Department of the Interior (DOI) 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.

Standards are a critical component to the successful execution of regulatory functions associated with 

our four primary missions of resource protection, resource management, recreation, and serving 

communities. We evaluate, adopt and apply standards across a wide array of disciplines to include 

scientific research, engineering, safety, contract administration, information technology, data 

management, law enforcement, and facilities management. As of the time of this report, not all data 

have been submitted, however below are several examples of how standards have contributed to 

mission success at the DOI.

The DOI and its bureaus and offices continued to participate in the InterNational Committee on 

Information Technology Standards Technical Committee L1 (INCITS L1), Geographic Information 

Systems, which is the means by which segments of the geospatial community participate in American 

National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) geospatial 

standardization activities. INCITS L1 serves as the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO Technical 

Committee 211, Geographic information/Geomatics. DOI also continues to be an active participant in 

the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international industry consortium of over 460 companies, 

government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available 

interface standards.

The Bureau of Reclamation participates in voluntary consensus standards (VCS) development, and 

develops standards while in consideration of existing VCS and other industry standards. Water 

management, design and construction, hydro/power facilities measurement, power distribution, and 

dam safety risk analysis are among many areas of developmental participation. Reclamation’s structure 

and facilities design, and developed technical references utilize voluntary consensus standards, most of 

which were developed with Reclamation’s participation. Links to these standards can be found here:

Technical Service Center Manuals and Standards

https://www.usbr.gov/tsc/techreferences/mands/mands.html

Consequence Estimating Methodology 

https://www.usbr.gov/ssle/damsafety/documents/RCEMMethodology2015.pdf

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. Many of BOR’s

standards used in the hydro-power sector can be found here: Facility Rating Methodology and Standards 

https://www.usbr.gov/power/reliability/Facility%20Rating%20Methodology%20Rev1.1with%20BOR%20

cover.pdf

Hydro-power Facilities Instructions, Standards and Techniques (FIST) Manuals 

https://www.usbr.gov/power/data/fist_pub.html

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 Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) endorsed the Wetlands Mapping Standard in July 2009. 

The purpose of this standard is to support accurate mapping and classification of wetlands, while 

ensuring mechanisms for their revisions and update as directed under OMB Circular A-16, Revised. It is 

designed to direct the current and future digital mapping of wetlands. This mapping standard will be 

used for all wetland mapping nationally including Federal Agencies, States, Tribes, especially if that 

mapping data will be uploaded into NWI/The National Map as a data layer. Specifically, if Federal 

funding is involved, then use of the proposed Standard is required. For all other efforts, use of the 

standard is strongly encouraged. More information about the Wetlands Mapping Standard is available –

at the following link:

https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/wetlands-mapping.

The FWS has adopted the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (endorsed by the International Standards 

Organization) to describe the FWS collection of digital photos, videos, and other media that are 

currently stored in the FWS National Conservation Training Center (NCTC). This enhancement will 

reduce data anomalies and improve interoperability for data exchanges between NCTC and other 

systems.
The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has defined geospatial standards for coal mining boundaries (surface 

and underground) that have been adopted as international standards by the American Society for 

Testing and Materials (ASTM). These standards have improved miner and public safety, reduced the cost 

of regulatory compliance, and map generation, and improved the electronic permitting process by 

reducing the time required to review regulatory permit requests. The incorporation of consensus 

Government geospatial standards (approved by the Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC) has 

resulted in improving the quality and reducing the cost of geospatial products produced by the

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The adoption of geospatial standards has enabled the Bureau of Ocean 

Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Management (BSEE) to integrate 

multiple geospatial layers within a single digital map viewer. This improved marine spatial planning 

efforts by permitting the standardization of previously incompatible geospatial data across federal, 

state, and local government uses, which improved the ability to identify the best location for renewable 

energy projects.

For the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) most of its data can be linked to a location and so it is 

critical we are consistent with geospatial metadata standards as set forth by the FGDC and the 

International Organization for Standards (ISO). The Department of the Interior uses Motorola R56 

Standards and Guidelines for Communications Sites to ensure the design, construction, operation and 

maintenance, and inspection of all departmental radio communications sites meet minimum standards 

resulting in consistent safety and maintenance practices across the Department.

The National Park Service (NPS) was a leading partner in the development and recent FGDC endorsed 

Federal Trails Data Standards (FTDS) that provides for common descriptive data attributes among the 

many agencies that manage and administer national trails. The FTDS is available on the FGDC website at 

the following link:

https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/trail-data-standard/trail-data-standards. In addition, the NPS 

has implemented an internal Geospatial Information System (GIS) Data Layer Standards Process that 

allows NPS programs to efficiently develop and publish data content and exchange standards for sharing 

among programs and for developing consistent NPS-wide data sets. The internal NPS processes augment 

consensus standards developed by the FGDC and other programs and agencies to accommodate NPSspecific requirements. Use of both internal and external consensus standards allows the NPS to reduce 

costs for data and improve sharing among NPS parks and programs as well as other agencies and the 

public. The National Park Service has adopted the NPS Bibliographic Metadata Exchange Standard, 

which consists of a proposed NPS enterprise core bibliographic element set based on qualified Dublin

Core (DC). The purpose of establishing an enterprise level core bibliographic metadata element set, NPS 

Bibliographic Metadata Element Set (NPS-BMES), and application profile, NPS Bibliographic Metadata 

Application Profile (NPSBibMAP), is to facilitate efficient exchange, harvesting (via ‘exposure’ of 

metadata in xml format), aggregation, and federated searching (promoting wide discovery) of NPS 

managed bibliographic data. The NPS-BMES is based on a subset of the ‘qualified’ level of the Dublin 

Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) standard, while the NPS-BibMAP is based on the Dublin Core 

Library Application Profile (DC-Lib). To support the mission for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 

establishing a secure environment to maintain a stable “baseline” for protecting the Information 

Technology (IT) assets that enhance the quality of life and promote economic opportunities for the 

American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives, NIST standards are used to accomplish our mission. 
Security and Privacy standards are used to lower risks to an acceptable level, and to demonstrates due 

diligence towards safeguarding Indian Affair’s sensitive information and information systems.

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