This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

82453 

Vol. 89, No. 198 

Friday, October 11, 2024 

1Foundations 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. 

2Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking 

Act of 2017, H.R. Rep. No. 115–411, at 1–2 (2017), 

available at https://www.congress.gov/ 

congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/ 

411. 

3E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107–347, 

title V, 116 Stat. 2962. The E-Government Act of 

2002 as codified and amended at 44 U.S.C. 3561– 

3576 by CIPSEA 2018 is also known generically as 

‘‘CIPSEA.’’ 

4 44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1). 

5Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, Fundamental Responsibilities of 

Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, 88 FR 

56708 (Aug. 18, 2023), available at https://

www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-18/pdf/ 

2023-17664.pdf. 

6Carroll Wright, Comm’r of Labor, The History 

and Growth of the United States Census, S. Doc. No. 

194, at 12–14 (1900), available at https://

www.census.gov/history/pdf/wright-hunt.pdf. 

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND 

BUDGET 

5 CFR Part 1321 

RIN 0348–AB81 

Fundamental Responsibilities of 

Recognized Statistical Agencies and 

Units 

AGENCY: Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the 

President. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

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 issues 

this final rule pursuant to Title III of the 

Foundations for Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence 

Act) to provide direction to Recognized 

Statistical Agencies and Units (RSAUs) 

in carrying out their four fundamental 

responsibilities: produce and 

disseminate relevant and timely 

statistical information, conduct credible 

and accurate statistical activities, 

conduct objective statistical activities, 

and protect the trust of information 

providers by ensuring the 

confidentiality and exclusive statistical 

use of their responses. This final rule 

also provides direction to other Federal 

agencies to enable, support, and 

facilitate RSAUs in carrying out these 

four fundamental responsibilities. 

DATES: 

Effective date: December 10, 2024. 

Applicability date: This final rule is 

applicable December 10, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kerrie Leslie, 202–395–5898, 

TrustRegulation@omb.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Foundations for Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence 

Act) became law on January 14, 2019.1

The Evidence Act seeks to ‘‘advance[ ] 

the 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 (RSAUs) to produce 

relevant, timely, credible, accurate, and 

objective statistical information. Title III 

of the Evidence Act (known as the 

Confidential Information Protection and 

Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018, or 

CIPSEA 2018) updated and enhanced 

the original Confidential Information 

Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act 

of 2002 (known as CIPSEA 2002) 3 by, 

among other things, codifying the four 

fundamental responsibilities of RSAUs 

and requiring other Federal agencies to 

enable, support, and facilitate RSAUs in 

upholding these responsibilities. The 

four fundamental responsibilities are as 

follows: 4

(1) 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. 

In August 2023, OMB issued a 

proposed rule that would provide 

direction to agencies in carrying out 

these responsibilities.5 After 

considering comments on the proposed 

rule, OMB issues this final rule to be 

codified at 5 CFR part 1321, which sets 

forth requirements for RSAUs to carry 

out their fundamental responsibilities 

and for agencies to enable, support, and 

facilitate RSAUs in carrying out their 

fundamental responsibilities. 

A. Statutory Authority 

Pursuant to 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 Federal agencies of the 

requirements of CIPSEA 2018, OMB 

finalizes this rule to provide direction to 

agencies in carrying out the 

responsibilities described in section 

3563. Section 3563 describes the 

fundamental responsibilities that 

RSAUs must adhere to and charges all 

Federal agencies with enabling, 

supporting, and facilitating RSAUs in 

meeting these responsibilities. 

B. 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 was in 1790.6 The 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 and 

decentralized yet interconnected 

network of agencies, units, programs, 

and officials across the Government 

addressing emerging information 

demands of the Nation, including in the 

fields of tax, agriculture, education, and 

labor. The 20th Century presented new 

policy needs leading to further 

expansion of the Federal statistical 

system to include the fields of 

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. 

Increasingly, collaboration is required 

across the Federal statistical system to 


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7For example, recent collaborations have 

expanded the Federal Statistical Research Data 

Centers program and launched the Standard 

Application Process portal. 

8 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7). 

9See 44 U.S.C. 3562(a) (providing OMB the 

authority to recognize statistical agencies and 

units). 

10 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 [(A)].’’). 

11Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, Statistical Programs of the United States 

Government: Fiscal Years 2021/2022, at 53 (2024), 

available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2024/02/statistical-programs20212022.pdf. 

12 31 U.S.C. 901. 

13Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, M–19–23, Phase 1 Implementation of the 

Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act 

of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning 

Guidance 8 & n.19 (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, Commerce, and Health 

and Human Services, which each host more than 

one recognized statistical agency or unit, the 

Statistical Official role is determined by the CFO 

Act agency. 

14 44 U.S.C. 3504(e). 

15Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, Order Providing for the Confidentiality of 

Statistical Information, 62 FR 35044, 35044 (June 

27, 1997), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/ 

content/pkg/FR-1997-06-27/pdf/FR-1997-06-27.pdf. 

16 Id. at 35049. The term ‘‘designated’’ was used 

in the 1997 Order. For the purposes of this final 

rule, 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. 

17CIPSEA 2018 reauthorized the OMB’s authority 

to make this determination under and codified it at 

44 U.S.C. 3562(a). 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 

‘‘designated’’ 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 final rule, 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. 

18Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. 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, 33368 (June 15, 2007), 

available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ 

FR-2007-06-15/pdf/E7-11542.pdf. 

19See About Us: Principal Statistical Agencies 

and Recognized Units, StatsPolicy.gov, https://

www.StatsPolicy.gov/about/#statistical-agencies 

(last visited May 21, 2024); see also Off. of Mgmt. 

& Budget, Exec. Off. 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. 

unlock greater efficiencies and leverage 

diverse expertise.7

The Federal Statistical System. The 

Federal statistical system collects and 

transforms data into useful, objective 

information and makes it readily and 

equitably available to data users, while 

protecting the responses of individual 

data providers. Federal, State, local, 

territorial, and Tribal governments; 

businesses; and the public all trust this 

information to be credible and reliable 

and use it to make informed decisions. 

The Federal statistical system includes 

the following entities and officials: 

• 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 

authority to coordinate 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.8 The office accomplishes this 

by promulgating rules, developing and 

maintaining statistical policies and 

standards, identifying priorities for 

improving statistical programs, 

assessing statistical agency budgets, 

reviewing and approving collections of 

information from RSAUs, and 

coordinating U.S. participation in 

international statistical activities, among 

other functions. 

• Sixteen RSAUs. OMB currently 

recognizes 16 statistical agencies and 

units under CIPSEA (See Table 1).9

OMB-recognized agencies or units are 

organizational units of the Executive 

Branch whose activities are 

predominantly the collection, 

compilation, processing, or analysis of 

information for statistical purposes,10

covering topics such as the economy, 

workforce, energy, agriculture, foreign 

trade, education, housing, crime, 

transportation, and health. 

• Approximately 100 other statistical 

programs.11 These other Federal 

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 

Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO Act) 

agency 12 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 an RSAU, the head 

of that RSAU has been designated the 

Statistical Official, as required by OMB 

M–19–23.13

• Interagency Council on Statistical 

Policy (ICSP). Chaired by the Chief 

Statistician of the United States, the 

ICSP 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.14 The ICSP supports the Federal 

statistical system’s vision to operate as 

a seamless system and its critical role 

supporting evidence-based decision 

making. 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, as well as 

enhancing coordination and 

collaboration across the system. The 

ICSP currently includes 29 members in 

addition to the Chair, including the 

head of each RSAU and each Statistical 

Official; however, 11 of the Statistical 

Officials are also heads of RSAUs. 

Brief History of RSAUs. In June 1997, 

OMB issued the ‘‘Order Providing for 

the Confidentiality of Statistical 

Information,’’ (1997 Order) which 

‘‘clarifie[d] and amplifie[d] the 

privileged status afforded ‘confidential 

statistical data.’ ’’ 15 The 1997 Order 

established a consistent confidentiality 

policy across statistical agencies and 

units ‘‘whose activities are 

predominantly the collection, 

compilation, processing, or analysis of 

information for statistical purposes’’ as 

‘‘determined by the Office of 

Management and Budget.’’ In the 1997 

Order, OMB determined 12 statistical 

agencies and units would be subject to 

the order.16 About five years later, 

CIPSEA 2002 was enacted, which 

codified OMB’s authority to determine 

whether an agency or unit is a statistical 

agency or unit subject to the consistent 

and heightened protections for 

confidential statistical data under 

CIPSEA 2002.17 In 2007, OMB issued 

CIPSEA 2002 implementation guidance 

(2007 guidance) and recognized the 12 

statistical agencies and units previously 

identified in the 1997 Order plus two 

additional statistical agencies or units.18

These 14 agencies and units listed in the 

2007 guidance were known as 

recognized statistical agencies and 

units. Since 2007, OMB added two more 

units for a total of 16 RSAUs.19 In 

accordance with the 2007 guidance, 

OMB maintains a publicly available list 

of RSAUs online, now available at 


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20United Nations General Assembly, 

Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics 

(adopted Jan. 29, 2014), available at https://

unstats.un.org/fpos/. 21European 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. 22Am. Stat. Ass’n, Ethical Guidelines for 

Statistical Practice (Feb. 2022), available at https:// 

www.amstat.org/your-career/ethical-guidelines-forstatistical-practice. 23See Foundations for Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act of 2017, H.R. Rep. No. 115–411, 

at 19 (2017), available at https://www.congress.gov/ 

congressional-report/115th-congress/house-report/ 

411 (quoting Statistical Policy Directive No. 1); see 

also Nat’l Acads. of Sci., Eng’g, & Med., Principles 

and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency 53– 

58 (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); 

Comm’n on Evidence-Based Policymaking, The 

Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking 60–64 

(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 

(noting the importance of independence). 

24Notably, 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). 

https://www.StatsPolicy.gov. Table 1 

provides a list of the current 16 RSAUs 

and their highest-level organization. 

provides a list of the current 16 RSAUs 

and their highest-level organization. 

TABLE 1—CURRENT RSAUS

Recognized statistical agency or unit Highest level organization 

Bureau of Economic Analysis .................................................................. Department of Commerce. 

Bureau of Justice Statistics ...................................................................... Department of Justice. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics ........................................................................ Department of Labor. 

Bureau of the Census .............................................................................. Department of Commerce. 

Bureau of Transportation Statistics .......................................................... Department of Transportation. 

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality ................................. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Economic Research Service .................................................................... Department of Agriculture. 

Energy Information Administration ........................................................... Department of Energy. 

Microeconomic Surveys Unit .................................................................... Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service ..................................................... Department of Agriculture. 

National Animal Health Monitoring System .............................................. Department of Agriculture. 

National Center for Education Statistics .................................................. Department of Education. 

National Center for Health Statistics ........................................................ Department of Health and Human Services. 

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics .......................... National Science Foundation. 

Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics ......................................... Social Security Administration. 

Statistics of Income Division .................................................................... Department of the Treasury. 

Related authorities. Critical to a 

healthy, relevant Federal statistical 

system has been the development and 

implementation of statutes, rules, 

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. 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, timely, credible, accurate, and 

objective statistical information. 

Importantly, many authorities, such as 

individual entity authorizing statutes 

and cross-system statutes, co-exist and 

complement one another to promote a 

strong, vibrant, interconnected Federal 

statistical system. These authorities 

generally support the ability of the 

Federal statistical system to create 

relevant, timely, credible, accurate, and 

objective statistics in a way that 

promotes the trust of data providers. 

Some of the most relevant authorities to 

this final rule include the Evidence Act, 

CIPSEA 2002, CIPSEA 2018, the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), the Privacy Act of 1974 (Privacy 

Act), and OMB Statistical Policy 

Directive Nos. 1, 3, and 4. In addition, 

other external entities—both domestic 

and international—have published their 

perspectives on how RSAUs should 

meet their missions to produce relevant, 

timely credible, accurate, and objective 

Federal statistics; including the National 

Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and 

Medicine’s Principles and Practices for 

a Federal Statistical Agency (referred to 

as Principles and Practices); the United 

Nations’ Fundamental Principles of 

Official Statistics; 20 the European 

Statistics Code of Practice; 21 and the 

American Statistical Association’s 

Ethical Guidelines for Statistical 

Practice.22 The proposed rule preamble 

includes a longer description of these 

related authorities. 

Over many years and based on lessons 

learned, certain responsibilities, 

standards, and 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 RSAUs.23 The concepts of 

autonomy and authority as codified in 

this rule are important for RSAUs to 

meet the fundamental responsibilities 

enumerated in 44 U.S.C. 3563. The 

autonomy and authority of RSAUs must 

be balanced with the other 

responsibilities and needs of RSAUs, as 

well as other affected Federal agencies. 

Similar to the proposed rule, this final 

rule aims to explicate where 

autonomous decision-making authority 

is important and why. 

In addition, CIPSEA 2018 

contemplates a common framework for 

protecting statistical data, acquiring 

administrative or program data, and 

disseminating statistical data securely. 

This rule seeks to lay the foundation for 

advancing this common framework by 

facilitating appropriate interagency 

engagement and coordination and 

ensuring implementation is successful 

across the Federal Government.24 The 

organizational structure of agencies and 

departments in relation to RSAUs is 

important for successful 

implementation of this rule. Currently, 

each RSAU is part of a larger 

organization, with varying reporting 

structures. The heads of some RSAUs 

are appointed by the President (either 

with or without Senate confirmation), 


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25Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. 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. 

26As explained at https://

www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/conversational/ 

shall-and-must, ‘‘[t]he legal community is moving 

to a strong preference for ‘must’ as the clearest way 

to express a requirement or obligation.’’ 

27The preamble of the proposed rule is available 

on the Federal Register website at https://

www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/18/ 

2023-17664/fundamental-responsibilities-ofrecognized-statistical-agencies-and-units. 

28 31 U.S.C. 1104(d). 

29 44 U.S.C. 3504. 

30Treasury and General Government 

Appropriations Act, 2001, Tit. V, Sec. 515(a), Public 

Law 106–554, 114 Stat. 2763A–153 (2000). 

31 44 U.S.C. 3561–3583. 

while others are senior career officials. 

Likewise, the heads of some RSAUs 

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. 

CIPSEA 2018 also requires OMB to 

issue guidance on the requirements and 

processes for seeking and obtaining 

OMB recognition as a new RSAU. 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 this rule. 

C. The Proposed Rule 

OMB published an NPRM entitled 

‘‘Fundamental Responsibilities of 

Recognized Statistical Agencies and 

Units’’ on August 18, 2023 (the 

proposed rule), with comments 

requested by October 2, 2023. As a 

general matter, in developing the 

proposed rule, OMB followed the 

approach of adhering to the wider 

principles and practices contained in 

Statistical Policy Directive No. 1, which 

already contained the fundamental 

responsibilities now codified in CIPSEA 

2018 and gave RSAUs specific guidance 

on how to adhere to those 

responsibilities.25 Many of the 

provisions included in the proposed 

rule were drawn directly or adapted 

from Statistical Policy Directive No. 1. 

After nearly a decade of the Federal 

Government operating under Statistical 

Policy Directive No. 1, experience has 

clarified the fundamental 

responsibilities and how to ensure 

RSAUs are able to carry out those 

responsibilities. In consideration of that 

experience, the proposed rule sought to 

address existing and emerging 

challenges and issues to create a lasting 

and effective policy. In the proposed 

rule, OMB acknowledged some overlap 

between the proposed rule and 

Statistical Policy Directive No. 1. OMB 

also clarified the intent of the proposed 

rule to address existing and emerging 

challenges and issues that are not 

addressed by Statistical Policy Directive 

No. 1, to ensure that RSAUs are able to 

meet their fundamental responsibilities. 

For example, the proposed rule 

included provisions to ensure RSAUs 

have their own websites and have an 

opportunity to participate in 

discussions with OMB regarding their 

own budget requests. The proposed rule 

also included compliance review 

requirements to promote compliance 

with the proposed rule’s provisions. 

OMB requested comments on all 

aspects of the proposed rule, as well as 

a number of specific issues. A total of 

30 unique, in-scope public comments 

were received, and all comments are 

viewable at https://

www.regulations.gov/docket/OMB-2023- 

0015. Commenters included private 

citizens, professional associations 

relevant to Federal statistics, former 

agency leadership, and academics. 

Many comments expressed support for 

the proposed rule. Some specifically 

stated that, even if OMB did not make 

any changes to the proposed rule, it 

would be a significant improvement 

from the status quo. 

II. Overview of the Final Rule 

In order to implement the legislative 

mandates under 44 U.S.C. 3563, OMB is 

finalizing requirements for Federal 

agencies to enable, support, and 

facilitate the fundamental 

responsibilities of RSAUs. After careful 

consideration of the comments, OMB is 

codifying the proposed rule at 5 CFR 

part 1321, with certain modifications 

made in response to comments and 

certain modifications to improve the 

clarity and readability of the rule. 

Throughout the rule text, OMB made 

global modifications to address the 

following: 

• OMB made changes throughout the 

rule text to update the use of ‘‘shall’’ to 

‘‘must’’ for clarity.26 In this rule, uses of 

‘‘must,’’ ‘‘shall,’’ or ‘‘will’’ indicate 

requirements. 

• OMB revised the terms ‘‘regulation’’ 

and ‘‘regulations’’ to ‘‘rule’’ for clarity. 

• OMB added titles to all first level 

provisions within Sections for clarity 

and readability. 

• OMB spelled out the acronyms 

OMB (Office of Management and 

Budget), CIPSEA (Confidential 

Information Protection and Statistical 

Efficiency Act), and SAOP (Senior 

Agency Official for Privacy). 

• OMB added clarifying phrases such 

as ‘‘in this part’’ to clarify the scope of 

certain provisions. 

• OMB adjusted language to reflect 

updated terms with definitions, such as 

‘‘parent agency head.’’ 

• OMB edited to address grammar 

issues and typos. 

• OMB edited to conform to Office of 

the Federal Register requirements for 

references. 

This section of the preamble provides 

a discussion of the comments received 

on the proposed rule and an explanation 

of the final rule. OMB notes that the 

preamble of the proposed rule 27

provided detailed background 

information, much of which is not 

repeated here, but remains equally 

relevant, unless changes were made as 

outlined in this section. 

