7 Objectivity.
1321.8 Confidentiality.
1321.9 Compliance review.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3563.
Sec. 1321.1 Purpose.
This part is issued under the authority of the Budget and
Accounting Procedures Act of 1950,\1\ the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995,\2\ the Information Quality Act,\3\ and title III of the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, also known as the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of
2018 (CIPSEA 2018).\4\ The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in
its role as coordinator of the Federal Statistical System under the
Paperwork Reduction Act, is required to ensure the efficiency and
effectiveness of the system, as well as the integrity, objectivity,
impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information collected
and/or used for statistical purposes. This part is issued to meet the
requirements under 44 U.S.C. 3563(c) and to strengthen and support the
quality of Federal statistical information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 31 U.S.C. 1104(d).
\2\ 44 U.S.C. 3504.
\3\ Information Quality Act, Treasury and General Government
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, sec. 515, Public Law 106-
554, 114 Stat. 2763A-154 (2000).
\4\ 44 U.S.C. 3561-3583.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec. 1321.2 Definitions.
For purposes of implementing 5 U.S.C. 314 and all of title III of
the Evidence Act the following terms, as used in this part, are defined
as follows:
(a) The term accurate, when used with respect to statistical
activities, means statistics are correct and consistently match the
events and trends being measured.
(b) The term agency means any entity that falls within the
definition of the term executive agency, as defined in 31 U.S.C. 102,
or agency, as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502.
(c) The term confidentiality means a quality or condition accorded
to information as an obligation not to disclose that information to an
unauthorized party.
(d) The term confidential statistical data means any information
that is acquired for exclusively statistical purposes and under an
obligation not to disclose the information to an unauthorized party.
(e) The term data users denotes individuals or groups of
individuals who use Federal statistical information.
(f) The term dissemination means the government-initiated
distribution of information to a nongovernment entity, including the
public. The term dissemination, does not include distribution limited
to Federal Government employees, intra-agency or interagency use or
sharing of Federal information, or responses to requests for agency
records under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) or the
Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a).
(g) The term equitable access means that statistical products are
disseminated in a manner that does not privilege any one person or
group over another, with exceptions only as provided in other statutes,
or regulations, or Office of Management and Budget promulgated policies
or guidance promulgated by the Office of Management and Budget.
(h) The term fundamental responsibilities means the
responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units listed in
44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1).
(i) The term identifiable form means any representation of
information that permits the identity of the individual or entity to
whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct
or indirect means.
(j) The term information provider denotes members of the public;
other agencies of the Federal Government; and organizations outside of
the Federal Government, such as State, territorial, Tribal, and local
governments, businesses, and other organizations or entities, that
provide information to a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(k) The term information means any communication or representation
of knowledge such as facts or data, in any medium or form, including
textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audiovisual
forms. This definition includes information that an agency disseminates
from a web page, but does not include the provision of hyperlinks to
information that others disseminate. This definition does not include
opinions, where the agency's presentation makes it clear that what is
being offered is someone's opinion rather than fact or the agency's
views.
(l) The term information system means a discrete set of information
resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use,
sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information;
(m) The term integrity, when used with respect to statistical
information, refers to the quality of information that is protected
against improper modification or destruction, and includes ensuring
information nonrepudiation and authenticity.
(n) The term nonstatistical purpose:
(1) Means the use of data in identifiable form for any purpose that
is not a statistical purpose, including any administrative, regulatory,
law enforcement, adjudicatory, or other purpose that affects the
rights, privileges, or benefits of a particular identifiable
respondent; and
(2) Includes the disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552 of data that are
acquired for exclusively statistical purposes under an obligation of
confidentiality.
(o) The term objective, when used with respect to statistical
activities, means accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased.
(p) The term parent agency means each agency and every
organizational level within the agency, including sub-agencies,
offices, components, or units within the agency, as well as the highest
organizational level of such agency and excluding the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in any agency with more than one Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
is considered a parent agency to any other Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit. This term is meant to apply to the full organizational
structure.
(q) The term Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit (also referred
to as statistical agency or unit) means an agency or organizational
unit of the
[[Page 56737]]
executive branch whose activities are predominantly the creation or
collection, processing, dissemination, use, storage, and disposition of
data for statistical purposes, as designated by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3562.
(r) The term reference date is the time period to which data refer.
(s) The term relevant, when used with respect to statistical
information, means processes, activities, and other such matters likely
to be useful to policymakers and public and private sector data users.
(t) The term respondent means a person who, or organization that,
is requested or required to supply information to an agency, is the
subject of information requested or required to be supplied to an
agency, or provides that information to an agency.
(u) The term statistical activities:
(1) Means the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of
data for the purpose of describing or making estimates concerning the
whole, or relevant groups or components within the economy, society, or
the natural environment, and
(2) Includes the development of methods or resources that support
those activities, such as measurement methods, models, statistical
classifications, or sampling frames.
(v) The term statistical information means information produced
from statistical activities.
