II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4200 

To establish a Secure Research Data Network. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2022 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BOOZMAN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a Secure Research Data Network. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Research Data 

5 Network Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) SECTION 3561 OF TITLE 44 DEFINITIONS.— 

9 The terms ‘‘evidence’’, ‘‘identifiable form’’, ‘‘statis10 tical activities’’, and ‘‘statistical purpose’’ have the 


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1 meanings given the terms in section 3561 of title 44, 

2 United States Code. 

3 (2) ANALYST.—The term ‘‘analyst’’ means a 

4 person either employed by, or working on behalf of, 

5 a Federal or State agency in empirical pro6 grammatic or data analysis. 

7 (3) DATA ASSET.—The term ‘‘data asset’’ has 

8 the meaning given the term in section 3502 of title 

9 44, United States Code. 

10 (4) DATA STEWARD.—The term ‘‘data steward’’ 

11 means an individual employed by a Federal or State 

12 agency who is familiar with the agency’s data, and 

13 has a statutory responsibility to protect the con14 fidentiality of such data and ensure its integrity and 

15 quality. 

16 (5) DIRECTOR.—Except as otherwise provided, 

17 the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of the Na18 tional Science Foundation. 

19 (6) REPORTING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘reporting 

20 entity’’ means a Federal or State agency with data 

21 relevant to governmentwide evidence-building activi22 ties. 

23 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean24 ing given the term in section 502 of the National 

25 Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2010 (42 


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1 U.S.C. 1862p note), except that the definition shall 

2 be applied by striking ‘‘, or any other territory or 

3 possession of the United States’’. 

4 SEC. 3. SECURE RESEARCH DATA NETWORK. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consulta7 tion with the Statistical Official of the National 

8 Science Foundation, the Chief Statistician of the 

9 United States, and the Director of the National Ar10 tificial Intelligence Initiative Office, shall, subject to 

11 the availability of appropriations, enter into an 

12 agreement for the establishment of the ‘‘Secure Re13 search Data Network’’ or ‘‘SRDN’’, which shall be 

14 operated as a pilot program. 

15 (2) TERM OF PILOT PROGRAM.—The pilot pro16 gram operated under paragraph (1) shall run for 3 

17 years, with the possibility of not more than two 1- 

18 year extensions, upon consideration of the Director, 

19 in consultation with the SRDN Advisory Board. 

20 (3) ADDITIONAL EMPLOYEES.—The Director 

21 may hire additional employees as necessary to sup22 port the operation of the SRDN, including full-time 

23 equivalent Federal employees. 

24 (4) AVOID DUPLICATION.—The Director shall 

25 coordinate with the Chief Statistician of the United 


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1 States to identify potential areas of overlap between 

2 the SRDN and efforts carried out at, or financially 

3 assisted by, the National Science Foundation, such 

4 as the America’s DataHub Consortium, on the date 

5 of enactment of this Act. The Chief Statistician of 

6 the United States shall seek to ensure that the ac7 tivities of the SRDN enhance and complement those 

8 efforts existing on the date of enactment of this Act 

9 in order to avoid duplication and maximize the use 

10 of Federal resources. 

11 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Director shall direct 

12 the SRDN to carry out the following: 

13 (1) Support governmentwide evidence-building 

14 activities as required under section 312 of title 5, 

15 United States Code, including implementation of 

16 agency multiyear evidence-building plans. 

17 (2) Develop, deploy, maintain, and operate a 

18 SRDN platform for authorized analysts to calculate 

19 statistics on data for evidence-building activity pur20 poses using data assets made available by reporting 

21 entities for approved projects. 

22 (3) Execute a number of approved projects on 

23 the SRDN platform described in paragraph (2) and 

24 make the results publicly available. 


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1 (4) Ensure an appropriate number of approved 

2 projects will re-examine and attempt to fully or par3 tially replicate the results of linked data studies in 

4 existence on the date of enactment of this Act as 

5 proof of concept for the SRDN platform described in 

6 paragraph (2). 

