Public Law 115–435: To amend titles 5 and 44, United States Code, to require Federal evaluation activities, improve Federal data management, and for other purposes.

The term ‘’ means an agency referred to under section 901(b) of title 31.

The term ‘’ means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The term ‘’ means an assessment using systematic data collection and analysis of one or more programs, policies, and organizations intended to assess their effectiveness and efficiency.

The term ‘’ has the meaning given that term in section 3561 of title 44.

The term ‘’ means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, each territory or possession of the United States, and each federally recognized governing body of any Indian Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group or community which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.

The terms ‘statistical activities’, ‘statistical agency or unit’, and ‘statistical purpose’ have the meanings given those terms in section 3561 of title 44.

The head of each agency shall include in the strategic plan required under section 306 a systematic plan for identifying and addressing policy questions relevant to the programs, policies, and regulations of the agency. Such plan shall contain the following:

The head of each agency shall issue in conjunction with the performance plan required under section 1115(b) of title 31, an evaluation plan describing activities the agency plans to conduct pursuant to subsection (a) of this section during the fiscal year following the year in which the performance plan is submitted. Such plan shall—

In developing the plan required under subsection (a), the head of an agency shall consult with stakeholders, including the public, agencies, State and local governments, and representatives of non-governmental researchers.

The head of each agency shall designate a senior employee of the agency as the Evaluation Officer of the agency.

The Evaluation Officer of an agency shall be appointed or designated without regard to political affiliation and based on demonstrated expertise in evaluation methodology and practices and appropriate expertise to the disciplines of the agency.

The Evaluation Officer of an agency shall, to the extent practicable, coordinate activities with agency officials necessary to carry out the functions required under subsection (d).

The Evaluation Officer of each agency shall—

The head of each agency shall designate the head of any statistical agency or unit within the agency, or in the case of an agency that does not have a statistical agency or unit, any senior agency official with appropriate expertise, as a statistical official to advise on statistical policy, techniques, and procedures. Agency officials engaged in statistical activities may consult with any such statistical official as necessary.

Each statistical official designated under subsection (a) shall serve as a member of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy established under section 3504(e)(8) of title 44.

The Director, or the head of an agency designated by the Director, shall establish an Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building (in this section referred to as the ‘Advisory Committee’) to review, analyze, and make recommendations on how to promote the use of Federal data for evidence building.

The members of the Advisory Committee shall consist of the Chief Statistician of the United States, who shall serve as the Chair of the Advisory Committee, and other members appointed by the Director as follows:

“(7)

Members of the Advisory Committee shall serve without compensation.

The Advisory Committee shall—

The Advisory Committee shall submit to the Director and make publicly available an annual report on the activities and findings of the Advisory Committee.

The Advisory Committee shall terminate not later than two years after the date of the first meeting.”

is subject to intellectual property rights, including rights under titles 17 and 35;

contains confidential business information, that could be withheld under section 552(b)(4) of title 5; or

is otherwise restricted by contract or other binding, written agreement;

in accordance with guidance by the Director, develop and maintain a strategic information resources management plan that, to the extent practicable—

“(B)

in accordance with guidance by the Director—

“(B)

ensure that any public data asset of the agency is machine-readable; and

engage the public in using public data assets of the agency and encourage collaboration by—

In consultation with the Director and in accordance with the guidance established under paragraph (2), the head of each agency shall, to the maximum extent practicable, develop and maintain a comprehensive data inventory that accounts for all data assets created by, collected by, under the control or direction of, or maintained by the agency. The head of each agency shall ensure that such inventory provides a clear and comprehensive understanding of the data assets in the possession of the agency.

The Director shall establish guidance for agencies to develop and maintain comprehensive data inventories under paragraph (1). Such guidance shall include the following:

“(A)

“(E)

Criteria.

Determination.

With respect to each data asset created or identified by an agency, the head of the agency shall update the comprehensive data inventory of the agency not later than 90 days after the date of such creation or identification.

The Administrator of General Services shall maintain a single public interface online as a point of entry dedicated to sharing agency data assets with the public, which shall be known as the ‘Federal data catalogue’.

Publication.

