Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Seventh Edition (2021) / Chapter Skim
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APPENDIX A: Legislation and Regulations That Govern Federal Statistics
APPENDIX A: Legislation and Regulations That Govern Federal Statistics
Pages 119-164
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OMB statistical policy directives; (3) laws and OMB guidance on surveys, statistics, and evidence building; (4)
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It affirms OMB's review power over federal statistical agencies and myriad other agencies throughout the federal government that collect information from individuals and organizations. This review power covers both the burden imposed by information collection and methods and practices for data collection and dissemination.
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the integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information collected for statistical purposes; 1Seven months later, a pair of Federal Register notices (43 Federal Register 19260 and 19308) formally transferred the content of and responsibility for various regulatory circulars on federal statistical activities to the Commerce Department -- at which time they were designated "statistical policy directives" for the first time.
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) The law also codified the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, which is headed by the chief statistician and consists of the heads of the major statistical programs and representatives of other statistical agencies under rotating membership.
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of 2018 reauthorized the 2002 law of the same name, and codified the responsibilities of statistical agencies in units originally issued as Statistical Policy Directive No. 1 (see below)
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1 -- Fundamental Responsibilities of Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units OMB issued this statistical policy directive on December 2, 2014 (U.S. Office of Management and Budget, 2014b)
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1, Standards for Statistical Surveys, and Statistical Policy Directive No. 2, Publication of Statistics.
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designates statistical series that provide timely measures of economic activity as Principal Eco nomic Indicators and requires prompt release of these indicators by statistical agencies in a politically neu tral manner. The intent of the directive is to preserve the time value of such information, strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy, prevent early access to informa tion that may affect financial and commodity markets, and preserve the distinction between the policy neutral release of data by statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials.
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Statistical press releases are the sole responsibility of the relevant statistical agency. Each fall statistical agencies must issue a schedule of when they expect each regular or recurring product to be released and give timely notification of any change to the published schedule.
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Statistical Policy Directive No. 7 -- Metropolitan Statistical Areas Since the 1950s, OMB's Metropolitan Area Classification Program has provided standards for delineating areas that are "metropolitan" in nature for use throughout the federal government.
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The list of metropolitan and micropolitan areas using the 2000 criteria was initially issued in 2003 and was updated annually through 2008 by OMB on the basis of the Census Bureau's population estimates. Two years later, OMB issued 2010 Standards for Delineating Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, which largely continued the criteria adopted for the 2000 standards.14 Areas based on these standards, using data from the 2010 census and the American Community Survey (ACS)
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NAICS was most recently updated for use beginning in 2017.16 In 2020, OMB issued a Federal Register notice requesting comments on potential changes to the structure and content of NAICS for the 2022 update.17 Statistical Policy Directive No. 10 -- Standard Occupational Classification The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)
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The latest version of the SOC was issued for 2018, and it will be updated every 10 years thereafter.19 Statistical Policy Directive No. 14 -- Definition of Poverty for Statistical Purposes OMB first issued standards for the statistical definition of poverty in 1969.
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23See www.regulations.gov in docket number OMB-2019-0007. 24See Federal Register vol.
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Analysis of the results led to an important finding that the combined question improved reporting.26 Additional research was conducted in subsequent years, including a National Content Test in 2015 for 2020 census planning.27 On September 30, 2016, OMB issued a request for comments on a "possible limited revision" of Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.28 Comments were requested within 30 days on the possibility of allowing the use of a combined race and ethnicity question, adding a "Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) " category, and some other changes in terminology.
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OMB also issued several memoranda to clarify particular interpretations and applications of the PRA to agency activities.31 Topics covered 29See 82 Federal Register 12242. Available: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-03973.
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statistical agencies; the plan is to update NAPCS every 5 years on the same cycle as NAICS. For more information, see Economic Classification Policy Committee of the United States (2003)
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, this memorandum "strongly encourages the Federal statistical agencies and units, and their parent Departments, to build interagency collaboration that will help the Federal statistical community more effectively meet the information needs of the 21st century." The memorandum cites examples of successful interagency collaboration (including within and across departments)
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. The ICSP has existed since the late 1980s, but it was expanded by the Evidence Act to include 12 new statistical officials (heads of the current principal statistical agencies serve as statistical officials for their departments and remain on the ICSP)
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Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices (M-20-14) OMB issued Memorandum M-20-14 in March of 2020 to provide program evaluation standards to guide agencies in developing and implementing evaluation activities, evaluation policies, and the hiring and retaining of qualified staff.
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OMB also identified leading evaluation practices to support the evaluation standards. The practices aim to provide greater specificity and detail on what may be useful when planning and implementing evaluation activities to fulfill the goals of the standards.
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LAWS AND OMB GUIDANCE ON CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY PROTECTION Protecting the confidentiality of individual information collected under a confidentiality pledge -- whether from individuals, households, businesses, or other organizations -- is a bedrock principle of federal statistics. Federal statistical agencies also strive to respect the privacy of individual respondents through such means as limiting the collection of information to that which is necessary for an agency's mission.
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[February 2021] 35For an example of SORNs for a statistical agency, see https://www.census.gov/about/policies/ privacy/sorn.html.
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at universities and other organizations and agencies, registered with DHHS, review research protocols to determine whether they qualify for exemption from or are subject to IRB review and, if the latter, whether the protocol satisfactorily adheres to the regulations. Some federal statistical agencies are required to submit data collection protocols to an IRB for approval; other agencies maintain exemption from IRB review but follow the principles and spirit of the regulations.
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• Provisions are added for "broad" consent for storage, maintenance, and secondary research use of identifiable private information or biospecimens. 1997 Order Providing for the Confidentiality of Statistical Information OMB issued this order in 1997 to bolster the confidentiality protections afforded by statistical agencies or units (as listed in the order)
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. This limitation currently blocks some kinds of business data sharing, such as those for sole proprietorships, which are important for improving the efficiency and quality of business data collection by statistical agencies.
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may be designated to use individually identifiable information for analysis and other statistical purposes and be held legally responsible for protecting the confidentiality of that information. Under the Evidence Act, OMB is charged with promulgating guidance for implementation of a process to designate statistical agencies and units.42 A total of 16 agencies and units are currently so recognized (see Appendix B)
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FISMA affects federal statistical agencies directly in that each agency must follow the FISMA procedures for its own information systems. In addition, some departments are taking the position that all information systems in a department constitute a single information system for the purposes of FISMA: those departments are taking steps to require that
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Government Accountability Office with producing quarterly scorecards to assess how well agencies are meeting the FITARA objectives. The director of OMB issued implementation guidance for FITARA, M-15-14, Management and Oversight of Federal Information Technology, on June 20, 2015.46 This memorandum explicitly stated that agencies must implement the FITARA guidance to ensure that information acquired under a pledge of confidentiality solely for statistical purposes is used exclusively for those purposes.
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The technology, currently in version E3A, has been welcomed by federal statistical agencies, but agencies initially were concerned about a DHS interpretation of the act that would allow DHS staff to monitor traffic on agency networks and follow up on actual or likely intrusions. Such surveillance by DHS staff could lead to violations of agencies' pledges to protect the confidentiality of information provided by individual respondents for statistical purposes, which state that only statistical agency employees or sworn agents can see such information.
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LAWS AND GUIDANCE RELATED TO INFORMATION QUALITY AND THE FEDERAL DATA STRATEGY Since 2000, there has been heightened interest in the Congress and the executive branch regarding the quality of scientific evidence, including federal statistics. Legislation and guidance from OMB and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
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disseminated by Federal agencies." It also required federal agencies to develop their own implementing procedures, including "administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency." After a public comment period, OMB issued governmentwide guidelines on February 22, 2002.48 2004 OMB Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review Consistent with the Information Quality Act of 2000 (see above) , OMB developed guidance for federal agencies with regard to seeking peer review of the policy-relevant scientific information an agency disseminates.
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The broad scope of agencies affected by this act, and the use of the act in making budgetary decisions based on measured achievement toward program goals, have fostered added focus among many agencies on how to collect high-quality data and produce sound government statistics with which to conduct rigorous program evaluation. The addendum to Statistical Policy Directive No.
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, various OMB statistical policy directives and standards, and each agency's information quality guidelines together form "the foundation for achieving and maintaining scientific integrity within and among the principal statistical agencies."53 52See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/scientific-integri ty-memo-12172010.pdf. [February 2021]
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Improving Implementation of the Information Quality Act (M-19-15) OMB issued Memorandum M-19-15 in April of 2019 to reinforce, clarify, and interpret agency responsibilities under the Information Quality Act.
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• Implementation Update 2.6: Agencies should develop procedures for clearly documenting and communicating the quality of administrative data that have the potential to be used for statistical purposes There are also several updates regarding the reproducibility of influential information and requests for correction. Federal Data Strategy -- A Framework for Consistency (M-19-18)
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Federal Data Strategy Principles. There are 10 principles in the Federal Data Strategy, which are intended to guide the development of a comprehensive data strategy: Ethical Governance 1.
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Federal Data Strategy Practices. There are 40 practices in the Federal Data Strategy, which are intended to be sufficiently general so as to apply to all federal agencies.
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25. Coordinate federal data assets.
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Federal Data Strategy Action Plan. FY 2020 is the first year of the Federal Data Strategy Action Plan.
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INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON STATISTICAL POLICY DOCUMENTS The Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) is chaired by the chief statistician at OMB and consists of the heads of the principal statistical agencies and the statistical officials designated under the Evidence Act (see Box A-1)
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2002 Federal Statistical Agency Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Disseminated Information A few months after OMB issued implementation guidance in February 2002 for the 2000 Information Quality Act (see above) , 13 principal statistical agencies issued a notice outlining a common approach to the development and provision of guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of disseminated information.56 The notice directed people to the websites of each agency for more information and to learn how to comment on draft guidelines.
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MEMBERS OF THE INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON STATISTICAL POLICY, BY DEPARTMENT Statistical Officials from the Other CFO Act Agencies • Department of Defense • Department of Homeland Security • Department of Housing and Urban Development • Department of State • Department of the Interior • Department of Veterans Affairs • Environmental Protection Agency • General Services Administration • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • Nuclear Regulatory Commission • Office of Personnel Management • Small Business Administration • U.S. Agency for International Development
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The following principles for the ICSP work on integrated data are intended to guide the FCSM and to establish priorities for research and ongoing work by statistical agencies to advance the use of nontraditional information and data to produce statistical information. The work by the ICSP and the FCSM fits more broadly under OMB's development of a Federal Data Strategy as part of the President's Management Agenda.
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APPENDIX A 163 2. While fully complying with confidentiality and privacy requirements, agencies should continue to make statistical information created in support of mission activities as granular and timely as practicable and widely accessible.
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