A. § 1321.1—Purpose 

OMB issues this rule to implement 44 

U.S.C. 3563. The proposed rule stated 

that the authority for issuing 5 CFR part 

1321 is under the Budget and 

Accounting Procedures Act of 1950; 28

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 29

the Information Quality Act; 30 and Title 

III of the Foundations for EvidenceBased Policymaking Act of 2018 

(Evidence Act), also known as CIPSEA 

2018.31 OMB did not receive any 

comments on this section of the 

proposed rule; however, because the 

rule as proposed and as finalized 

includes requirements related to 

authorities throughout the Evidence 

Act, and is not limited to Title III 

(CIPSEA 2018), the final rule at § 1321.1 

adds a specific reference to the broader 

Evidence Act. Otherwise, OMB finalizes 

§ 1321.1 as proposed. 

B. § 1321.2—Definitions 

The final rule at § 1321.2 defines 

terms used in this rule. In general, OMB 

revised the first sentence to remove ‘‘for 

purposes of implementing 5 U.S.C. 314 

and all of title III of the Evidence Act’’ 

for accuracy because the definitions are 

for this rule, not for those sections of 

law. In addition, OMB has removed 

specific regulatory citations for each 

definition and reordered definitions so 

they are alphabetical for clarity. OMB 

also made updates to use defined terms 

when available and to follow the 

Government Printing Office style guide, 

as well as to remove small typos and 

duplicative text for clarity and accuracy. 

Similar to the proposed rule, 

definitions in the final rule are aligned 

with existing statutes and rules 


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32The term evidence as used here has the 

meaning given in Appendix A of OMB M–19–23, 

which includes activities that extend beyond 

statistical activities, such as policy analysis and 

performance measurement. See Off. of Mgmt. & 

Budget, Exec. Off. of the President, M–19–23, Phase 

1 Implementation of the Foundations for EvidenceBased Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, 

Personnel, and Planning Guidance app. A (July 10, 

2019), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf. 

33 Id. at 24–25. 

34Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release 

and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced 

by Federal Statistical Agencies, 73 FR 12,622, 

12,625 (Mar. 7, 2008), available at https://

www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-03-07/pdf/ 

E8-4570.pdf. 

wherever possible. OMB received 

comments on the following proposed 

definitions: accurate, credible, 

confidentiality, identifiable form, parent 

agency, statistical law, and statistical 

products. In response to these 

comments this rule finalizes some 

definitions as proposed, revises some 

proposed terms, and includes newly 

defined terms that were not included in 

the proposed rule in order to clarify the 

final requirements of 5 CFR part 1321. 

Accurate and Credible. One 

commenter noted that the proposed rule 

uses the terms accurate and credible in 

a common language way and suggested 

defining each of the terms in a way that 

is consistent with more formal statistical 

concepts like unbiased, consistent, 

robust, and precise. The proposed rule 

defined the term accurate in the same 

way the term is defined in 44 U.S.C. 

3563(d). OMB believes that it is 

appropriate for the regulatory definition 

for accurate to be the same as the 

statutory definition to minimize 

confusion and is finalizing the 

definition as proposed. The proposed 

rule did not include a definition for the 

term credible, and OMB believes adding 

a definition is unnecessary at this time. 

Confidential Statistical Data. The 

proposed rule defined confidential 

statistical data as ‘‘any information that 

is acquired for exclusively statistical 

purposes and under an obligation not to 

disclose the information to an 

unauthorized party.’’ One commenter 

recommended amending the definition 

of confidential statistical data by 

replacing the word ‘‘obligation’’ with 

the term ‘‘pledge’’ or defining the term 

‘‘obligation’’ to ensure the term is 

inclusive of the term ‘‘pledge.’’ The 

commenter asserted without 

explanation that the term ‘‘obligation’’ is 

narrow and implies formality and 

thorough documentation. OMB 

disagrees with this assertion and 

considers ‘‘obligation’’ to broadly cover 

a wide range of methods of obligating 

the agency, including any law, 

‘‘pledge,’’ interagency agreement, 

memorandum of understanding, 

contract, or other agreement or 

requirement to maintain confidentiality. 

This broader term is used in the 

definition of confidentiality under 44 

U.S.C. 3563, as established in CIPSEA 

2018. Notably, Congress used the term 

‘‘obligation’’ rather than ‘‘pledge’’ to 

define confidentiality when it expanded 

CIPSEA to grant RSAUs greater access to 

data held by other agencies, and OMB 

believes the term is intended to include 

data acquired through means other than 

direct collection from respondents. At 

this time, OMB is not defining 

‘‘obligation,’’ but may consider defining 

this term in the future. 

Many agencies have confidential data 

that they use for statistical purposes 

which is not considered confidential 

statistical data under this regulation. For 

example, an evaluation office in an 

agency may conduct a survey of 

program participants as part of a 

program evaluation of an employment 

and training program for low-income 

adults. In doing so, the agency may 

ensure participants’ confidentiality, and 

use those data solely for evidencebuilding 32 purposes to assess the 

effectiveness of the particular 

intervention. In this example, such data 

are collected for ‘‘research’’ purposes, 

which can include statistical activities 

but is not limited to exclusively 

statistical purposes. Because these types 

of activities are not limited to 

exclusively statistical purposes, the data 

are not considered confidential 

statistical data and are not subject to the 

requirements for confidential statistical 

data under this regulation. 

Identifiable form. In the proposed 

rule, the term identifiable form is 

defined to mean ‘‘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,’’ as the term is defined in 44 

U.S.C. 3561. One commenter 

highlighted the need for continued 

evolution in relation to how the term 

identifiable form is defined. This 

commenter suggested clarifying to what 

degree statistical agencies are obligated 

to protect against even partial 

reidentification in order to shed light on 

ways in which Federal statistical 

agencies can safely innovate with new 

methods as well as modernize data 

governance practices. Although the final 

rule finalizes the term identifiable form 

as proposed, OMB is of the view that 

addressing the scope of obligation 

regarding protecting against 

reidentification may be better aligned 

with other regulatory actions related to 

the Evidence Act and will take this 

comment under advisement for future 

rulemaking. 

‘‘Error’’. One commenter stated that 

the proposed rule and preamble use the 

term ‘‘error’’ often in a statistical sense 

and suggested instead using the term 

‘‘statistical error’’ and explaining the 

difference between a statistical error and 

a mistake in order to improve clarity for 

those not trained in statistics. The term 

‘‘error’’ is used in the context of 

§ 1321.6(a)(2)(iii) of this final rule and 

the related preamble discussion. OMB is 

of the view that the preamble discussion 

of the term ‘‘error’’ provides the right 

amount of context for readers to 

understand the intent and therefore is 

not including a new definition for the 

term in this final rule. 

Statistical Laws. OMB received a 

comment on the definition for statistical 

laws. The proposed rule defines 

statistical laws to mean ‘‘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,’’ as the term is defined in 44 

U.S.C. 3502. One commenter suggested 

adding language to reflect that OMB 

should document which laws are 

statistical laws. OMB has already 

documented some of the laws that are 

covered by the term statistical laws in 

OMB M–19–23 33 and agrees generally 

with the idea of documenting the 

statistical laws designated by the 

Director of OMB. However, the 

definition of statistical laws does not 

need to be updated to accomplish this 

proposal. OMB will consider ways to 

further document the statistical laws 

designated by the Director of OMB 

following finalization of this rule. 

Statistical Products. OMB received a 

comment on the term statistical 

products, which the proposed rule 

defined to mean 

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. 

This definition is consistent with 

Statistical Policy Directive No. 4.34

The commenter suggested revising 

definition of the term statistical 

products to refer to ‘‘any information 


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dissemination products, including 

public-use microdata files, 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 (but 

are not limited to) general purpose 

tabulations, analyses, projections, 

forecasts, or other statistical reports 

whether published by the RSAU or 

through some other mechanism. 

Statistical products include products of 

any form, including both printed and 

electronic forms.’’ OMB appreciates this 

comment but believes that it is not 

necessary to add an ‘‘including’’ 

statement, and the ‘‘or through some 

other mechanism’’ language would 

unnecessarily broaden the definition 

and may lead to further confusion. The 

final rule therefore defines statistical 

products as proposed. 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. 

In the proposed rule, the term 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

was defined as ‘‘an agency or 

organizational unit of the 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.’’ In 

keeping with the intent to align 

definitions with statute, where possible, 

the final rule modifies the definition of 

the term Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit, to align with the definition of 

‘‘statistical agency or unit’’ in 44 U.S.C. 

3561, which is ‘‘an agency or 

organizational unit of the executive 

branch whose activities are 

predominately the collection, 

compilation, processing, or analysis of 

information for statistical purposes, as 

designated by the Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget under [44 

U.S.C. 3562].’’ 

Definitions for Organizational Units. 

To provide greater clarity about which 

parts of an agency are given 

responsibilities under this rule, the final 

rule adds definitions for component, 

core component, and parent agency 

head and adjusts the definition of 

parent agency. The final rule also 

replaces the term support function with 

support component. 

Federal agencies consist of many 

different components including subagencies, offices, bureaus and units that 

support the mission of the agency. Some 

components, such as RSAUs, perform 

programmatic functions to achieve the 

agency’s mission. Other components 

provide support to programmatic 

components by providing services and 

resources such as legal, human 

resources, communications, legislative 

affairs, budget, information technology 

(IT), or procurement. Further, other 

components provide non-programmatic 

agency-wide functions by advising and 

collaborating with other components to 

achieve the agency’s mission, such as 

the Offices of the Chief Data Officer, the 

Evaluation Officer, the Senior Agency 

Official for Privacy, the Chief 

Information Officer, and the Chief 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

Officer. 

The final rule adds the term 

component to mean a sub-agency, office, 

unit, bureau, or other distinct entity 

when that entity is within an agency 

that contains an RSAU. OMB notes that 

an RSAU may be organizationally 

positioned within a component, such as 

a sub-agency that may contain 

additional components. 

The proposed rule included a 

definition for the term support function 

to mean ‘‘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.’’ In the 

final rule, the term support function is 

replaced with the term support 

component and is defined as ‘‘a 

component 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, but excludes any component 

within an RSAU that provides these 

functions.’’ 

A sub-agency component containing 

an RSAU may also contain additional 

components, including components that 

provide support such as legal, human 

resources, communications, legislative 

affairs, budget, information technology 

(IT), or procurement services to the 

RSAU and other components within the 

same sub-agency component. The 

change to the definition of support 

component clarifies that the 

requirements in this final rule are 

applicable regardless of where such 

component is positioned within an 

agency, except for when these functions 

are performed within the RSAU itself. 

The final rule definition for support 

component also removes the term ‘‘core 

function,’’ from the definition, which is 

separately defined in the newly defined 

term core component in the final rule. 

For clarity, the final rule adds a 

definition for the term core component, 

which means ‘‘any support component 

[as defined above] and any component 

that performs any agency-wide function, 

such as the office of the Chief Data 

Officer, the Evaluation Officer, the 

Senior Agency Official for Privacy, the 

Chief Information Officer, the Chief 

FOIA Officer, and similar functions.’’ 

The proposed rule included the 

definition of parent agency to mean 

‘‘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.’’ Some commenters supported 

this proposed definition while other 

commenters recommended revisions. 

Commenters supporting the proposed 

definition noted its broad scope, which 

includes all levels of the organization 

including the highest level. Another 

commenter stated that the proposed 

definition of parent agency should be 

kept because the RSAU must have 

support from all components of the 

parent agency, including the head of the 

agency, regardless of where the RSAU 

sits in the parent agency or its direct 

line of reporting, to ensure that the 

RSAU has the appropriate authorities 

and resources to conduct its 

fundamental responsibilities. 

In contrast, other commenters stated 

that the proposed definition for parent 

agency was confusing, a deterrent to the 

stated objectives, and that it should be 

redefined. Commenters who did not 

support the proposed definition 

interpreted the definition for parent 

agency, as proposed, more narrowly, 

describing it as only including the 

organization where the RSAU is 

immediately located within the agency’s 

organizational structure and offered 

several reasons to provide a broader 

definition; such as the RSAU’s duty to 

serve the data needs of the entire 

agency. These commenters noted that 

the lack of congruent priorities between 

the RSAU and the office, unit, or subagency in which it is positioned often 

leads to budget and staffing issues 

which in turn significantly hurt the 

ability of the RSAU to collect and 

disseminate needed and timely data for 

the agency. 

OMB agrees with commenters both in 

support and not in support of the 

proposed definition that the definition 

of parent agency should be broad 


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enough to not only include the 

component of the agency (such as an 

office, unit, or sub-agency) under which 

the RSAU is immediately positioned, 

but also the highest organizational level 

of the organization, as well as any 

component in between. OMB also 

believes it is important to include any 

office that has a direct and recurring 

relationship with the RSAU such as an 

office that provides a service or other 

support for the RSAU or any agencywide office. However, OMB also 

believes it is important for clarity that 

the definition of parent agency does not 

extend to agencies or components that 

do not have similar direct and recurring 

relationships with an RSAU. Therefore, 

to provide clarity, the final rule revises 

the definition of parent agency to mean 

the following components in an agency 

that contains a Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit: the parent agency head, 

each organizational level within the 

agency under which the RSAU is 

positioned, and each core component. 

Notably, there are some components 

in agencies that contain RSAUs that 

may have a direct working relationship 

with the RSAU but are not included in 

the definition of parent agency. For 

example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 

(BLS) has a direct working relationship 

with units within the Employment and 

Training Administration and the 

Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration in the Department of 

Labor (DOL). While not explicitly 

within the parent agency definition, 

these DOL units or components with a 

direct working relationship with BLS 

are still required to comply with this 

regulation within the context of that 

relationship. As discussed further 

below, the final rule adds § 1321.3(e), 

which requires that any other agency or 

component not within the definition of 

parent agency that has a direct working 

relationship with a RSAU must uphold 

the same responsibilities as a parent 

agency to the extent that a responsibility 

applies. In this example, this means that 

the DOL units with direct working 

relationships with BLS are effectively 

parent agencies to the extent that any 

parent agency responsibility applies in 

the context of that relationship. 

Image 1 is a diagram of a possible 

structure to show the RSAU, parent 

agency, and component relationships. 

The RSAU is green (pattern with 

diagonal stripes), the parent agency is 

orange (pattern with dots), and 

components that are not an RSAU or 

within the definition of parent agency 

are blue (solid). 

Chief Statistician of the United States. 

The proposed rule used different terms 

to refer to the Chief Statistician of the 

United States, including in some places 

including text to specify that it referred 

to the Chief Statistician of the United 

States ‘‘appointed under 44 U.S.C. 

3504(e)(7)’’ and in some places leaving 

this out. To promote clarity and 

consistency in the final rule, the final 

rule adds a definition of Chief 

Statistician of the United States, which 

is defined as the Chief Statistician 

appointed under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7). 

OMB uses this defined term throughout 

the final rule and has therefore removed 

the reference to ‘‘appointed under 44 

U.S.C. 3504(e)(7)’’ elsewhere in the 

regulatory text. 

OMB finalizes all other definitions in 

§ 1321.2 as they were proposed. 

C. § 1321.3—General Provisions 

This section describes the scope of the 

rule; the impact on existing OMB 

guidance and policies, including that 

this rule supersedes any provisions 

within Statistical Policy Directives that 

conflict; and the parties responsible for 

carrying out this rule. OMB received 

one comment related to § 1321.3(d) of 

the proposed rule which directs a parent 

agency and RSAU to discuss and 

determine how to address deviations 

from the standard parent agency-level 

process to ensure compliance with 5 

CFR part 1321 and other applicable laws 

and rules when appropriate or 

necessary. The commenter suggested 

that the final rule include language to 

clarify how such determinations will be 

resolved when the parent agency and 

RSAU disagree or cannot reach an 

agreement and suggest that in such 

cases the Chief Statistician of the United 


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States be the mediator and be 

empowered to make the final 

determination. OMB appreciates this 

comment, but does not believe it is 

necessary to establish such a 

requirement as a general provision at 

this time. OMB will monitor these 

situations and consider future 

rulemaking if necessary. OMB expects 

the parent agency and RSAU will 

resolve any areas of disagreement 

within the hierarchy of the parent 

agency, in consultation with OMB on 

interpretation of the requirements in 

this rule, as needed, and further expects 

the head of the parent agency to retain 

responsibility for final determinations, 

when appropriate. 

The final rule adds new § 1321.3(e) to 

ensure all agencies are fulfilling their 

statutory responsibilities, which is 

necessary because of the revision to the 

parent agency definition. In the 

proposed rule, parent agency was 

defined more broadly than the final rule 

to cover all agencies regardless of 

whether the agency has a direct 

relationship with the RSAU. As revised, 

parent agency extends to certain parts of 

agencies that contain an RSAU, detailed 

above, and as such, to ensure that all 

agencies continue to be required to 

uphold their responsibility to enable, 

support, and facilitate RSAUs in 

upholding their fundamental 

responsibilities, OMB added this 

provision. The provision at § 1321.3(e) 

clarifies and reinforces that all agencies, 

if engaged with RSAUs, must uphold 

any applicable responsibilities of a 

parent agency. The final rule states that 

when an agency or component has a 

direct working relationship with an 

RSAU, the agency or component must 

uphold the responsibilities of a parent 

agency under this part to the extent that 

a responsibility applies. For example, 

when another agency or component is 

working with an RSAU to access 

confidential statistical data or to 

produce a new statistical product, that 

agency or component is responsible for 

complying with confidentiality 

requirements in § 1321.8 and deferring 

to or delegating responsibility to the 

RSAU with regard to decisions about 

statistical methodology and quality 

standards. 

The final rule includes new 

§ 1321.3(f) that provides that RSAUs 

should consult with the Office of the 

Chief Statistician of the United States on 

any implementation challenge that may 

arise under this rule or other statistical 

laws. OMB has added this provision to 

clarify the working relationship between 

RSAUs and the Office of the Chief 

Statistician of the United States. 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.3 as they were proposed. 

D. § 1321.4—Supporting the Four 

Fundamental Responsibilities 

This final rule defines the 

fundamental responsibilities of RSAUs 

at § 1321.4 as they are codified in 44 

U.S.C. 3563(a)(1). As discussed 

elsewhere in this preamble, these 

fundamental responsibilities are 

(1) 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. 

OMB proposed requirements at 

§ 1321.4 to bolster RSAUs’ ability to 

fulfill their fundamental responsibilities 

in order to protect and enhance public 

trust in RSAUs, and enhance public 

trust in their statistical products. 

In general, OMB made several 

revisions to § 1321.4 to streamline and 

reorganize provisions to improve clarity 

and readability and address public 

comments. OMB finalizes the rule with 

an updated title for § 1321.4 to more 

accurately reflect the provisions within 

the section. OMB removed ‘‘bear the 

responsibilities’’ language from two 

provisions for clarity and readability. 