7 (5) Maintain, in consultation with the Chief 

8 Statistician of the United States and other relevant 

9 Federal data strategy stakeholders, a public SRDN 

10 website with up-to-date information on all approved 

11 projects, including their results and documentation 

12 of the evidence-building value of each project for pol13 icymakers. 

14 (6) Consult with the National Artificial Intel15 ligence Research Resource Task Force established 

16 under section 5106 of the National Artificial Intel17 ligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9415) and 

18 consider how to integrate the Task Force’s rec19 ommendations and road map for expanding access to 

20 critical artificial intelligence resources and edu21 cational tools into the SRDN. 

22 (c) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the 

23 SRDN platform under subsection (b)(2), the SRDN— 

24 (1) shall ensure the SRDN platform facilitates 

25 statistical activities for evidence-building activity 


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1 purposes while reducing the privacy and security 

2 risks by developing, procuring, or adapting tech3 nology that, at a minimum, uses the latest cutting4 edge technical protection measures that reasonably 

5 ensure that— 

6 (A) the SRDN platform permits only au7 thorized analysts to perform statistical queries 

8 necessary to answer approved project questions 

9 using the data assets made available by the re10 porting entities; 

11 (B) no information about the data assets 

12 used in the SRDN platform is revealed to any 

13 other party, except as incorporated into the 

14 final result, which shall be used exclusively for 

15 statistical evidence-building purposes and shall 

16 not be released in an identifiable form; 

17 (C) no individual entity’s data or informa18 tion is revealed by the SRDN platform to any 

19 other party in an identifiable form; 

20 (D) the SRDN platform prohibits any 

21 other queries by the SRDN or any other party 

22 through the SRDN platform; and 

23 (E) the SRDN platform minimizes the pri24 vacy risks to individual entities whose data has 

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1 cluding those that could result from data 

2 breaches of any system operated by the report3 ing entity; and 

4 (2) may— 

5 (A) use secure multiparty computation 

6 technologies; or 

7 (B) utilize technology other than secure 

8 multiparty computation technologies if the 

9 other technology— 

10 (i) fully complies with subparagraphs 

11 (A) through (E) of paragraph (1); and 

12 (ii) delivers greater or equivalent pri13 vacy and security than secure multiparty 

14 computation. 

15 (d) SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ensure 

17 the SRDN develops, deploys, operates, and main18 tains the SRDN platform described in subsection 

19 (b)(2), along with corresponding Application Pro20 gramming Interfaces (APIs), to be used by reporting 

21 entities and authorized analysts who will interact 

22 with the SRDN platform to conduct the approved 

23 projects. The Director— 

24 (A) shall direct the SRDN to consult, de25 sign, and conduct usability testing of the 


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1 SRDN platform with relevant Federal and 

2 State agencies, Federal coordinating councils, 

3 subject matter experts, academia, and others 

4 with expertise in technology development, main5 tenance, and governance, statistics, privacy, and 

6 user-centered design, as the Director deter7 mines appropriate; 

8 (B) in consultation with the SRDN Advi9 sory Board, shall engage in an open public re10 view and comment process on the development 

11 of the SRDN platform and its governance poli12 cies; and 

13 (C) shall enter into an agreement for the 

14 establishment of the SRDN only with entities 

15 based in the United States or in its allied coun16 tries. 

17 (2) PUBLIC DOMAIN AND OPEN SOURCE SOFT18 WARE.—The Director shall ensure the SRDN makes 

19 all software developed for the SRDN platform de20 scribed in subsection (b)(2) available as public do21 main and open source software (as defined in section 

22 1552.239–71 of title 48, Code of Federal Regula23 tions, or a successor regulation) both during develop24 ment and after completion, and endeavor to design 

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1 nents can be reused independently. The SRDN shall 

2 publicly document the construction, operation, and 

3 functionality of the software technologies it develops 

4 on the SRDN public-facing website. 

