Department of Commerce (DOC) Fiscal Year 2020 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 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. In coordination with other branches of DOC, the 

five branches 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 received by these 

five branches of DOC on how they engaged in international voluntary consensus standards and 

conformity activities during FY2020.

The US Census Bureau (Census Bureau) is completing the 2020 Census and will be delivering the small 

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

first Census Redistricting Data Program (RDP), conducted as part of the 1980 Census, the Census Bureau 

has included summaries for the major race groups as specified by the Statistical Program and Standards 

Office of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in Directive 15 (as issued in 1977 and revised 

in 1997). During the 1990 Census RDP, voting age population (18 years and over) was added to the 

cross-tabulation of race and Hispanic origin. Programs and activities designed for the dissemination and 

analysis of statistical and geospatial data are being used in support of this effort.

Partnerships with tribal, state, county, and local governments, other federal agencies, commercial 

organizations, non-profit and academic institutions assisted in the collection and analysis of data for 

geographic programs such as the 2020 Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) and the 2020 Participant 

Statistical Areas Program (PSAP). Standards from organizations such as the International Organization 

for Standardization (ISO), the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the Federal Geographic Data 

Committee (FGDC) and others that were developed through ANSI’s voluntary consensus standards 

process, were applied in the Census Bureau’s statistical surveys, economic analysis, and geographic 

programs.

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 3 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-119.

In 2020, the following activities exemplified the Census Bureau’s application of VCS. The Census Bureau 

applied the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) data standards for 

the criteria in their contribution to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Census Bureau staff 
participated in the FGDC’s development of the National Geospatial Data Assets (NGDA) Baseline 

Standards Inventory Survey as a requirement of the Federal Data Strategy, Action 10, and the Geospatial 

Data Act of 2018 to query all covered agencies on their use of standards. The Census Bureau’s 

leadership in the development and publication of two international standards for Addressing (ISO 

19160-3 and 19160-2) continued in 2020.

The Census Bureau maintained 34 datasets considered NGDAs using standards developed by INCITS. 

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

meet specific requirements outlined in the 2018 Geospatial Data Act and are considered capital 

assets for decision making and public use. 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 public and discoverable on the Census.gov website 

(https://www.census.gov/), the Federal Geographic Data Committee’s Geospatial Platform 

(GeoPlatform) (https://www.geoplatform.gov/), and Data.gov (https://www.data.gov/).

The Census Bureau maintained 34 NGDA datasets in 2020 to support the FGDC Governmental 

Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme (33 NGDAs), and the FGDC 

Transportation Theme (1 NGDA). Federal agency respondents were asked to identify open 

standards to enhance the use of and access to these datasets in support of the NSDI, as outlined 

in the OMB Circular A-16 Supplemental Guidance (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2017/11/Circular-016.pdf). The Census Bureau submitted responses to the 

FGDC for the NGDA Baseline Standards Inventory Survey in October 2020 and is currently 

maintaining licensed subscriptions to twelve ISO standards through the ANSI. The list of 

standards that the Census Bureau consulted for their NGDAs baseline are listed below:

• 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 - Part1: 

Fundamentals.
• INCITS/ISO 19115-2:2019 (2019): Geographic information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for 

acquisition and processing.

2. The Census Bureau’s 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles complied with the ISO 19115-2 and ISO 19139-

2 metadata-related standards.

3. The Census Bureau led the development of ISO 19160-3 Addressing – Part 3: Quality 

management for address data, published in February 2020. 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 understands 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 gained 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) 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://legacy.trade.gov/td/standards/.

In FY2020, 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). An ITA 

representative also actively participated in the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 Subcommittee 31 

(JTC1/SC31), Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques. An ITA representative joined the US 

TAG for ISO/IEC JTC1 WG14 for Quantum Computing to gain greater understanding of standards 

development in the quantum information sciences. ITA regularly notifies relevant US stakeholders about 

opportunities to participate in new standards development activities that might have trade implications 

with the aim of heading off future market access issues for US exporters. 

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

continues to participate in the Smart Textiles Subcommittee of ASTM International’s Committee D13 on 

Textiles and a staff member of the Commercial Section in the US Embassy in Mexico City participates in 

Mexico’s National Textile Standards Committee to monitor standards that could impact US textiles and 

apparel exporters. 
In FY2020 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, and conformity assessment. ITA has joined interagency efforts led by the US 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 on the internet of things (IoT), additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing), 

and conformity assessment.