(w) The term statistical laws means 44 U.S.C. chapter 35,
subchapter III, and other laws pertaining to the protection of
information collected for statistical purposes as designated by the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(x) The term statistical press release is an announcement to media
of a statistical product release that contains the title, subject
matter, release date, and internet address of, and other available
information about the statistical product, as well as the name of the
statistical agency issuing the product, and may include any executive
summary information or key findings section as shown in the statistical
product. A statistical press release must provide a policy neutral
description of the data and may not include policy pronouncements.
(y) The term statistical products refers to information
dissemination products that are published or otherwise made available
for public use that describe, estimate, forecast, or analyze the
characteristics of groups, customarily without identifying the persons,
organizations, or individual data observations that comprise such
groups. Statistical products include general-purpose tabulations,
analyses, projections, forecasts, or other statistical reports.
Statistical products include products of any form, including both
printed and electronic forms.
(z) The term statistical purpose:
(1) Means the description, estimation, or analysis of the
characteristics of groups, without identifying the individuals or
organizations that comprise such groups, and
(2) Includes the development, implementation, or maintenance of
methods, technical or administrative procedures, or information
resources that support the purposes described in paragraph (z)(1) of
this section.
(aa) The term support function means a core function of an agency
that supports the programmatic functions in achieving the agency's
mission, including legal, human resources, communications, legislative
affairs, budget, information technology (IT), or procurement functions.
(bb) The term timeliness or timely refers to the dissemination of
statistical products and information at their scheduled release time,
or in instances where there is no scheduled release time, the
dissemination of statistical products or information as close to the
event being measured as possible.
(cc) The term transparent means characterized by providing as much
information about the quality of and methods used to produce
statistical products as practicable without compromising
confidentiality.
Sec. 1321.3 General provisions.
(a) This part should be read as complimentary to existing OMB
guidance or Statistical Policy Directives to the extent they are
consistent. This part supersedes any Statistical Policy Directives in
effect [EFFECTIVE DATE OF FINAL RULE], to the extent that they
conflict.
(b) Responsibilities assigned to the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units under this part are ultimately the responsibility of
the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, or their
designee, unless otherwise specified.
(c) Responsibilities assigned to a parent agency under this part
are ultimately the responsibility of the head of the agency, or their
designee, unless otherwise specified.
(d) To the extent that a parent agency or Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit determines that it is either appropriate or necessary to
deviate from a standard parent agency-level process to ensure
compliance with this part, the parent agency and the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall discuss and determine the
appropriateness of how to address such deviation, including determining
where responsibility lies for compliance with other applicable laws and
regulations.
Sec. 1321.4 The four fundamental responsibilities.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are charged with the
four fundamental responsibilities. Parent agencies are directed to
enable, support, and facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in carrying out the four fundamental responsibilities.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall maintain a
website clearly branded with the name of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to provide information to information providers, data
users, and the general public.
(1) The head of each parent agency shall ensure its Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit has:
(i) Sufficient resources to develop and maintain its website;
(ii) The necessary authority and autonomy to determine the content,
functionality, appearance, and layout of its website; and
(iii) The capacity to directly update the content, functionality,
appearance, and layout of the website without reliance on any parent
agency official unless the official is directly assigned to the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(2) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall make available
to the public on the website required under this paragraph (b):
(i) A mission statement that clearly describes the purpose of the
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's statistical programs and
their commitment to each of the four fundamental responsibilities;
(ii) A strategic plan that is consistent with the requirements in 5
U.S.C. 306, which:
(A) Describes the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's goals
and provides specific, measurable objectives and performance metrics;
and
(B) Is reassessed no less than every four years alongside and in
alignment with the parent agency's strategic plans;
(iii) A list of relevant legislation, regulation, and policies or
management orders, including those defining organizational placement,
that govern the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to
maintain its commitment to these four fundamental responsibilities;
(iv) Each policy or standard required under this part; and
[[Page 56738]]
(v) Any other information as determined by the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(c) For the heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to
bear the responsibilities given to them under 44 U.S.C. 3563, they
shall have the appropriate resources with respect to their statistical
products and statistical information.
(1) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall produce a
budget request specific to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
that is fully compliant with the requirements of OMB Circular A-11, to
be included independently (i.e., clearly presented as the request for
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit with figures and
justification specific to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit) as
part of the highest organizational unit's annual budget submission and
process, and participate directly, accompanied by the highest
organizational unit as appropriate, in presenting their agency specific
request to the Office of Management and Budget;
(2) If a parent agency or a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
identifies (e.g., through the agency capacity assessment or other
means) that the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit lacks sufficient
resources to carry out the responsibilities set forth in this part,
then, to the extent practicable, the parent agency that contains that
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, should be made the necessary
resources available to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. If
the necessary resources cannot be made available, the parent agency and
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must notify OMB within 60
days.
(3) When a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit relies on a
support function of the parent agency:
(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall, to the
greatest extent possible, allocate labor resources to ensure a one or
more employees, depending on the size of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit, are knowledgeable of the support function, its policies
and processes, and best practices for interacting with such support
function.
