Department of Commerce (DOC) Fiscal Year 2021 Agency Report

1. Please provide a summary of your agency’s activities undertaken to carry out the 

provisions of OMB Circular A-119, “Federal Participation in the Development and Use of 

Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities” and the National 

Technology Transfer and Advance Act (NTTAA). The summary should contain a link to the 

agency’s standards-specific website(s) where information about your agency’s standards and 

conformity assessment related activities are available.

The mission of the DOC is to create the conditions for economic growth, jobs creation, and 

opportunity within the US by ensuring fair trade nationally and internationally, providing the 

data necessary to support commerce and constitutional democracy, and fostering innovation 

by setting standards and conducting foundational research and development. Together with

other bureaus of DOC, the five listed in this report support the strategic goals of accelerating US 

leadership, enhancing job creation, strengthening US economic and national security, fulfilling 

constitutional requirements, and delivering excellent customer service. The following report 

compiles information about how these organizations used their engagement in voluntary 

consensus standards and conformity assessment activities during FY2021 to support these 

critical mission areas. 

The US Census Bureau (Census Bureau) 

The US Census Bureau (Census Bureau) completed the 2020 Census, delivering the small area 

geography and “basic tabulations of population” to each state as required by P.L. 94-171. 

Voluntary consensus standards from organizations such as the International Organization for 

Standardization (ISO), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Open Geospatial 

Consortium (OGC), and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) were applied in the 

Census Bureau’s statistical surveys, economic analysis, and geographic programs. The collection 

and analysis of data for geographic programs continues with programs such as:

• The Census Bureau’s 2020 urban-rural classification is a delineation of geographic areas, 

identifying both individual urban areas and the rural areas of the nation. The Census 

Bureau’s urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, 

commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. The Census Bureau delineates 

urban areas after each decennial census by applying specified criteria to decennial 

census and other data. “Rural” encompasses all population, housing, and territory not 

included within an urban area.

• The 2020 Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMA) which occurs every ten years after the 

decennial census publishes the population count to allow State Data Centers from each 

state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to delineate PUMAs using specific 

standards and criteria (specifically using the census population counts and updated 

census tracts from the 2020 Census). Participation is voluntary and allows a 90-day 

review period for State Data Centers to delineate, review, and submit their PUMAs.
The Census Bureau led the development of ISO 19160-3, Addressing – Part 3: Quality 

management for address data and is actively involved in the development of ISO 19160-2, 

Addressing - Part 2: Assigning and maintaining addresses for objects in the physical world (see 

item 4 below). These standards and programs, in addition to ongoing research and innovation 

activities, were designed to improve public access, discoverability, integration, and data 

sharing, and to support the open government initiative and the provisions of OMB Circular 

A-016 <https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Circular-016.pdf>.

In 2021, the following activities exemplified the Census Bureau’s application of VCS. 

1. The Census Bureau applied the International Committee for Information Technology 

Standards (INCITS) data standards in their contribution to the National Spatial Data 

Infrastructure (NSDI). Census Bureau staff continued participation in FGDC’s Geospacial 

Data Act of 2018 (GDA) Covered Agency Report and GDA Lead Covered Agency report 

surveys as a requirement of the GDA to provide information on their use of the ISO

standards for all geospatial data, including 34 National Geospatial Data Assets (NGDAs). 

2. The Census Bureau’s NGDA datasets represent a federal portfolio of geospatial datasets 

derived from the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) 

System. The Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line shapefiles for these NGDAs are accessible by 

the general public and discoverable on Census.gov, the Federal Geographic Data 

Committee’s Geospatial Platform, and Data.gov. 

3. The Census Bureau submitted responses, to the FGDC, for the NGDA Baseline Standards 

Inventory Survey in October 2020 and has renewed licensed subscriptions to the 

following voluntary consensus standards through ANSI:

INCITS 31-2009 (R2019) Information Technology - Codes for the Identification of 

Counties and Equivalent Areas of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Insular Areas.

INCITS 38-2009 (R2019) Information Technology - Codes for the Identification of the 

States and Equivalent Areas within the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Insular Areas.

INCITS 446-2008 (R2018) Information Technology - Identifying Attributes for Named 

Physical and Cultural Geographic Features (Except Roads and Highways) of the United 

States, Territories, Outlying Areas, and Freely Associated Areas, and the Waters of the 

Same to the Limit of the Twelve-Mile Statutory Zone.

INCITS 454-2009 (R2019) Information Technology - Codes for the Identification of 

Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Related Statistical Areas of the 

United States and Puerto Rico.

INCITS 455-2009 (R2019) Information Technology - Codes for the Identification of 

Congressional Districts and Equivalent Areas of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the 

Insular Areas.
INCITS/ISO 19110:2016 (2018) Geographic information - Methodology for feature 

cataloguing.

INCITS/ISO 19111:2007 [R2012] Geographic information - Spatial referencing by 

coordinates.

INCITS/ISO 19115-1:2014 (R2019) Geographic information - Metadata- Part 1: 

Fundamentals.

INCITS/ISO 19115-2:2019 (2019) Geographic information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions 

for acquisition and processing.