OMB received overall support for 

§ 1321.4 of the proposed rule. One 

commenter emphasized how this 

section of the proposed rule was 

fundamental to the rule itself and 

critically important, as it makes explicit 

the fact that RSAUs carry the 

responsibility of fulfilling the 

fundamental responsibilities, whereas 

parent agencies play a key role in 

supporting the ability of the RSAU to 

meet their responsibilities. 

OMB also received specific comments 

on certain provisions in this section of 

the proposed rule. Two commenters 

noted that better education, 

communication, and collaboration 

requirements between RSAUs and 

parent agencies would promote better 

outcomes. One commenter noted that 

awareness of RSAU responsibilities and 

structures would complement the rule’s 

emphasis on increased communication 

between RSAUs and their parent 

agencies. This commenter noted that 

communications conducted under the 

umbrella of the proposed rule have the 

potential to improve the utility of 

collected statistics and avoid the 

collection of irrelevant statistical data. 

The other commenter noted in 

particular the need to collaborate and 

coordinate with key evidence and data 

officials to preserve the vision of the 

Evidence Act. In response this 

comment, OMB is adding a new 

provision to the final rule at § 1321.4(b) 

which requires the heads of RSAUs and 

parent agencies to engage in regular 

communication and seek to educate 

each other. This communication should 

be targeted toward improving 

collaboration between the units in 

support of better meeting the 

responsibilities outlined in this part. 

Two commenters noted the need to 

promote sustainability and innovation 

within the Federal statistical system 

through requirements on RSAUs to seek 

improvements to their collections and 

methods. In response to these public 

comments, the final rule also adds a 

new provision at § 1321.4(d) related to 

innovation and burden reduction. 

Section 1321.4(d)(1) requires each 

RSAU to continually seek to improve 

their statistical products and methods 

and engage in research to support 

innovation in data collection, analysis, 

and dissemination, among other 

statistical activities. In addition, another 

commenter suggested adding a 

requirement on RSAUs to minimize 

burden. In response, OMB finalizes at 

§ 1321.4(d)(2) a requirement that each 

RSAU maximize the utility and 

minimize duplication of statistical 

products, as well as minimize the 

burden on their respondents, including 

by engaging with each other to identify 

opportunities to better meet these goals. 

The PRA requires all Federal agencies to 

maximize utility, minimize duplication, 

and minimize burden. This rule builds 

on this requirement and requires further 

engagement and consultation across 

RSAUs to better identify where 

duplication is occurring and to address 

it where found. 

Several commenters strongly 

supported the requirements that were 

proposed at § 1321.4(b) related to 

websites and branding. Several 

commenters emphasized the importance 

of RSAU branding so that users know 

they are using trusted data provided and 

protected by strict legal protections of 

the Federal statistical system. One 

commenter expressed the importance of 

RSAUs to maintain independently 

branded websites as proposed at 

§ 1321.4(b), in order to emphasize 

independence and engender public trust 

in that independence. This commenter 

cited the Bureau for Labor Statistics and 

Bureau of Economic Analysis for being 

forerunners in this regard. Other 

commenters expressed the value of 

branding as it will allow for the 

identification of the responsible agency, 

and precludes the possibility that 


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questions about a given statistic or 

statistical method would go to an entity 

that does not have professional 

knowledge and understanding of said 

statistic or method. These commenters 

and several others suggested that the 

requirement related to branding apply 

beyond websites and include all reports 

and products produced by the RSAU. 

OMB agrees and accepts these 

comments. OMB has revised the final 

rule at § 1321.4(e)(3) to require RSAUs 

to include clear branding with the name 

of the RSAU on all websites, statistical 

products, and press releases. 

Several commenters suggested that 

RSAU branding as well as the 

development and maintenance of RSAU 

websites that was proposed at 

§ 1321.4(b) be coordinated through the 

Office of the Chief Statistician of the 

United States. One commenter provided 

several examples of ways OMB, through 

the Office of the Chief Statistician of the 

United States, could support such 

efforts, such as a feeder or indexing 

website for all statistical agencies, by 

coordinating website design choices 

across agencies to make the system 

easier to use, or establishing 

interoperability standards or a single 

format for scientific citations. The 

commenter cited reduced costs and 

more coordination to show relationships 

between statistical agencies as reasons 

for implementing such efforts. Several 

commenters also identified a value in 

coordinated branding across RSAUs. 

One commenter stated that coordinated 

branding could strengthen the shared 

independence of RSAUs and therefore 

engender more public trust. 

OMB generally agrees the Office of the 

Chief Statistician of the United States 

has an important coordination role 

across the Federal statistical system. 

Indeed, in early 2023, StatsPolicy.gov 

was launched to provide a centralized 

location for finding information about 

Federal statistical system. However, at 

this time, OMB is of the view that 

RSAUs should maintain their own 

websites rather than having a 

centralized one that is managed by OMB 

because each RSAU has different 

policies, rules, and statutes to adhere to. 

Therefore, the final rule at § 1321.4(e)(2) 

continues to require that the RSAU 

maintain a website clearly branded with 

the name of the RSAU to provide 

information to providers, data users, 

and the general public. However, OMB 

does agree with commenters regarding 

the benefit in coordinated branding 

across the Federal statistical system and 

therefore the final rule at § 1321.6(e)(1) 

requires RSAUs to participate in the 

development of coordinated and 

complementary system-wide branding 

in collaboration with the Chief 

Statistician of the United States. This 

branding does not supplant the 

individual branding for each RSAU. 

This branding will complement 

individual branding to promote a more 

cohesive, seamless statistical system, in 

support of achieving the ICSP’s vision to 

operate more seamlessly as a system. 

This branding should appear on 

relevant websites and products, 

including on StatsPolicy.gov. 

The proposed rule at § 1321.4(b) 

required that each RSAU ‘‘maintain’’ a 

website. One commenter suggested the 

use of ‘‘have control of’’ rather than the 

word ‘‘maintain.’’ OMB appreciates this 

comment but does not think that it is 

necessary to make this change. The 

proposed rule at § 1321.4(b)(1)(i) 

through (iii) and this rule as finalized at 

§ 1321.4(f)(1) through (3), provides 

detailed requirements to parent agencies 

that are intended to ensure that RSAUs 

maintain control of their websites. More 

specifically, as finalized at § 1321.4(f)(1) 

through (3), parent agencies are required 

to ensure that each RSAU has (1) 

sufficient resources to develop and 

maintain its website; (2) the necessary 

authority and autonomy to determine 

the content, functionality, appearance, 

and layout of its website; and (3) 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 RSAU. OMB 

believes that this detail provides the 

adequate direction to both RSAUs and 

parent agencies regarding the RSAU’s 

responsibilities and authorities 

regarding its website. 

As discussed elsewhere in this rule, 

several non-substantive changes were 

made to this section of the rule to 

improve clarity and readability. The 

requirements of proposed § 1321.4(b) 

are reorganized into § 1321.4(e) and (f) 

to clarify the responsibilities for RSAUs 

and those of parent agencies regarding 

websites and branding. 

At § 1321.4(c), the proposed rule 

outlined requirements related to the 

appropriate resources the heads of 

RSAUs should have with respect to 

their statistical products and statistical 

information. The final rule separates 

these requirements into two parts: (1) 

requirements related to budget 

formulation, which are finalized at 

§ 1321.4(g) and (2) requirements related 

to RSAU capacity to carry out their 

fundamental responsibilities, which are 

finalized at § 1321.4(h). Both paragraphs 

include non-substantive changes for 

clarity and readability. The final rule 

streamlines language at § 1321.4(g) to 

clarify the importance of each RSAU 

having the appropriate resources to 

carry out the fundamental 

responsibilities. The provisions that 

were proposed at § 1321.4(c)(1) through 

(3) are being finalized at § 1321.4(g) and 

(h)(1) through (3) with changes 

described in this preamble to emphasize 

the role of the parent agency in the 

budget formulation process and to 

further encourage collaboration and 

communication between the RSAU and 

the parent agency. 

OMB received several comments 

regarding proposed § 1321.4(c)(1) 

through (3). With regard to these 

provisions, one commenter supported 

RSAUs having their own budgets within 

their parent agency, and encouraged 

OMB also to require cross-cut budgets 

that demonstrate how statistical 

agencies work together and a Statistical 

Programs Budget to help communicate 

needed increases in the Chief 

Statistician’s budget. Another 

commenter cautioned that the provision 

to require separate RSAU budgets may 

have an adverse effect by presenting 

unintended limitations on an RSAU’s 

ability to leverage budget authorities 

effectively, which may limit the Federal 

statistical system’s ability to grow and 

innovate and prevent smaller units from 

seeking recognition as a statistical 

agency or unit if they are unable to bear 

the additional administrative burden. 

Another commenter suggested 

promoting transparency and 

completeness in budget requests by 

requiring RSAUs to include funding 

sources such as set-asides in their 

budget requests and suggested further 

that if any agency’s staffing level is 

determined through a separate agency 

account, the staffing levels and the 

requested changes for the RSAU be 

included as part of the budget request. 

OMB appreciates these comments and 

has made changes to the final rule to 

clarify the requirements as follows: 

OMB finalizes § 1321.4(c)(1) of the 

proposed rule at § 1321.4(g)(1)–(2) of the 

final rule. Paragraph (g)(1) clarifies that, 

within the parent agency’s budget 

submission, the RSAU’s budget request 

should be presented separately. The 

RSAUs’ budget requests should clearly 

present requests that would support 

cross-agency statistical priorities and 

investments, such as for implementation 

of the Standard Application Process 

required under 44 U.S.C. 3583 and 

related guidance. In the cases where 

RSAUs also receive funds through other 

sources, such as set-asides, such funds 

and their sources should be clearly 

stated with the budget request. Further, 

if an agency’s staffing level is 

determined through a separate agency 

account, the staffing levels and the 


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requested changes for the RSAU should 

be included as part of the budget 

request. In paragraph (g)(2), OMB 

clarifies the requirement for RSAUs to 

have an opportunity to participate in 

budget discussions with OMB by 

requiring the parent agency to provide 

the opportunity to the RSAU when such 

discussions specifically pertain to the 

RSAU’s budget. 

In the proposed rule, § 1321.4(c)(2) 

contained two provisions. The first 

required the parent agency, to the extent 

practicable, to make necessary resources 

available to the RSAU if the parent 

agency or the RSAU determines that the 

RSAU lacks sufficient resources. The 

second required the parent agency and 

the RSAU to notify OMB if the 

necessary resources could not be made 

available. One commenter cautioned 

that the responsibility of the parent 

agency to provide resources to RSAUs 

could impact the relationship between 

the parent agency and the RSAU. 

Another commenter suggested that 

objective criteria be developed to 

evaluate whether an agency has 

sufficient resources to carry out its 

fundamental responsibilities because 

the parent agency and the RSAU may 

have different views of what constitutes 

necessary resources. This commenter 

also stated that an RSAU should have a 

role in identifying if resources are 

sufficient. 

OMB appreciates these comments and 

will consider working with RSAUs to 

understand whether objective criteria 

would be useful and effective. Further, 

OMB will monitor and assess whether 

any of the requirements of this rule 

impede agencies or units from seeking 

recognition as an RSAU. As discussed 

in the preamble to the proposed rule, 

parent agencies must also allow 

sufficient autonomy and authority to the 

RSAU to determine 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. 

In the final rule, to better clarify the 

process and to provide a better 

distinction between general discussions 

of capacity and specific discussions of 

budget formulation, § 1321.4(c)(2) of the 

proposed rule is finalized in the final 

rule at § 1321.4(g)(3) and (h)(1) and (2). 

Section 1321.4(g)(3) of the final rule 

requires the parent agency, in the 

annual budget formulation process, to 

provide a written explanation to OMB 

as part of the parent agency’s budget 

submission when the budget request 

lacks sufficient resources for the RSAU 

to carry out its responsibilities under 

this final rule. In this written 

explanation, the parent agency must 

explain the programmatic implications 

of the requested funding levels and 

what tradeoffs would be necessary 

within the parent agency to make 

necessary resources available to the 

RSAU. 

New paragraph (h)(1) finalizes the 

first sentence of § 1321.4(c)(2) of the 

proposed rule with changes to clarify 

that ensuring the RSAU has capacity to 

carry out this final rule is a joint 

responsibility of RSAUs and parent 

agencies and should be done in a 

collaborative manner. Therefore 

§ 1321.4(h)(1) of the final rule states that 

if the parent agency and the RSAU 

identify a lack of capacity to meet the 

fundamental responsibilities (e.g., 

through the agency Capacity 

Assessment required by Title I of the 

Evidence Act or other means), the 

parent agency and the RSAU should 

jointly develop options to address 

capacity needs and, to the extent 

practicable, make the necessary 

resources available. Efforts should 

include exploring all possible funding 

options and alternative solutions that 

could achieve these goals. The final rule 

at § 1321.4(h)(2) requires that if the 

RSAU finds, after all efforts with the 

parent agency are exhausted, that it still 

does not have the necessary capacity to 

carry out its responsibilities under this 

final rule, the head of the RSAU should 

submit to the Chief Statistician of the 

United States and the relevant Resource 

Management Office in OMB a written 

explanation of the expected capacity 

deficit, including an estimate of the 

amount of resources, labor, or other 

support needed to address the capacity 

deficit and a detailed description of the 

anticipated impact of the current 

capacity. 

The proposed rule at § 1321.4(c)(3) is 

finalized largely as proposed in the final 

rule at § 1321.4(h)(3), with updates to 

the last sentence of paragraph (h)(3)(v) 

to reflect the updated language in 

§ 1321.4(g) of the final rule. 

The proposed rule at § 1321.4(c)(4) 

presented two options to promote 

collaboration between RSAUs and 

parent agencies to establish joint 

requirements for services to be shared 

across RSAUs and other agencies 

(whether within the same organization 

or across organizations), hereinafter 

referred to as ‘‘shared services.’’ As 

discussed in the proposed rule, OMB 

recognizes the value of shared services 

and the efficiencies and cost savings 

they can generate. The proposed rule 

requested comments on two methods of 

achieving this collaboration between 

RSAUs and parent agencies. Under 

Option A in the proposed rule, each 

parent agency would be required to 

enter into a written agreement with an 

RSAU when providing any service to 

the RSAU. Under Option B, parent 

agency officials are required to consult 

the RSAU prior to making or renewing 

an award for services or software that 

would directly affect the RSAU and are 

only required to enter into a written 

agreement if requested by the head of 

the RSAU or the head of the support 

component. 

The majority of commenters 

supported option B, which this final 

rule adopts at § 1321.4(h)(4). 

Commenters stated that they preferred 

option B because it would clarify the 

role of the parent agency in providing 

sufficient resources or services and 

because of the strength it provides to the 

heads of RSAUs, which is critical to 

promoting trust in the agency. One 

commenter recommended that the 

agreements between RSAUs and parent 

agencies be reviewed and re-signed on 

a regular basis, such as every five years, 

to ensure necessary updated and 

continues compliance with such 

agreements. For the reasons outlined in 

the preamble to the proposed rule, OMB 

is finalizing option B. The provisions 

proposed at § 1321.4(d) are being 

finalized at § 1321.4(i) as proposed. One 

commenter provided suggested 

revisions to three aspects of this 

language. In particular, the commenter 

suggested changing ‘‘may’’ to ‘‘shall’’ in 

proposed § 1321.4(d)(1), adding ‘‘and 

the Chief Statistician of the United 

States’’ to the end of proposed 

§ 1321.4(d)(3), and removing ‘‘may’’ 

from proposed § 1321.4(d)(4)(ii). OMB 

appreciates these suggestions but does 

not accept them. OMB does not believe 

it is appropriate to require delegation in 

every instance but does believe it is 

important that the option for delegation 

exist. In addition, the Chief Statistician 

of the United States does not need to 

know every delegation determination 

made by the RSAU or be consulted in 

every instance. The final rule requires 

that RSAUs have the appropriate 

decision-making authority within their 

agencies for the specified activities. 

(Appropriate is described further in the 

relevant key provisions above for the 

RSAU.) One of the most challenging 

institutional factors affecting the 

fundamental responsibilities are 

overlapping or unclear lines of authority 

between the heads of RSAUs and other 

parent agency officials with authorities 

that directly affect the fundamental 

responsibilities, such as Chief Data 

Officers, Evaluation Officers, Chief 

Information Officers, Senior Agency 

Officials for Privacy, and others. 


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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. This rule identifies the 

decisions and authorities that are key to 

the ability of an RSAU to uphold its 

fundamental responsibilities and 

requires either delegation to or 

consultation with the head of the RSAU. 

The final rule finalizes at § 1321.4(c) 

the provisions regarding the 

development and revision of policies 

that were proposed at § 1321.4(e) in the 

proposed rule. OMB proposed that the 

revision of policies happen within 1 

year of the effective date of the rule and 

offered 2 years as a regulatory 

alternative. OMB did not receive 

comments on the effective date for the 

revision of policies, and as such, 

maintains the 1-year timeline. OMB did 

not receive any comments on this 

section of the rule. OMB added text to 

clarify that where the rule requires that 

the parent agency revise existing rules, 

policies, procedures, and organizational 

structures that impede an RSAU’s 

ability to comply with this regulation, 

the parent agency must also undertake 

the actions necessary to be able to 

comply with the rule. This is especially 

important where this rule includes a 

mandate that is required unless 

otherwise prohibited by statute, such as 

in §§ 1321.4(i), 1321.6(b)(1), 

1321.7(b)(2), and 1321.8(b)(1), where the 

agency may need to take steps to 

comply with any Administrative 

Procedure Act requirements in carrying 

out the requirements under this rule. 

Proposed § 1321.4(e) directs parent 

agencies to review their rules, policies, 

and practices, and revise any that 

impede an RSAU’s ability to meet its 

statutory responsibilities because 

agency rules, policies, and practices are 

so central to accomplishing the purpose 

of 44 U.S.C. 3563(b). The existing rules, 

policies, and practices of the parent 

agency can affect an RSAU’s ability to 

meet its fundamental responsibilities in 

several ways. Rules, policies, and 

practices that require review and 

approval from officials external to the 

RSAU 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 RSAU. 

Actual or perceived undue influence 

harms the RSAU and the parent agency, 

undermining trust and support for both. 