(ii) The parent agency shall:
(A) Designate at least one employee of each support function to
serve as a liaison for the Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit; and
(B) Ensure each designated employee is knowledgeable of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its fundamental
responsibilities and is capable of effective intra-agency
communication.
(iii) The parent agency's support function and the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit shall work collaboratively to ensure the
function meets the needs of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
in a manner to that complies with this part and all applicable laws.
Option A for Paragraph (c)(4)
(4)(i) Each parent agency shall when providing any service to a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, enter into a written agreement
if requested by the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, and provide
the service in conformance with agreed upon requirements. If unable to
meet those requirements, permit the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to obtain (via contracts, other agreements, or hiring) and to
directly oversee any support services required to fulfill their
statistical mission and responsibilities.
(ii) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall explicitly
define requirements needed to uphold these responsibilities for any
service provided by another agency or entity, such as centralized IT,
contracting, or acquisitions services. If needed, document these
requirements within service-level agreements with the agencies and
organizations that provide those services. To meet this requirement,
Recognized Statistical Agency or Units shall interact directly with all
appropriate officials within the parent agency who are officially
responsible for and have expertise in acquisition planning and
contracting, including Contracting Officers.
(iii) Each parent agency shall consult with Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units before making awards for services and software that
would impact Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to avoid binding
actions and decisions that would conflict with the Recognized
Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to carry out its
responsibilities.
Option B for Paragraph (c)(4)
(4) Prior to making or renewing an award for services or software
that will directly affect a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit's
ability to meet the fundamental responsibilities, the relevant parent
agency official shall consult with the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit to avoid binding actions and decisions that
would conflict with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit's ability
to carry out its fundamental responsibilities.
(i) The relevant parent agency official shall ensure that the
service or software is sufficient for the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit to meet its requirement to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities. The head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall clearly communicate the needs of the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit to meet its requirement to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities. If requested by the relevant parent agency official,
the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall provide a
written list explicitly defining the requirements needed of the service
or software to meet its requirement to carry out its fundamental
responsibilities.
(ii) If requested by the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency
or Unit, the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and the
head of the office providing the service or software shall enter into a
written agreement, and the parent agency shall provide the service or
software in accordance with such agreement.
(iii) The Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit may obtain the
service or software separately from the parent agency if:
(A) They are unable to reach an agreement; or
(B) At any point in time, the parent agency is unable to provide
the service or software in accordance with the agreement.
(iv) If the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit determines it is
necessary to obtain services or software separately from the parent
agency, the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall notify the head
of the agency. The head of the agency shall make necessary resources
available or notify OMB pursuant paragraph (c)(2) of this section.
(d) For the heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to
bear the responsibilities given to them under 44 U.S.C. 3563, they
shall have the appropriate decision-making authority with respect to
their statistical products, statistical information, and statistical
activities.
(1) Unless prohibited by statute, when a statute, regulation, or
policy, authorizes any other agency official to make determinations
directly affecting the ability of a Recognized Statistical Agencies or
Unit to carry out the fundamental responsibilities, the authorized
official may delegate that responsibility in writing to the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit.
(2) To the extent permissible under law, the individual to whom a
responsibility has been delegated under paragraph (d)(1) of this
section shall
[[Page 56739]]
consult with the delegating official in carrying out such
responsibility.
(3) If the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit determines that
delegation is necessary to carry out its fundamental responsibilities,
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall notify the head of the
parent agency.
(4) In making a determination regarding delegation under this
paragraph (d), the head of the parent agency shall:
(i) Consider the needs of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and ensure it has all necessary and appropriate authority to carry out
its fundamental responsibilities; and
(ii) Ensure the decision is consistent with the government-wide
application and interpretation of statistical laws and may consult with
the Chief Statistician of the United States.
(e) In consultation with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
each parent agency shall:
(1) Consistent with statutory obligations, revise any regulations,
policies, practices or organizational structures that impede a
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's ability to meet its statutory
responsibilities;
(2) Consider these responsibilities when new regulations, policies,
practices, organizational structures, or budgets are developed; and
(3) Ensure that agency regulations, policies, practices, and
agreements support the ability of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units to:
(i) Present and maintain accurate information;
(ii) Make timely corrections or updates to their statistical
products or data when the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
determine such updates are needed; and
(iii) Meet its responsibility for producing relevant and timely
statistical products.
(f) The Office of Management and Budget shall implement its
authorities and responsibilities under 44 U.S.C. chapter 35 in a manner
that enables, supports, and facilitates Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units in carrying out their fundamental responsibilities in a
manner consistent with this part. This shall include delegating the
following responsibilities to the Chief Statistician of the United
States appointed under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7):
(1) The review and approval of proposed collections of information
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget by Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units;
(2) The authority to perform the functions described in 44 U.S.C.
