NISTIRxxxx

Eighteenth Annual Report on Federal

Agency Use of Voluntary Consensus

Standards and Conformity Assessment

Nathalie Rioux

Standard Coordination Office

Standards Services

This publication is available free of charge from:

http:// dx.doi.org/xxxx/N1ST .IRxxxx

May 2015

U.S. Department of Commerce

Penny Pritzker, Secretary

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Willie E. May, Under Secretary o/Commerce/or Standards and Technology and Director
Eighteenth Annual Report on Federal Agency Use of Voluntary

Consensus Standards and Conformity Assessment

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) presents this summary report to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with OMB Circular A-119 and Public Law

104-113, the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA). As required by

Section 9 of the Circular, this report, prepared by the National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST), describes activities related to the use of voluntary consensus standards

(VCS) reported by 24 Federal agencies during fiscal year (FY) 2014. These Federal agencies,

listed in Appendix A, fulfilled the reporting requirements of both the OMB Circular A-119 and

Section 12 (d) (3) of the NTT AA by providing information on their activities related to the use of

voluntary consensus standards in regulation and procurement.

agenCies

commented on the

effectiveness of

Circular A-119

policy in sustaining

the commitment of

the U.S. government

to the activities of

the private-sectorled VCS system.

400

-100

1400

2400

gOO

1900

2014

3385

3182

-+- # of staff partfdpatIl1Q

2012 2013

3085

rr~:4W# of stl!lndllrd5 bodies

2010 2011

# standards

bodies

In FY 2014, no agencies reported issuing a new government unique standard (GUS) in lieu of

VCS. One GUS was discontinued, resulting in a total of 52 GUSs used in lieu ofVCS on record

since reporting began in 1997. As noted in Appendix A, Federal agencies reported 221 new uses

ofVCS, up from the 206 new uses reported in FY 2013. The Department of Energy (DOE)

accounts for the majority (53 %) of the reported new uses, with the Department of Homeland

Security (DHS) next at 20 %. Federal agencies reported substituting 11 VCS for GUSs. As

illustrated by Figure 1, agencies reported 3,385 personnel participating in 536 standards

Figure 1 Federal Agency Participation in organizations,

Private-Sector Standards Bodies # staff representing a slight paTtlclpatlng

increase from the 3900 previous fiscal year.

3400 In this reporting

2900 cycle, 12 of the

580

570

550

540

530

560

520

510

500

490

480

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Several trends over the past 18 years indicate the effectiveness ofthe NTTAA and Circular

A-119 in encouraging a heightened awareness and acceptance of private-sector standards by

Federal agencies:

I. continued adoption ofVCS;

2. sustained review of opportunities to replace existing GUSs with VCS;

3. enhanced participation in the VCS development process;

4. minimized development of new GUSs in lieu ofVCS.

These trends suggest that Federal agencies are more apt to consider using standards developed by

the private sector to meet their regulatory and procurement needs.

Summary

This report fulfills the annual reporting requirements of both the NTTAA and OMB Circular

A-119. Since the inception of this report over 18 years ago, Federal agencies report an overall

low use of GUSs (52) in lieu of existing VCS. This reflects the success of the NTT AA in

encouraging agencies to use VCS in lieu of GUSs and to engage with the private-sector

standards system to address govermnent needs.

In accordance to its coordination role as defined in the NTTAA and OMB A-119, the National

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continues to assist Federal agencies and their

stakeholders with standards and conformity assessment information, program support, guidance,

and policy concerns. NIST hosts http://standards.gov, offering ongoing practical guidance, tools

such as the searchable Standards Incorporated by Reference database, and information needed by

agencies to implement the NTTAA successfully as well as a means to report standards activities

as required by the NTTAA and OMB Circular A-119. Agency individual reports may be found

at https://standards.govINTTAN agency/index.dm ?fuseaction=agencyReports.main.

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Appendix A: FY2014 Federal Agency Information on Participation/Adoption of

Voluntary Consensus Standards Activities per OMB Circular A-119

Agency *** GUS used in VCS NewVCS Employee VCS bodies

lieu ofVCS substituted used this participation in with agency

for GUS year VCS bodies participation

USDA 1 0 1 22 26

DOC 0 0 0 577 135

DoD * 11 18 nla 91

DOE 0 0 117 427 107

ED 0 0 0 24 4

HHS 1 0 4 1220 159

DHS 0 0 45 91 35

HUD 2 0 0 9 8

DOl 0 0 0 166 87

DOJ 0 0 8 82 15

DOL 13 0 0 65 22

DOT 4 0 8 98 47

TRES 0 O. 0 1 14

EPA 23 0 0 150 14

GSA 3 0 9 10 19

NARA 0 0 0 16 9

NASA * 0 0 149 25

CPSC 2 0 5 38 10

FCC 0 0 0 28 13

FTC 0 0 0 0 0

NRC 2 0 6 192 16

GPO 0 0 0 9 5

ACCESS 1 0 0 7 12

NSF 0 0 0 4 1

Totals

52 11 221 3,385 **

* A!!encies reportin!! on a cate!!orical basis per OMB Circular A-119, Section 12.

** Total not provided a VCS bodv mav have DarticiDation from more than one federal a!!encv.

*** Access Board (ACCESS); Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC}; Department of Agriculture (USDA); Department of Commerce

(DOC); Department of Defense (000); Department of Education (ED); Department of Energy (DOE); Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS); Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Department of Justice (DOJ);

Departmentof Labor(DOL);Departmentofthe Interior(DOl);Departmentofthe Treasury(TRES);DepartmentofTransportation(DOT);

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Federal Trade Commission (FTC); General Services

Administration (GSA); Government Publishing Office (GPO); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Archives and

Records Administration (NARA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

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