Parent agencies must assess their rules, 

policies, and practices and revise any 

that do not enable, support, and 

facilitate the ability of their RSAU to 

meet their fundamental responsibilities. 

If disagreements arise between RSAU 

and the parent agency as to the revision 

of any parent agency rule, policy, or 

practice, the head of the RSAU and the 

relevant officials at the parent agency 

may contact OMB through the 

Administrator of OIRA to discuss and 

resolve. 

OMB is finalizing at § 1321.4(j) in the 

final rule the provisions related to the 

delegation of duties that were proposed 

at § 1321.4(f) in the proposed rule, with 

some non-substantive changes for 

clarity and consistency with existing 

statutory authority. Commenters were in 

strong support of the provisions which 

require OMB to conduct its coordination 

of Federal information policy in a 

manner consistent with the Evidence 

Act and this rule and to delegate the 

management of OMB’s statistical 

functions to the Chief Statistician. The 

policy embodied in the Evidence Act’s 

requirement under 44 U.S.C. 3563(b) for 

the head of each agency to enable, 

support, and facilitate RSAUs in 

carrying out their fundamental 

responsibilities extends to OMB. 

Notably, OMB has a variety of 

authorities that directly affect the ability 

of RSAUs to meet their responsibilities. 

OMB will exercise those authorities in 

a manner consistent with the Evidence 

Act requirements and this final rule. 

The proposed rule at § 1321.4(f)(2) 

required OMB to delegate the authority 

to perform the functions described in 44 

U.S.C. 3504(e). The purpose of that 

provision was to ensure that the Chief 

Statistician of the United States, a 

position that was created to coordinate 

and oversee the Federal statistical 

system, had the authority to ensure the 

efficiency and effectiveness of the 

Federal statistical system and to ensure 

OMB policies supported the objectivity 

and accuracy of statistical products 

generated by RSAUs. OMB is finalizing 

the rule with a change to this provision 

to clarify and reaffirm the existing 

authority of the Chief Statistician of the 

United States to perform the statistical 

policy coordination under section 

3504(e). 

Section 3504(e)(7) specifies that the 

Chief Statistician of the United States 

must be ‘‘a trained and experienced 

professional statistician’’ and confers on 

the Chief Statistician the authority ‘‘to 

carry out the 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. 

Section 3504(e)(7) ensures that the Chief 

Statistician of the United States has the 

necessary authority within OMB to 

carry out these functions in an objective, 

impartial, and timely manner that only 

takes into account statistical 

considerations, and without 

interference. As such, the Chief 

Statistician of the United States already 

has the authority the proposed rule was 

requiring OMB to delegate and the 

delegation in the proposed rule was 

unnecessary and would not have 

provided any additional authority. 

As finalized, § 1321.4(j) 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 final rule supports that role 

by retaining the requirement for the 

responsibilities pertaining to the 

approval of information collections 

submitted by RSAUs be delegated to the 

Chief Statistician of the United States. 

In recognition of the existing statutory 

delegation of such responsibility to the 

Administrator of OIRA, the final rule 

requires that the Administrator delegate 

the responsibilities pertaining to the 

approval of information collections, 

rather than the Director of OMB. The 

final rule also retains the requirement 

for the Director of OMB to delegate the 

authority to carry out the 

responsibilities under subchapter III of 

chapter 35 of Title 44 of the U.S. Code 

to the Chief Statistician of the United 

States. The proposed rule also required 

the Director of OMB to delegate 

responsibilities under 44 U.S.C. 3562. 

However, section 3562 is part of 

subchapter III of chapter 35 of Title 44 

of the U.S. Code, which means the 

separate delegation of authority is 

unnecessary. That provision has 

therefore been removed only to improve 

the clarity of the final rule and not as 

a substantive change from the proposed 

rule. 


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35 Id.; Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, Update of Statistical Policy Directive No. 

3: Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal 

Federal Economic Indicators—Changing Timing of 

Public Comments by Employees of the Executive 

Branch, 89 FR 11873, 11877–78 (Feb. 15, 2024), 

available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ 

FR-2024-02-15/pdf/2024-02972.pdf. 

E. § 1321.5—Relevance and Timeliness 

The first fundamental responsibility 

of RSAUs is to produce and disseminate 

relevant and timely statistical 

information. This responsibility 

recognizes the high value of some 

statistical products. The Evidence Act 

entrusts RSAUs with the responsibility 

of making judgments about balancing 

the value of their statistical products 

against their costs, burden, and risk, 

which can change over time. Congress 

maintained the high expectations about 

RSAUs’ expertise in and commitment to 

producing the most relevant statistics by 

placing this responsibility on RSAUs. 

One commenter suggested changes to 

proposed § 1321.5(a) to ‘‘strengthen the 

position of the RSAUs to meet their 

responsibilities without interference’’ 

and suggested modifying the language 

in § 1321.5(a) to speak to the 

responsibilities of the parent agency. 

OMB agrees that RSAUs must be able to 

determine what statistical products to 

disseminate without interference from 

parent agencies. OMB believes this is 

addressed by § 1321.5(b)(1) in the final 

rule, which speaks to the 

responsibilities of parent agencies with 

regard to the review of statistical 

products prior to release. In addition, 

OMB notes that OMB Statistical Policy 

Directive Nos. 3 and 4 remain in place 

and provide guidance on such 

policies.35 Thus, the final rule does not 

include any changes in response to this 

comment. 

Multiple commenters noted support 

for § 1321.5(b)(1)(i), which requires 

consultation with parent agency 

officials to assess and seek 

improvements to the relevance of 

statistical products, and suggested that 

the consultation expand beyond the 

parent agency to include Congress, other 

parts of the Executive Branch, and the 

Judicial branch. One commenter 

suggested that each agency establish a 

Federal Advisory Committee. OMB 

agrees broader consultation would be 

beneficial but believes only the parent 

agency consultation should be required 

under all circumstances. OMB believes 

that other entities, such as State, local, 

territorial, and Tribal governments 

should also be consulted, as deemed 

necessary by the head of the RSAU. 

OMB does not agree with prescribing 

the approach for such consultation, for 

example through a Federal Advisory 

Committee. As such, OMB has revised 

§ 1321.5(b)(1)(ii) to require consultation, 

as the head of the RSAU determines is 

appropriate, with other data users, 

including Congress, State, local, 

territorial, or Tribal governments, and 

other parts of the Executive Branch 

without explicitly prescribing the 

approach for such consultation. OMB 

does not enumerate all of the possible 

entities with which RSAUs could 

consult and expects that RSAUs will 

include other entities in consultation as 

appropriate for their needs. 

Multiple comments discussed the 

publication schedule and its importance 

for transparency. One commenter 

suggested adding a provision for the 

parent agency not to interfere with the 

release dates or the content of those 

releases. Another commenter suggested 

that, after the schedule has been 

published, any change to the schedule 

should be communicated to the Chief 

Statistician of the United States and 

publicly announced and be 

accompanied by a detailed explanation 

for such change. OMB appreciates this 

input and has added a requirement at 

§ 1321.5(d)(1)(v) to notify the Chief 

Statistician of the United States of any 

changes to the schedule for any regular 

and recurring statistical products. OMB 

believes that this final rule, in 

conjunction with existing OMB 

Statistical Policy Directive Nos. 3 and 4, 

sufficiently addresses the other 

concerns raised by commenters. 

OMB also made other edits to this 

provision in the final rule for clarity and 

streamlining. In particular, OMB revised 

proposed § 1321.5(d)(1)(i) to combine 

the provision from proposed 

§ 1321.5(d)(1)(ii) into § 1321.5(d)(1)(i). 

In addition, OMB added ‘‘on the 

schedule required under paragraph 

(d)(1)(i)’’ to proposed § 1321.5(d)(1)(ii) 

to clarify specifically where RSAUs 

publish the release dates and finalized 

this at § 1321.5(d)(1)(ii). Finally, OMB 

revised proposed § 1321.5(d)(1)(iv) to 

replace ‘‘office’’ with ‘‘point of contact’’ 

to account for smaller agencies and 

finalized this provision at 

§ 1321.5(d)(1)(iii). 

Other comments addressed the 

alignment of the provisions related to 

relevance and timeliness in this rule 

with other data-related policies, 

including customer experience policies, 

learning agendas, and user experience 

testing policy, which are outside the 

scope of the fundamental 

responsibilities. OMB reminds agencies 

that they must ensure proper adherence 

to all relevant statutes, rules, policies, 

and guidance and encourages agencies 

to review all relevant requirements in 

conjunction with this final rule to 

ensure alignment, as applicable. OMB 

did not incorporate any requirements in 

this rule that were not directly tied to 

the fundamental responsibilities of 

RSAUs. As such, OMB has not made 

modifications to the rule based on this 

set of comments. 

Finally, one comment addressed the 

accessibility of data and recommended 

that OMB ensure ‘‘inclusivity for 

diverse abilities.’’ OMB believes it is 

important to ensure data are accessible 

to all, with appropriate safeguards to 

maintain protection of confidential 

statistical data and adherence to 

relevant statutes, rules, policies, and 

guidance. For example, it is important 

to ensure that any means of accessing 

statistical data, such as through systems, 

platforms, software, or other means, 

comply with requirements for data 

protection and security to prevent 

inappropriate or inadvertent access to 

confidential statistical data. OMB has 

not modified any provisions in response 

to this comment, but continues to 

encourage agencies to work with 

stakeholders to understand their needs 

for access and address them to the 

extent practicable. 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.5 as they were proposed. 

F. § 1321.6—Credibility and Accuracy 

The second fundamental 

responsibility of RSAUs 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 RSAU in 

developing the statistical product 

promotes credibility in its methods and 

processes. Section 1321.6 describes 

several actions that RSAUs must take to 

build and protect their credibility so 

that they can fill this role effectively. 

OMB modified some provisions in 

§ 1321.6 in response to public 

comments. One comment stated general 

support for this section, specifically 

highlighting the inclusion of proposed 

§ 1321.6(b)(1) and suggested that 


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additional guidance ‘‘would help clarify 

these responsibilities and address them 

from the vantage of trust.’’ OMB 

appreciates the comment and will 

consider it in the context of developing 

future policies. 

One comment provided specific edits 

to proposed provisions § 1321.6(b)(3) 

and (4) to ‘‘strengthen the position of 

the RSAUs to meet their responsibilities 

without interference.’’ Specifically, this 

commenter suggested that OMB revise 

§ 1321.6(b)(3) to read as follows: 

[Permit] Delegate to Recognized Statistical 

Agencies and Units the responsibility to 

determine [if] whether statistical 

disseminations, including related statistical 

press releases or publicity materials not 

containing policy pronouncements, [are to] 

should be disseminated by or through a 

parent agency and, if so, 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. 

OMB accepts some of the editorial 

updates suggested but does not accept 

the proposed update from ‘‘permit’’ to 

‘‘delegate’’ as suggested because OMB 

does not believe delegation is 

appropriate or necessary in this 

situation. 

The commenter further suggested the 

following revision to § 1321.6(b)(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 review or 

approval from outside of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, unless such 

approval is required by law; 

OMB does not accept the proposed 

addition of ‘‘review or’’ before 

‘‘approval from outside of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’’ 

in proposed § 1321.6(b)(4) because there 

are times when it is appropriate for a 

review to occur, such as reviews that are 

required by law or to verify nonstatistical issues are not present in the 

materials. 

Another comment suggested 

clarifying what ‘‘appropriate behavior 

would be to more clearly denote what 

is acceptable and unacceptable 

behavior’’ in the context of a ‘‘potential 

for discrimination against staff whose 

professional interests may not align 

with that of those of their respective 

agencies.’’ Based on this comment, OMB 

added a new provision § 1321.6(a)(5) to 

the final rule to indicate that RSAUs 

should determine the appropriateness of 

affording their staff professional 

autonomy and how this will be 

achieved, while adhering to the 

requirements of any applicable statutes. 

This provision seeks to incorporate 

more clearly the need for staff at RSAUs 

to be able to engage in professional 

activities, while making sure there is 

still accountability for staff time and 

resources. 

In addition to modifications in 

response to comment discussed above, 

OMB made a clarifying edit to 

§ 1321.6(a)(1)(iii) to specify that that the 

RSAU must assess the data quality for 

the statistical purposes of the RSAU and 

not for other purposes for which the 

data may be used by other components. 

This provision requires that the RSAU 

work with the CDO and Evaluation 

Officer to develop policies for such 

assessment of data that originates from 

outside of the RSAU to ensure the 

RSAU is properly assessing the data 

quality for the RSAU’s statistical 

purposes. Also, OMB revised the list of 

terms in § 1321.6(a)(2)(i) to align more 

closely with the terms outlined in 

Statistical Policy Directive No. 1 for 

clarity. In addition, OMB revised 

§ 1321.6(b)(4) to add ‘‘and that do not 

contain legally privileged information’’ 

for clarity. OMB also revised proposed 

§ 1321.6(b)(4)(i) introductory text and 

(b)(4)(i)(A) and (B) into final 

§ 1321.6(b)(4)(i) and (ii) for clarity and 

streamlining while covering the same 

concepts. Finally, OMB moved 

proposed § 1321.6(b)(4)(ii) to 

§ 1321.6(a)(5)(ii) in the final rule to 

appropriately align the requirement 

with the other RSAU requirements in 

§ 1321.6(a). 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.6 as they were proposed. 

G. § 1321.7—Objectivity 

The third fundamental responsibility 

of RSAU 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 transparent and policyneutral; therefore, this final rule 

includes requirements to bolster an 

RSAU’s ability to be an impartial source 

of information. OMB proposed to 

establish responsibilities regarding 

objectivity for RSAUs at § 1312.7(a) and 

for parent agencies at § 1312.7(b). The 

proposed rule adopted several 

provisions related to objectivity that 

RSAUs and parent agencies are already 

following through their adherence to 

Statistical Policy Directive No. 1. After 

considering the public comments, OMB 

is finalizing § 1321.7 largely as 

proposed. 

OMB made some general revisions to 

this section to streamline provisions to 

improve clarity and readability and also 

made some targeted revisions to address 

public comments. OMB revised 

§ 1321.7(a)(4) to move the last phrase of 

the provision ‘‘in accordance with this 

section and applicable law and policy’’ 

to the beginning of the provision for 

clarity. OMB also added ‘‘legally 

privileged information’’ to the list of 

nonstatistical matters in § 1321.7(b)(1) 

that a reviewer outside RSAU may 

review and added to the end of the 

provision ‘‘or matters affecting current 

or future litigation’’ for clarity. OMB 

made changes to § 1321.7(b)(4) to 

remove the requirements related to the 

RSAU having the necessary resources 

because this requirement is addressed in 

section § 1321.4 of this final rule. 

Changes were also made to clarify that 

the resources of the RSAU are managed 

by the RSAU in accordance with their 

fundamental responsibilities as 

described in this final rule. OMB 

identified that § 1321.7(b)(4)(ii) 

included some text on content, 

functionality, appearance, and layout of 

the RSAU website duplicative of 

§ 1321.4 and revised § 1321.7(b)(4)(ii) to 

remove the duplicative text while 

retaining the remainder of the provision. 

OMB received a few comments 

regarding this section of the proposed 

rule. One commenter suggested adding 

‘‘including to the Parent Agency’’ after 

‘‘data users’’ in proposed 

§ 1321.7(a)(2)(ii). OMB believes this call 

out is unnecessary and did not change 

the provision in the final rule. One 

commenter suggested several line edits 

to different provisions in this section. 

One edit suggested that § 1321.7(b)(1) 

add ‘‘review or’’ in front of ‘‘clearance.’’ 

OMB did not accept this suggestion 

because some level of review may be 

necessary to verify the statistical 

products do not contain nonstatistical 

aspects such as policy, budget, or 

management. Another commenter 

suggested adding ‘‘and for reporting on 

the results of those activities’’ to the end 

of the first sentence of proposed 

§ 1321.7(b)(2). OMB accepted this 

suggestion in the final rule, but updated 

the language to use defined terms from 

this rule, so the addition is ‘‘and for 

disseminating statistical products.’’ 

Another comment suggested adding ‘‘, 

including its archiving’’ to the end of 

proposed § 1321.7(b)(5)(i). OMB 

accepted this addition in the final rule 

with a minor modification to read, ‘‘The 

governance of its data, including the 

archiving of its data.’’ One commenter 

suggested that RSAUs make their 


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36Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. 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. 

37Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the 

President, M–17–12, Preparing for and Responding 

to a Breach of Personally Identifiable Information 9 

(Jan. 3, 2017), available at https://

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_

drupal_files/omb/memoranda/2017/m-17-12_0.pdf. 

statistical data available on an equitable 

basis and that they commit to making 

data as accessible as possible to 

members of historically underserved 

communities. OMB acknowledges that it 

is important for RSAUs to continue 

working toward improving equitable 

data access but has not made any 

changes to the rule based on this 

comment because OMB believes the 

concepts are covered under other 

provisions of this rule. 

Two other commenters noted their 

support for this section and one of those 

strongly encouraged retaining the 

language in § 1321.7(b) in particular. 

OMB appreciates these comments. 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.7 as they were proposed. 

H. § 1321.8—Confidentiality 

The fourth fundamental responsibility 

of RSAUs is to protect the trust of 

information providers by ensuring the 

confidentiality and exclusive statistical 

use of their data. Data providers rely 

upon RSAUs 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 RSAUs may have a 

significant impact on survey response 

rates or on the willingness of a private 

sector entity (such as a private data 

warehouse) to enter into a contract to 

provide data in bulk to an RSAU and 

thereby possibly degrade data quality 

for those RSAUs and trust from the 

public. Statistical Policy 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’’ in which RSAUs do their work, 

which builds and sustains the trust of 

the data providers.36

In addition to giving data providers 

confidence that their confidential 

statistical data will be protected, these 

protections also give the general public 

confidence that RSAUs will be 

responsible stewards of the large 

amounts of sensitive information with 

which they are entrusted. RSAUs must 

have the authority to determine the 

tools, practices, and procedures 

employed to ensure the effective 

security, including physical and logical 

security, of confidential statistical data, 

as well as to determine how best to 

protect the confidentiality of, and 

provide appropriate access to, that data. 

Such determinations include whether 

personnel such as economists, 

statisticians, data scientists, IT 

specialists, and subject matter experts 

who access confidential statistical data 

must be directly assigned to the RSAU 

that controls the data. 