5 (3) PROVISION OF SOFTWARE.—The Director 

6 shall ensure the SRDN provides software to report7 ing entities, at no cost, that the reporting entities 

8 can use to connect their own systems to the SRDN 

9 platform described in subsection (b)(2). A reporting 

10 entity may use the public domain software the 

11 SRDN makes available to build their own software 

12 that interfaces using the publicly documented API, 

13 or use the services of another agency or organization 

14 with greater or equivalent privacy and security to 

15 help them connect their own systems to the SRDN. 

16 (e) DATA QUALITY SERVICE TEAM.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall direct the 

18 SRDN to develop a plan for and operate a data 

19 quality service team that is composed of data gov20 ernance, information systems, statistics, cybersecu21 rity, and disclosure avoidance experts, who will, at 

22 no cost to the reporting entity, help reporting enti23 ties evaluate their data and prepare it for use with 

24 the SRDN platform described in subsection (b)(2) to 

25 achieve approved project goals. 


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1 (2) AGENCY ASSISTANCE.—A reporting entity 

2 that is a Federal agency, and a reporting entity that 

3 is a State agency that chooses to receive assistance 

4 as described in paragraph (1), shall work with the 

5 SRDN to develop a plan for preparing its data for 

6 use with the SRDN platform described in subsection 

7 (b)(2), including adopting all necessary standards. 

8 The SRDN shall approve the cost estimates pre9 pared by the reporting entity prior to the reporting 

10 entity and the SRDN undertaking work that is eligi11 ble for reimbursement, according to guidelines estab12 lished by the Director. The Director shall approve 

13 the plans and enter into reimbursable agreements 

14 with reporting entities for expenses included in the 

15 approved cost plan. In addition, the reporting entity 

16 shall— 

17 (A) make its employees responsible for the 

18 relevant data available to work with and assist 

19 the data quality service team for the extent of 

20 the project with reimbursement from the Na21 tional Science Foundation for the employees’ 

22 worked hours; 

23 (B) adopt the recommendations of the data 

24 quality service team necessary to prepare the 


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1 reporting entity’s data for use with the SRDN 

2 platform; and 

3 (C) notwithstanding subparagraphs (B), 

4 (C), and (D) of subsection (c)(1), provide the 

5 data quality service team with access to the rel6 evant data. 

7 (3) HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SUPPORT.— 

8 The Director shall direct the SRDN to provide hard9 ware and software support technology the reporting 

10 entities need to stage and prepare data for use with 

11 the SRDN platform described in subsection (b)(2). 

12 (4) TRAINING MATERIALS AND TOOLS.—The 

13 data quality service team, in coordination with the 

14 Secure Research Data Network training team de15 scribed in subsection (f)(1), shall— 

16 (A) produce training materials, docu17 mented runnable code, and other tools to help 

18 reporting entities prepare their data for use 

19 with the SRDN platform described in sub20 section (b)(2); and 

21 (B) publish such resources on the SRDN 

22 public website. 

23 (5) DISCLOSURE AVOIDANCE.—The data qual24 ity service team shall assist reporting entities as 

25 they conduct a disclosure avoidance review to ensure 


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1 that project results are not released in an identifi2 able form. No results shall be released until a disclo3 sure avoidance review is conducted. 

4 (f) TRAINING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall direct the 

6 SRDN to develop a plan for and operate a Secure 

7 Research Data Network training team that is com8 posed of data science, social science, statistics, pri9 vacy, disclosure avoidance, and cybersecurity ex10 perts, which will, at no cost to the reporting entity, 

11 help reporting entities develop capacity to produce 

12 evidence using the SRDN platform described in sub13 section (b)(2), explain how the SRDN platform 

14 works and how it protects data assets, and evaluate 

15 the value of the evidence for policymakers and the 

16 public. 

