    [Analytical Perspectives]
    [Crosscutting Programs]
    [4. Strengthening Federal Statistics]
    [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 37]]

                      4.  STRENGTHENING FEDERAL STATISTICS

      Federal statistical programs produce key information to inform public
    and private decision makers about a range of topics of interest,
    including the economy, the population, agriculture, crime, education,
    energy, the environment, health, science, and transportation. The
    ability of governments, businesses, and citizens to make appropriate
    decisions about budgets, employment, investments, taxes, and a host of
    other important matters depends critically on the ready availability of
    relevant, accurate, and timely Federal statistics.
      The Federal statistical community remains on alert for opportunities
    to improve these measures of our Nation's performance. For example,
    during 2007, Federal statistical agencies (i) published prototype
    estimates of Gross Domestic Product by metropolitan area for 2001-2005,
    which can be used to determine the overall size and growth of
    metropolitan economies, to assess the impacts of natural or man-made
    disasters on cities, and to analyze comparative industrial growth across
    metropolitan America (Bureau of Economic Analysis); (ii) developed a
    website that presents recent trends in mortality in State prisons, local
    jails, and State juvenile correctional facilities (Bureau of Justice
    Statistics); (iii) expanded coverage of the Producer Price Index to over
    70 percent of services output, by publishing new service sector indexes
    for management consulting, blood banks, computer training schools, and
    machinery and equipment repair (Bureau of Labor Statistics); (iv)
    developed an innovative software tool, called GeoMiler, to compute
    likely transportation routes more efficiently for the nearly 6 million
    freight shipments reported in the Commodity Flow Survey (Bureau of
    Transportation Statistics); (v) completed street features in the
    Decennial Census geographic database for 737 additional counties,
    bringing the total completed to about 90 percent of all 3,232 counties
    in the United States and Puerto Rico (Census Bureau); (vi) launched two
    new Internet gateways for State Energy Profiles and Country Energy
    Profiles (Energy Information Administration); (vii) enhanced
    representation of the Nation's socially disadvantaged and minority farm
    operators in the Census of Agriculture (National Agricultural Statistics
    Service); and (viii) offered significantly more timely access to
    National Health Interview Survey data on the Internet (National Center
    for Health Statistics).
      For Federal statistical programs to benefit effectively their wide
    range of users, the underlying data systems must be viewed as credible.
    In order to foster this credibility, Federal statistical programs seek
    to adhere to high quality standards and to maintain integrity and
    efficiency in the production of data. As the collectors and providers of
    these basic statistics, the responsible agencies act as data stewards--
    balancing public and private decision makers' needs for information with
    legal and ethical obligations to minimize reporting burden, respect
    respondents' privacy, and protect the confidentiality of the data
    provided to the Government. This chapter discusses the development of
    standards that principal statistical programs use to assess their
    performance and presents highlights of their 2009 budget proposals.

                              Performance Standards

    Description of Dimensions

    Product Quality

    Relevance: Qualitative or quantitative descriptions of the degree to which products and
     services are useful to users and responsive to users' needs.

    Accuracy: Qualitative or quantitative measure of important features of correctness,
     validity, and reliability of data and information products measured as degree of closeness
     to target values.

    Timeliness: Qualitative or quantitative measure of the timing of information releases.

    Program Performance

    Cost: Quantitative measure of the dollar amount used to produce data products and services.

    Dissemination: Qualitative or quantitative information on the availability, accessibility,
     and distribution of products and services.

    Mission Achievement: Qualitative or quantitative information about the effect of, or
     satisfaction with, statistical programs.

    Key to Statistical Agencies

    BEA = Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce
    BJS = Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice
    BLS = Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor
    BTS = Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Department of Transportation
    Census = Census Bureau, Department of Commerce
    EIA = Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy
    ERS = Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture
    NASS = National Agricultural Statistics Service, Department of Agriculture
    NCES = National Center for Education Statistics, Department of Education
    NCHS = National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health and Human Services
    ORES = Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Administration
    SOI = Statistics of Income, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury
    SRS = Science Resources Statistics Division, National Science Foundation

