Role of the Statistical Official in 

Advancing Evidence Building

Alex Marten

Statistical Official 

National Center for Environmental Economics, EPA

FCSM Conference 2023
What is a Statistical Official?

Who is an Agency’s Statistical Official?

Why does the position matter?

How is the position being implemented?

Overview

2 The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views 

or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Evidence Act

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“The head of each agency shall designate ... a 

statistical official to advise on statistical policy,

techniques, and procedures. Agency officials

engaged in statistical activities may consult 

with any such statistical official as necessary.”
Additional Responsibilities (M-19-23)

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Champion data quality, 

confidentiality protection, and 

appropriate data access

Establish policies to enable 

production and dissemination of 

relevant and timely statistics

Establish policies to promote 

credible, accurate, and objective 

statistical activities

Oversee agency data quality 

standards for statistical products

Oversee policies and standards to 

safeguard sensitive information and 

protect trust of information providers

Engage on Agency-wide data 

governance and serve on the Data 

Governance Body and ICSP
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Principal Statistical Agencies
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Statical Agency heads 

serve as 

Statistical Official 

for their

11 Parent Agencies

Principal Statistical Agencies
Other 13 CFO Act Agencies must 

appoint a senior career official 

with requisite experience as their 

Statistical Official

24 Statistical Officials in total

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Interagency Council on Statistical Policy

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1989

Created to improve 

communication across heads of 

principal statistical agencies

1995 Codified in statute to advise the 

Chief Statistician

2019 Membership expanded to all 

CFO Act agencies
Benefits of Interagency Connections

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Learn from shared 

experiences and expertise in 

the Federal Statistical System

CIPSEA 2018 implementation 

impacts evidence building and 

statistics across all agencies

Standard Application Process 

to apply for access to 

confidential data assets

Federal Committee on Statistical 

Methodology best practices and 

tools to support federal statistics
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• Federal Statistical System:

• 13 principal statistical agencies

• 3 recognized statistical units

• Around 100 other statistical programs

• Statistical expertise and support also 

needed by senior officials using 

statistical evidence for decision making

• Availability and quality of statistical 

information is important across an 

Agency

(Excluding Decennial Census)
Data Governance Body

• Each agency must establish a Data 

Governance Body (M-19-23)

• Charged with setting/enforcing priorities 

for managing data as a strategic asset

• Chaired by Chief Data Officer, who shall 

consult with the Statistical Official in the 

management of Agency data assets

• Delegated authority for Statistical Agencies

• Statistical Official is a member of the Data 

Governance Council

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Coordination with Evaluation Officers

• The Evaluation Officer (EO) has authority and responsibility for 

providing leadership over the agency’s evaluation and learning 

agenda activities and conducting a capacity assessment

• Statistical Official shall consult with the EO on statistical methodology 

and data access, acquisition, protection, and linkage (M-19-23)

• Statistical Official shall consult on the learning agenda (M-19-23)

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Opportunity

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Available 

Information

Decision

Domain

• Significant opportunity to 

enhance a culture of evidence

• Evidence Act provides 

opportunities to identify gaps 

in evidence and capacity

• Opportunity to leverage the 

Statistical Official role to 

address gaps

Unmet

Evidence

Needs
Capacity Assessment

• Evidence Act requires “an assessment of the coverage, quality, 

methods, effectiveness, and independence of the statistics ... of the 

agency”

• Opening to identify:

• Centers of excellence / key stakeholders

• Gaps in policy relevant statistical information

• Opportunities for skill development

• Unmet demands for expertise (intra and extramural)

• Guidance and policy needs

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Community of Practice

Evidence Act 

Working 

Group

Training

Tools

Providing Statistical Support

Direct

Support
Agency “Evaluation” Policy

• “The Evaluation Officer of each agency shall ... establish and 

implement an agency evaluation policy”

• OMB released M-20-12 with guidance for evaluation policies 

• Recommended policies to ensure relevant, rigorous, independent, objective, 

transparent, and ethical evidence building

• Informed by OMB’s Statistical Directives

• Expanding an Agency’s policy to cover statistical activities provides an 

opportunity for strengthening a broader universe of Federal statistics

• Compliment to Agency science integrity policies

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Recap

• “envision a future in which rigorous evidence is created efficiently, as a 

routine part of government operations, and used to construct effective 

public policy” (Comm. on Evidence Based Policy Making) 

• Statistical Officials have an important role in achieving that vision with 

support for relevant, timely, credible, accurate, and objective statistics

• Through Statistical Officials, leadership of the Federal Statistical System is 

now inclusive of all Federal statistical programs

• Tremendous opportunity if appropriately supported and resourced

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Contact Info: Alex Marten

 marten.alex@epa.gov 

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