Department of the Interior (DOI) 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 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), pursuant to the Indian 

Affairs Manual, Part 20, Chapter 5 

https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/public/raca/manual/pdf/idc-021344.pdf, the IA-PMS is 

the system of record for reporting and analyzing data collected on Indian Affairs (IA) programs. The 

system consists of performance measures as defined by the 1993 Government Performance and Results 

Act (GPRA); measure definition templates to facilitate consistent reporting; and performance targets for 

monitoring overall program success. IA uses the IA-PMS to record quarterly and annual data on bureauspecific and strategic plan (SP) performance measures. Central Office programs, regions, and agencies 

are required to report on performance measures in a timely and accurate manner and are responsible 

for the validation and verification (V&V) of all data reported in the IA-PMS. The collection of GPRA 

performance information is a collaborative effort. The collection of timely, accurate, and appropriate 

performance information is essential to successful performance management of federal Indian and 

Alaska Native programs. Tribal governments or tribal organizations operating IA programs under grants, 

contracts or compacts authorized by the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, as 

amended (25 U.S.C. §450 et seq.) are required to comply with policies and procedures if required by 

statute or regulation.

The Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) formerly known as the Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians, manages the financial assets of American Indians held in trust by the Department 

of the Interior. The BTFA disburses more than $1 billion annually and has more than $5 billion under 

active day-to-day management and investment on behalf of Tribes and individuals. The BTFA manages 

the financial assets in accordance with applicable financial laws and regulations. BTFA also follows 

financial accounting standards such as those issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board 

(https://www.fasb.org/home) and auditing of financial statements occur in accordance with the 

Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office 

(https://www.gao.gov/yellowbook).

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Maintains metadata for spatial and geographic information 

according to the standards established by the FGDC. Bridge Assessments are inspected and reported 

according to the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration National Bridge 

Institutehttps://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/mtguide.pdf. Heritage resource surveys and reports 

submitted according to the State Historical Preservation Office data standards (State of Idaho example).
Sensitive species (plants and wildlife) observations are collected, maintained and reported according to 

the State Fish/Game/Wildlife data standard (See Idaho example). Water quality sampling data are 

collected, reported and maintained according to EPA standards. Timekeeping, financial, business, 

collections and billing (FBMS and CBS) data entry and management follows OPM data standards. 33 BLM 

specific data standards can be found here.

The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) leads and participates in standards activities across the enterprise. 

The following highlight standards involvement in various programs and geographic locations.

Our Technical Service Center (TSC) showcases its National Codes & Design Standards page 

(https://www.usbr.gov/tsc/techreferences/industrystandards-non_rec/nationalcodes-ds_non-rec.html

), illustrating how our design activities must be performed in accordance with established Reclamation 

design criteria and standards, and approved national design standards. National codes and design 

standards provide a consistency of standard practice across a wide variety of engineering disciplines. 

The adoption of national codes and standards reduces the effort to develop and maintain Reclamation 

standards. Reclamation designers use the most current edition of national codes and design standards 

consistent with Reclamation design standards. This list identifies primary national codes and design 

standards used by Reclamation designers but does not include all codes, standards, and guidelines that 

may be referenced by these documents. Reclamation design standards may include exceptions to 

requirements of national codes and design standards.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council 

(WECC) enforce standards necessary to maintain the reliability of the interconnected electric power grid 

which includes BOR facilities. BOR participates in the NERC and WECC committees and standard drafting 

teams to provide subject matter expertise and guide the development of the technical aspects of the 

NERC or WECC standards. BOR is required to maintain compliance with the standards; however, there 

are times when compliance with the standards is not congruent with the mandates placed on BOR. 

Participation in the development of the standards allows BOR to provide direct influence at the crucial 

times in the development of the standards to align the drafted requirements with the mandates thereby 

ensuring BOR's ability to maintain compliance and the reliability of BOR facilities. Our Hydropower 

standards program is described here: https://www.usbr.gov/power/data/fist_pub.html. 

Finally, Reclamation's Information Resources Office (IRO) programmatically adopts and uses voluntary 

consensus standards through its affiliation with various standards bodies. The energy standard for data 

centers (American National Standard 90.4) was initiated to promote energy efficient design of data 

centers, a rapidly expanding and energy-intensive category among buildings in the United States and 

worldwide. The IRO utilizes the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, which is 

a set of industry best practices and standards for IT service management and delivering IT services. In 

addition, IRO focuses on integration of several ISO standards through the Control Objectives for 

Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) framework for the management, organization, 

development, and implementation strategies for IT governance and includes ISO 9000 (Quality 

Management); ISO 15504 (Process assessment); ISO 20000 (Information Technology); ISO 27000 

(Information Security); ISO 31000 (Risk Management); ISO 38500 (IT Governance).
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has a long history of using industry 

standards to supplement and enhance its regulatory program. As of December 2020, BSEE has 

incorporated by reference 125 industry standards in its regulations (see 30 CFR § 250.198). BSEE’s 

Standards Development Section (SDS) is responsible for tracking, engaging in, and advising on, industry 

standards relevant to BSEE’s mission. The SDS coordinates SMEs from the offshore industry and BSEE to 

work together through the SDOs to develop standards as required by the NTTAA. The SDS is currently 

monitoring 10 different SDOs in the development of 125 standards presently Included by reference 

(IBR). There are different SDOs that develop industry standards such as the American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers (ASME) or the American Petroleum Institute (API). The SDS also engages in the 

development of other standards in addition to the 125 incorporated standards if it is deemed a priority 

by BSEE. The 10 SDOs whose standards are IBR are API, ASME, NACE, ASTM, AWS, AGA, IEC ISO, and the 

Center for Offshore Safety.