      Statistical programs maintain the quality of their data or information
    products as well as their credibility by setting high performance
    standards for their activities. The statistical agencies and statistical
    units represented on the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
    (ICSP) have collaborated on developing a set of common performance
    standards for use under the Government Performance and Results Act and
    in completing the Administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool
    (PART). Federal statistical agencies agreed that there are six
    conceptual dimensions within two general areas of focus that are key to
    measuring and monitoring statistical programs. The first area of focus
    is Product Quality, encompassing the traditional dimensions of
    relevance, accuracy, and timeliness. The second area of focus is Program
    Performance, encompassing the dimensions of cost, dissemination, and
    mission achievement.
      Statistical agencies historically have focused on measuring
    performance in the area of product quality, especially dimensions of
    accuracy and timeliness that are most amenable to quantitative
    measurement. Relevance, also an accepted measure of quality, can be
    either a qualitative description of the usefulness of products or a
    quantitative measure such as a customer satisfaction score. Relevance is
    more difficult to measure, and the indicators that do exist are more
    varied.
      Program performance standards form the basis for evaluating
    effectiveness. They address questions such as: Are taxpayer dollars
    being spent most effectively? Are products being made available to those
    who need them? Are agencies meeting their mission requirements or making
    it possible for other agencies to meet their missions? The indicators
    available to measure program performance for statistical activities were
    historically less well developed than those for product quality, but
    nearly all principal statistical agencies have now devel

    [[Page 38]]

    oped and implemented a complete set of program performance standards.
      Product quality and program performance standards are designed to
    serve as indicators when answering specific questions in the
    Administration's PART process. Chart 4-1 presents each principal Federal
    statistical agency's assessment of the status of its current and planned
    use of indicators on the six dimensions. With the exception of cost
    indicators, where one agency (NCHS) is still planning its measure, each
    ICSP agency has now developed performance measures for all six
    dimensions. Use of the indicators may be for internal management,
    strategic planning, or annual performance reporting. The dimensions
    shown in the chart re

    [[Page 39]]

    flect an overall set of indicators for statistical activities, but the
    specific measures vary among the individual programs depending on their
    unique characteristics and requirements. Annual performance reports and
    PARTs provide these specific measures, as well as additional information
    about performance goals and targets and whether a program is meeting, or
    making measurable progress toward meeting, its performance goals. The
    examples below illustrate different ways agencies track their
    performance on each dimension.

      Product Quality: Statistical agencies agree that product quality
    encompasses many attributes, including (but not limited to) relevance,
    accuracy, and timeliness. The basic measures in this group relate to the
    quality of specific products, thereby providing actionable information
    to managers. These are ``outcome-oriented'' measures and are key to the
    usability of information products. Statistical agencies or units
    establish targets and monitor how well targets are met. In some sense,
    relevance relates to ``doing the right things,'' while accuracy and
    timeliness relate to ``doing things right.''

                Relevance: Qualitative or quantitative descriptions of the
              degree to which products and services are useful and
              responsive to users' needs. Relevance of data products and
              analytic reports may be monitored through a professional
              review process and ongoing contacts with data users. Product
              relevance may be indicated by customer satisfaction with
              product content, information from customers about product use,
              demonstration of product improvements, comparability with
              other data series, agency responses to customer suggestions
              for improvement, new or customized products or services,
              frequency of use, or responses to data requests from users
              (including policy makers). Through a variety of professional
              review activities, agencies maintain the relevance and
              validity of their products, and encourage data users and other
              stakeholders to contribute to the agencies' data collection
              and dissemination programs. Striving for relevance requires
              monitoring to ensure that information systems anticipate
              change and evolve to appropriately measure our dynamic society
              and economy.

                Accuracy: Qualitative or quantitative measures of important
              features of correctness, validity, and reliability of data and
              information products measured as degree of closeness to target
              values. For statistical data, accuracy may be defined as the
              degree of closeness to the target value and measured as
              sampling error and various aspects of nonsampling error (e.g.,
              response rates, size of revisions, coverage, edit
              performance). For analysis products, accuracy may be the
              quality of the reasoning, reasonableness of assumptions, and
              clarity of the exposition, typically measured and monitored
              through review processes. In addition, accuracy is assessed
              and improved by internal reviews, comparisons of data among
              different surveys, linkages of survey data to administrative
              records, redesigns of surveys, or expansions of sample sizes.

                Timeliness:  Qualitative or quantitative measure of timing
              of information releases. Timeliness may be measured as time
              from the close of the reference period to the release of
              information, or customer satisfaction with timeliness.
              Timeliness may also be measured as how well agencies meet
              scheduled and publicized release dates, expressed as a percent
              of release dates met.