3504(e);
(3) The coordination and oversight of confidentiality and
disclosure policies established in 44 U.S.C. 3562; and
(4) The authority to carry out any of the functions or
responsibilities in the regulations in this part or policies
promulgated under 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, subchapter III.
Sec. 1321.5 Relevance and timeliness.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to produce and disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information. Parent agencies shall enable, support, and
facilitate Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in carrying out
their responsibility to produce and disseminate relevant and timely
statistical information. Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units
shall determine what statistical products to disseminate, including in
the context of the Standard Application Process required under 44
U.S.C. 3583; the content of their statistical products; and the timing
of disseminations.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall continually
seek to understand the diverse interests and needs of policymakers,
current and future data users, and the public to ensure statistical
products are relevant.
(1) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall:
(i) Consult with parent agency officials to assess and seek
improvements to the relevance of its statistical products to users'
needs and to inform what statistical products to produce and
disseminate;
(ii) Consult with other data users to assess and seek improvements
to the relevance of its statistical products to users' needs and to
inform what statistical products to produce and disseminate;
(iii) Be knowledgeable about programs and policies relating to
their subject domains;
(iv) Coordinate and communicate across agencies when planning
information collections and dissemination activities; and
(v) Keep abreast of interests and analytical goals of data users.
(2) Parent Agencies shall:
(i) Share relevant policy and program needs with sufficient detail
to allow the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to be responsive to
those needs;
(ii) Consult with Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units as part
of their stakeholder engagement process when developing the agency
learning agendas, required under 5 U.S.C. 312, in alignment with OMB
guidance; and
(iii) Allow Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units to establish,
determine the membership of, and manage advisory groups or other means
of systematic stakeholder engagement, in accordance with applicable
law.
(c) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall maximize the
timeliness of statistical products by minimizing the time interval
between the release of statistical products and the reference date to
the extent practicable, considering available resources and the effects
on the other quality dimensions of the information products. Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units shall consult with parent agencies
regarding the availability of relevant support functions required to
support the release of statistical products. Parent agencies shall
support efforts to maximize timeliness of statistical products by
ensuring Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are aware of any
emerging needs and providing necessary resources to respond to such
emerging need. In any instance where a parent agency observes that a
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has failed to maximize the
timeliness of statistical products by minimizing the interval between
the release of the statistical products and the reference date to the
extent practicable, the head of the parent agency shall notify the
Chief Statistician of the United States.
(d) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall publicly
announce and adhere to a schedule for the release of statistical
products.
(1) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall:
(i) Publish the schedule on the website required under Sec.
1321.4;
(ii) Publish schedules containing the date of release of its
regular and recurring statistical products for the next calendar year
prior to the beginning of that calendar year;
(iii) Publish the date for release of non-regular or non-recurring
statistical products as soon as the date is established;
(iv) Designate an office that is responsible for providing the
release schedule and make its contact information readily available to
the public on the website required under Sec. 1321.4;
(v) Minimize changes to the release schedule after it has been
published to accommodate only special, unforeseen circumstances; and
(vi) If needed after the schedule has been published, publicly
announce any change to the schedule as soon as possible and provide a
detailed explanation for such change.
[[Page 56740]]
(2) Each parent agency shall support adherence to the published
schedule by:
(i) Communicating any parent agency activities or processes that
could impact the timing of dissemination activities to Recognized
Statistical Agencies or Units before the schedule is published; and
(ii) If involved in dissemination activities, preparing for
dissemination of statistical products in accordance with the published
schedule.
Sec. 1321.6 Credibility and accuracy.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to conduct credible and accurate statistical activities.
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall determine the
appropriate methods, processes, policies, and general conduct of their
statistical activities. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
shall:
(1) Maintain publicly available policies and standards on the
quality of the information used by the Recognized Statistical Agencies
and Units and statistical products they disseminate, by:
(i) Developing and making available to the public policies and
standards to ensure the credibility and accuracy of all statistical
products and data disseminated by the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit;
(ii) Regularly reviewing, maintaining, and improving the policies
in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section and the methods used to
implement them to ensure they are current and effective; and
(iii) Establishing policies and procedures, in consultation with
the parent agency's Chief Data Officer and Evaluation Officer, for
assessing the quality of data used by the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units not originating in the Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units;
(2) Publicly provide documentation for its statistical products,
including:
(i) Descriptions of methods and procedures used in collection
design, collecting, methods, data processing, editing, compiling,
storing, analyzing, and disseminating information to users, as
applicable;
(ii) Indicators of data quality sufficient to allow data users to
assess the fitness of the data for their own purposes;
(iii) Descriptions of known limitations or sources of error in the
data;
(iv) Citation to source materials where feasible; and
(v) Identification of errors in the statistical products discovered
after their release;
(3) Ensure that Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit lifecycle
data management practices adhere to all applicable statutes, and
standards and guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget;
and
(4) Adhere to all applicable statutes and current Office of
Management and Budget peer review policies when submitting articles to
refereed journals, presenting at professional conferences, and engaging
in peer review activities, including OMB M-05-03: Final Information
Quality Bulletin for Peer Review and any successor policies.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable, support, and facilitate the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in carrying out their
responsibility to conduct credible and accurate statistical activities.