INCITS/ISO TS 19139:2007 [2015] Geographic information - Metadata XML schema 

implementation.

INCITS/ISO/TS 19139-2:2012 (2017) Geographic information - Metadata XML schema 

implementation - Part 2: Extensions for imagery and gridded data. 

INCITS/ISO 19157:2013 (R2019) Geographic information - Data Quality.

INCITS/ISO 19115-2003 Geographic information - Metadata.

INCITS 453-2009 [R2014] Information Technology - North American Profile of ISO 

19115:2003 - Geographic Information - Metadata (NAP - Metadata).

INCITS/ISO/TS 19115-3:2016 (2017) Geographic information – Metadata – Part 3: SML 

Schema Implementation for Fundamental Concepts.

4. To support 2020 Census operations, the Census Bureau developed various web mapping 

applications using open web service formats including GeoServices Representational 

State Transfer (REST) Specification services and OGC’s OpenGIS Web Map Service 

(WMS). These applications allowed users to interact with Census Bureau data in many 

ways including but not limited to selecting features and viewing their attributes, 

searching for features by name or geocode, and identifying features by selecting them 

from a map. The underlying services were exposed to allow other web developers to use 

the Census Bureau’s authoritative data in their own maps, too. A list of the web 

mapping applications is below:

• TIGERweb is a web-based mapping tool developed to allow users to visualize 

geospatial data derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Master Address File 

(MAF)/TIGER database (MTDB) without geographic information system (GIS) 

software and without downloading TIGER data. It provides a simple way to select 

and view features and their attributes, to search for features by name or geocode, 

and to identify features by selecting them from an on-screen map. The spatial data 

within TIGERweb covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

of Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas. TIGERweb includes attribute information from 
the Decennial Census, Economic Census, and the American Community Survey (ACS). 

The Census Bureau exposes TIGERweb's GeoServices REST Specification services and 

OGC’s OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS), which allows developers to integrate them 

into their own GIS or custom web-based applications. 

• Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM) was developed to make it easier to identify 

hard-to-survey areas through the analysis of socioeconomic and demographic 

characteristic profiles of these areas using ACS estimates available in the Census 

Bureau’s Planning Database. Learning about each hard-to-survey area allowed the 

Census Bureau to create a tailored communication and partnership campaign, and 

to plan for field resources including hiring staff with language skills specific to the 

local area. These and other efforts improved response rates. The Census Bureau 

exposes ROAM’s GeoServices REST Specification services to allow for developers to 

integrate them into their own GIS or custom web-based applications.

5. The Census Bureau is now actively involved in the development of ISO 19160-2, 

Addressing - Part 2: Assigning and maintaining addresses for objects in the physical 

world. This standard specifies how to plan, implement, and maintain addresses and 

corresponding address data to gain maximum benefits for governance and society. 

While the Census Bureau does not assign addresses within local communities, it has 

extensive experience in national address data management, and understanding of the 

principles and requirements necessary to create an address maintenance system. This 

standard will be valuable to stakeholders embarking on new addressing systems (e.g., 

developing countries, communities planning or considering a re-addressing initiative) as 

well as those that want to enhance their existing systems. Through participation in the 

development of ISO 19160-2, the Census Bureau gains valuable knowledge about how 

other nations maintain their data. This project also has the potential to help the Census 

Bureau’s partners improve their address assignment and maintenance systems, which in 

turn will benefit the Census Bureau and other federal agencies seeking to obtain 

current, complete, and accurate address data.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) 

ITA strengthens the competitiveness of US industry, promotes trade and investment, and 

ensures fair trade through the support of rigorous enforcement of US trade laws and 

agreements. Through its participation on US delegations addressing global standards 

development and trade-related standards issues, ITA works to improve the global business 

environment and helps US organizations compete at home and abroad. Information on ITA’s 

work on standards can be found at: https://www.trade.gov/about-us/office-standards-andintellectual-property. 

In FY2021, ITA participated in a variety of trade-related international standards activities 

including standards development along with engaging in policy dialogues and capacity building 
efforts. ITA experts participated in the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO/TC293, Feed 

Machinery to support US industry’s engagement through ITA’s Market Development 

Cooperator Program (MDCP). ITA representatives also joined the virtual TAG for the recently 

formed ISO Special Advisory Group on Smart Farming (SAG SF), tasked with developing a gap 

analysis and standardization road map for smart farming applications. 

ITA regularly notifies relevant US stakeholders about opportunities to participate in new 

standards development activities that might have trade implications with the aim of preventing 

future market access issues for US exporters. In FY2021 ITA also worked with the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Telecommunications and 

Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of State to publish a monthly 

newsletter highlighting international standards development activities in critical and emerging 

areas where US engagement could benefit commercial goals.

ITA participates in the ANSI Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standards Collaborative. An ITA 

specialist continues to participate in the Smart Textiles Subcommittee of ASTM International

(ASTM) Committee D13 on Textiles and a staff member of the Commercial Section in the US 

Embassy in Mexico City participates in the monthly sessions of Mexico’s National Textile 

Standards Committee to monitor standards that could impact US textiles and apparel 

exporters. 