OMB finalizes § 1321.8 with revisions 

to use defined terms for clarity. OMB 

streamlined provisions in § 1321.8(a)(1) 

and (2) and (c) to remove duplication 

and for clarity. OMB finalizes 

§ 1321.8(a)(4)(i), which requires 

notifying respondents of the intended 

use, potential future use, relevance, and 

confidentiality protections of a 

collection of information by an RSAU, 

with clarifying language about the 

collections referenced being sponsored 

by RSAUs and not by other parts of the 

agency, as well as to conform to 

requirements for references from the 

Office of the Federal Register. OMB 

notes that the notification required 

under § 1321.8(a)(4)(i) may overlap with 

other notification requirements and 

RSAUs may consolidate this notification 

with any other notification to the extent 

that the combined notification is clear 

and easy to understand by the average 

respondent. OMB notes that in 

§ 1321.8(b)(3), which establishes 

requirements for a parent agency’s 

Senior Agency Official for Privacy in 

relation to an RSAU, the term breaches 

refers to breaches of personally 

identifiable information and should be 

read as consistent with the definition of 

breach in OMB M–17–12 or subsequent 

OMB guidance.37 OMB added a new 

provision at § 1321.8(b)(4) to ensure that 

the agency Chief FOIA Officer 

coordinates with the RSAU to ensure 

appropriate application of exemptions 

in response to Freedom of Information 

Act requests pertaining to RSAU 

records. This was added to parallel the 

requirement of RSAUs in 

§ 1321.8(a)(2)(i). 

OMB also revised § 1321.8(c) to 

include ‘‘and exclusive statistical use’’ 

in two places for greater consistency 

with CIPSEA 2018. OMB revised 

§ 1321.8(c)(3) to use the defined term 

‘‘parent agency’’ and clarify that 

‘‘anyone else’’ is included in the 

provision to clarify that no one other 

than the RSAU head would have the 

authority to grant access to confidential 

statistical data. 

In addition, OMB considered the 

comments received on § 1321.8. One 

commenter suggested adding language 

to encourage collaboration among 

RSAUs so that confidentiality 

requirements would not be such a high 

barrier for purposes of improving 

statistics. OMB appreciates this input 

and is not making any changes to the 

final rule but will consider this in the 

context of forthcoming rules. Another 

commenter suggested specifying that the 

RSAU will independently (not in 

collaboration with the parent agency) 

assure confidentiality protection. OMB 

agrees and believes the proposed rule 

provides for such autonomy in this 

work and has not made any updates to 

this final rule in response. Another 

suggestion was to delete the phrase ‘‘in 

collaboration with the relevant parent 

agency’’ from proposed 

§ 1321.8(a)(2)(iv). OMB agrees that the 

authority and determination of agent 

status should be left solely to the RSAU 

head. As part of streamlining to remove 

duplication across § 1321.8, OMB 

removed proposed § 1321.8(a)(2)(iv) and 

keeps provisions in § 1321.8(c) that 

speak to the determination of agency 

status. 

Another commenter urged that 

language from § 1321.8(b)(1), ‘‘which 

establishes that statistical agencies have 

the sole authority to provide access to 

confidential statistical data,’’ and 

§ 1321.8(c), ‘‘which provides a process 

for the head of a statistical agency to 

protect confidential statistical data,’’ be 

retained as proposed. This commenter 

also noted that language in 

§ 1321.8(c)(4) ‘‘will be helpful in 

clarifying that the role that statistical 

agencies have to analyze disclosure risk 

in response to requests for statistical 

data for purposes of evidence-based 

policymaking in education.’’ This 

commenter stated that these provisions 

would be helpful in maintaining and 

even expanding access to restricted data 

for research and research-based policy 

purposes by data users. OMB 

appreciates this input and has retained 

the substance of the proposed 

provisions with some revisions for 

clarity and reorganization. Another 


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38 5 U.S.C. 406. 

commenter had two suggestions for this 

section. One suggestion was to add a 

new provision that would address the 

idea of a risk-utility framework for 

confidentiality protection. OMB agrees 

this is an important issue and will 

consider this in the context of 

forthcoming rules. 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.8 as they were proposed. 

I. § 1321.9—Compliance Review 

This final rule seeks to ensure the 

efficiency and effectiveness of RSAUs, 

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. Accordingly, 

the proposed rule requested comments 

on three options to address the need for 

a review of agency compliance with this 

rule: 

Option A: ICSP Review. This option 

would direct the ICSP to form a Peer 

Review Committee, which would assess 

each RSAU and its parent agency for 

compliance with this rule. 

Option B: Council of the Inspectors 

General on Integrity and Efficiency 

(CIGIE) Review. This option would 

direct CIGIE to form a statistical audit 

committee, which would designate 

certain Inspectors General (IGs) as 

statistical auditors and provide those 

statistical auditors with support, 

education, and resources. Each RSAU 

and its parent agency would be audited 

for compliance with this rule. 

Option C: Inspector General Review. 

This option would direct each IG of a 

parent agency containing an RSAU to 

conduct audits for compliance with this 

rule. 

Nine commenters provided feedback 

on this section establishing a 

compliance review process. Some 

commenters disfavored option A, 

raising concerns about a potential bias 

or lack of independence if the ICSP 

were to conduct the compliance review. 

Other commenters disfavored option C, 

expressing concern about the potential 

for IGs to be inconsistent across the 

agencies or that some IGs may lack 

familiarity with the laws and practices 

of the statistical agencies. 

The majority of commenters 

recommended option B, which would 

require CIGIE to establish a statistical 

audit committee to conduct the review. 

Others expressed a preference for option 

A, which required the ICSP to conduct 

the review. Of those supporting option 

A, some commenters recommended that 

the ICSP be given authority to select an 

outside entity to alleviate the concern of 

potential bias. Other commenters 

encouraged OMB to consider another 

entity entirely, such as the Government 

Accountability Office or the National 

Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

and Medicine, or for OMB to conduct 

the reviews. 

Considering these comments and 

available resources, and after 

consultation with CIGIE, OMB is 

finalizing a version that combines 

options B and C. Since 1978, IGs have 

been conducting audits and reviews of 

agencies to promote the efficiency and 

effectiveness of Federal programs. IGs 

are uniquely situated to provide an 

objective and independent review of 

agency operations. Under § 1321.9(a) of 

this final rule, each IG of a parent 

agency must conduct a review to 

determine whether the parent agency 

and the RSAU are in compliance with 

this rule and whether the RSAU has 

sufficient resources to carry out the 

fundamental responsibilities. 

Importantly, the IG compliance 

review required under this final rule 

should be conducted in compliance 

with and in the spirit of this final rule. 

This final rule is intended to ensure the 

autonomy of RSAUs and ensure 

sufficient functional separation. As 

such, where this final rule requires 

RSAUs to make decisions or requires 

the parent agency to delegate or ensure 

the RSAU has sufficient authority to 

make decisions, for the RSAU and 

parent agency to be in compliance with 

this rule, the RSAU would need the 

authority to make the relevant 

decisions. The compliance review 

required in this final rule would not 

cover evaluating the decision itself, as 

the purpose of the policy is to give the 

RSAU autonomy in those decisions 

specified in this rule. 

For example, under § 1321.6 of this 

final rule, an RSAU is required to 

determine appropriate methods for its 

statistical activities, and the parent 

agency is responsible both for ensuring 

the RSAU has autonomy to maintain its 

own quality standards and for 

delegating the responsibility to make 

determinations about quality to the 

RSAU. This will help to ensure that the 

RSAU has autonomy to determine the 

methods for conducting statistical 

activities and the quality of its statistical 

products. The compliance review 

required to be conducted by IGs under 

this final rule would not extend to 

review of the quality of the RSAU’s 

statistical products or methodology. 

However, IGs should be reviewing 

publicly provided documentation of 

statistical products or methodology to 

determine whether the RSAU is 

adequately meeting the requirements for 

public documentation in § 1321.6(a)(2). 

Similarly, this rule ensures that an 

RSAU has the sole authority to provide 

access to its confidential statistical data, 

so that the RSAU can protect the 

confidentiality and ensure the exclusive 

statistical use of its confidential 

statistical data. Section 1321.8(c) 

provides a detailed policy regarding 

how a parent agency or other 

component may request access to 

confidential statistical data from the 

RSAU. Because each of the IGs 

conducting a compliance review under 

this rule is a component of an agency 

that contains an RSAU, the IGs are also 

responsible for complying with the 

requirements for components under 

§ 1321.8(c) when accessing confidential 

statistical data. 

Consistent with existing law and this 

final rule, IGs are not authorized to 

access confidential statistical data or 

related information systems unless such 

access is in compliance with this final 

rule, relevant statistical laws, and any 

other applicable statutes. IGs have 

existing statutory authority to access all 

necessary information and materials in 

a timely manner to perform their duties. 

However, to gain access to confidential 

statistical data, IGs must follow the 

requirements of § 1321.8(c) to ensure the 

proper use and protection of 

confidential statistical data. OMB 

expects that both the IGs and the RSAUs 

will comply with the relevant legal 

requirements of both the Inspectors 

General Act 38 and CIPSEA 2018. OMB 

expects the IGs to comply with 

§ 1321.8(c) in a timely manner and for 

the RSAUs to provide the necessary 

information in a timely manner. 

Further, OMB expects the IGs, RSAUs, 

and parent agencies to consult with the 

Chief Statistician of the United States as 

necessary, and as authorized by this 

rule, to ensure adequate, timely, and 

secure access to information necessary 

for IGs to conduct compliance reviews 

or to meet any other requirements under 

this regulation. However, given the 

scope of the compliance review under 

this rule, OMB does not anticipate that 

the compliance reviews will require that 

IGs have regular access to confidential 

statistical data. 

OMB agrees with commenters who 

emphasized the importance of 

consistency in compliance reviews 

across agencies. To further consistency 

and statistical expertise among IGs, the 

final rule at § 1321.9(e) requires CIGIE to 

promulgate guidance for the IGs, to 


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39See, e.g., 31 U.S.C. 3353(a)(3)(A) (requiring that 

IGs use consistent formatting for certain reports). 

40For 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 Off. of Pers. Mgmt., Sizing Up the 

Executive Branch, Fiscal Year 2017 (Feb. 2018), 

available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/data-analysis-documentation/federalemployment-reports/reports-publications/sizing-upthe-executive-branch-2016.pdf. 

41Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec Off. of the 

President, Statistical Programs of the United States 

Government: Fiscal Years 2021/2022 (2024), 

available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2024/02/statistical-programs20212022.pdf. In addition, OMB notes that the 

Microeconomic Surveys Unit at the Federal Reserve 

Board has approximately 10 staff. It is not listed in 

the most recently published Statistical Programs of 

the United States Government. 

promote consistent reviews and 

consistent formatting.39 CIGIE must also 

establish a working group for the 

relevant IGs to develop expertise in 

statistical laws and processes necessary 

to ensure the integrity of statistical 

agencies. Given the unique nature of 

statistical laws and processes, the 

working group and individual IGs must 

regularly consult with the Chief 

Statistician of the United States on the 

appropriate interpretation and 

application of statistical laws and 

practices. 

Under the proposed rule, the 

compliance review would occur not less 

frequently than once every three years. 

One commenter noted that compliance 

with this rule may take some effort and 

suggested giving a five-year grace period 

before starting the compliance review. 

OMB agrees that the compliance review 

should start after the agencies have had 

an opportunity to come into compliance 

with this rule but does not believe that 

all agencies need five years to come into 

compliance. The final rule at 

§ 1321.9(b)(1) requires each parent 

agency and RSAU to undergo a review 

of compliance with this final rule by the 

agency’s IG at least once every three 

years, beginning no sooner than two 

years after issuance of this final rule. 

Under this framework, every agency gets 

at least a two-year grace period before 

the IG conducts the first compliance 

review. OMB notes that some agencies 

may have as much as five years before 

the first compliance review, depending 

on how the IG schedules this work. This 

two-year grace period also affords the IG 

community time to acquaint themselves 

better with the statistical community 

and statistical laws, as well as to work 

on a consistent framework by which to 

do the compliance review. 

As described in the proposed rule, the 

final rule at § 1321.9(b)(2) establishes a 

process for an off-schedule compliance 

review. Under the final rule, the ICSP 

may request an off-schedule review of 

an RSAU and parent agency if the ICSP 

has reason to believe there is a 

substantial change in circumstances 

regarding compliance with this part. 

The ICSP must submit a written request 

for a compliance review with a detailed 

explanation to the IG of the parent 

agency for which the review is 

requested. The IG must review any 

requests from the ICSP, determine 

whether a review is appropriate, and 

provide a written response to the ICSP 

within 30 days of receiving such 

request. 

Under this final rule at § 1321.9(c), 

OMB is finalizing the proposed 

requirement that the IG must provide a 

compliance report on the 

determinations made under this section 

to the head of the agency, the head of 

the RSAU, the Chief Statistician of the 

United States, and relevant 

congressional committees. For purposes 

of this review, the head of the RSAU is 

considered the responsible official for 

purposes of the compliance review and 

must be given the opportunity to review 

and respond to the review’s results. 

Further, OMB is finalizing parts of the 

proposed rule that establish a role for 

the Chief Statistician of the United 

States related to compliance reviews. 

Under this final rule at § 1321.9(d), the 

Chief Statistician of the United States 

will engage with each RSAU and parent 

agency to address deficiencies identified 

in a compliance report; include a list of 

findings or recommendations and the 

status of the RSAU and parent agency in 

addressing each finding or 

recommendation on StatsPolicy.gov; 

make available to CIGIE appropriate 

educational materials, training, or other 

relevant resources regarding statistical 

laws and practices; and include 

standards for remedial actions for an 

RSAU for persistent failures to comply 

with this final rule in the guidance to 

implement the RSAU designation 

process required under 44 U.S.C. 

3562(a). 

OMB finalizes all other provisions of 

§ 1321.9 as they were proposed. 

The final rule establishes a robust role 

for CIGIE and the Chief Statistician of 

the United States to provide education 

to IGs on the Federal statistical system 

and statistical laws, to provide guidance 

to enable consistency across IGs in 

conducting compliance reviews, and to 

support the development of the 

community of IGs responsible for 

evaluating compliance with this rule 

and statistical laws. This approach will 

help ensure compliance reviews are 

conducted by an independent and 

unbiased entity, the agency’s IG, while 

also addressing the concern about any 

potential lack of IG experience with the 

statistical community and statistical 

laws. 

III. Expected Impact of This Rule 

This final rule applies to Federal 

agencies, and does not impose 

requirements on individuals, 

businesses, associations, organizations, 

or other private sector entities. The 

purpose of this final rule is largely to 

conform existing rules, policies, and 

practices to the requirements in the 

Evidence Act, in particular the 

codification of the requirement for 

RSAUs to meet the fundamental 

responsibilities described herein and for 

all agencies to enable, support, and 

facilitate RSAUs in meeting their 

fundamental responsibilities. OMB is 

exercising some discretion in 

promulgating this final rule, but any 

regulatory decisions will have a 

marginal impact on transfers, costs, and 

benefits, and this final rule includes 

only such provisions as OMB deems 

necessary to implement the statutory 

requirements of the Evidence Act. This 

rule furthers OMB’s compliance with its 

obligations under the Evidence Act to 

promulgate rules implementing new 

statutory provisions and guides Federal 

agencies in effectuating their own 

obligations under the Evidence Act. 

OMB did not receive comments on 

the estimated costs of this rule, but did 

receive comments on the benefits of this 

rule. OMB has updated the estimated 

costs of this rule to reflect the updates 

made to the definition of parent agency, 

as well as to adjust costs for review to 

reflect new calendar year pay and to 

adjust the review and revision hours for 

parent agencies to more accurately 

reflect the duration of time to do the 

work. The benefits section of this rule 

provides more information on the 

comments received for that section. 

Affected Agencies and Current 

Landscape 

This final rule has specific 

requirements for RSAUs, parent 

agencies, and core components, as 

defined in this final rule. 

* Agencies: Federal agencies vary 

widely in size and organizational 

structure.40

* Recognized Statistical Agencies and 

Units: As of the time of the publication 

of this final rule, there are 16 RSAUs 

which vary in size from around 10 full 

time employees to around 7,000 full 

time employees.41 Recognized 

Statistical Agencies and Units also vary 


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42The Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, 

and Health and Human Services all contain more 

than one RSAU, and as such, there are 12 unique 

agencies under which RSAUs sit. 

43Reporting structures across the Government 

vary widely. As such, some RSAUs report directly 

to their agency’s front office, while others report to 

one or more interim agencies. For the 16 RSAUs, 

OMB assumes that on average there are 2 agencies 

in the reporting structure, which means there are 

32 organizational levels in the direct reporting 

structure. This number excludes the head of the 

agency level. 

44This counts an estimated 10 entities per agency 

that contains a RSAU. Thus, OMB estimates there 

are 120 such entities across the 12 agencies that 

contain RSAUs. 

in position within their organizational 

units and reporting structure. 

* Parent agency: For this final rule, 

the term parent agency means, for an 

agency that contains an RSAU, the head 

of the agency, each organizational level 

within the agency under which the 

RSAU is positioned, and each core 

component of the agency. 

* Core component: For this final rule, 

the term core component means any 

support component and any component 

that performs an agency-wide function. 

A support component means a 

component of an agency that contains 

an RSAU that supports programmatic 

functions in achieving the agency’s 

mission, including legal, human 

resources, communications, legislative 

affairs, budget, information technology 

(IT), or procurement functions, but 

excludes any component of an RSAU. 

Components that perform agency-wide 

functions include the offices of the 

Chief Data Officer, the Evaluation 

Officer, Senior Agency Official for 

Privacy, Chief Information Officer, the 

Chief FOIA Officer, and similar 

functions. 

OMB uses the following counts of 

entities with requirements from this 

final rule: 

—12 agencies that contain at least one 

RSAU 42 and therefore, 12 heads of 

those agencies 

—32 organizational levels within 

agencies that are in the direct 

reporting structure for an RSAU,43

—120 core components 44

OMB expects that the 16 RSAUs are 

generally already implementing most 

requirements of this final rule in 

compliance with OMB’s Statistical 

Policy Directive No. 1. However, OMB 

expects that the current landscape 

across agencies varies widely. OMB 

expects that for some parent agencies 

implementation of this final rule will be 

resource intensive; however, OMB also 

expects that some parent agencies 

already have rules, policies, and 

practices that align with a substantial 

number of the requirements in this final 

rule. Given the current landscape, OMB 

is uncertain about the exact number of 

agency rules, policies, and practices that 

will require revision based on this final 

rule. 