Each parent agency shall:
(1) Ensure Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have
sufficient autonomy to maintain their own standards for the quality of
the data used and the statistical information they produce and to
determine whether their statistical products are of sufficient quality
for dissemination. Unless prohibited by statute, when a statute,
regulation, or policy authorizes any other agency official to make such
determinations, that responsibility shall be delegated to the head of
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
(2) Prohibit its employees, contractors, and agents, other than
those designated by the releasing Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
head, from publicly commenting on any data released by the associated
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units until after the official
release of the data;
(3) Permit Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to determine
if statistical disseminations, including related statistical press
releases or publicity materials not containing policy pronouncements,
are to be disseminated by or through a parent agency and ensure that
statistical information attributable to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit disseminated by or through a parent agency is not
altered in any way not authorized by the head of such Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit; and
(4) Allow Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units to submit
articles that do not address policy, management, or budget issues to
refereed journals, present at professional conferences, and engage in
peer review activities without requiring approval from outside of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, unless such approval is required
by law.
(i) For parent agency support function reviews of a Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit, such as ethics reviews, the parent agency
shall either:
(A) Assign support function personnel that will conduct these
reviews to report to the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit; or
(B) Ensure that the support function personnel conducting the
review works with the liaison designated in Sec. 1321.4 to provide
sufficient information and advice, including a recommendation if
appropriate, to the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
so that such head may make an informed decision regarding approval.
(ii) The head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall
ensure all statutory requirements, such as ethics, continue to be met.
Sec. 1321.7 Objectivity.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to conduct objective statistical activities. In
fulfillment of this responsibility, Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall determine the policies and practices that ensure
objectivity of their statistical activities, including ensuring
objectivity and equitable access to the statistical products they
disseminate. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(1) Produce statistical products that are impartial and free from
undue influence and the appearance of undue influence, by:
(i) Employing transparent and reproducible methods and processes in
producing statistical products, to the extent feasible and consistent
with the protection of confidential statistical data;
(ii) Impartially disseminating statistical products in a clear and
complete manner, without limitation or selection to promote a
particular policy position or group interest;
(iii) Announcing dissemination activities in a manner designed to
be factual, comprehensive, accurate, easily understood by the public,
and without favor to a particular policy position or group interest,
such as through statistical press releases or on the Recognized
Statistical Agency's or Unit's website; and
(2) Ensure data users have equitable access to its statistical
products, by:
(i) Making public releases available to all data users at the same
time, with limited exceptions as allowable in OMB Statistical Policy
Directives, in accordance with the scheduled release date; and
(ii) Disseminating and making available to the public free of
charge any statistical product deemed suitable for public dissemination
that has been provided to any other data user. For
[[Page 56741]]
confidential statistical data that are not deemed suitable for public
dissemination, ensuring policies and procedures for granting access are
applied consistently, in accordance with statute, and regulation and
guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget to implement 44
U.S.C. 3582 and 3583, or other applicable authorities, that govern
access to confidential statistical data;
(3) Determine the necessary qualifications and allocate available
labor resources among different job positions supporting the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit's lifecycle data management (e.g.,
economists, statisticians, data scientists, IT specialists, and other
subject matter experts) and evaluate candidates based on assessments of
scientific and technical knowledge, credentials, experience, and
integrity; and
(4) Maintain functional separation from any administrative,
regulatory, law enforcement, and policymaking functions at any parent
agency or at the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit by maintaining
exclusive authority with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for
granting access to its confidential statistical data and the
information systems that hold confidential statistical data in
accordance with this section and applicable law and policy.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable, support, and facilitate the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in carrying out their
responsibility to conduct objective statistical activities. Each parent
agency shall:
(1) Allow the publication of statistical products without requiring
clearance of the content from offices or officials outside of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, and allow Recognized Statistical
Agencies and Units to respond to inquiries from external interested
communities and stakeholders, including the media, the Congress, and
others, about their statistical products in a manner that ensures
appropriate consultation without the parent agency requiring review,
approval, or edits to the response, unless responses to those inquiries
include matters related to policy, budget, or management;
(2) Support the impartiality of Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units in their production and dissemination of statistical products by
ensuring they are permitted to determine the methods for conducting
statistical activities for statistical purposes. Unless prohibited by
statute, when a statute, regulation, or policy authorizes any other
agency official to make such determinations, that responsibility shall
be delegated to the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit,
as described in Sec. 1321.4(b);
(3) Ensure compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3520(d);
(4) Ensure that the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has
resources dedicated to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and is
able to manage those resources in accordance with the responsibilities
described in this part, by allowing it to:
(i) Maintain and determine the functional requirements,
specifications, and performance capabilities of the information
technology it uses to conduct statistical activities and disseminate
statistical products;
(ii) Determine the content, functionality, appearance, and layout
of its website, the presentation of statistical information, and the
timing of when statistical information is disseminated;
(iii) Allocate its labor resources among different job positions;
(iv) Develop, explain, and respond directly to queries about
resource needs through congressional and executive branch budget
processes, as those processes are established through OMB Circular A-
11; and
(5) Support the autonomy of each Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit to manage and control its data by ensuring that Recognized
Statistical Agencies and Units have the authority to make all
determinations regarding:
(i) The governance of its data;
(ii) Access to its confidential statistical data and the
information systems that hold confidential statistical data; and
(iii) The approval, direction, and management of the use of its
confidential statistical data by external parties for purposes of
developing evidence, as defined in the 44 U.S.C. 3561 and relevant OMB
policies, including authority for ensuring compliance with 44 U.S.C.