In FY2021 ITA was represented on interagency teams addressing standards policy and 

development in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Health 

Organization (WHO), and in Codex Alimentarius. ITA worked on standards capacity building in 

the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and the Association of Southeast Asian 

Nations (ASEAN) in areas including food safety, medical devices, cybersecurity, electric vehicles, 

wine, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, and conformity assessment. ITA has joined 

inter-agency efforts led by the Department of State to shape 5G and telecommunications 

standardization taking place at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), including 

preparations for the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA).

ITA engaged on standards issues with the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and 

Quality, including organizing workshops, additive manufacturing (3D printing), and digital trade 

standards – particularly those related to cybersecurity and promoting digital trust - and work on 

standards for critical and emerging technologies through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue 

(Quad) with Australia, India, and Japan, including on AI and advanced communications. ITA also 

supported standards engagement under the Pan-American Standards Commission (COPANT).

Bilateral engagement on standards issues was ongoing with various trading partners including 

through the US-Brazil Commercial Dialogue, the US-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, 

the US-EU Executive Working Group, and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), 

among others. ITA maintained Standards Attaches in Beijing, Brussels, Jakarta, Johannesburg, 

Mexico City, and Sao Paulo. 
ITA is a part of the US delegation headed by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to 

the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) that 

addresses specific standards-related trade concerns. ITA in coordination with USTR, pursued 

standards-related trade concerns on the floor of the WTO TBT Committee against several

countries in FY2021. During FY2021, ITA also participated as part of the US Government’s 

delegation for trade agreement negotiations with the United Kingdom, specifically the TBT, 

Good Regulatory Practices (GRP), and Sectoral chapter negotiations. ITA regularly works with 

US industry to address issues of non-compliance with trade agreement commitments found in 

the WTO TBT Agreement and respective Free Trade Agreement (FTA) TBT chapters. 

Finally, ITA co-manages the Industry Technical Advisory Committee on Standards and Technical 

Trade Barriers (ITAC 14) with the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) which provides 

input to the Secretary of Commerce and USTR on standards-related policy matters.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

NIST’s mission is to promote US innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing 

measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and 

improve the quality of life. As specified in the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 

Act (NTTAA), in authorizing legislation, and in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

Circular A-119, NIST, through its Standards Coordination Office (SCO), assists and guides federal 

agencies in leveraging voluntary consensus standards and private sector conformity assessment 

mechanisms in their programs, procurement, and regulatory activities. SCO chairs the 

Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP) and works closely with federal agencies to 

reduce unnecessary duplication and complexity in standards and conformity assessment 

practices. SCO provides consultation and advice to other Federal agencies in implementing 

conformity assessment programs, and holds leadership roles in ANSI governance, policy, and 

program oversight committees. SCO also hosts www.Standards.gov to serve as a standards and 

conformity assessment related resource for Federal agencies, industry, and the public. 

During FY2021, NIST played leadership roles in the areas of advanced communications, Artificial 

Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and quantum computing, and developed a guidance document 

on using inclusive language in standards for NIST staff. An estimated 570 NIST staff members 

participated in just under 3,500 committee activities across 327 standards developing 

organizations.

Advanced Communications

NIST leads the government-wide Advanced Communications Technologies Working Group 

(ACTWG) chartered under the ICSP to facilitate coordination of Federal agency advanced 

communications technologies (ACT) standards activities. The working group meets monthly and 

has been gathering information through presentations by participating agencies.
In addition, over 50 people across NIST come together as part of an all-of-government approach 

to wireless standards and contribute to global standards and specification development 

organizations such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Institute of Electrical and 

Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), International 

Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), Alliance for 

Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and International Organization for 

Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission Joint Technical Committee 1 

(ISO/IEC JTC1). 

Working through public-private partnerships such as the NIST-led Next G Channel Model 

Alliance and the National Science Foundation (NSF)-led Resilient Intelligent Next Generation 

Systems Program, NIST experts work with Industry and the research community to provide 

communication measurements, methods, and tools to enable the rapid development and 

deployment of Next G standards and technologies. NIST’s decades of standards-setting 

leadership reflects its continued commitment to wireless research and development and 

public-private partnerships.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence 

(ML/AI) Subcommittee established the role of the US Government AI Standards Coordinator 

with responsibility to gather and share AI standards-related needs, strategies, roadmaps, 

terminology, use cases, and best practices in support of reliable, robust, and trustworthy AI in 

government operations, including: 

— planned and ongoing standards approaches and engagement activities, including a robust 

feedback loop with Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs); 

— specific horizontal or vertical areas for prioritization; 

— requirements for input into proposed standards activities; and 

— analyses of whether ongoing standards activities meet Federal Government needs and 

whether additional guidance is appropriate. 

• The Subcommittee selected the Chief of Staff of the NIST Information Technology 

Laboratory to fulfill the role of US Government AI Standards Coordinator. 

• As part of the U.S. Government AI Standards Coordinator responsibilities, the AI 

Standards Coordination Working Group (AISCWG) was established in April 2021, to 

facilitate coordination of government agency activities related to development and use 

of AI standards. The group operates under the charter of the ICSP. Participants include 

representatives across federal agencies with expertise and/or an agency stake in the 

development and implementation of AI standards. The AISCWG is responsible for 
assisting the ICSP in promoting effective and consistent federal policies leveraging AI 

standards cited in the AI Standards Plan. 