For the calculations of the estimated 

costs throughout this section, OMB 

rounds up the estimates to the nearest 

thousand dollars. Rounding to the 

nearest thousand dollars removes the 

appearance of precision in the estimates 

where precision may not be known, and 

rounding up, instead of down, means 

that the estimates will not represent 

underestimates of the costs based on the 

assumptions OMB has made. For the 

following calculations in this section, 

OMB uses a general formula of number 

of entities multiplied by the number of 

hours to perform the task multiplied by 

labor cost per hour to get the total cost 

across the type of entity. OMB rounds 

this total cost by type of entity up to the 

nearest thousand. Then, OMB sums the 

rounded total costs across all types of 

entities to get the final estimated total 

cost to the Federal Government. OMB 

outlines the assumptions for the 

calculations and the total costs by type 

of entity in narrative form below. OMB 

also provides a table for each step of the 

process to summarize the assumptions 

and total costs. 

Estimated Cost of Agencies Reviewing 

This Rule 

This final rule will require RSAUs 

and parent agencies to first review this 

rule. This step includes reading the full 

rule and taking brief notes on possible 

intersections with agency rules, 

policies, and practices. 

It is likely that this review will be 

performed by GS–14 Step 5 or 

equivalent staff within RSAUs and 

parent agencies, as this review will 

require a deep understanding of the 

parent agency’s rules, policies, and 

practices to understand how the 

agency’s rules, policies, and practices 

intersect with this final rule. This initial 

review of this final rule will inform the 

next steps of reviewing and making 

revisions to any relevant agency rules, 

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 

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 2024 is $75.70. 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 $151.40 per hour. 

OMB expects that, for the parent 

agencies, a central office would do the 

first review for all of its units, except 

RSAUs, to identify which parts of the 

rule would apply to the different units. 

OMB expects this to be resource 

intensive for the central office, but OMB 

expects review of the rule by units will 

be less intensive because of the work 

done by the central office to target the 

units’ review. 

Because of this tiered review process, 

review of this rule is expected to take 

different lengths of time for different 

agencies. For each of the 16 RSAUs, 

OMB expects this review to take on 

average 16 hours. This means it would 

cost approximately $39,000 across all 16 

RSAUs. 

OMB expects it will take the central 

office for the 12 parent agencies on 

average 80 hours to do this review and 

identify relevant parts of the rule for its 

units. This means it would cost 

approximately $146,000 across the 12 

agencies that contain an RSAU. 

Following the central office review, 

OMB expects review for the 32 

organization levels in direct reporting 

structure and 120 core components to 

take on average 24 hours for each. This 

means it would cost approximately 

$554,000 across both of these types of 

entities. 

OMB does not expect agencies 

without an RSAU to review this rule. 

Therefore, across all RSAUs and parent 

agencies, the Governmentwide cost for 

reviewing this rule would be 

approximately $739,000. 

COST TO REVIEW THE RULE

Type of entity Number of 

entities 

Hours to 

review the 

rule 

Cost per 

hour Total cost 

RSAU ............................................................................................................... 16 16 $151.40 $39,000 

Agencies that Contain an RSAU ..................................................................... 12 80 151.40 146,000 


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COST TO REVIEW THE RULE—Continued 

Type of entity Number of 

entities 

Hours to 

review the 

rule 

Cost per 

hour Total cost 

Organizational levels in direct reporting structure ........................................... 32 24 151.40 117,000 

Core components ............................................................................................ 120 24 151.40 437,000 

Totals ........................................................................................................ 180 ........................ ........................ 739,000 

Estimated Costs of Parent Agencies 

Reviewing Their Own Rules, Policies, 

and Practices To Determine Necessary 

Action 

After review of this rule, parent 

agencies will then review their own 

rules, policies, and practices to 

determine necessary action. This rule 

does not require RSAUs or agencies that 

do not fall within the definition of a 

parent agency to take this step. This step 

may require engagement across the 

agency, including with staff of any 

RSAUs in the organization. 

Review of the rules, policies, and 

practices will vary across parent 

agencies, depending on the number of 

rules, policies, and practices issued by 

the agency. 

OMB expects parent agencies may 

have different costs for reviewing their 

rules, policies, and practices. OMB is 

estimating the review time on a per rule, 

policy, or practice basis. Similar to the 

prior step of reviewing the final rule, 

this step to review the parent agency’s 

own rules, policies, and practices 

includes reading of the full rule, policy, 

or practice and taking brief notes on 

possible intersections with this final 

rule. It is likely that this review will be 

performed by GS–14 Step 5 or 

equivalent staff within the agencies, as 

this review will require a deep 

understanding of the parent agency’s 

own rules, policies, and practices to 

understand the intersections with this 

final rule to inform the next step of 

making revisions to those rules, 

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 

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 2024 is $75.70. 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 

$151.40 per hour. 

For the parent agencies, OMB 

estimates it will take on average 16 

hours to review each rule, policy, or 

practice and determine necessary 

action. OMB expects it to take this much 

time for the parent agencies because 

they are likely to have rules, policies, 

and practices that intersect with this 

rule. OMB expects on average that the 

12 central offices of parent agencies will 

have 5 items to review, the 32 

organizational levels in direct reporting 

structure will have 20 items to review, 

and the 120 core components will have 

5 items to review. Therefore, OMB 

estimates that across all central offices 

of parent agencies, it will cost 

approximately $146,000 for those 

entities to review their rules, policies, 

and practices and determine necessary 

action. OMB estimates that it will cost 

approximately $1,551,000 across all 32 

organizational levels in the direct 

reporting structure and that it will cost 

$1,454,000 across all 120 core 

components to review their rules, 

policies, and practices and determine 

necessary action. Across all entities, 

OMB estimates it will cost 

approximately $3,151,000. 

COST TO REVIEW AGENCY RULES, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES

Type of entity Number of 

entities 

Hours to 

review per 

policy 

Number of 

policies to 

review 

Cost per 

hour Total cost 

Agencies that Contain an RSAU ........................................................... 12 16 5 $151.40 $146,000 

Organizational levels in direct reporting structure ................................. 32 16 20 151.40 1,551,000 

Core components ................................................................................... 120 16 5 151.40 1,454,000 

Totals .............................................................................................. 164 .................... ...................... .................... 3,151,000 

Note: Number of hours to perform the task is calculated for this part of the process by multiplying the hours to review per policy by the number 

of policies to review. 

Estimated Costs of Parent Agencies 

Revising Their Own Rules, Policies, and 

Practices Where Needed 

Where determined necessary after 

review of this rule and the agencies own 

rules, policies, and practices, parent 

agencies will need to revise rules, 

policies, and practices because of this 

rule. This rule does not require RSAUs 

or agencies that do not fall within the 

definition of a parent agency agencies to 

take this step. 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. 

The following provides the analysis 

for expected costs for the drafting of the 

revisions to rules, policies, and 

practices. For this analysis, OMB 

assumes the drafting of revised rules, 

policies, and practices will be 

performed by GS–14 Step 5 or 

equivalent staff within the agencies, as 

this drafting will require a deep 

understanding of the agencies’ own 

rules, policies, and practices and their 

intersections with this final rule to 

appropriately revise those rules, 

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 

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 2024 is $75.70. OMB 

assumes that the total dollar value of 

labor, which includes wages, benefits, 


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and overhead, is equal to 200 percent of 

the wage rate, resulting in a value of 

$151.40 per hour. In addition, OMB 

expects that the time to draft revisions 

to rules, policies, and practices is 

consistent across parent agencies and 

estimates that on average the time to 

draft revisions would be 120 hours per 

rule, policy, or practice. 

For each of the 12 central offices of 

parent agencies and each of the 120 core 

components, OMB estimates on average 

that 3 rules, policies, or practices will 

require revision, whereas OMB 

estimates that for each of the 32 

organizational levels in direct reporting 

structure, 15 rules, policies, or practices 

will require revision. Thus, the 

estimated cost to draft revisions to rules, 

policies, and practices is approximately 

$655,000 across all of the central offices 

of parent agencies and approximately 

$6,541,000 across all of the core 

components. Across all of the 

organizational levels in the direct 

reporting structure, OMB estimates the 

cost to be approximately $8,721,000. In 

sum, OMB estimates this to cost 

approximately $15,917,000. 

COST TO DRAFT OR REVISE RULES, POLICIES, OR PRACTICES

Type of entity Number of 

entities 

Hours to 

draft revisions 

per policy 

Number of 

policies to 

revise 

Cost per 

hour Total cost 

Agencies that Contain an RSAU ................................................. 12 120 3 $151.40 $655,000 

Organizational levels in direct reporting structure ....................... 32 120 15 151.40 8,721,000 

Core components ......................................................................... 120 120 3 151.40 6,541,000 

Totals .................................................................................... 164 .............................. ...................... .................... 15,917,000 

Note: Number of hours to perform the task is calculated for this part of the process by multiplying the hours to draft revisions per policy by the 

number of policies to revise. 

Next, the parent agencies will need to 

implement the draft revisions, which 

includes steps such as gaining approval 

from the appropriate authorities within 

the parent agencies and issuing, if 

relevant, publicly available updates of 

the affected rules, policies, and 

practices. OMB expects the majority of 

revisions (∼90 percent) to be to policies 

and practices and for it to be rare that 

a rule require revision (∼10 percent). 

OMB also expects that finalizing revised 

policies and practices requires far less 

time (∼80 hours per) than finalizing 

rules (∼220 hours per). Taken together, 

OMB estimates on average that 

finalizing the revisions will take 100 

hours per rule, policy, or practice. For 

this analysis, OMB assumes the same 

amount of time for all agencies because 

procedures to finalize revisions to rules, 

policies, and practices should be 

relatively consistent across parent 

agencies. To account for the differing 

levels of engagement within parent 

agencies to approve the final revisions 

to rules, 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 $92.26 for 2024. 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 

$184.52 per hour. Using the number of 

rules, policies, and practices that 

require revision from the previous 

analysis, the costs are as follows: 

Across all of the 12 central offices of 

parent agencies, OMB estimates the 

costs to be approximately $665,000. 

Across all of the 32 organizational levels 

within the agency that are in the direct 

reporting structure for the RSAU, OMB 

estimates the costs approximately 

$8,857,000. 

Across all of the 120 core 

components, OMB expects the costs to 

be approximately $6,643,000. In sum, 

OMB expects these costs to total 

approximately $16,165,000. 

Type of entity Number of 

entities 

Hours to 

finalize 

and issue 

revisions 

per policy 

Number of 

policies to 

finalize 

and issue 

revisions 

per entity 

Cost 

per hour Total cost 

Agencies that Contain an RSAU ....................................................... 12 100 3 $184.52 $665,000 

Organizational levels in direct reporting structure ............................. 32 100 15 184.52 8,857,000 

Core components ............................................................................... 120 100 3 184.52 6,643,000 

Totals .......................................................................................... 164 ...................... ........................ .................... 16,165,000 

Note: Number of hours to perform the task is calculated for this part of the process by multiplying the hours to finalize and issue revisions per 

policy by the number of policies to finalize and issue revisions. 

Therefore, across the Federal 

Government, to review this rule and 

review and revise rules, policies, and 

practices as needed to meet the 

requirements of this rule, the estimated 

costs total approximately $35,972,000. 

Estimated Costs of the Options Proposed 

for the Compliance Review 

The proposed rule included three 

options under consideration for 

ensuring compliance with the final rule. 

Here OMB estimates the costs for the 

option selected in this final rule, which 

combines parts of two of the options 

from the proposed rule. 

OMB expects that CIGIE will develop 

procedures and reference materials for 

the Inspectors General to use to provide 

consistency across their reviews. This 

final rule does not specify the structure 

of such work, so it may be implemented 

in a different format; however, OMB 

approximates the costs based on a 

committee structure. To develop 

estimated costs, OMB assumes that the 


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Committee would include 

representatives from 8 agencies. For this 

analysis, OMB is using an average 

hourly rate equivalent for a Senior 

Executive Service Level IV employee 

based in Washington, DC which is 

$92.26 for 2024. 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 $184.52 per hour. 

OMB estimates that each member would 

spend on average about 48 hours per 

year dedicated to this work. Therefore, 

OMB estimates that this step will cost 

approximately $71,000 across all 8 

agencies engaged in developing the 

procedures and materials. 

ANNUAL COST FOR CIGIE TO DEVELOP PROCEDURES AND RELEVANT MATERIALS

Number of agencies Hours per 

agency Cost per hour Total cost 

8 48 $184.52 $71,000 

Then, OMB estimates costs by activity 

for each of the reviews across the 3-year 

timeframe. Over the 3-year timeframe, 

OMB expects all 16 RSAUs to have an 

IG review and that the average time 

spent by each RSAU participating in 

this review would be 640 hours. OMB 

expects the participation to involve 

generally employees at a GS–14 Step 5 

in the Washington, DC region, which 

results in a cost of $151.40 per hour. 

This results in an expected cost across 

all RSAUs of approximately $1,551,000. 

In addition, OMB expects the 32 

organizational levels in the reporting 

structure for RSAUs to participate in the 

reviews. Over the 3-year timeframe, 

OMB expects each of the 32 

organizational levels in the reporting 

structure for RSAUs to spend 320 hours 

on average participating in the reviews. 

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 $151.40 per 

hour. This results in an expected cost 

across all organizational levels of 

approximately $1,551,000. Then, OMB 

expects all 16 RSAUs to publish a 

summary of findings on their website 

and estimates on average that 

publication to take 4 hours of time by 

an employee with a cost of $151.40 per 

hour. This results in expected costs of 

approximately $10,000 across all 

RSAUs. For the next two activities, 

OMB is using an average hourly rate 

equivalent for a Senior Executive 

Service Level IV employee based in the 

Washington, DC region, which results in 

a cost of $184.52. For the Chief 

Statistician Engagement activity, over 

the 3-year timeframe it is expected that 

all 16 RSAUs will need to participate 

and that on average each agency’s 

engagement would require 8 hours of 

the time of the head of the RSAU and 

8 hours of the 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 approximately $48,000 

across all RSAU agencies. Finally, OMB 

expects inspectors general (IGs) to incur 

time and costs engaging in these 

reviews. OMB estimates that over the 3- 

year timeframe all 16 separate reviews 

will need to occur and for each, each IG 

will spend on average 648 hours across 

the 3 years. Thus, OMB expects the cost 

for this activity across all IGs to be 

approximately $1,914,000. 

THREE-YEAR COST FOR ACTIVITIES RELATED TO IG REVIEW

Activity Number of 

agencies 

Hours across 

3 years per 

agency 

Cost per 

hour 

Total cost of 

across all 

agencies 

RSAUs Participating in Review ............................................................................. 16 640 $151.40 $1,551,000 

Organizational levels in direct reporting structure Participating in Review ........... 32 320 151.40 1,551,000 

Publish Summary of Findings ................................................................................ 16 4 151.40 10,000 

Chief Statistician Engagement in Deficiencies ...................................................... 16 16 184.52 48,000 

IG Engagement ...................................................................................................... 16 648 184.52 1,914,000 

Total ................................................................................................................ .................... ........................ .................... 5,074,000 

In sum, over a 3-year timeframe OMB 

expects this process to cost 

approximately $5,074,000. This results 

in a cost of approximately $1,692,000 

per year. Adding this cost with the cost 

for CIGIE to develop guidance, the 

annual cost is approximately $1,763,000 

for the compliance review. 

Regulatory Alternatives 

OMB considered some regulatory 

alternatives, as noted below. More 

information on the reasons OMB 

finalized the rule as it did is available 

above in the preamble. 

Handling compliance review. OMB 

detailed three options for proposed 

compliance review requirements, and 

OMB finalizes the rule by combining 

Options B and C from the proposed rule. 

Changing timeline for agencies to 

revise rules, policies, and practices. 

OMB did not receive any comments on 

this timeline, and OMB finalizes the 

rule such that these revisions must 

occur within 1 year of the effective date 

of this rule. 

Benefits 

This final rule promotes trust in the 

work of RSAUs, 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, this final rule provides 

transparency and clarity to parent 

agencies and the public alike about how 

best a parent agency can enable, 

support, and facilitate the work of 

RSAUs. 

Commenters noted in particular that 

maintaining trust in RSAUs has the 

benefits of helping to ‘‘maintain global 


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45Comment submitted by Elizabeth Mannshardt 

(Oct. 02, 2023), available at https://

www.regulations.gov/comment/OMB-2023-0015- 

0019. 

46Comment submitted by American Economics 

Association (Oct. 02, 2023), available at https://

www.regulations.gov/comment/OMB-2023-0015- 

0022. 

47Comment submitted by Elizabeth Mannshardt 

(Oct. 02, 2023), available at https://

www.regulations.gov/comment/OMB-2023-0015- 

0019. 

48Comment submitted by American Economics 

Association (Oct. 02, 2023), available at https://

www.regulations.gov/comment/OMB-2023-0015- 

0022. 

competitiveness,’’ 45 as well as 

supporting the functioning of capital 

markets and serving as key inputs to 

family, business, and public policy 

decisions.46 To realize these continued 

benefits from Federal statistics and in 

particular RSAUs, one commenter noted 

that certain provisions are especially 

helpful, such as the requirements on 

budget transparency and autonomy over 

the website.47 Another commenter also 

cited the following uses of Federal 

statistics from RSAUs as general 

benefits to the public from this rule: 48

• ‘‘The Federal Reserve relies on the 

statistical agencies’ estimates of output, 

employment, and inflation to set 

interest rates, which in turn affect 

everything from households’ grocery 

bills to new housing starts.’’ 

• ‘‘Businesses use federal statistics in 

deciding where and when to expand 

and innovate.’’ 

• ‘‘Investors use industry-specific 

statistics to identify rapidly growing 

sectors with profitable investment 

opportunities.’’ 

• ‘‘The federal government uses 

federal statistics to set spending levels— 

as when, for example, BLS’s Consumer 

Price Index is used to set cost-of-living 

adjustments for 65+ million Social 

Security beneficiaries, and the Census 

Bureau’s annual American Community 

Survey is used to allocate $400+ billion 

in funding to state and local areas each 

year.’’ 

• ‘‘State and local governments rely 

on federal statistics for their geographic 

areas to set economic development 

strategies.’’ 

• ‘‘Researchers use federal data 

collections to build evidence on the 

effectiveness of workforce, trade, 

education, housing, financial, and other 

types of policies.’’ 

• ‘‘Implemented effectively, the 

provisions of the proposed rule should 

go a long way towards maintaining the 

multifaceted streams of public benefits 

from federal statistics.’’ 