The Administrator and the Director shall ensure that agencies can submit public data assets, or links to public data assets, for publication and public availability on the interface.

The Director shall collaborate with the Office of Government Information Services and the Administrator of General Services to develop and maintain an online repository of tools, best practices, and schema standards to facilitate the adoption of open data practices across the Federal Government, which shall—

The Director shall ensure the Federal data catalogue maintained under paragraph (1) provides information on how the public can access a data asset included in a comprehensive data inventory under subsection (a) that is not yet available on the Federal data catalogue, including information regarding the application process established under section 3583 of title 44.

“3511. 

Data inventory and Federal data catalogue.”.

be responsible for lifecycle data management;

coordinate with any official in the agency responsible for using, protecting, disseminating, and generating data to ensure that the data needs of the agency are met;

manage data assets of the agency, including the standardization of data format, sharing of data assets, and publication of data assets in accordance with applicable law;

in carrying out the requirements under paragraphs (3) and (5), consult with any statistical official of the agency (as designated under section 314 of title 5);

carry out the requirements of the agency under subsections (b) through (d), (f), and (i) of section 3506, section 3507, and section 3511;

ensure that, to the extent practicable, agency data conforms with data management best practices;

engage agency employees, the public, and contractors in using public data assets and encourage collaborative approaches on improving data use;

support the Performance Improvement Officer of the agency in identifying and using data to carry out the functions described in section 1124(a)(2) of title 31;

support the Evaluation Officer of the agency in obtaining data to carry out the functions described in section 313(d) of title 5;

review the impact of the infrastructure of the agency on data asset accessibility and coordinate with the Chief Information Officer of the agency to improve such infrastructure to reduce barriers that inhibit data asset accessibility;

ensure that, to the extent practicable, the agency maximizes the use of data in the agency, including for the 132 STAT. 5542 production of evidence (as defined in section 3561), cybersecurity, and the improvement of agency operations;

identify points of contact for roles and responsibilities related to open data use and implementation (as required by the Director);

serve as the agency liaison to other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget on the best way to use existing agency data for statistical purposes (as defined in section 3561); and

comply with any regulation and guidance issued under subchapter III, including the acquisition and maintenance of any required certification and training.

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.

To the extent permissible under law, the individual to whom a responsibility has been delegated under paragraph (1) shall consult with the Chief Data Officer of the agency in carrying out such responsibility.

The Chief Data Officer of the agency shall defer to the individual to whom a responsibility has been delegated under paragraph (1) regarding the necessary delegation of such responsibility with respect to any data acquired, maintained, or disseminated by the agency under applicable statistical law.

establish Governmentwide best practices for the use, protection, dissemination, and generation of data;

promote and encourage data sharing agreements between agencies;132 STAT. 5543

identify ways in which agencies can improve upon the production of evidence for use in policymaking;

consult with the public and engage with private users of Government data and other stakeholders on how to improve access to data assets of the Federal Government; and

identify and evaluate new technology solutions for improving the collection and use of data.

The Chief Data Officer of each agency shall serve as a member of the Council.

The Director shall select the Chair of the Council from among the members of the Council.

The Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government shall serve as a member of the Council.

The Director shall appoint a representative for all Chief Information Officers and Evaluation Officers, and such representative shall serve as an ex officio member of the Council.

Not later than 4 years after date of the enactment of this section, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on whether the additional duties of the Council improved the use of evidence and program evaluation in the Federal Government.

The Council shall terminate and this section shall be repealed upon the expiration of the 2-year period that begins on the date the Comptroller General submits the report under paragraph (1) to Congress.”

The term ‘’ means any entity that falls within the definition of the term ‘’, as defined in section 102 of title 31, or ‘agency’, as defined in section 3502.

The term ‘’ means an individual—

“(A)

The term ‘’ means operating and financial data and information about businesses, tax-exempt organizations, and government entities.

The term ‘’ has the meaning given that term in section 3502.

The term ‘’ means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The term ‘’ means information produced as a result of statistical activities conducted for a statistical purpose.

The term ‘’ means any representation of information that permits the identity of the respondent to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means.

The term ‘’—

The term ‘’ 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.