The AISCWG raises awareness of federal agencies’ standards needs based on their use 

of AI; fosters agency interest and participation in AI standards activities; fosters 

coordination of US Government positions regarding draft standards, standards work 

items, and other standards activities based on consensus processes; and establishes 

effective means of coordinating AI international standards activities with those of the 

private sector. 

Delivering the needed measurements, standards, and other tools is a primary focus for NIST’s AI 

efforts, and much of its work focuses on aspects of trustworthiness. Over the past two years, 

NIST has expanded and made noteworthy progress in carrying out research specifically 

addressing standards-oriented research. It has selected priority topics and activities based on 

its statutory mandates and the needs expressed by US industry, other federal agencies, and the 

global AI research community. Among other things, NIST recently: 

• Initiated research efforts in explainable and interpretable AI, bias in AI, secure AI, 

user trust in AI, and evaluation of AI. 

• Developed a series of reports on aspects of AI trustworthiness, including: A Method 

for Evaluating User Trust in AI Systems; A Taxonomy and Terminology of Adversarial 

Machine Learning; Psychological Foundations of Explainability and Interpretability in 

AI; and A Proposal for Identifying and Managing Bias in AI. 

• Organized a series of ongoing workshops to build communities and advance 

scientific discussions, beginning with a series kickoff and consisting of one-, two-day, 

and multi-week sessions involving working sessions aiming to forge agreement on 

key terms and aspects of trustworthiness that can be incorporated into the 

development of standards. 

• Organized a joint workshop with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on AI for Drug Development in 

August 2021. 

Cybersecurity

NIST develops cybersecurity standards, guidelines, best practices, and other resources to meet 

the needs of US industry, federal agencies and the broader public. In FY2021, NIST staff actively 

participated in VCS committees addressing cybersecurity risk management and measurement, 

identity and access management, the Internet of Things, and privacy. NIST continued its effort 

to evaluate candidates for standardization of one or more quantum-resistant cryptographic 

algorithms.

Quantum Computing
NIST participates in and chairs INCITS/Quantum Computing committee serving as the US TAG to 

ISO/IEC JTC 1/WG14 Information technology - Quantum computing. This committee serves as a 

focus of and proponent for JTC 1’s standardization program on Quantum Computing by 

identifying gaps and opportunities in Quantum Computing standardization and developing 

deliverables in the area of quantum computing. The TC maintains relationships with other 

relevant SDOs, and other entities involved in QC standardization. The main focus of both the 

US TAG and JTC 1/WG14 is on its first developing deliverable, ISO/WD 4879 Quantum 

computing – Terminology and vocabulary. This document is developing the language that will 

be used among quantum computing professionals as products come into fruition. NIST has 

acted to ensure a strong and balanced US industry input by working with US industry 

organizations such as the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) to solicit 

feedback and has also been added to the international editorial team that manages the written 

content. A second document, ISO/TR Information technology – Introduction to quantum 

computing, has been posted with an updated outline.

Inclusivity Language in Standards

NIST published a Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary 

Standards (NISTIR 8366) for the benefit of NIST staff experts who participate in the 

development of documentary standards as expert collaborators and leaders. The publication 

provides guidance on how to reduce bias in terminology used in standards development. 

National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration (NOAA)

Standardization of data acquisition and data management practices are vital to NOAA’s mission 

and the effective sharing of its data for use by the public, industry, and academia. NOAA seeks 

to establish voluntary standards with selected industrial associations, academia, and national 

organizations of state and local governments (e.g., the American Association of State 

Climatologists), as well as through participation in professional societies (e.g., American 

Meteorological Society) and SDOs (e.g., Open Geospatial Consortium). All NOAA line 

organizations participate in standards development activities, which are typically coordinated 

through NOAA’s Environmental Data Management Committee (EDMC). NOAA also participates 

in the Commerce Data Governance Board (established in September 2019) and subsequent 

Commerce Geospatial Standards Users Group (established in May 2020). 

In general, standards used in many NOAA activities are established in conjunction with other 

Federal agencies either through joint participation in national (e.g., FGDC) and international 

(e.g., United Nations committee of experts on Global Geospatial Information Management) 

organizations or by means of bilateral and multilateral agreements with other nations. The 

recent implementation of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA)) and the Digital Accountability 

and Transparency Act (DATA Act) bring NOAA activities into sharper focus regarding standards 

within the FGDC. Likewise, the adoption by the US of the UN Global Geodetic Reference Frame 
(UN GGRF) has affirmed US commitment to international standards. These standardization 

activities apply to all phases of environmental data acquisition, processing, and distribution.

● NOAA has created and is developing an implementation for the NOAA Data Strategy, its 

first-ever NOAA Data Strategy and Implementation Plan. The purpose of the NOAA Data 

Strategy is to dramatically accelerate the use of data across the Agency and with other 

key partners, maximize openness and transparency, deliver on mission, and steward 

resources while protecting quality, integrity, security, privacy, and confidentiality. The 

overall strategy is designed to serve as a framework for consistency that builds upon 

existing laws and regulations related to how NOAA uses and manages data, while being 

flexible and adaptable to external influences such as new policies, Executive Orders, 

stakeholder input, and new technologies that drive innovation within the Agency.