3583.
Sec. 1321.8 Confidentiality.
(a) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units shall uphold the
responsibility to protect the trust of information providers by
ensuring the confidentiality and exclusively statistical use of data
acquired under an obligation to maintain confidentiality. In
fulfillment of this responsibility, Recognized Statistical Agencies and
Units shall determine whether the tools, practices, and procedures
employed to ensure the effective security of the confidential
statistical data they hold comply with this part and with statistical
laws. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(1) Secure all confidential statistical data against unauthorized
access by ensuring that any information systems containing confidential
statistical data employ effective barriers to restrict access such that
only employees of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units or their
authorized agents have access to such data in accordance with the
requirements of CIPSEA 2018, other applicable statistical laws, and
policies and guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget,
while also ensuring compliance with the Federal Information Security
Modernization Act of 2014, as amended and as codified at 44 U.S.C.
3551-3558, and other applicable laws and policies by:
(i) Ensuring required security policies, configurations, and
controls placed on information technology assets are appropriate to
protect the confidentiality of statistical information throughout the
data lifecycle;
(ii) Controlling logical access to data storage assets containing
confidential statistical data and restricting access to authorized
personnel; and
(iii) Maintaining and securing access logs for all personnel
authorized to access confidential statistical data;
(2) Ensure that confidential statistical data are not used for any
nonstatistical purposes by:
(i) Coordinating with the agency Chief Freedom of Information Act
Officer to ensure appropriate application of exemptions pertaining to
confidential statistical data in response to Freedom of Information Act
requests;
(ii) Employing current best practices, including statistical
disclosure avoidance methods and procedures, to minimize the risk of
disclosing confidential statistical data;
(iii) Maintaining supervision and control over individuals
authorized to have access to confidential statistical data through a
confidentiality program; and
(iv) Determining, in collaboration with the relevant parent agency,
whether agent status or direct assignment to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit for personnel such as statisticians, data scientists,
information technology specialists, and subject matter experts who
access confidential statistical data is appropriate;
(3) Provide information to the public about the integrity,
confidentiality, and impartiality of all confidential statistical data
acquired and maintained under its authority, so that it retains the
trust of its information providers and data users, by:
[[Page 56742]]
(i) Making readily accessible, e.g., through its website,
information about its policies on confidentiality and information
security;
(ii) Developing and maintaining a comprehensive data inventory as
required under 44 U.S.C. 3511 and related guidance; and
(iii) Complying with the Standard Application Process required
under 44 U.S.C. 3583 and related guidance;
(4) Provide sufficient information to respondents to enable them to
make an informed decision about whether to provide the requested
information by:
(i) Providing notification statements to survey respondents
consistent with the regulations in this part implementing 44 U.S.C.
3506, to include the intended uses of the information being collected,
potential future uses, their relevance for public purposes, and the
extent of confidentiality protection that will be provided; and
(ii) When acquiring data from another agency, ensuring that the
agreement with the providing agency addresses any legal requirements
for notice and consent consistent with applicable law and applicable
regulations in this part implementing 44 U.S.C. 3581;
(5) Maintain and develop professional staff, or identify
appropriate ways to access professional staff, that are trained in
statistical disclosure limitation and restricted access mechanisms to
maximize the protection of the confidential statistical data throughout
the data lifecycle, including creation or collection, processing,
dissemination, use, storage, and disposition; and
(6) Inform employees, contractors, and other approved agents of the
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units of their responsibility to
not willfully disclose confidential statistical data in an identifiable
form, and of the legal consequences of such disclosure, such as the
penalty in 44 U.S.C. 3572(f) that provides that any officer, employee,
or approved agents of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit who
willfully discloses such information is subject to fines and penalties,
to include being guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more
than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.
(b) Parent agencies shall enable, support, and facilitate
Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units in carrying out their
responsibility to protect the trust of information providers by
ensuring the confidentiality and exclusively statistical use of their
information. Each parent agency shall:
(1) Ensure that the Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units have
the sole authority to provide access to confidential statistical data.
Unless prohibited under statute, when a statute, regulation, or policy
authorizes any other official to make such determinations, that
responsibility shall be delegated to the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit.