Bilateral engagement on standards issues was ongoing with various trading partners and through the 

US-Brazil Commercial Dialogue, the US-India Commercial Dialogue, the US-Argentina Commercial 

Dialogue, the US-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, and the US-EU Executive Working Group, 

among others. ITA continues to maintain Standards Attaches in Beijing, Brussels, Jakarta, 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 

WTO’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) that address specific standards-related trade 

concerns. Additionally, ITA coordinated several sets of US Government (USG) comments submitted to 

China on its standardization reform initiative and as input on the trade-related aspects of a Mexico 

survey on US standards. Throughout FY2020, ITA served on the USG delegations to the various trade 

agreement negotiations, 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 FTA TBT chapters. 

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

Barriers (ITAC 14) with USTR which provides input to the Secretary of Commerce and USTR on 

standards-related policy matters.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (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 into their programs, procurement and regulatory activities. NIST’s 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 Standards.gov to serve as a standards and conformity assessment related resource for 

Federal agencies, industry, and the public. 

NIST response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
In FY2020, the novel Corona virus, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), or 

COVID-19 created a global pandemic crisis, requiring immediate actions by US private and public sectors 

to contain COVID-19 and protect the US population. NIST participated in documentary standards 

development activities that directly addressed public health concerns. More information on NIST’s 

response is located at https://www.nist.gov/coronavirus.

In tandem with other federal agencies and private sector standards development organizations, SCO

coordinated free electronic access to over 80 international standards, developed by five organizations,

that addressed critical medical and personal protective equipment (PPE). Access to these standards 

permitted US manufacturers to more quickly retool their production processes to meet the demand for 

PPE and medical equipment.

SCO led NIST’s participation in ASTM International’s ASTM F23 (Committee on Personal Protective 

Clothing and Equipment) to quickly develop the Standard Specification for Barrier Face Coverings (e.g., 

face masks). Over 50 organizations participated to create the specification establishing minimum design, 

performance, labeling, and care requirements for reusable barrier masks for use by the public. NIST 

helped ensure that the standard’s technical requirements were appropriate yet not excessive.

A multi-disciplinary team at NIST developed a way to increase the sensitivity of the primary test used to 

detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The team used a mathematical technique for perceiving comparatively 

faint signals in diagnostic test data to better detect the presence of the virus. The model was able to 

amplify a modest signal resulting from a low number of particles in a nasal swab test so that the 

presence or absence of the virus could be more easily perceived.

NIST is managing the technical working group, Joint ISO/TC 212 - ISO/TC 276 WG: Quality practice for 

detection of SARS-CoV-2. The committee is drafting a new technical specification that will explain what 

to consider in designing, making, and deploying analytical tests for detecting SARS-CoV-2 using nucleic 

acid amplification methods. The standard can guide medical laboratories in maximizing their testing 

accuracy and reliability by making the best use of commercially available in-vitro diagnostics when 

testing for COVID-19, and when developing their own tests for detecting the virus.

NIST published an ITL Bulletin (March 2020), “Security for Enterprise Telework, Remote Access, and 

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Solutions” in response to the significant telework increase in 2020. The 

Bulletin provides guidelines on telework and remote access to help organizations mitigate security risks 

associated with the enterprise technologies used for teleworking, such as remote access servers, 

telework client devices, and remote access communications.

NIST and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) developed a program to 

improve search engines for accessing COVID-19 research data. This effort used AI to improve search 

capabilities.

Additional FY2020 NIST activities

In addition to targeted measurement research and coordinated standards participation in response to 

the COVID-19 pandemic, in FY2020, more than 440 NIST staff participated formally in over 1,750 

standards activities in more than 112 different organizations. In addition to participation in standards 

developing organizations (SDOs), NIST staff held key roles on ANSI boards and committees that oversee 

the US standardization system that ‘accredits’ SDO’s and serves as the US Member body to ISO and IEC 
committees. Below is a sampling of NIST’s activities in the development of documentary standards 

addressing core issues in advanced communications, cybersecurity, AI, and privacy.