 

● NOAA is updating its data governance approach through the creation of the new NOAA 

Data Governance Committee and the establishment of NOAA Line Office Assistant Chief 

Data Officers. The NOAA Data Governance Committee (DGC) coordinates the 

implementation of the NOAA Data Strategy, including oversight of policies that ensure 

NOAA data assets are strategically and efficiently managed on behalf of the NOAA 

enterprise. A series of DGC Working Groups and Task Teams will be established under 

the DGC to include Metadata, Data Catalogs, Data Licensing, and Data Innovation.

● The Big Data Program (BDP) is an enterprise service that eliminates friction and provides 

public access to NOAA’s open data via the cloud partner’s platforms and outside the 

NOAA FISMA boundary. Ten-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quality (IDIQ) contracts 

with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft ensure public access to NOAA data with no egress 

charges incurred for the user or the agency. These partners and NOAA have also begun 

to transform data from environmental data standards (e.g., netcdf4) to more generalized 

and cloud-optimized standards (e.g., Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF) of interest to the wider 

data science community. As of Q4 FY21, the BDP disseminated more than 220 datasets, 

equaling over 14 petabytes of data, including atmospheric, satellite, oceanic, fisheries, 

climate data and much more through the BDP public-private partnerships. The BDP also 

works with the cloud partners to understand users’ needs, based on interactions and 

communications, and is developing an approach that also incorporates other DoC data, 

to address specific climatic and societal challenges. 

● NOAA shares thousands of its datasets through the Environmental Research Division Data 

Access Program (ERDDAP) service 

(https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/index.html) and the Weather and Climate 

Toolkit https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wct/) which allows for the delivery and translation 
of data among multiple formats. NOAA data providers use the open-standard Data 

Access Protocol v2.0 to support interoperable data access.

● In October 2019, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) published a framework for 

defining and maintaining the State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 (SPCS2022). This 

standards framework is key to guide the transition from the North American Datum of 

1983 (NAD 83) to the 2022 Terrestrial Reference Frames (TRFs). SPCS2022 will replace 

SPCS 83 (NAD 83). NGS recognizes that there is significant interest within the geospatial 

community as to how SPCS2022 is defined, and many wish to have a voice in the 

development of SPCS2022. As this framework also specifies the characteristics and 

requirements for SPCS2022, the intent is to define SPCS2022 such that it is a technically 

sound and practical projected coordinate system for the modernized National Spatial 

Reference System (NSRS).

● NOAA and Census co-lead the planning and implementation of all requirements under the 

Geospatial Data Act (GDA) of 2018. Key examples of progress include: the creation of a 

Commerce Geospatial Strategy and Implementation Plan; chartering and leading the 

Commerce Geospatial Working Group, Commerce Standards Users Group, and 

Commerce Imagery Users Group; successfully submitting all required GDA reports 

including the annual Commerce Covered Agency and 6 Geospatial Theme reports; and 

participating in bi-annual audits of Commerce’s performance under the GDA. All of these 

efforts include strategic and tactical direction to Commerce bureaus to adopt data 

standards in the execution of their missions. 

● NOAA published the NOAA Data Strategy and is in final review of the NOAA Data Strategic 

Action Plan as of March 2022. The purpose of the NOAA Data Strategy is to dramatically 

accelerate the use of data across the agency and with other key partners, maximize 

openness and transparency, deliver on mission, and steward resources while protecting 

quality, integrity, security, privacy, and confidentiality. The overall strategy is designed to 

serve as a framework for consistency that builds upon existing laws and regulations 

related to how NOAA uses and manages data, while being flexible and adaptable to 

external influences such as new policies, Executive Orders, stakeholder input, and new 

technologies that drive innovation within the agency. The strategic action plan serves as 

a roadmap for implementation of the NOAA Data Strategy. This action plan will establish 

a modernized and unified NOAA data enterprise in support of the missions across NOAA, 

including close coordination with the NOAA science and technology focus areas.

● NOAA has expanded its use of the international OpenSearch standard and schema.org 
community metadata standards to support data discovery. These standard metadata 

have continued to be utilized by Google in their free-text DataSetSearch capability 

(https://toolbox.google.com/datasetsearch) which has now become a regular Google 

service. NOAA has continued to provide feedback to Google on the rankings of NOAA 

datasets.

● NOAA's newest satellites all use the open-standard Network Common Data Form 

(NetCDF-4) format rather than an agency-developed data format. NOAA has supported 

the collaborative development and is currently using standards for NetCDF-4 profile to 

handle in situ data from stationary and moving sensors. NOAA promotes the use of ISO19115-2 metadata standards and encourages use of Climate and Forecast Conventions 

(CF) and Attribute Conventions for Dataset Discovery (ACDD) community standards for 

naming conventions in NetCDF file production for satellite data. NOAA's National Centers 

for Environmental Information (NCEI) has defined multiple NetCDF templates to guide 

those submitting data to NCEI in the NetCDF data format. Use of NetCDF and these 

templates reduces the data analysis overhead as many scientific data analysis 

applications readily support the NetCDF data format.