17 (2) TRAINING CURRICULA.—The Director 

18 shall— 

19 (A) develop, in consultation with relevant 

20 Federal and State agencies, Federal and State 

21 coordinating councils, subject matter experts, 

22 academia, and others with expertise in user-cen23 tered design, privacy preserving technologies, 

24 data science, and statistics design, as the Direc25 tor determines appropriate, training curricula 


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1 for agency staff and authorized analysts and 

2 make it publicly available; and 

3 (B) in consultation with the SRDN Advi4 sory Board, engage in an open public review 

5 and comment process on the development of the 

6 curricula. 

7 (3) CURRICULA CONTENT.—The curricula de8 veloped under paragraph (2) shall build upon Fed9 eral data strategy and Office of Management and 

10 Budget evidence-building recommendations and in11 clude training in the use of the SRDN platform de12 scribed in subsection (b)(2), preparation of data for 

13 use with the SRDN platform, testing and evaluation 

14 of the usefulness of the training materials and tools, 

15 and documentation of the evidence value for policy16 makers and the public. 

17 (g) PROJECT PROPOSAL.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consulta19 tion with the SRDN Advisory Board and the Chief 

20 Statistician of the United States, shall develop cri21 teria and guidelines for analysts to become author22 ized analysts and for project proposals to be sub23 mitted for consideration. 

24 (2) FACILITATING PROPOSALS.—The Director 

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1 munities by soliciting questions and connecting re2 search communities with analysts from the appro3 priate reporting agencies through methods such as 

4 workshops, conferences, or idea labs. 

5 (3) PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS.—The project 

6 proposals shall be submitted by authorized analysts 

7 and, at a minimum, include the following: 

8 (A) Documentation of the relevant data as9 sets necessitated by the project, including de10 tails of their level of preparedness for analysis 

11 with the SRDN platform under subsection 

12 (b)(2). 

13 (B) Identification of data stewards from 

14 the relevant reporting entities who will work 

15 with the data quality team to prepare data as16 sets for analysis with the SRDN platform under 

17 subsection (b)(2). 

18 (C) Attestation from the relevant reporting 

19 entities and data stewards that they support 

20 both the proposed project and the usage of 

21 their data assets for the proposed project. 

22 (D) Documentation of the evidence-build23 ing value the project would provide to policy24 makers. 


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1 (E) Feedback and comments on the pro2 posed project collected from nonprofit organiza3 tions, Tribal communities and governments, rel4 evant State and local governments, community 

5 leaders, and other members of the public, as 

6 appropriate. 

7 (h) ADVISORY BOARD.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consulta9 tion with the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and 

10 Economic Sciences of the National Science Founda11 tion, the Directorate for Computer and Information 

12 Science and Engineering of the National Science 

13 Foundation, and the Chief Statistician of the United 

14 States, shall establish a SRDN Advisory Board. The 

15 SRDN Advisory Board shall be responsible for re16 ceiving, evaluating, advising, and prioritizing a di17 verse set of project proposals based on National 

18 Science Foundation strategic priorities and estab19 lished evidence-building plans and policy-relevant 

20 questions required of Federal agencies in accordance 

21 with section 312 of title 5, United States Code, from 

22 multiple different authorized analysts for the consid23 eration of the Director. 

24 (2) MEMBERS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The SRDN Advisory 

2 Board shall consist of 15 members from a 

3 broad range of specialties and institutions, in4 cluding individuals with expertise in producing 

5 high-value evidence, data stewardship, cyberse6 curity, privacy, data governance, State and 

7 Federal program evaluation, State and Federal 

8 data infrastructure, State and Federal statistics 

9 infrastructure, and social science research. 

10 (B) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND NON-FED11 ERAL EMPLOYEES.—The SRDN Advisory 

12 Board shall consist of members who are em13 ployed by a Federal agency and members who 

14 are not employed by a Federal agency. 

15 (C) DIVERSITY.—The SRDN Advisory 

16 Board shall have a diverse membership based 

17 on gender, race, ethnicity, and geography. One18 third of the members of the SRDN Advisory 

19 Board shall consist of individuals located in ju20 risdictions that participate in the program 

21 under section 113 of the National Science 

22 Foundation Authorization Act of 1988 (42 

23 U.S.C. 1862g). 

24 (3) DUTIES.—The SRDN Advisory Board shall 

25 consider, at a minimum, the following: 


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1 (A) The feasibility of the proposed project, 

2 including preparedness of necessary data com3 ponents, formal support from relevant data 

4 stewards and reporting entities, plans and re5 sources to implement an adequate data govern6 ance plan, and reporting entity technological ca7 pabilities. 