      Program Performance: Statistical agencies agree that program
    performance encompasses balancing the dimensions of cost, dissemination,
    and mission accomplishment for the agency as a whole; operating
    efficiently and effectively; ensuring that customers receive the
    information they need; and serving the information needs of the Nation.
    Costs of products or programs may be used to develop efficiency
    measures. Dissemination involves making sure customers receive the
    information they need via the most appropriate mechanisms. Mission
    achievement means that the information program makes a difference.
    Hence, three key dimensions are being used to indicate program
    performance: cost (input), dissemination (output), and mission
    achievement (outcome).

                Cost: Quantitative measure of the dollar amount used to
              produce data products or services. The development and use of
              financial performance measures within the Federal Government
              is an established goal; the intent of such measures is to
              determine the ``true costs'' of various programs or
              alternative modes of operation at the Federal level. Examples
              of cost data include full costs of products or programs,
              return on investment, dollar value of efficiencies, and ratios
              of cost to products distributed.

                 Dissemination: Qualitative or quantitative information on
              the availability, accessibility, and distribution of products
              and services. Most agencies have goals to improve product
              accessibility, particularly through the Internet. Typical
              measures include: on-demand requests fulfilled, product
              downloads, degree of accessibility, customer satisfaction with
              ease of use, number of participants at user conferences,
              citations of agency data in the media, number of Internet user
              sessions, number of formats in which data are available,
              amount of technical support provided to data users, exhibits
              to inform the public about information products, issuance of
              newsletters describing products, usability testing of web
              sites, and assessing compliance with Section 508 of the
              Rehabilitation Act, which requires Federal agencies to make
              their electronic and information technology accessible to
              people with disabilities.

                Mission Achievement: Qualitative or quantitative information
              about the effect of, or satisfaction with, statistical
              programs. For Government statis

    [[Page 40]]

              tical programs, this dimension responds to the question: Have
              we achieved our objectives and met the expectations of our
              stakeholders? Under this dimension, statistical programs
              document their contributions to the goals and missions of
              parent departments and other agencies, the Administration, the
              Congress, and information users in the private sector and the
              general public. For statistical programs, this broad dimension
              involves meeting recognized societal information needs; it
              also addresses the linkage between statistical outputs and
              programmatic outcomes.

                However, identifying this linkage is far from
              straightforward. It is frequently difficult to trace the
              effects of information products on the public good. Such
              products often are necessary intermediate inputs in the
              creation of high-visibility information whose societal benefit
              is clearly recognized. For example, the economic statistics
              produced by a variety of agencies are directly used by the
              Bureau of Economic Analysis in the calculation of the Gross
              Domestic Product (GDP), which analysts universally use to
              assess changes in the level of domestic economic activity.
              Similarly, statistics from specific surveys are directly used
              by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the calculation of the
              Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is widely used in diverse
              applications, such as indexing pensions for retirees. As a
              result, a number of statistical agencies can claim credit for
              contributing to the GDP and/or the CPI and to the many uses of
              these information products. In addition, statistics produced
              by Federal agencies are used to track the performance of
              programs managed by their parent or other organizations
              related to topics such as crime, education, energy, the
              environment, health, science, and transportation.

                Moreover, beyond the direct and focused uses of statistical
              products, the statistical agencies and their programs serve a
              diverse and dispersed set of data users working on a broad
              range of applications. Users include government policy makers
              at the Federal, State, and local levels, business leaders,
              households, academic researchers, analysts at public policy
              institutes and trade groups, marketers and planners in the
              private sector, and many others. Information produced by
              statistical agencies often is combined with other information
              for use in the decision-making process. Thus, the relationship
              between program outputs and their beneficial uses and outcomes
              is often complex and difficult to track. Consequently,
              agencies use both qualitative and quantitative indicators to
              make this linkage as explicit as feasible.

                In the absence of preferred quantitative indicators,
              qualitative narratives can indicate how statistical agency
              products contribute to and evaluate progress toward important
              goals established for government or private programs. In
              particular, narratives can highlight how statistical agencies
              measure the Nation's social and economic structure, and how
              the availability of the information influences changes in
              policies and programs. These narratives contribute to
              demonstrating mission accomplishment, particularly in response
              to questions in Section I of the PART, ``program purpose and
              design.'' Narratives may describe statistical information's
              effects on measuring agency policy or change of policy,
              supporting research focused on policy issues, informing debate
              on policy issues, or providing in-house consulting support.