● NOAA uses the ISO 19115: “Geographic information – Metadata” family of geospatial 

metadata standards and participates in US representation in ISO TC211 Geographic 

information/Geomatics, with Census Bureau serving as the lead for DOC. NOAA 

continues its gradual transition to the newest version of ISO 19115.

● NOAA uses ISO 26324: “Information and documentation -- Digital object identifier 

system” to assign unique, resolvable, and persistent identifiers to archival datasets and 

technical reports.

● NOAA National Weather Service meteorological data and reports comply with World 

Meteorological Organization (WMO) Standards. NOAA serves as one of the WMO 

Information System (WIS) Global Information System Centres (GISC) and provides a 

portal to search all WMO Region IV data center metadata.

● Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form 

of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. NOAA has adopted 

the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Lidar Exchange 

Format (LAS) standard format for lidar data and the open-source LAZ (laszip.org) for the 

compression of lidar data. 
● NOAA/US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) requires adherence to standards as a part of 

its core capabilities and supports development of those standards. IOOS contributes to the 

Attribute Convention for Data Discovery (ACDD) via Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), a 

broad-based, distributed community of data and information technology practitioners, and 

promulgating scientific metadata standards via https://ioos.github.io/ioos-metadata. IOOS also 

supports the development of Darwin Core and EML for biodiversity data and the development of 

ISO 19115 as the schema required for describing geographic information and services by means 

of metadata. IOOS Regional Associations must practice open data sharing via the Global Earth 

Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), use of ERDDAP and Thematic Real-Time Environmental 

Distributed Data Services (THREDDS) servers for data discovery and access, and provide 

metadata using relevant standards and the IOOS metadata profile – https://ioos.github.io/ioosmetadata/. The IOOS Catalog is the master inventory of IOOS Data Management and 

Communications (DMAC) datasets and data access services. Data providers are expected to 

register their datasets in the Catalog using standards given in 

https://ioos.noaa.gov/data/contribute-data/catalog-registration/. IOOS provides directions for 

setup and a gold standard ERDDAP at https://github.com/ioos/erddap-gold-standard. For full 

details in IOOS’ use of standards see https://ioos.noaa.gov/data/data-standards/ and 

https://ioos.noaa.gov/data/data-standards/data-publishing/. IOOS also coordinates efforts to 

establish authoritative QA/QC procedures for the U.S. IOOS core variables, as necessary, 

including detailed information about the sensors and procedures used to measure the variables 

via Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Real-Time Oceanographic Data (QARTOD).

● NOAA remained a Principal Member of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and 

various data providers have adopted key OGC standards, including the Catalog Service 

for Web (CS/W), Web Map Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Feature 

Service (WFS), and Sensor Observation Service (SOS). NOAA participates in OGC Working 

Groups to help evolve the suite of voluntary-consensus standards.

● NOAA uses GitHub to allow the standardization of NOAA code sharing with the scientific 

and data communities.

● NOAA has submitted data to NIH’s Genbank, following established standards. GenBank is 

part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, which comprises 

the DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ), the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), and 

GenBank at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) 

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/).

● NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (OCS) and the Center for Operational Oceanographic 

Products and Services (CO-OPS) represent the US in the International Hydrographic 

Organization (IHO) and on several regional hydrographic commissions. OCS surveys and 

nautical charts are produced to IHO standards that ensure consistent nautical charts so 
that mariners can confidently use charts compiled by any member organization across 

the world. OCS engages heavily in the IHO working groups on standards for digital data 

formats, data display, and product authentication (https://iho.int/en/standards-andspecifications). CO-OPS adheres to IHO standards in providing water level and current 

information for the marine navigation community.

● NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services represents the US

on the Global Sea Level Observing System Group of Experts (GLOSS GE). This group 

establishes best practices and standards for the collection, processing, and dissemination 

of water level data for climate studies. CO-OPS transmits its long-term data sets to 

GLOSS data centers along with data from many of the world’s water level organizations 

so that the climate research community has access to high quality water level records in 

a standard format on a single database.

● NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) represents the US on the UN Committee of 

Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM)'s Subcommittee on 

Geodesy (UN SCoG). The Subcommittee is developing a Global Geodetic Reference 

Frame (GGRF) to provide a globally consistent approach to geodesy involving a common 

reference system, geodetic infrastructure, standards, and education/training. The UN 

GGRF was adopted by the US Government along with the governments of other nations. 

As such, the US Government has agreed to abide by these international standards - 

including the adoption of a modernized NSRS that is based on the International 

Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) and the International Height Reference System 

(IHRS). NGS is working to modernize and improve the US NSRS to do just that. A new 

geopotential datum and four terrestrial reference frames aligned with the UN GGRF are 

planned for release in 2022 and will replace the current vertical and horizontal datums. 

NGS also participates in the UN-GGIM:Americas regional committee to ensure that the 

updated NSRS is regionally consistent with the Sistema de Referencia Geocéntrico para 

Las Américas (SIRGAS) Reference System for the Americas, which is also based on the UN 

GGRF.