(2) Ensure that implementation of the Federal Information
Technology Acquisition Reform Act is consistent with Recognized
Statistical Agencies' and Units' responsibility to protect confidential
statistical data from unauthorized use or disclosure, by:
(i) Ensuring that information technology policies appropriately
safeguard and protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability
of confidential statistical data to ensure that the information is
secure against unauthorized access, editing, deletion, dissemination,
or use; and
(ii) Ensuring that confidential statistical data are protected by
any effective security standards established by the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in writing.
(3) Ensure that the Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP)
consults with any relevant Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit when
the SAOP performs their duties related to the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit's statistical activities, including under 5 U.S.C. 552a,
the E-Government Act of 2002, and other applicable statutory
requirements. This includes but is not limited to:
(i) Conducting Privacy Impact Assessments on information technology
systems, as required by law and OMB guidance, that store and process
confidential statistical data;
(ii) Responding to Privacy Act requests to access or amend
confidential statistical data maintained by the Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit; and
(iii) Responding to breaches of confidential statistical data in a
way that complies with law and policy and is sensitive to the
Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's need to maintain the public
trust.
(c) Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units are responsible for
protecting the confidentiality of confidential statistical data. Parent
agencies shall, enable, support, and facilitate the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in carrying out its responsibility to
protect the confidentiality of confidential statistical data.
(1) The head of each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(i) Determine who is authorized to access confidential statistical
data;
(ii) Ensure access to confidential statistical data is limited to
officers and employees of such Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit
and its designated agents; and
(iii) Establish written standards and processes by which the head
of such Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit designates a person as an
agent, which shall:
(A) Comply with 44 U.S.C. 3572 and other applicable statistical
law;
(B) Ensure designated agents are fully informed of and have agreed
to comply with all legal requirements to access confidential
statistical data; and
(C) Define the scope of such agent's authorization to access
confidential statistical data.
(2) The head of the parent agency shall:
(i) Ensure confidential statistical data is secure from access by
any individual unless such individual has been authorized to access
such confidential statistical data by the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit in accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this
section;
(ii) Prohibit agency officers or employees from accessing
confidential statistical data unless authorized under paragraph (c)(1)
of this section; and
(iii) Ensure the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has the
resources necessary to ensure confidential statistical data is secure
from unauthorized access.
(3) Nothing in this part authorizes the head of the parent agency
to access confidential statistical data, unless the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has designated such individual as
an agent.
(4) The head of any office or component within a parent agency that
needs access to confidential statistical data shall:
(i) Establish policies to prohibit access to confidential
statistical data by any individual unless such individual has been
authorized by the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in
accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this section;
(ii) Ensure that any officer or employee that needs to access
confidential statistical data meets the written requirements issued by
the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit;
(iii) To the greatest extent possible, limit necessary access to
confidential statistical data;
(iv) Coordinate with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to
determine the number of persons needing access to confidential
statistical data; and
(v) Provide the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit with any
information
[[Page 56743]]
necessary for the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to make a
determination regarding access to confidential statistical data.
(5) The head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall
coordinate with the head of any office or component requiring access to
confidential statistical data as described in paragraph (c)(2) of this
section to identify and designate necessary agents to fulfill the
office's or component's responsibilities.
(6) If the head of a parent agency finds that the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit is unable to designate a sufficient number
of agents for the parent agency to fulfill its responsibilities, the
head of the parent agency shall consult with the head of the Recognized
Statistical Agency or Unit and the Chief Statistician of the United
States to resolve the issue.
(7) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall track access
to confidential statistical data and maintain an access log that
details the individual and time of access. The parent agency shall
ensure the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has sufficient
technology resources to ensure all access to confidential statistical
data is tracked in an access log.
(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall monitor the
access log to ensure only authorized persons have accessed confidential
statistical data.
(ii) If any unauthorized person has accessed confidential
statistical data, the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall
notify the head of the parent agency and the Chief Statistician of the
United States, and the head of the parent agency and the head of the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit shall:
(A) Address any deficiencies that led to such unauthorized access
to ensure unauthorized access does not occur in the future; and
(B) Provide a written report to the Chief Statistician of the
United States within 30 days detailing the remediation efforts.
Sec. 1321.9 Compliance review.
Option A for Sec. 1321.9
(a) The Chief Statistician of the United States, in coordination
with the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP), established
under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(8), shall establish a Responsibilities Peer
Review Committee (Committee) to develop and govern procedures to assess
each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent agency for
compliance with this part. These assessments shall begin within one
year of [EFFECTIVE DATE OF FINAL RULE]. The ICSP will develop a
schedule to ensure that each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and
its parent agency is audited not less frequently than once every three
years. These assessments shall:
(1) Take place for each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit at
least once every three years, although special assessments may be
conducted by the Committee due to exigent circumstances if a simple
majority of the Committee votes to undertake such a special evaluation;
and
(2) Result in a summary of major findings and, if deficiencies are
identified during the review, a set of recommendations for improving
compliance with this part, which shall be made available to the public
on the Recognized Statistical Agency's or Unit's public website in a
timely manner to be determined by the Committee.