The term ‘’—

The term ‘’ means an agency or organizational unit of the executive branch whose activities are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes, as designated by the Director under section 3562.

The term ‘’—

The Director shall coordinate and oversee the confidentiality and disclosure policies established by this subchapter. The Director may promulgate rules or provide other guidance to ensure consistent interpretation of this subchapter by the affected agencies.

Designation.

The Director shall develop a process by which the Director designates agencies or organizational units as statistical agencies and units.

Guidance.

Criteria.

The Director shall promulgate guidance to implement such process, which shall include specific criteria for such designation and methods by which the Director will ensure transparency in the process.

Subject to subsection (c), agencies may promulgate rules to implement this subchapter. Rules governing disclosures of information that are authorized by this subchapter shall be promulgated by the agency that originally collected the information.

The Director shall review any rules proposed by an agency pursuant to this subchapter for consistency with the provisions of this chapter and such rules shall be subject to the approval of the Director.

“(1)

In general.—

The head of each agency shall enable, support, and facilitate statistical agencies or units in carrying out the responsibilities described in subsection (a)(1).

The Director shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section.

In this section:

This subchapter does not diminish the authority under section 3510 of the Director to direct, and of an agency to make, disclosures that are not inconsistent with any applicable law.

This subchapter does not diminish the authority of the Bureau of the Census to provide information in accordance with sections 8, 16, 301, and 401 of title 13 and section 2108 of this title.

This subchapter shall not be construed as authorizing the disclosure for nonstatistical purposes of demographic data or information collected by the Bureau of the Census pursuant to section 9 of title 13.

Data or information acquired by the Energy Information Administration under a pledge of confidentiality and designated by the Energy Information Administration to be used for exclusively statistical purposes shall not be disclosed in identifiable form for nonstatistical purposes under—

This subchapter shall not be construed to limit any authorities of the Congressional Budget Office to work (consistent with laws governing the confidentiality of information the disclosure of which would be a violation of law) with databases of Designated Statistical Agencies (as defined in section 3576(e)), either separately or, for data that may be shared pursuant to section 3576(c) or other authority, jointly in order to improve the general utility of these databases for the statistical purpose of analyzing pension and health care financing issues.

Nothing in this subchapter shall preempt applicable State law regarding the confidentiality of data collected by the States.132 STAT. 5548

Notwithstanding section 3572, information collected by an agency for exclusively statistical purposes under a pledge of confidentiality may be provided by the collecting agency to a law enforcement agency for the prosecution of submissions to the collecting agency of false statistical information under statutes that authorize criminal penalties (such as section 221 of title 13) or civil penalties for the provision of false statistical information, unless such disclosure or use would otherwise be prohibited under Federal law.

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as restricting or diminishing any confidentiality protections or penalties for unauthorized disclosure that otherwise apply to data or information collected for statistical purposes or nonstatistical purposes, including, but not limited to, section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to affect the authority of the Congress, including its committees, members, or agents, to obtain data or information for a statistical purpose, including for oversight of an agency’s statistical activities.

Individuals, businesses, and other organizations have varying degrees of legal protection when providing information to the agencies for strictly statistical purposes.

Pledges of confidentiality by agencies provide assurances to the public that information about individuals or organizations or provided by individuals or organizations for exclusively statistical purposes will be held in confidence and will not be used against such individuals or organizations in any agency action.

Protecting the confidentiality interests of individuals or organizations who provide information under a pledge of confidentiality for Federal statistical programs serves both the interests of the public and the needs of society.

Declining trust of the public in the protection of information provided under a pledge of confidentiality to the agencies adversely affects both the accuracy and completeness of statistical analyses.

Ensuring that information provided under a pledge of confidentiality for statistical purposes receives protection is essential in continuing public cooperation in statistical programs.

The purposes of this section are the following:

Data or information acquired by an agency under a pledge of confidentiality and for exclusively statistical purposes shall be used by officers, employees, or agents of the agency exclusively for statistical purposes and protected in accordance with such pledge.

A statistical

Notification.