● NGS also represents the US on the ISO TC 211 on Geographic information/Geomatics. 

Definitional parameters for US reference frames, datums, and geoid models were loaded 

into the ISO Geodetic Registry (ISOGR), guided by ISO 19127/19135. The ISOGR is 

intended as a tool for GIS application developers and US Government Agencies to 

provide look-up tables to make reference frame transformations simpler and 

authoritative. ISO TC 211 also authored two standards: ISO 19111:2019 Geographic 

information — Referencing by coordinates and ISO 19161-1:2020 Geographic information 
— Geodetic references — Part 1: International terrestrial reference system (ITRS). The 

first updates datums and reference frames to account for time-varying movement (i.e., 

not just earthquakes - the whole frame moves). The second specifies adoption of the 

International Association of Geodesy's (IAG) International Terrestrial Reference System 

(ITRS), which is a component of the UN GGRF. NGS also participates in ISO TC 172 SC6 

Optics and photonics, Geodetic and surveying instruments on geodetic instrumentation 

standards to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained for equipment and usage 

of equipment to meet positional accuracy requirements desired in the NSRS. NGS also 

participates in the OGC as well as ISO to ensure US FGDC standards are consistent with - 

if not based on entirely - internationally accepted standards following the guidance of 

the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA). Additionally, NGS leads efforts in the 

International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) to implement these standards and hold 

appropriate training and education seminars to effect transfer of this knowledge.

● NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has defined multiple 

Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) templates to guide those submitting data to NCEI 

in the NetCDF data format. Use of NetCDF and these templates reduces the data analysis 

overhead as many scientific data analysis applications readily support the NetCDF data 

format.

● NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) uses the ISO 14721 Open 

Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model standard as the basis for archival 

activities supporting NOAA environmental data. In addition to being the foundation for 

on premise activities, it is being used as the guide for current development of a Cloud 

archive workflow.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) 

NTIA contributes to the development and application of national and international 

telecommunication standards by leading, participating in, and making technical contributions to 

various voluntary national and international telecommunication standards committees, such as 

the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R, 

ITU-T), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards Association, Radio 

Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), and Alliance for Telecommunications Industry 

Solutions (ATIS). In addition, NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA-ITS) 

founded and continues to play a significant role in the Video Quality Expert Group (VQEG), 

which performs technical validation that is a prerequisite to standardization. VQEG is currently 

focused on collaborative efforts to develop new and improved methods for subjective and 

objective video quality assessment. VQEG contributes these updated methods to the ITU, 
where ITU Recommendations are modified to accommodate rapid changes in video 

technologies.

In FY 2021, NTIA-ITS staff held 32 positions in seven standards bodies, including eight Chair/Cochair/Vice-chair positions. NTIA-ITS staff filled key leadership positions in the ITU-R, including 

Head of the U.S. Delegation to Study Group (SG) 3 (Radiowave Propagation), International Chair 

and U.S. Chair of SG3 Working Parties 3K and 3L (Point-to-area propagation and ionospheric 

propagation and radio noise), and U.S. Chair of Working Party 3J (Propagation fundamentals). 

NTIA-ITS staff also filled key leadership positions in the ITU-T, including Head of U.S. Delegation 

to Study Group 13 (Future Networks) and Study Group 11 (Signaling Requirements, Protocols 

and Test Specifications). NTIA-ITS also continued its technical leadership and contributions to 

communications standards for emerging 5G technologies through participation in 3GPP and in 

that capacity, and at the behest of the National Security Council, is responsible for driving 

collaboration between U.S. Departments/Agencies participating in 3GPP. Finally, NTIA-ITS 

provided technical leadership and contributions to IEEE standards for 

local/personal/metropolitan area networks (LAN/PAN/MAN) through participation in IEEE 802.

NTIA-ITS leads US efforts at the ITU-R Study Group 3 (SG3), the technical group that focuses 

exclusively on radio wave propagation. At SG3, NTIA-ITS contributes inputs and ensures the 

technical accuracy and correctness of international radio wave propagation standards. SG3 

Recommendations on radio wave propagation are treaty-level agreements and play a role in 

international agreements on spectrum allocations and sharing scenarios, such as the on-going 

discussions of 5G mid-band spectrum and mmWave spectrum. 

In FY 2021, NTIA-ITS contributed one of the 11 U.S. technical contributions to Study Group 3. 

NTIA-ITS proposed an update to Recommendation ITU-R P.528 (a propagation prediction 

method for aeronautical mobile and radionavigation services using the VHF, UHF and SHF 

bands) to support requests from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As a result 

of the NTIA-ITS contribution, ICAO will be able to use P.528 in their frequency management 

system. NTIA-ITS submitted an update to the previously proposed replacement software to 

support Recommendation ITU-R P.368 (Ground-wave propagation curves for frequencies 

between 10 kHz and 30 MHz), which is used to support broadcast services. NTIA-ITS chairs 

three Study Group 3 Correspondence Groups, which were active during the intersessional 

period. Correspondence Group CG-3K-3M-9 on aeronautical propagation produced and 

submitted to Working Part 3K a new revision to ITU-R P.528 (a propagation prediction method 

for aeronautical mobile radionavigation services using VHF, UHF and SHF bands). NTIA-ITS 

submitted multiple input contributions to this work, both theoretical text and software. This 

update supports WRC-23 sharing studies for possible new International Mobile 

Telecommunications (IMT) services. Correspondence Group CG-3L-7 on radio noise produced 

and submitted to Working Party 3L a new revision on ITU-R P.372 (radio noise). NTIA-ITS also 

submitted multiple input contributions to this new revision, including supporting software. 