(b) Each Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit being assessed
shall comply with requests for information or documents from the
Committee, except where prohibited by law.
(c) Each parent agency shall enable, support, and facilitate such
assessments by complying with requests for information or documents
that directly relate to the assessment of compliance with this part
from the Committee, except where prohibited by law.
(d) The Chief Statistician of the United States shall:
(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit, and the
parent agency that contains them, to address any deficiencies included
in the Committee's assessment;
(2) Include a list of recommendations made by the Committee and the
status of addressing each recommendation in the annual report required
in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) or similar Office of Management and Budget
report to Congress; and
(3) Include standards that outline the potential loss of an
agency's status as a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, including
for persistent failures to comply with this part, in the guidance to
implement the designation process required under 44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Option B for Sec. 1321.9
(a) The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and
Efficiency (CIGIE) shall establish a committee on statistical audits
(Committee) to develop expertise in statistical laws and processes
necessary to ensure the integrity of statistical agencies. The
Committee shall:
(1) Regularly consult with the Chief Statistician of the United
States on the appropriate interpretation and application of statistical
laws and practices;
(2) Develop criteria for statistical audits, including compliance
with this part and other relevant statistical laws and whether the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has sufficient resources to carry
out its fundamental responsibilities;
(3) Designate Inspectors General with expertise in statistical laws
and practices as statistical auditors;
(4) Develop necessary interagency and funding agreements to
facilitate the use of such designated statistical auditors to conduct
audits of agency compliance with this part; and
(5) Develop a schedule to ensure that each Recognized Statistical
Agency or Unit and its parent agency is audited not less frequently
than once every three years.
(b) Not less frequently than once every three years, a statistical
auditor as designated under paragraph (a) of this section shall audit
each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent agency.
(c) Inspectors General may conduct off-schedule audits.
(1) The Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP),
established under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(8), may request an off-schedule
audit of a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent agency
if the ICSP has reason to believe there is a substantial change in
circumstances regarding compliance with this part. The ICSP shall
submit a written request with a detailed explanation to CIGIE.
(2) The Committee shall review any ICSP request for an audit,
determine whether an audit is appropriate, and provide a written
response to the ICSP within 30 days of receiving such request.
(d) The statistical auditor conducting the audit shall submit the
results of any statistical audit s to the head of the agency, the head
of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, the Chief Statistician of
the United States, and relevant congressional committees. For purposes
of this audit, the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency shall be
considered a responsible official.
(e) The Chief Statistician of the United States shall:
(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit, and the
parent agency that contains them, to address any deficiencies
identified in the statistical audit;
(2) Include a list of findings or recommendations and the status of
[[Page 56744]]
addressing each finding or recommendation in the annual report required
in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) or similar Office of Management and Budget
report to Congress;
(3) Make available appropriate materials, training, or other
relevant resources to the Committee regarding statistical laws and
practices; and
(4) Include standards for the possible loss of the agency's status
as a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for persistent failures to
comply with this part in the guidance to implement the designation
process required under 44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Option C for Sec. 1321.9
(a) Not less frequently than once every three years, each Inspector
General of an agency that contains a Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit shall conduct an audit of each Recognized Statistical Agency or
Unit and its parent agency. The audit shall evaluate compliance with
this part and other relevant statistical laws and whether the
Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit has sufficient resources to carry
out its fundamental responsibilities. To ensure consistent
interpretation and application of statistical laws, the Inspector
General shall consult with the Chief Statistician of the United States.
(b) Inspectors General may conduct off-schedule audits.
(1) The Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP),
established under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(8), may request an off-schedule
audit of a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit and its parent agency
if the ICSP has reason to believe there is a substantial change in
circumstances regarding compliance with this part. The ICSP shall
submit a written request with a detailed explanation to the Inspector
General.
(2) The Inspector General shall review any ICSP request for an
audit, determine whether an audit is appropriate, and provide a written
response to the ICSP within 30 days of receiving such request.
(c) The statistical auditor conducting the audit shall submit the
results of any statistical audit s to the head of the agency, the head
of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, the Chief Statistician of
the United States, and relevant congressional committees. For purposes
of this audit, the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency shall be
considered a responsible official.
(d) The Chief Statistician of the United States shall:
(1) Engage each Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit, and the
parent agency that contains them, to address any deficiencies
identified in the statistical audit;
(2) Include a list of findings or recommendations and the status of
addressing each finding or recommendation in the annual report required
in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(2) or similar Office of Management and Budget
report to Congress;
(3) Make available appropriate materials, training, or other
relevant resources to the Council for Inspector General Integrity and
Efficiency regarding statistical laws and practices; and
(4) Include standards for the possible loss of the agency's status
as a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit for persistent failures to
comply with this part in the guidance to implement the designation
process required under 44 U.S.C. 3562(a).
Dated: August 11, 2023.
Shalanda D. Young,
Director, Office of Management and Budget.
[FR Doc. 2023-17664 Filed 8-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P