• ‘‘Well-maintained, public-facing 

websites can help maximize the value of 

federal statistics to households, 

businesses, communities, policy 

makers, and capital markets, as the 

value of federally supported data 

collections depends on the public’s 

ability to find, interpret, and use the 

system’s output.’’ 

• ‘‘Provisions ensuring that statistics 

are released on schedule builds trust in 

the agencies’ ability to use public funds 

effectively to produce high-quality data 

products.’’ 

• ‘‘Securing parent agencies’ 

commitment to the agencies’ access to 

productive resources—trained and 

skilled staff and 21st century hardware 

and software—will help avoid 

fluctuations in the quality, accuracy, 

and timeliness of data releases, which 

undercut confidence in the system’s 

effectiveness.’’ 

• ‘‘Reinforcing the federal statistical 

system’s reputation for objectivity and 

independence—with rock-solid ability 

to protect private data against disclosure 

risk—will help offset households’ and 

businesses’ decreasing willingness to 

respond to federal data collections.’’ 

The compliance review is a tool to 

ensure all agencies are accountable to 

the provisions of this final rule. To 

improve consistency in the compliance 

reviews across agencies, the Inspectors 

General will lead the compliance 

reviews and the Council of Inspectors 

General for Integrity and Efficiency will 

develop guidance for the compliance 

reviews. The compliance reviews will 

enhance the benefits of the rest of the 

rule. 

G. Regulatory Procedures 

Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory 

Planning and Review,’’ Executive Order 

13563, ‘‘Improving Rule and Regulatory 

Review,’’ and Executive Order 14094, 

‘‘Modernizing Regulatory Review’’ 

This final rule is a significant 

regulatory action under E.O. 12866, as 

amended by Executive Order 14094. 

Executive Order 12866 was reaffirmed 

by Executive Order 13563 and 

reaffirmed and amended by Executive 

Order 14094. Consistent with Executive 

Order 14094, OMB solicited and 

considered input from interested parties 

through a variety of means. 

‘‘Unfunded Mandates Reform Act’’ (2 

U.S.C. 1501–1571) 

This final 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 $100 million or more 

in any one year. 

‘‘Regulatory Flexibility Act’’ (5 U.S.C. 

601–612) 

The Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget has certified 

that this final 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 final 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 

final rule would have no direct effect on 

non-governmental entities, including 

small businesses. 

‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’ (44 U.S.C. 

3501–3520) 

This final 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 finalized 

in this rule an agency were to determine 

a need to implement a reporting or 

recordkeeping requirement subject to 

the PRA, the agency should comply 

with the requirements of the PRA. 

Executive Order 13132, ‘‘Federalism’’ 

Executive Order 13132 establishes 

certain requirements that an agency 

must meet when it promulgates a rule 

that imposes substantial direct 

compliance costs on State and local 

governments, preempts state law, or 

otherwise has federalism implications. 

This final rule will not impose 

substantial direct compliance costs on 

State or 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 

amends 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 Supporting 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; 44 U.S.C. 

3504(e); 31 U.S.C. 1104(d). 


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82474 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 198 / Friday, October 11, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

§ 1321.1 Purpose. 

This part is issued under the authority 

of the Budget and Accounting 

Procedures Act of 1950; the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995; the Information 

Quality Act; title III of the Foundations 

for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 

2018 (Evidence Act), also known as the 

Confidential Information Protection and 

Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018 

(CIPSEA 2018); and other provisions of 

the Evidence Act. 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 

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. 

§ 1321.2 Definitions. 

The following terms, as used in this 

part, are defined as follows: 

Accurate, when used with respect to 

statistical activities, means statistics are 

correct and consistently match the 

events and trends being measured. 

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. 

Chief Statistician of the United States 

means the Chief Statistician appointed 

under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e)(7). 

Component means a sub-agency, 

office, unit, bureau, or other distinct 

entity when that entity is within an 

agency that contains a Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit. 

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. 

Confidentiality means a quality or 

condition accorded to information as an 

obligation not to disclose that 

information to an unauthorized party. 

Core component means any support 

component and any component that 

performs any agency-wide function, 

such as the offices of Chief Data Officer, 

Evaluation Officer, Senior Agency 

Official for Privacy, Chief Information 

Officer, Chief FOIA Officer, and similar 

functions. 

Data users means individuals or 

groups of individuals who use Federal 

statistical information. 

Dissemination means the governmentinitiated 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). 

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 statutes, rules, or 

Office of Management and Budgetpromulgated policies or guidance. 

Fundamental responsibilities means 

the responsibilities of Recognized 

Statistical Agencies and Units listed in 

44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1). 

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. 

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. 

Information provider denotes 

members of the public; other agencies of 

the Federal Government; and 

organizations outside of the Federal 

Government, such as State, local, 

territorial, and Tribal governments, 

businesses, and other organizations or 

entities, that provide information to a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. 

Information system means a discrete 

set of information resources organized 

for the collection, processing, 

maintenance, use, sharing, 

dissemination, or disposition of 

information. 

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. 

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. 

Objective, when used with respect to 

statistical activities, means accurate, 

clear, complete, and unbiased. 

Parent agency means the following 

components in an agency that contains 

a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit: 

the parent agency head, each 

organizational level within the agency 

under which the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit is positioned, and each 

core component. 

Parent agency head means the head of 

the highest organizational level of an 

agency that contains a Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit. 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

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 of the Office 

of Management and Budget under 44 

U.S.C. 3562. 

Reference date is the time period to 

which data refer. 

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. 

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. 

Statistical activities means the 

collection, compilation, processing, or 

analysis of data for the purpose of 

describing or making estimates 

concerning the whole of, or relevant 

groups or components within, the 

economy, society, or the natural 

environment and includes the 

development of methods or resources 

that support those activities, such as 

measurement methods, models, 

statistical classifications, or sampling 

frames. 

Statistical information means 

information produced from statistical 

activities. 

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. 

Statistical press release is an 

announcement to media of a statistical 


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product release that contains the title, 

subject matter, release date, internet 

address of, and other available 

information about the statistical 

product, as well as the name of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

issuing the product and may include 

any executive summary information or 

key findings section as shown in the 

statistical product. A statistical press 

release is one that provides a policy 

neutral description of the data and does 

not include policy pronouncements. 

Statistical products means 

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 or 

organizations that comprise such groups 

or individual data observations with 

respect to those persons or 

organizations. 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. 

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 (1) of this definition. 

Support component means a 

component 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, but excludes any component 

of a Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit. 

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. 

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) Complementary application. This 

part should be read as complementary 

to existing Office of Management and 

Budget guidance or Statistical Policy 

Directives to the extent they are 

consistent. Effective December 10, 2024, 

this part supersedes any guidance or 

Statistical Policy Directives to the extent 

that they conflict. 

(b) Responsibility of Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit. 

Responsibilities assigned to a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

under this part are ultimately the 

responsibility of the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, 

or their designee, unless otherwise 

specified in this part. 

(c) Responsibility of parent agency. 

Responsibilities assigned to a parent 

agency under this part are ultimately the 

responsibility of parent agency head, or 

their designee, unless otherwise 

specified in this part. 

(d) Deviations. 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 agencylevel process to ensure compliance with 

this part, the parent agency and the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must discuss and determine how to 

address such deviation, including 

determining where responsibility lies 

for compliance with other applicable 

laws and rules. 

(e) Direct working relationships. 

When an agency or component has a 

direct working relationship with a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, 

the agency or component must uphold 

the responsibilities of a parent agency 

under this part, to the extent that a 

responsibility applies. 

(f) Consultation. In implementing 

statistical laws, this part, or other 

related statistical policies, the head of a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

should consult with the Chief 

Statistician of the United States as 

necessary. 

§ 1321.4 Supporting the four fundamental 

responsibilities. 

(a) In general. Each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit is charged 

with the fundamental responsibilities. 

Each agency is directed to enable, 

support, and facilitate Recognized 

Statistical Agencies and Units in 

carrying out these fundamental 

responsibilities. 

(b) Communication. The heads of 

Recognized Statistical Agencies and 

Units and parent agencies must engage 

in regular communication with and seek 

to educate each other. 

(c) Development and revision of 

policies. In consultation with the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit, 

each parent agency must: 

(1) Not later than December 10, 2026, 

and consistent with statutory 

obligations, revise any rules, policies, 

practices, or organizational structures 

that impede the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit’s ability to meet its 

fundamental responsibilities or impede 

the parent agency’s ability to enable, 

support, and facilitate the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit in carrying 

out its fundamental responsibilities, 

including the parent agency’s ability to 

delegate responsibilities under this part; 

(2) Consider the fundamental 

responsibilities when new rules, 

policies, practices, organizational 

structures, or budgets are developed; 

and 

(3) Ensure that its rules, policies, 

practices, and agreements support the 

ability of Recognized Statistical 

Agencies and Units to: 

(i) Present and maintain accurate 

information; and 

(ii) Make timely corrections or 

updates to its statistical products or data 

when the Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit determines such updates are 

needed; and 

(iii) Meet its responsibility for 

producing relevant and timely statistical 

products. 

(d) Innovation and burden reduction. 

Each Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit must: 

(1) Seek to continually improve its 

statistical products and methods and 

engage in research to support 

innovation in data collection, analysis, 

and dissemination, among other 

statistical activities; 

(2) Maximize the utility and minimize 

duplication of its statistical products; 

and 

(3) Minimize the burden on its 

respondents, including by engaging 

with other Recognized Statistical 

Agencies and Units to identify 

opportunities to better meet these goals. 

(e) Websites and branding. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must: 

(1) Participate in the development of 

coordinated and complementary 

system-wide branding in collaboration 

with the Chief Statistician of the United 

States; 

(2) 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; 

(3) Include clear branding with the 

name of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit on all websites, 

statistical products, and statistical press 

releases; and 


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(4) Make available to the public on the 

website required under this paragraph 

(e): 

(i) A mission statement that clearly 

describes the purpose of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit’s statistical 

programs and its commitment to each of 

the fundamental responsibilities; 

(ii) A strategic plan that is consistent 

with the requirements in 5 U.S.C. 306, 

which describes the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit’s goals and 

provides specific, measurable objectives 

and performance metrics and is assessed 

no less than every four years alongside 

and in alignment with the parent 

agency’s strategic plans; 

(iii) A list of relevant legislation, 

rules, and policies or management 

orders, including those defining 

organizational placement, that govern 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit’s ability to maintain its 

commitment to these four fundamental 

responsibilities; 

(iv) Each policy or standard required 

under this part; and 

(v) Any other information as 

determined by the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. 

(f) Websites and branding support. 

Each parent agency head must ensure its 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

has: 

(1) Sufficient resources to develop 

and maintain its website required under 

paragraph (e) of this section; 

(2) The necessary authority and 

autonomy to determine the content, 

functionality, appearance, and layout of 

its website required under paragraph (e) 

of this section; and 

(3) The capacity to directly update the 

content, functionality, appearance, and 

layout of the website required under 

paragraph (e) of this section without 

reliance on any parent agency official 

unless the official is directly assigned to 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit. 

(g) Budget formulation. It is important 

that each Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit have the appropriate resources 

to carry out the fundamental 

responsibilities set forth in this part. 

(1) Each parent agency, in 

coordination with the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, must 

produce a budget request specific to the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

that is fully compliant with the 

requirements of Office of Management 

and Budget Circular No. A–11 and is 

presented separately (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 parent agency’s 

annual budget submission to the Office 

of Management and Budget. 

(2) Each parent agency must provide 

to the head of each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit an 

opportunity to participate with the 

parent agency in discussions or 

engagements with the Office of 

Management and Budget specific to the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s 

budget request submitted in compliance 

with paragraph (g)(1) of this section. 

(3) If a parent agency and a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

determine that the annual budget 

submission to the Office of Management 

and Budget lacks sufficient resources for 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit to carry out the responsibilities set 

forth in this part, the parent agency, in 

coordination with the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, must include 

in the budget submission to the Office 

of Management and Budget a written 

explanation of this determination, the 

programmatic implications, and the 

tradeoffs that would be necessary to 

provide the necessary resources to the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

under the parent agency budget 

submission. 

(h) Capacity. It is important that each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

have the capacity to carry out the 

fundamental responsibilities set forth in 

this part. 

(1) If a parent agency and a 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

determine (e.g., through the agency 

capacity assessment or other means) 

that the Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit does not have the capacity to 

carry out the fundamental 

responsibilities set forth in this part, the 

parent agency and the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit should jointly 

develop options for addressing capacity 

needs and, to the extent practicable, 

make the necessary resources available. 

(2) If the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit determines it does not 

have the capacity to carry out the 

fundamental responsibilities set forth in 

this part, the head of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit should 

submit to the Chief Statistician of the 

United States and the relevant Resource 

Management Office in the Office of 

Management and Budget a written 

explanation of the capacity deficit, 

including an estimate of the amount of 

resources, labor, or other support 

needed to address the capacity deficit 

and a detailed description of the 

anticipated impact of the current 

capacity. 

(3) When a Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit relies on a support 

component from a parent agency: 

(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit must, to the greatest extent 

possible, allocate labor resources to 

ensure that one or more employees, 

depending on the size of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, are 

knowledgeable of the support 

component, its policies and processes, 

and best practices for interacting with 

the support component. 

(ii) The parent agency must designate 

at least one employee of each support 

component to serve as a liaison for the 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit 

and 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 support component and the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must work collaboratively to ensure the 

support component meets the relevant 

needs of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit in a manner that 

complies with this part and all 

applicable laws. 

(4) When a Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit relies on services or 

software from a support component: 

(i) 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 support component official 

must coordinate 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. 

(ii) The relevant support component 

official must ensure that the service or 

software is sufficient for the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit to meet its 

obligation to carry out its fundamental 

responsibilities. The head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must clearly communicate the needs of 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit to meet its obligation to carry out 

its fundamental responsibilities. If 

requested by the relevant support 

component official, the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must provide a written list explicitly 

defining the requirements needed of the 

service or software to meet its obligation 

to carry out its fundamental 

responsibilities. 

(iii) 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 

support component must enter into a 

written agreement, and the support 


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component must provide the service or 

software in accordance with such 

agreement. 

(iv) The Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit may obtain the service 

or software separately from the parent 

agency or support component if they are 

unable to reach an agreement or, at any 

point in time, the service or software is 

not able to be supplied in accordance 

with the agreement. 

(v) 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, 

in coordination with relevant core 

component officials, must notify the 

parent agency head. This notification 

must include an explanation of why it 

is necessary to obtain services or 

software separately and an attestation 

that the Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit remains in compliance with 

relevant law and policy. If the parent 

agency is unable to provide the separate 

service or software, the parent agency, 

in coordination with the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, must notify 

the Office of Management and Budget in 

the written explanation required under 

paragraph (g)(3) of this section. 

(i) Decision-making authority. The 

heads of Recognized Statistical Agencies 

and Units must have the appropriate 

decision-making authority with respect 

to their statistical products, statistical 

information, and statistical activities. 

Unless otherwise prohibited by statute, 

when a statute, rule, or policy 

authorizes any other agency official to 

make determinations directly affecting 

the ability of a Recognized Statistical 

Agency 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 in accordance with paragraphs 

(i)(1) through (3) of this section. 

(1) If the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit determines that 

delegation is necessary to carry out its 

fundamental responsibilities, the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must notify the parent agency head. 

(2) In making a determination 

regarding delegation under this 

paragraph (i), the parent agency head 

must: 

(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, 

consulting with the Chief Statistician of 

the United States as appropriate. 

(3) To the extent permissible under 

law, the individual to whom a 

responsibility has been delegated under 

this paragraph (i) must consult with the 

delegating official in carrying out such 

responsibility. 

(j) Delegation of duties. The Office of 

Management and Budget must 

implement its authorities and 

responsibilities 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. The Chief Statistician of 

the United States is authorized by 

statute to carry out the statistical 

functions set out in 44 U.S.C. 3504(e) on 

behalf of the Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget. In furtherance 

of that authority, the Director must 

delegate to the Chief Statistician of the 

United States the authority to carry out 

any of the functions or responsibilities 

under 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, subchapter 

III. The Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs must 

delegate to the Chief Statistician of the 

United States the review and approval 

of proposed collections of information 

submitted to the Office of Management 

and Budget by Recognized Statistical 

Agencies and Units. 

§ 1321.5 Relevance and timeliness. 

(a) Responsibilities. Each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit must uphold 

the responsibility to produce and 

disseminate relevant and timely 

statistical information by carrying out 

its requirements under this section. 

Each parent agency must enable, 

support, and facilitate the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit in carrying 

out its responsibility to produce and 

disseminate relevant and timely 

statistical information. Recognized 

Statistical Agencies and Units must 

determine: 

(1) What statistical products to 

disseminate, including in the context of 

the Standard Application Process 

required under 44 U.S.C. 3583; 

(2) The content of its statistical 

products; and 

(3) The timing of disseminations. 

(b) Relevance consultations. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must 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) Each Recognized Statistical 

Agency and Unit must: 

(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, as the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

determines is appropriate, with other 

data users, including Congress, other 

agencies, and State, local, territorial, or 

Tribal governments, 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 its 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) Each parent agency must: 

(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 the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit as part of the 

stakeholder engagement process when 

developing the agency evidencebuilding plan (learning agenda) required 

under 5 U.S.C. 312, in alignment with 

Office of Management and Budget 

guidance; and 

(iii) Allow the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit to establish, determine 

the membership of, and manage 

advisory groups or other means of 

systematic stakeholder engagement, in 

accordance with applicable law. 

(c) Maximizing timeliness. (1) Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must 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, and consult 

with the parent agency regarding the 

availability of relevant support 

components required to support the 

release of statistical products. 

(2) Each parent agency must support 

efforts to maximize timeliness of 

statistical products by ensuring the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is 

aware of any emerging needs and 

providing necessary resources to 

respond to such emerging need. 

(3) In any instance where a parent 

agency observes that a Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit is not 

upholding the timeliness of statistical 

products, consistent with paragraph 

(c)(1) of this section, the parent agency, 


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after consultation with the head of the 

Recognized Agency or Unit, head must 

notify the Chief Statistician of the 

United States. 

(d) Schedule of release dates. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must publicly announce and adhere to 

a schedule for the release of statistical 

products. 