8 (B) How the proposed project supports es9 tablished evidence-building plans and answers 

10 policy-relevant questions required of Federal 

11 agencies in accordance with section 312 of title 

12 5, United States Code, and to what extent the 

13 project represents a diverse group of data 

14 sources and statistical work in the Federal Gov15 ernment or in Federal-State partnerships. 

16 (C) Feedback and comments included in 

17 the project proposal. 

18 (i) REPORTING.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in 

21 consultation with the SRDN Advisory Board, shall 

22 produce a final report, to be published on the SRDN 

23 website and shared with relevant committees of Con24 gress, which includes— 


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1 (A) the technological considerations of the 

2 SRDN platform described in subsection (b)(2); 

3 (B) recommendations for future SRDN 

4 projects; 

5 (C) a summary of all the SRDN projects 

6 undertaken, including their results, details of 

7 the data sources used, and analysis of their dis8 parate impacts on subgroups; 

9 (D) a description of how project results are 

10 relevant to Federal agency evidence-building 

11 plans and policy-relevant questions, as required 

12 under section 312 of title 5, United States 

13 Code; 

14 (E) lessons learned by the data quality 

15 service team, operated pursuant to subsection 

16 (e)(1), from working with reporting entity 

17 stakeholders to prepare their data for the 

18 SRDN platform described in subsection (b)(2); 

19 (F) recommendations for a permanent pro20 gram that would be called the Secure Research 

21 Data Network, including needs for additional 

22 capacity, functionality, and funding related to 

23 providing a secure privacy preserving statistical 

24 platform; and 


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1 (G) consideration of relevant recommenda2 tions from the Office of Management and 

3 Budget Advisory Committee on Data for Evi4 dence-Building. 

5 (2) GAO EVALUATION.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon publication of the 

7 report under paragraph (1), the Comptroller 

8 General of the United States shall conduct an 

9 evaluation of the SRDN pilot program, which 

10 shall include— 

11 (i) a recommendation for a potential 

12 permanent SRDN program; 

13 (ii) a technical review of the SRDN 

14 pilot program’s ability to protect individual 

15 identity from disclosure and recommenda16 tions for how a future permanent SRDN 

17 program should be constructed in order to 

18 provide a secure privacy preserving statis19 tical platform; 

20 (iii) an analysis of the adequacy of al21 lotted resources, issues with the solicitation 

22 of projects and public comment, and any 

23 issues faced in facilitating the collaboration 

24 of reporting entities involved in approved 

25 projects; and 


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1 (iv) a review of, and recommendations 

2 for, how a permanent SRDN program will 

3 comply with relevant privacy statutes. 

4 (j) REQUIREMENTS.—The agreement entered into 

5 under subsection (a) shall— 

6 (1) be competitively awarded; 

7 (2) last not more than 5 years; 

8 (3) ensure any entity designated to operate the 

9 SRDN shall— 

10 (A) coordinate with the Statistical Official 

11 of the National Science Foundation, as part of 

12 the Statistical Official’s role as an agent of the 

13 National Center for Science and Engineering 

14 Statistics and a member of the Interagency 

15 Council on Statistical Policy, in accordance with 

16 section 314(b) of title 5, United States Code, 

17 and section 3504(e)(8) of title 44, United 

18 States Code; and 

19 (B) comply with applicable requirements 

20 provided in section 552a of title 5, United 

21 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy 

22 Act of 1974’’) and subchapter III of chapter 35 

23 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 

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1 tion and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018’’); 

2 and 

3 (4) if practicable, establish the pilot program as 

4 a Federally funded research and development center. 

5 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 $100,000,000. 

Æ 


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