Advanced communications

NIST provides leadership and technical expertise in key advanced communications related standards 

bodies. Over 30 NIST experts lead and participate in 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 

Radiocommunications Sector (ITU-R), Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), ISOIEC/JTC1, and Wireless Innovation Forum Spectrum Sharing Committee (WinnForum). In FY2020, NIST 

contributions to 3GPP were focused on the evaluation of key functionalities of 5G New Radio 

specifications in support of mission critical public safety communications. NIST has also contributed its 

millimeter-wave propagation measurement and models to ITU-R to extend two recommendations on 

outdoor and indoor propagation guidelines. 

Cybersecurity

NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is a collaboration of industry organizations, 

government agencies, and academic institutions working together to address relevant private sector 

cybersecurity issues. In FY2020, NCCoE launched “5G Cybersecurity: Preparing a Secure Evolution to 

5G”. This project will demonstrate how commercial and open-source products can leverage 

cybersecurity standards and recommend practices to mitigate identified risks and meet industry sectors’ 

compliance requirements.

NIST staff participated within a variety of international and domestic SDOs addressing cybersecurity

including INCITS, ISO, IEC, IETF, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and IEEE to leverage NIST’s 

technical capabilities in research and standardization processes in areas like IT security, testing and 

validation, biometrics, security devices, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, cryptography, identity 

and access control, critical infrastructures and others. 

NIST also supported promotion and adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) both 

domestically and internationally and engaged with relevant SDOs for mapping CSF cybersecurity control 

objectives to industry standards, guidelines, and practices designed to promote the protection of critical 

infrastructure. NIST was instrumental for the creation of projects like ISO/IEC 27100 Information 

technology — Cybersecurity — Overview and concepts, and ISO/IEC CD TS 27101 Information technology 

— Security techniques — Cybersecurity — Framework development guidelines, as well as the completion 

of ISO/IEC TR 27103:2018 Information technology — Security techniques — Cybersecurity and ISO and 

IEC standards, which leverages Version 1.0 of the Cybersecurity Framework and incorporates additional 

ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection standards.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

NIST research in AI is focused on the security and trustworthiness of AI systems via research and 

participation in international standards developing efforts such as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 Artificial 

Intelligence.

Privacy
In FY 2020, NIST published Version 1.0 of the NIST Privacy Framework: A Tool for Improving Privacy 

through Enterprise Risk Management (Privacy Framework). The Privacy Framework is a voluntary tool 

developed in collaboration with stakeholders intended to help organizations identify and manage 

privacy risk. The Privacy Framework can be mapped to standards supporting its implementation and 

identify gaps in existing guidelines, and in turn help drive the development of new or revised standards 

to fill those gaps. 

In FY 2020 NIST also actively engaged in international standards development organizations to advance 

the development of risk-based standards to help organizations protect individuals’ privacy. Three 

examples of standardization efforts that benefitted from NIST’s expertise are the ISO Project Committee 

317, which focuses on developing ISO 31700, Consumer protection: privacy by design for consumer 

goods and services; the ISO/IEC 27557, Organizational privacy risk management; and the IEEE 

P7002, Data Privacy Process. 

Biotechnology

As the administrator of the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the ISO Technical Committee (ISO/TC) 

276 on Biotechnology, NIST coordinates US responses to the suite of international biotechnical 

standards developed through ISO. NIST’s role is to implement the guidance of ANSI to ensure that each 

standard is developed through consensus, due process, and openness. The US TAG stakeholders 

assembled by NIST includes participating and observing member organizations representing producers, 

users/consumers, government, academia, and professional entities. More information may be found 

here: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/us-tag-isotc276-biotechnology .

Conformity assessment

In September 2020, NIST revised 15 CFR Part 287 Guidance on Federal Agency Conformity Assessment 

Activities - 15 CFR Part 287 Guidance on Federal Agency Conformity Assessment Activities. Section 12 of 

the NTTAA of 1995 directs NIST to “coordinate technical standards activities and conformity assessment 

activities of Federal, State, and local governments with private sector technical standards activities and 

conformity assessment activities, with the goal of eliminating unnecessary duplication and complexity in 

the development and promulgation of conformity assessment requirements and measures”. NIST 

originally issued the guidance found in 15 CFR 287 on August 10, 2000 in response to OMB Circular A119 (February 10, 1998) directing the Secretary of Commerce to issue guidance to Federal agencies to 

ensure effective coordination of Federal conformity assessment activities. The January 2016 revision to 

OMB Circular A-119 re-emphasizes NIST’s role in issuing guidance to agencies as well as Federal 

agencies’ responsibilities with respect to conformity assessment. NIST has revised this guidance to 

reflect development in conformity assessment concepts and evolution in Federal agency strategies and 

coordination in using and relying on conformity assessment.