(1) Each Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit must: 

(i) On the website required under 

§ 1321.4, publish a schedule 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; 

(ii) Publish the date for release of nonregular or non-recurring statistical 

products on the schedule required 

under paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section 

as soon as the date is established; 

(iii) Designate a point of contact 

responsible for information about the 

release schedule and make its contact 

information readily available to the 

public on the website required under 

§ 1321.4; 

(iv) Minimize changes to the release 

schedule after it has been published to 

accommodate only special, unforeseen 

circumstances; and 

(v) If the release date of a statistical 

product is changed after the schedule 

has been published, publicly announce 

the change to the schedule as soon as 

possible, provide a detailed explanation 

for such change and, for regular and 

recurring statistical products, notify the 

Chief Statistician of the United States. 

(2) Each parent agency must support 

adherence to the published schedule by: 

(i) Communicating any parent agency 

activities or processes that could impact 

the timing of dissemination activities to 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit before the schedule is published; 

and 

(ii) If involved in dissemination 

activities, preparing for dissemination of 

statistical products in accordance with 

the published schedule. 

§ 1321.6 Credibility and accuracy. 

(a) Responsibilities of each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit. 

Each Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit must uphold the responsibility to 

conduct credible and accurate statistical 

activities by carrying out its duties 

under this paragraph (a). The 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must determine the appropriate 

methods, processes, policies, and 

general conduct of its statistical 

activities. Each Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit must: 

(1) Maintain publicly available 

policies and standards on the quality of 

the information used by the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit and the 

statistical products it disseminates, 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 that is used by the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

but does not originate from the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit; 

(2) Publicly provide documentation 

for its statistical products, including: 

(i) Descriptions of methods and 

procedures used in designing, 

collecting, 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 the 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; 

(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; and 

(5)(i) Determine the appropriateness 

of and process for providing 

professional autonomy to employees of 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit, including allowing employee 

engagement in professional 

development activities such as 

participating in peer review, 

publication, or professional 

associations, and attending and 

presenting at professional conferences 

without review or approval from the 

parent agency, subject to applicable 

statutes. 

(ii) When implementing paragraph 

(a)(5)(i) of this section, ensure all 

statutory requirements, such as ethics, 

are met. 

(b) Responsibilities of each parent 

agency. Each parent agency must 

enable, support, and facilitate the 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit 

in carrying out its responsibility to 

conduct credible and accurate statistical 

activities. Each parent agency must: 

(1) Ensure the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit has sufficient autonomy 

to maintain its own standards for the 

quality of the data used and the 

statistical information it produces and 

to determine whether its statistical 

products are of sufficient quality for 

dissemination. Unless otherwise 

prohibited by statute, when a statute, 

rule, or policy authorizes any other 

agency official to make such 

determinations, that responsibility must 

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 Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit until after the official 

release of the data; 

(3) Permit the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit to determine whether 

statistical disseminations, including 

related statistical press releases or 

publicity materials not containing 

policy pronouncements, should be 

disseminated by or through the parent 

agency and, if so, ensure that statistical 

information attributable to the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

disseminated by or through the parent 

agency is not altered in any way not 

authorized by the head of such 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit; 

and 

(4) Allow the head of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit to determine 

the appropriateness of and process for 

providing professional autonomy to 

employees of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit to submit articles that 

do not address policy, management, or 

budget issues, and that do not contain 

legally privileged information or 

information legally prohibited from 

disclosure, 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. 

When approval outside of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is 


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required, such as ethics approval, the 

parent agency must either: 

(i) Assign the support component 

employee that will conduct these 

reviews to report to the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit; 

or 

(ii) Ensure that the support 

component employee conducting the 

review, in coordination with the liaison 

designated in § 1321.4, provides 

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. 

§ 1321.7 Objectivity. 

(a) Responsibilities of each 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit. 

Each Recognized Statistical Agency and 

Unit must uphold the responsibility to 

conduct objective statistical activities by 

carrying out its duties under this 

paragraph (a). The Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit must 

determine the policies and practices 

that ensure objectivity of its statistical 

activities, including ensuring equitable 

access to the statistical products it 

disseminates. Each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit must: 

(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) Disseminating impartial statistical 

products in a clear and complete 

manner, without limitation or selection 

to promote a particular policy position 

or group interest; and 

(iii) Announcing dissemination 

activities, such as through statistical 

press releases or on the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit’s website, 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; 

(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; 

(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; and 

(iii) For 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, rules and guidance issued by the 

Office of Management and Budget to 

implement 44 U.S.C. 3582 and 3583, 

and other applicable authorities that 

govern access to confidential statistical 

data; 

(3) Determine the necessary 

qualifications for 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, information 

technology (IT) specialists, and other 

subject matter experts) and evaluate 

candidates based on assessments of 

scientific and technical knowledge, 

credentials, and experience; and 

(4) Consistent with applicable law 

and policy, 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 within the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

for granting access to its confidential 

statistical data and the information 

systems that hold confidential statistical 

data. 

(b) Responsibilities of each parent 

agency. Each parent agency must 

enable, support, and facilitate the 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit 

in carrying out its responsibility to 

conduct objective statistical activities. 

Each parent agency must— 

(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 the 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit 

to respond to inquiries from external 

interested communities and 

stakeholders, including the media, the 

Congress, and others, about its statistical 

products in a manner that ensures 

appropriate consultation with the parent 

agency 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 issues; 

legally privileged information; or 

matters affecting current or future 

litigation; 

(2) Support the impartiality of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit 

in its production and dissemination of 

statistical products by ensuring it is 

permitted to determine the methods for 

conducting statistical activities for 

statistical purposes and for 

disseminating statistical products. 

Unless otherwise prohibited by statute, 

when a statute, rule, or policy 

authorizes any other agency official to 

make such determinations, that 

responsibility must 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 resources of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

are managed by the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit in accordance 

with the fundamental responsibilities 

described in this part by allowing the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

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 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 the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to 

manage and control its data by ensuring 

that the Recognized Statistical Agency 

and Unit has the authority to make all 

determinations regarding: 

(i) The governance of its data, 

including the archiving 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 Office of Management 

and Budget policies, including the 

authority for ensuring compliance with 

the Standard Application Process 

required under 44 U.S.C. 3583 and 

related guidance. 

§ 1321.8 Confidentiality. 

(a) Responsibilities of each 

Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit. 

Each Recognized Statistical Agency and 

Unit must uphold the responsibility to 


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protect the trust of information 

providers by ensuring the 

confidentiality and exclusive statistical 

use of confidential statistical data by 

carrying out its duties under this 

paragraph (a). The Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit must 

determine whether the tools, practices, 

and procedures employed to ensure the 

effective security of the confidential 

statistical data it holds comply with this 

part and with statistical laws. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must: 

(1) Secure all confidential statistical 

data against unauthorized access. This 

includes: 

(i) Ensuring that any information 

systems containing confidential 

statistical data employ effective barriers 

to restrict access such that only 

employees of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit or its authorized agents 

have access to such data. This must be 

done in accordance with the 

requirements of the Confidential 

Information Protection and Statistical 

Efficiency Act of 2018, codified as 

amended at 44 U.S.C. 3561–3576; 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, codified as amended at 44 

U.S.C. 3551–3558, and other applicable 

laws and policies; 

(ii) Ensuring required security 

policies, configurations, and controls 

placed on information technology assets 

are appropriate to protect the 

confidentiality of confidential statistical 

data throughout the data lifecycle; 

(iii) Controlling logical access to data 

storage assets containing confidential 

statistical data and restricting access to 

authorized personnel; and 

(iv) Complying with paragraph (c) of 

this section; 

(2) Ensure that confidential statistical 

data are not used for any nonstatistical 

purposes. This includes: 

(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; and 

(iii) Complying with paragraph (c) of 

this section; 

(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: 

(i) Making readily accessible, for 

example, 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 respondents to collections of 

information sponsored by the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

consistent with this section, including 

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 any agreement 

with the providing agency addresses 

any legal requirements for notice and 

consent consistent with applicable law 

and applicable rules 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 Agency or Unit of 

their responsibility not to 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 agent 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) Responsibilities of each parent 

agency. Each parent agency must 

enable, support, and facilitate the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in 

carrying out its responsibility to protect 

the trust of information providers by 

ensuring the confidentiality and 

exclusive statistical use of its 

information. Each parent agency must: 

(1) Ensure that the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit has the sole 

authority to provide access to its 

confidential statistical data. Unless 

otherwise prohibited by statute, when a 

statute, rule, or policy authorizes any 

other official to control access to such 

data, that responsibility must be 

delegated to the head of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit. 

(2) Ensure that implementation of the 

Federal Information Technology 

Acquisition Reform Act, 40 U.S.C. 

11319, is consistent with the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s 

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; and 

(ii) Ensuring that confidential 

statistical data are protected by any 

effective security standards established 

in writing by the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit. 

(3) Ensure that the Senior Agency 

Official for Privacy consults with the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

when the Senior Agency Official for 

Privacy performs duties related to the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit’s 

statistical activities, including under the 

Privacy Act of 1974, codified as 

amended at 5 U.S.C. 552a; the EGovernment Act of 2002, codified at 44 

U.S.C. 3501 note; and other applicable 

statutory requirements, including: 

(i) Conducting Privacy Impact 

Assessments on information technology 

systems that store and process 

confidential statistical data, as required 

by law and Office of Management and 

Budget guidance; 

(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 containing 

personally identifiable information in a 

way that complies with law and policy 

and is sensitive to the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit’s need to 

maintain the public trust. 

(4) Ensure that the agency Chief 

Freedom of Information Act Officer 

coordinates with the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit to ensure 

appropriate application of exemptions 

pertaining to confidential statistical data 

in response to Freedom of Information 

Act requests. 


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(c) Responsibilities to protect 

confidential statistical data. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is 

responsible for protecting the 

confidentiality and exclusive statistical 

use of confidential statistical data by 

carrying out its duties under this 

paragraph (c). Each parent agency must 

enable, support, and facilitate the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in 

carrying out its responsibility to protect 

the confidentiality and exclusive 

statistical use of confidential statistical 

data. 

(1) The head of each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit must: 

(i) Determine who is authorized to 

access confidential statistical data; 

(ii) Ensure that 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 

must: 

(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 parent agency head must: 

(i) Ensure confidential statistical data 

are 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 they have 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; and 

(iii) Ensure the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit has the resources 

necessary to ensure confidential 

statistical data are secure from 

unauthorized access. 

(3) Nothing in this part authorizes the 

parent agency head, or anyone else, to 

access confidential statistical data, 

unless the head of the Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit has 

designated such individual as an agent. 

(4) When a component needs access 

to confidential statistical data, the head 

of the component must: 

(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 the scope and number of its 

requests for 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 

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 must 

coordinate with the head of the parent 

agency or any component requesting 

access to confidential statistical data as 

described in paragraphs (c)(2) and (4) of 

this section to identify and designate 

necessary agents to fulfill the 

component’s responsibilities. 

(6) If the parent agency head 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 parent agency head 

must 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 must track access to its 

information systems that contain 

confidential statistical data and 

maintain sufficient access logs that 

detail the individual accessing such 

data and the time of access. Each 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

must ensure that confidential statistical 

data hosted outside of its information 

systems is maintained in a manner such 

that the host can track access to the 

confidential statistical data in a way 

sufficient to detail the individual 

accessing the data and the time of access 

and that the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit is notified in a timely 

manner of any unauthorized access. The 

parent agency must ensure the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit 

has sufficient technology resources to 

ensure all access to confidential 

statistical data is tracked. 

(i) The Recognized Statistical Agency 

or Unit must 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 must notify the parent agency head 

and the Chief Statistician of the United 

States, and the parent agency head and 

the head of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit must: 

(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. 

(a) Compliance review. In accordance 

with guidance promulgated under 

paragraph (e)(1) of this section, the 

Inspector General of each parent agency 

must conduct a review to determine 

whether the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit and parent agency are in 

compliance with this part and whether 

the Recognized Statistical Agency or 

Unit has sufficient resources to carry out 

the fundamental responsibilities. To 

ensure consistent interpretation and 

application of statistical laws, the 

Inspector General must consult with the 

Chief Statistician of the United States. 

(b) Frequency of compliance review. 

(1) The Inspector General must conduct 

a compliance review of each Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit, in 

accordance with paragraph (a) of this 

section, no earlier December 10, 2026, 

and not less frequently than once every 

three years thereafter. 

(2) The Interagency Council on 

Statistical Policy (ICSP) may request a 

compliance review of a Recognized 

Statistical Agency or Unit and parent 

agency at any time if the ICSP has 

reason to believe there is a substantial 

change in circumstances regarding 

compliance with this part. 

(i) The ICSP must submit a written 

request for a compliance review with a 

detailed explanation of the reasons there 

may be a substantial change in 

compliance with this section to the 

Inspector General of the parent agency 

to be reviewed. 

(ii) The Inspector General must 

review any request from the ICSP, 

determine whether a review is 

appropriate, and provide a written 

response to the ICSP within 30 days of 

receiving such request. 

(c) Compliance review report. The 

Inspector General must submit a report 

on the results of the review made under 


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82482 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 198 / Friday, October 11, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

this section to the parent agency head, 

the head of the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit, the Chief Statistician of 

the United States, and relevant 

congressional committees. For purposes 

of this review, the head of the 

Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is 

considered a responsible official. The 

Inspector General shall include in the 

report a summary of major findings and, 

if deficiencies are identified during the 

review, a set of recommendations for 

improving compliance with this part. 

(d) Role of the Chief Statistician of the 

United States. The Chief Statistician of 

the United States will: 

(1) Engage with each Recognized 

Statistical Agency and Unit and parent 

agency to address any deficiencies 

identified in the report; 

(2) Publicly post a list of 

recommendations appropriate for public 

dissemination made to each agency and 

the status of the agency in addressing 

each recommendation on https://

www.StatsPolicy.gov or any successor 

website; 

(3) Make available appropriate 

materials, training, and other relevant 

resources to the Council for Inspector 

General Integrity and Efficiency 

regarding statistical laws and practices; 

and 

(4) Include standards for remedial 

actions for a Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit for persistent failures to 

comply with this part in the guidance to 

implement the Recognized Statistical 

Agency or Unit designation process 

required under 44 U.S.C. 3562(a). 

(e) Council of the Inspectors General 

on Integrity and Efficiency. Not later 

than December 10, 2026, the Council of 

the Inspectors General on Integrity and 

Efficiency, in consultation with the 

Chief Statistician of the United States 

and with consideration given to the 

available resources and independence of 

individual Offices of Inspectors General, 

must: 

(1) Develop and promulgate guidance 

that specifies procedures for the 

compliance review, and compliance 

determinations required under 

paragraph (a) of this section and a 

standardized format for reports required 

under paragraph (c) of this section to 

ensure consistency across agencies; 

(2) Establish a working group for 

Inspectors General responsible for 

conducting reviews under this section 

to assist the Inspectors General in 

developing the expertise in statistical 

laws and processes necessary to ensure 

the integrity of statistical agencies; and 

(3) Regularly consult with the Chief 

Statistician of the United States on the 

appropriate interpretation and 

application of statistical laws and 

practices. 

Shalanda D. Young, 

Director, Office of Management and Budget. 

[FR Doc. 2024–23536 Filed 10–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3110–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Utilities Service 

7 CFR Parts 1775 

[Docket Number: RUS–24–WATER–0031] 

Technical Assistance Grants 

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Services 

(RUS or Agency), an agency in the 

United States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) Rural Development (RD) 

Mission area, is issuing a final rule to 

update the Water and Environmental 

Programs’ (WEP) Technical Assistance 

Grants regulation by updating the audit 

and financial statement language to 

align with the Office of Management 

and Budgets (OMB) 2024 revisions. 

DATES: Effective date: October 11, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michele Brooks, Assistant 

Administrator, Water and 

Environmental Programs, United States 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Stop 1548, 

Room 4121-South Building, 

Washington, DC 20250–1548. 

Telephone: (202) 692–0308. Email: 

michele.brooks@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

RD is a mission area within USDA 

comprised of the RUS, the Rural 

Business-Cooperative Service and Rural 

Housing Service that strives to increase 

economic opportunity and improve the 

quality of life for all rural Americans. 

RD invests in rural America with loan, 

grant, and loan guarantee programs to 

help drive economic security and 

prosperity. 

Rural communities obtain the 

technical assistance and financing 

necessary to develop drinking water and 

waste disposal systems through RUS 

WEP. Safe drinking water and sanitary 

waste disposal systems are vital not 

only to public health, but also to the 

economic vitality of rural America. RD 

is a leader in helping rural America 

improve the quality of life and increase 

the economic opportunities for rural 

people. 

OMB revised several parts of OMB 

Guidance for Grants and Agreements 

which is now called OMB Guidance for 

Federal Financial Assistance and is 

located in title 2 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations. The revisions were 

published in the Federal Register on 

April 22, 2024, at 89 FR 30046. The 

revisions must be implemented by 

October 1, 2024, but can be 

implemented any time after June 21, 

2024. This final rule is being published 

as a technical/administrative correction 

to ensure the Agency’s audit and 

financial statement requirements align 

with the OMB revisions made to 2 CFR 

part 200. 

II. Summary of Changes 

Section 1775.21(a) and (b) were 

updated to remove the $750,000 

monetary amount in order to reference 

the current Single Audit threshold and 

to amend the audit submission 

deadline. The audit submission 

requirement was updated to be thirty 

(30) calendar days after the auditee 

receives the auditor’s report or nine (9) 

months after the end of the grantee’s 

fiscal year, whichever is earlier. These 

changes were made to align with the 

updates to 2 CFR part 200. 

III. Executive Orders 

Executive Order 12866—Classification 

This final rule is exempt from OMB 

review for purposes of Executive Order 

12866 and, therefore, has not been 

reviewed by OMB. 

Congressional Review Act 

This rule is not subject to the 

Congressional Review Act (‘‘CRA’’) (5 

U.S.C. 801 et seq.), as the CRA provides 

an exemption for any rule relating to 

agency management or personnel and 

for rules relating to agency organization, 

procedure, or practice that does not 

substantially affect the rights or 

obligations of non-agency parties. 

Assistance Listing Number (Formally 

Known as the Catalog of Federal 

Domestic Assistance) 

The Assistance Listing Numbers 

assigned to the programs affected by this 

final rule are 10.761—Technical 

Assistance and Training Grants and 

10.762—Solid Waste Management 

Systems Grants. The Assistance Listings 

are available at SAM.gov. 

Executive Order 12372— 

Intergovernmental Consultation 

The Assistance Listing Numbers are 

10.761 and 10.762 for these programs 

and are subject to the provisions of 

Executive Order 12372 which requires 


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