Independence and Confidentiality of Federal Statistical Agencies (US0133)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: United States Action Plan 2022-2024 (December)
Action Plan Cycle: 2022
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution:
Support Institution(s):
Policy Areas
Data Stewardship and Privacy, Digital Governance, Disinformation/MisinformationIRM Review
IRM Report: United States Action Plan Review 2022–2024
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
The Federal statisti- cal system collects and transforms data into useful, objective information and makes it readily and equitably available, while protecting the responses of individual data providers. Federal, State, territorial, local, and tribal governments; businesses; and the public alike rely upon Federal statistics to inform evidence-based decisions and enhance the equitable delivery of services and programs. It is because of the trust placed in the Federal sta- tistical system that users derive such enormous value from these Federal statistics. Each entity within the Fed- eral statistical system must be diligent in upholding this trust. Data providers must trust the system to protect the confidentiality and exclusively statistical use of the information they provide. Meanwhile, data users must trust that the resulting statistics are free from political bias, generated with quality inputs, available equitably, and reliable. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 1 identified four funda- mental responsibilities that recognized statistical agencies and units must fulfill: 1) relevance and timeliness, 2) accuracy and credibility, 3) objectivity, and 4) confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of data. Importantly, it also describes how Federal agencies must support, enable, and facilitate statistical agencies to meet these re- sponsibilities, emphasizing the importance of conducting their statistical activities autonomously to maintain trust of data providers, data users, and the public.
The Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA; Public Law 115-435) incorpo- rated those responsibilities into statute, and as required by CIPSEA, OMB is committed to developing and pub- lishing the Trust regulation—formally referred to as “The Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units”—to further guide and support agencies’ fulfillment of these responsibilities.