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). 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.

• Through its Big Data Project, NOAA has signed contracts with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to 

distribute NOAA’s open data through those partners’ cloud platforms at no cost to the data 

consumer. 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. To date, NOAA has distributed over 80 

federal datasets through the Big Data Project public-private partnership, using cloud platform 

standards (e.g., S3, BigQuery) for data access and dissemination.

• 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 has provided leadership for the creation of the Federal Data Strategy (strategy.data.gov) and 

the national response to the Geospatial Data Act. Both efforts include strategic and tactical direction 

to Agencies to adopt data standards in the execution of their missions. 

• NOAA has created and is developing an implementation for the NOAA Data Strategy. 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 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, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system (GOES) - GOES16, GOES-17, and the polar orbiting NOAA-20, all use the open-standard Network Common Data 

Form (NetCDF-4) format rather than agency-developed data formats. 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 ISO-19115-2 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 the WMO Information System (WIS) Global 

Information System Centres (GISC) which includes 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) is contributing 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 data 

metadata standards via ioos.github.io/ioos-metadata. IOOS requires adherence to standards as a 

part of its core capabilities. This includes open data sharing via the Global Earth Observing System 

of Systems (GEOSS) the use of ERDDAP and Thematic Real-Time Environmental Distributed Data 

Services (THREDDS) servers for data discovery and access, metadata using relevant standards and 

the IOOS metadata profile - https://ioos.github.io/ioos-metadata/. 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/contribute-data/

• NOAA remained a Principal Member of the OGC in FY2020, 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 United States 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-and-specifications). 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 United States 

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 United States 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 UNGGIM-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 WG6 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 Open Geospatial Consortium (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 date 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.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (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 3GPP, ITU-R, ITU-T, IEEE Standards Association, and ATIS. In addition, 

NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (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.

In FY 2020, ITS staff held 28 positions in eight standards bodies, including 10 Chair/Co-chair/Vice-chair 

positions. ITS staff filled key leadership positions in the ITU-R, including Head of the US Delegation to 

Study Group (SG) 3 (Radiowave Propagation), International Chair and US Chair of SG3 Working Parties 

3K and 3L (Point-to-area and ionospheric propagation), and US Chair of Working Party 3J (Propagation 

fundamentals). ITS staff also filled key leadership positions in the ITU-T, including Head of US Delegation 

to Study Group 13 (Future Networks) and Study Group 11 (Protocols and Test Specifications). ITS staff 

hold the Co-Chair position for the ATIS 5G Supply Chain Working Group. 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 US Departments/Agencies participating in 3GPP. Finally, 

ITS provided technical leadership and contributions to IEEE standards for local/personal/metropolitan 

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

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

radiowave propagation. At SG3, ITS contributes inputs and ensures the technical accuracy and 

correctness of international radiowave propagation standards. SG3 Recommendations on radiowave 

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 2020, ITS contributed five of the 22 US technical contributions to SG3. 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 ITS contribution, ICAO will be able to use P.528 in 

their frequency management system. ITS 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’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 in 

conjunction with technical support from ITS, has been participating heavily in the 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; ITS led the US delegation in those study groups. NTIA’s work in 

ITU-T focuses on industry-led, bottom-up, consensus-based standards and appropriately working with 

US government colleagues to help ensure the ITU-T avoids duplication of efforts with other standards 

development organizations such as 3GPP.
Direct participation by NTIA in the 3GPP, the dominant cellular communications standards development 

organization, allows NTIA to advance US commercial, economic, and government interests by providing 

technical input to promote strong unbiased standards that support fair competition in next 

generation/5G cellular technologies. ITS attends 3GPP Working Groups for Services (SA1), System 

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

Group 1 focused on the physical layer for LTE and 5G (RAN 1). NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management 

(OSM) attends 3GPP Technical Specification Group Radio Access Networks Working Groups 1 (RAN 1) 

and 4 (RAN 4). 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, 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 2020 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/patent-search/understanding-patentclassifications/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