Correspondence Group CG-3J-11 on reference standard atmospheres continues to work 

towards integrating updated weather prediction model data to improve atmospheric models 

for radio-wave propagation prediction methods.
NTIA’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) followed and/or provided inputs to various ITU-T 

Sector Study Groups, which consider “Recommendations” on such diverse subjects as M2M/IoT 

(Machine to Machine/Internet of Things) traffic, OTT (Over the Top), Distributed Ledger 

Technology (DLT), Revised Internet Network Architecture proposals (e.g., New IP, Polymorphic 

Networking), facial recognition, and Security by Design and Cybersecurity testing, and 

IoT/Smart Cities. In addition to these topics, OIA, with technical support from NTIA-ITS, has 

been participating heavily in ITU-T Study Groups 11 and 13 to counter regional adversary efforts 

to develop alternate Internet Protocol standards in the ITU rather than in more appropriate 

SDOs; NTIA-ITS led the U.S. delegation in those study groups. NTIA’s work in ITU-T focuses on 

industry-led, bottom-up, consensus-based standards and appropriately working with U.S. 

Government colleagues to help ensure the ITU-T avoids duplication of efforts with other 

standards development organizations such as 3GPP. NTIA-OIA also provides U.S. leadership in 

the ITU-T Telecommunications Specification Advisory Group (TSAG). Additionally, NTIA-OIA has 

also followed work in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Direct participation by NTIA in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the dominant 

cellular communications standards development organization, allows NTIA to advance U.S. 

commercial, economic, and government interests by providing technical input to promote 

strong unbiased standards that support fair competition in next generation/5G cellular 

technologies. NTIA-ITS attends 3GPP Working Groups for Services (SA1), System Architecture 

(SA2), and Security (SA3). Additionally, NTIA-ITS attends the Radio Access Network Working 

Group 1 (RAN1) focused on the physical layer for LTE and 5G. Additionally, NTIA-OIA 

participates in 3GPP at a Plenary level Technical Specification Group (TSG) SA and RAN.

In FY 2021, NTIA-ITS’s focus was on four topics in 3GPP: spectrum sharing, non-terrestrial 

network, unmanned aerial systems and vehicle-to-everything communications. With the aim of 

contributing to the standards, NTIA-ITS proposed a study item related to spectrum sharing 

among incumbent and commercial users in SA1 working group. 

NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management (NTIA-OSM) attends 3GPP Technical Specification 

Group Radio Access Networks Working Groups 1 (RAN 1) and 4 (RAN 4). NTIA-OSM’s goals are 

to: gain a more in-depth understanding of 3GPP standards and models used in compatibility 

studies; monitor 3GPP proposals that have a potential to impact federal operations; identify 

3GPP spectrum standards that could be adopted for federal systems; and verify that 3GPP 

standards are being properly used in domestic and international spectrum sharing studies. 

For a number of years, NTIA-ITS has provided technical guidance to other government agencies 

in advocating for standardization of service features specific to public safety, emergency 

communications, and transportation. A continued focus in FY 2021 was to ensure that NTIA and 

other interested agencies obtained a comprehensive understanding of the 3GPP New Radio (5G 

NR — the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks) capabilities, the services 5G NR 

was built to deliver, and deployment scenarios in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum for 

the evolution to 5G. NTIA’s overall goals also include monitoring regional adversary 
participation efforts to subvert the open consensus-based standards processes and developing 

and promulgating expertise in cutting edge mobile broadband technology trends.

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) contributes to the development of 

international standards for patent and trademark information and documentation primarily 

through participation of USPTO scientific and technical experts to the Committee on WIPO 

Standards (CWS) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The standards 

developed are used by the USPTO and other international intellectual property organizations 

around the world to harmonize intellectual property information practices. The standards 

harmonize practices regarding electronic data processing procedures with respect to filing, 

examination, and publication of intellectual property data. The standards facilitate the 

exchange, sharing, dissemination, access and retrieval of intellectual property data and 

documents. USPTO staff also participate in standardization activities of the International Patent 

Classification (IPC) Union. The IPC provides a hierarchical system for the classification of patents 

according to different areas of technology. The worldwide access to patent and trademark data 

and documents supports US industry and organizations’ knowledge of national and 

international intellectual property. https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patentsearch/understanding-patent-classifications/international. 

2. Please list the government-unique standards (GUS) your agency began using in lieu of 

voluntary consensus standards during FY 2020. Please note that GUS which are still in effect 

from previous years should continue to be listed, thus the total number in your agency's 

report will include all GUS currently in use (previous years and new as of this FY): 0