Public

information.

agency or unit shall clearly distinguish any data or information it collects for nonstatistical purposes (as authorized by law) and provide notice to the public, before the data or information is collected, that the data or information could be used for nonstatistical purposes.

A statistical agency or unit may designate agents, by contract or by entering into a special agreement containing the provisions required under section 3561(2) for treatment as an agent under that section, who may perform exclusively statistical activities, subject to the limitations and penalties described in this subchapter.

Whoever, being an officer, employee, or agent of an agency acquiring information for exclusively statistical purposes, having taken and subscribed the oath of office, or having sworn to observe the limitations imposed by this section, comes into possession of such information by reason of his or her being an officer, employee, or agent and, knowing that the disclosure of the specific information is prohibited under the provisions of this subchapter, willfully discloses the information in any manner to a person or agency not entitled to receive it, shall be guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.

Federal statistics are an important source of information for public and private decision-makers such as policymakers, consumers, businesses, investors, and workers.132 STAT. 5550

Federal statistical agencies should continuously seek to improve their efficiency. Statutory constraints limit the ability of these agencies to share data and thus to achieve higher efficiency for Federal statistical programs.

The quality of Federal statistics depends on the willingness of businesses to respond to statistical surveys. Reducing reporting burdens will increase response rates, and therefore lead to more accurate characterizations of the economy.

Enhanced sharing of business data among the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics for exclusively statistical purposes will improve their ability to track more accurately the large and rapidly changing nature of United States business. In particular, the statistical agencies will be able to better ensure that businesses are consistently classified in appropriate industries, resolve data anomalies, produce statistical samples that are consistently adjusted for the entry and exit of new businesses in a timely manner, and correct faulty reporting errors quickly and efficiently.

Congress enacted the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Public Law 94–472), which allowed the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to share data on foreign-owned companies. The Act not only expanded detailed industry coverage from 135 industries to over 800 industries with no increase in the data collected from respondents but also demonstrated how data sharing can result in the creation of valuable data products.

With part B of this subchapter, the sharing of business data among the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to ensure the highest level of confidentiality for respondents to statistical surveys.

The purposes of this section are the following:

The head of each of the Designated Statistical Agencies shall—

“(3)

“(1)

In general.—

“(3)

Responsibilities of officers, employees, and agents.—

In this section, the term ‘’ means each of the following:

prohibits the sharing or intended use of such asset in a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; or

if enacted after the date of the enactment of this section, specifically cites to this paragraph.

require the timely provision of data assets under subsection (a);

provide a list of statutes that exempt agencies from the requirement under subsection (a) pursuant to subsection (b)(1);

establish clear and consistent standards, to the extent possible, for complying with section 552a of title 5 (commonly known as the ‘Privacy Act of 1974’) and any other applicable law requiring the protection and confidentiality of individually identifiable information; and

require a transparent process for statistical agencies and units to request data assets from agencies and for agencies to respond to such requests.

Standards for each statistical agency or unit to assess each data asset owned or accessed by the statistical agency or unit for purposes of categorizing the sensitivity level of each such asset and identifying the corresponding level of accessibility to each such asset. Such standards shall include—

Standards for each statistical agency or unit to improve access to a data asset pursuant to paragraph (1) or (3) by removing or obscuring information in such a manner that the identity of the data subject is less likely to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means.

A requirement for each statistical agency or unit to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of any data asset acquired or accessed under this subchapter prior to any public release of such asset, including standards for such comprehensive risk assessment and criteria for making a determination of whether to release the data.

Requirements for each statistical agency or unit to make any process or assessment established, produced, or conducted pursuant to this section transparent and easy to understand, including the following:

make public all standards and policies established under this section; and

ensure that statistical agencies and units have the ability to make information public on the Federal data catalogue established under section 3511(c)(1), in accordance with requirements established pursuant to subsection (b).

Sufficient detail to ensure that each statistical agency or unit establishes an identical process.

A common application form.

Criteria for statistical agencies and units to determine whether to grant an applicant access to a data asset.

Timeframes for prompt determinations by each statistical agency or unit.

An appeals process for adverse decisions and noncompliance with the process established under this subsection.132 STAT. 5556

Standards for transparency, including requirements to make the following information publicly available: