Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Fifth Edition (2013) / 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 79-98
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b. OMB Statistical Policy Directives 2.
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, efficiency of operations, and scientific integrity. THE 1980 PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND ASSOCIATED GUIDANCE The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
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The PRA required OMB, through the chief statistician, to engage in long-range planning to improve federal statistical programs; review statistical budgets; coordinate government statistical functions; establish standards, classifications, and other guidelines for statistical data collection and dissemination; and evaluate statistical program performance. In the 1995 reauthorization and extensive revision of the PRA, two of the most significant provisions added for statistical policy were (1)
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Survey Clearance Process In January 2006 the OMB Statistical and Science Policy Office released Guidance on Agency Survey and Statistical Information Collections -- Questions and Answers When Designing Surveys for Information Collections,1 a set of 81 questions and answers that attempts to demystify the OMB clearance process (required by the PRA) for surveys and other statistical information collections.
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In recent years, OMB has issued several memoranda to clarify particular interpretations and applications of the PRA to agency activities.2 Specifically, OMB issued a memorandum that provides an overview of PRA requirements, discusses PRA implications of social media and web-based interactive technologies, clarifies the use of generic clearances, provides options for streamlining the PRA process for scientific research, establishes a fast-track process for qualitative customer service delivery feedback, and provides answers to PRA questions related to challenges and prizes. OMB STATISTICAL POLICY DIRECTIVES The OMB Statistical and Science Policy Office issues and periodically updates a number of directives that pertain to federal agency data collection and dissemination.
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3 -- Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators (and Schedule of Release Dates for Principal Federal Economic Indicators) • Statistical Policy Directive No.
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Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Economic Indicators OMB issued Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 -- Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators in the 1970s and strengthened it in 1985.5 Its purpose is clearly stated: [This directive]
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4 -- Release and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies in 2008, which essentially covers all statistical releases other than those specified in Directive 3.7 It includes not only statistical information released in printed reports or on the Internet, but also statistical press releases, which describe or announce a statistical data product. Statistical press releases are the sole responsibility of the relevant statistical agency.
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have the opportunity to update NAICS every 5 years for years ending in 2 and 7 so that it keeps up reasonably well with changes in the structure of industrial activity in the three countries. Standard Occupational Classification The SOC is used by federal statistical agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for collecting, tabulating, and disseminating data.9 The first SOC was published in 1977 in an effort to standardize the collection of occupational data by multiple agencies.
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Definition of Poverty OMB first issued Statistical Policy Directive No. 14 -- Definition of Poverty for Statistical Purposes in 1969.
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. Data on Race and Ethnicity OMB issued Statistical Policy Directive No.
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Enactment of CIPSEA was the culmination of more than 30 years of efforts to standardize and bolster legal protections for data collected solely for statistical purposes by federal agencies while permitting limited sharing of individually identifiable business information among three statistical agencies for efficiency and quality improvement. CIPSEA has two subtitles, A and B, covering confidentiality and sharing data.
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, and the Census Bureau to share individually identifiable business data for statistical purposes. The intent of the subtitle is to reduce respondent burden on businesses; improve the comparability and accuracy of federal economic statistics by permitting these three agencies to reconcile differences among sampling frames, business classifications, and business reporting; and increase understanding of the U.S.
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A key provision of the CIPSEA guidance defines statistical agencies or units, which are the only federal agencies that may assign agent status for confidentiality protection purposes to contractors, researchers, or others. The guidance defines a statistical agency or unit as "an agency or organizational unit of the executive branch whose activities are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes." A total of 16 agencies are currently so recognized: • Of the 16, 12 are those enumerated in OMB's 1997 confidentiality order and named in the CIPSEA implementation guidance: the members of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP)
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THE 2002 E-GOVERNMENT ACT, SECTION 208 Section 208 of the E-Government Act of 2002 requires federal agencies to conduct a privacy impact assessment whenever an agency develops or obtains information technology that handles individually identifiable information or whenever the agency initiates a new collection of individually identifiable information.20 The assessment is to be made publicly available and cover such topics as what information is being collected and why, with whom the information will be shared, what provisions will be made for informed consent regarding data sharing, and how the information will be secured. Typically, privacy impact assessments cover not only privacy issues, but also confidentiality, integrity, and availability issues (see, e.g., U.S.
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for newly created and revised systems of records that contain personally identifiable information as directed by OMB.23 SORNs are to describe not only the records and their uses by the agency, but also describe procedures for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the system.24 THE 2002 FEDERAL INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT ACT The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) was enacted in 2002 as Title III of the E-Government Act of 2002 (P.L.
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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 government-wide guidelines on February 22, 2002.25 A few months later, 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.26 The notice directed people to the websites of each agency for more information and to learn how to comment on draft guidelines. Each agency then finalized its own guidelines.27 The information quality framework developed by the agencies was followed in the 2006 revision of OMB's 25See February 22, 2002, Federal Register 67(36)
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; however, it does include research reports and non routine collections by statistical agencies that can be considered "influential scientific information." 2010 GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS MODERNIZATION ACT On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010.29 This act, which superseded the Performance Assessment Rating Tool and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) , requires performance assessment of government programs for purposes of evaluating agency 28Available: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2005/m05-03.pdf [Febru ary 2013]
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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, has 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. 2009–2010 GUIDANCE ON SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY In a memorandum on scientific integrity in March 2009, President Obama stated:30 The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions.
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The statement articulates how the Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, Fourth Edition (National Research Council, 2009c) , 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."32 31Available: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/scientificintegrity-memo-12172010.pdf [February 2013]
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