Standards that significantly advance safety and environmental stewardship are a priority. The work of 

the SDS has significantly advanced the BSEE mission. Examples of advancing the BSEE mission include an 

addendum on quality control for supply chains written for API Specification Q1, a new performancebased approach to developing SEMS using API RP 75, a high-pressure high-temperature equipment 

design document, API 17TR8, and a bolting material guidance document, API 21TR1, to mitigate future 

bolting failures identified in the BSEE QC FIT report.

The federal regulations governing the development of offshore wind facilities, 30 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) § 585, were published in 2009. These regulations outline the development process for 

an offshore wind project in U.S. waters. However, because the U.S. offshore wind industry was less 

mature in 2009, adequate U.S. standards did not exist. For this reason, no specific standards were 

incorporated by reference into 30 CFR § 585. Rather, the regulations prescribe that “best practices” be 

used, with the expectation that these practices would evolve as the U.S. offshore wind industry gained 

experience. Such best practices are the foundation upon which offshore wind standards will be based.

In addition to the above approach to standards, BSEE refers to the Public Petroleum Data Model (PPDM) 

for standard design patterns in designing custom databases for regulatory functions related to offshore 

oil and gas and BSEE also follows FGDC standards where applicable for GIS functions and geospatial data 

applications.

The above information is from the Standards Development section of BSEE’s website (Standards 

Development Section | Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (bsee.gov))as it directly 

addresses this data call.

The Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) collects, accounts for, and verifies natural resource 

and energy revenues due to States, American Indians, and the U.S. Treasury. ONRR manages financial 

assets in accordance w/ laws, regulations, and financial and accounting standards issued by The Federal 

Accounting Standards Advisory Board fasab.gov. ONRR conducts audits following Government Auditing 

Standards Yellow Book | U.S. GAO to determine company compliance with lease terms, laws, and 

regulations. 
ONRR’s public websites are managed according to the 21st IDEA Act and the U.S Website Design 

Standards. (USWDS)

ONRR uses the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association Well Identification (ppdm.org) for 

US Well Number Standards and the Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) for U.S. state and 

county codes: 

https://standards.incits.org/apps/group_public/project/details.php?project_id=2399

https://standards.incits.org/apps/group_public/project/details.php?project_id=2398

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) utilizes a variety of Voluntary Consensus Standards (VCS) in 

managing a wide array of management and resource data and information in support of its mission. The 

standards are embedded in multiple software, hardware, services, and systems. The FWS’s policy on 

data standards is described in the FWS Manual Chapter 274 FW 2: Establishing Service Data Standards 

(http://www.fws.gov/policy/274fw2.html). It follows the Department of Interior Information Resource 

Management policy (http://elips.doi.gov/ELIPS/DocView.aspx?id=1208), the OMB Circular A-130: 

Management of Federal Information Resources 

(https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/07/28/2016-17872/revision-of-omb-circular-no-a130-managinginformation-as-a-strategic-resource), and OMB Circular A-119: Federal Participation in the 

Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and Conformity Assessment Activities.

The FWS data standards are found here: http://www.fws.gov/stand/. Of particular note, is the VCS for 

the Classification of Wetlands and Deep-water Habitats of the United States. The Service's definition and 

classification system provides standardization of concepts and terms used to describe the biological limit 

of wetland types found in the United States, and is used nationwide by many Federal, State, and local 

agencies as part of the management of their wetland resources.

The Data Science Committee has created a working group tasked with reviewing FWS data standards to 

bring them into compliance with Service policy 274 FW 2 listed above. All FWS standards will be 

assigned a data standard steward, assessed for relevancy, determine the frequency and process to keep 

theses updated to industry standards.

The National Park Service (NPS) preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of

the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future

generations. The NPS uses a variety of standards to support bureau operations including many

government unique standards (GUS) that do not have a similar voluntary consensus standards (VCS), see

NPS Spatial Data Standards, Federal Camping Data Standard, Integrated Taxonomic Information System, 

EPA Pesticide Product Information System (PPIS), and EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX). Data is also

shared via Application Programming Interface (APIs) that follow the industry led OpenAPI specification. 

The NPS also maintains metadata for spatial and geographic information according to the standards

established by the FGDC as well as metadata that meets project open data requirements.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employs a variety of Voluntary Consensus Standards (VCS) in 

managing a plethora of scientific data and information that support the mission of the Bureau. The USGS 

Survey Manual Chapter 502.2 - Fundamental Science Practices: Planning and Conducting Data Collection 

and Research addresses data and metadata standards states: "The data collected, and the techniques 

used by USGS scientists conform to or reference national and international standards and protocols if 

they exist and when they are relevant and appropriate. For datasets of a given type, and if national or 

international metadata standards exist, the data are indexed with metadata that facilitate access and 

integration." Examples can be found on the USGS Data Management Website 

(https://www.usgs.gov/data-management/data-standards) and include use of standards such as the 

International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Darwin Core, Climate, and Forecast CFConventions, US Topo Maps, USGS National Geospatial Program Standards and Specifications, Federal 

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) National Data Standards Publications, Open Geospatial Consortium, 

Vegetation Classification: United States National Vegetation Classification (USNVC), Biological 

Taxonomy: Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), geographic locations descriptors, geologic 

time data standards such as Divisions of Geologic Time – Major Chronostratigraphic and Geochronologic 

Units, and Date/Time standards.

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

consensus standards during FY 2021. 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