                In addition to narratives, quantitative measures may be used
              to reflect mission achievement. For example, customer
              satisfaction with the statistical agency or unit indicates if
              the agency or unit has met the expectations of its
              stakeholders.

    Chart 4-2.  MOST RECENT PART SUMMARY RATINGS FOR STATISTICAL PROGRAMS
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    Summary Rating
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bureau of Economic Analysis          Effective

    Bureau of Justice Statistics
      Criminal Justice Statistics        Effective
       Program
      National Criminal History          Moderately Effective
       Improvement Program

    Bureau of Labor Statistics           Effective

    Bureau of Transportation Statistics  Moderately Effective

    Census Bureau
      Current Demographic Statistics     Effective
      Decennial Census                   Moderately Effective
      Intercensal Demographic Estimates  Moderately Effective
      Survey Sample Redesign             Effective
      Economic Census                    Effective
      Current Economic Statistics        Moderately Effective
        /Census of Governments

    Economic Research Service            Effective

    Energy Information Administration    Results Not Demonstrated

    National Agricultural Statistics     Moderately Effective
     Service

    National Center for Education
     Statistics
      Statistics                         Effective
      Assessment                         Effective

    National Center for Health           Moderately Effective
     Statistics

    Science Resources Statistics
     Division, NSF
      NSF's Infrastructure and           Effective
       Instrumentation component
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Of the 14 principal Federal statistical agencies or units that are
    members of the ICSP, eleven agencies have programs that have been
    assessed using the PART process. All but one of these agencies' programs
    have received PART summary ratings of Effective or Moderately Effective,
    as shown in Chart 4-2. While recognizing the strength of the Energy
    Information Administration's purpose and management, in 2004 EIA
    received an initial rating of ``Results Not Demonstrated'' for two key
    reasons, both of which have since been rectified. At the time of the
    evaluation, EIA had re

    [[Page 41]]

    cently adopted new performance measures and lacked necessary historical
    baselines and future targets; these now exist for all measures. EIA was
    also critiqued for having no recurring independent evaluation of its
    entire program. EIA recruited an energy expert from the Massachusetts
    Institute of Technology to select and lead a team to conduct such an
    evaluation, and the team completed its report in 2006. EIA management
    accomplished one of the team's recommendations in 2007 by obtaining
    Principal Economic Indicator status for the Weekly Natural Gas Storage
    Report and is implementing several of the team's other recommendations
    as part of its strategic planning process. As additional ICSP agency
    programs have an opportunity to undergo the PART process, the agencies
    plan to continue to use the results of the collaborative performance
    standards development effort to help maintain and extend their generally
    favorable assessments.

                   Highlights of 2009 Program Budget Proposals

      The programs that provide essential statistical information for use by
    governments, businesses, researchers, and the public are carried out by
    more than 70 agencies spread across every department and several
    independent agencies. Excluding cyclical funding for the Decennial
    Census, nearly 40 percent of the total budget for these programs
    provides resources for 13 agencies or units that have statistical
    activities as their principal mission. (Please see Table 4-1.) The
    remaining funding supports work in more than 60 agencies or units that
    carry out statistical activities in conjunction with other missions such
    as providing services or enforcing regulations. More comprehensive
    budget and program information about the Federal statistical system will
    be available in OMB's annual report, Statistical Programs of the United
    States Government, Fiscal Year 2009, when it is published later this
    year. The following highlights elaborate on the Administration's
    proposals to support the programs of the principal Federal statistical
    agencies.

      Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA): Funding is requested to continue
    BEA's core programs, and to: (1) extend the prototype R&D satellite
    account, funded by the National Science Foundation in 2006 and 2007,
    with annual updates and extensions to BEA's GDP and other estimates and
    eventual full incorporation into the economic accounts; (2) develop a
    more accurate measure of the health care sector in GDP and create a
    supplemental, satellite account that provides detailed and specific
    information on the expenditures of the health care industry and the
    costs of treating specific diseases; and (3) ensure the continued
    improvement of the accuracy and relevance of BEA's economic accounts
    data.
      Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): Funding is requested for the
    maintenance of BJS' core statistical programs, including: (1) criminal
    victimization statistics; (2) cybercrime data on the incidence,
    magnitude, and consequences of electronic and computer crime to
    households and businesses; (3) law enforcement data from over 3,000
    agencies on the organization and administration of police and sheriffs'
    departments; (4) nationally-representative prosecution data on
    resources, policies, and practices of local prosecutors; (5) court and
    sentencing statistics, including Federal and State case processing data;
    and (6) data on correctional populations and facilities from Federal,
    State, and local governments.
      Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): Funding is requested to maintain
    BLS' core programs, and to: 1) address the rising costs of the Current
    Population Survey (CPS) and avoid a reduction in the accuracy of CPS
    estimates both by requesting an additional appropriation and by
    reallocating funds within BLS through the elimination of lower-priority
    programs, such as the American Time Use Survey, that do not directly
    support Principal Federal Economic Indicators; (2) initiate continuous
    updating of the housing and geographic area samples in the Consumer
    Price Index (CPI), which will improve the accuracy and timeliness of the
    CPI; and (3) modernize the computing systems for monthly processing of
    the Producer Price Index and U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes.
      Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS): Funding is requested to
    develop measures of congestion and for the maintenance of BTS' core
    statistical programs, including: (1) production of data products from
    the 2007 Commodity Flow Survey, a major national benchmark survey of
    shippers; (2) release of monthly statistics on the commodities and mode
    of transportation used in trading with the United States' largest
    partners; (3) production of a core set of economic data and indicators,
    including the Transportation Services Index, multi-factor productivity
    measures, the State Transit Expenditure Survey, and the Air Travel Price
    Index; (4) release of the National Transportation Atlas Data Base, a
    compendium of national geospatial transportation data; and (5)
    dissemination of the Transportation Statistics Annual Report and other
    key publications on the national transportation system.
      Census Bureau: Funding is requested for the Census Bureau's ongoing
    economic and demographic programs and for a re-engineered 2010 Census.
    For the 2010 Census Program, funding is requested to: (1) conduct
    planning, testing, and development activities, including completion of
    dress rehearsal operations and assessments, and carry out several major
    operations for the 2010 Census, including Address Canvassing, while
    making final preparations for the remaining operations; (2) update the
    road network to a more recent vintage that includes new streets and
    roads constructed

    [[Page 42]]

    in counties that were aligned very early in the program; and (3)
    continue to conduct the American Community Survey to provide
    socioeconomic data on an ongoing basis rather than waiting for once-a-
    decade censuses, releasing data for all places with a population of
    20,000 or larger. For the Census Bureau's other economic and demographic
    programs, funding is requested to: (1) process returns for the 2007
    Economic Census and conduct more than 100 annual, quarterly, and monthly
    surveys that provide key national economic statistics; (2) create
    Internet and printed reports containing government counts, employment
    levels, and finance data for the 2007 Census of Governments; (3) operate
    the Survey of Income and Program Participation at the traditional sample
    size and incorporate improvements; and (4) maintain the accuracy and
    relevance of Current Population Survey data.
      Economic Research Service (ERS): Funding is requested to continue ERS'
    core programs, and to: (1) strengthen and enhance the ERS market
    analysis and outlook program to provide timely analyses of global
    agricultural product markets; and (2) analyze the regional impacts of
    bioenergy production and evaluate issues related to transportation
    networks, feedstock storage, marketing channels, and shifts in commodity
    production.
      Energy Information Administration (EIA): Funding is requested to
    continue ongoing EIA operations to maintain critical energy data
    coverage, analysis, and forecasting, and to: (1) enhance petroleum and
    natural gas data reliability and statistical accuracy; (2) complete
    development and begin initiating monthly ethanol and biofuels data
    collections on a national and regional basis as mandated in Section 1508
    of the Energy Policy Act of 2005; (3) combine the environmental data
    previously collected by the Steam-Electric Plant Operation and Design
    Report into two existing electric power surveys; (4) resume development
    and testing of the next generation National Energy Model to replace the
    existing National Energy Modeling System; and (5) enhance EIA's global
    oil, gas, and coal analysis and forecasting capabilities.
      National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS): Funding is requested
    to continue NASS core programs and to: (1) enhance the quality,
    precision, and detail of NASS State, regional, and national estimates to
    help ensure that they meet customer needs; (2) provide a data series on
    bioenergy production and utilization, (3) measure energy production and
    use on farms through the Census of Agriculture; (4) reduce the cyclical
    fluctuations of annual funding needs for the Census of Agriculture; (5)
    summarize and publish the 2007 Census of Agriculture, to be released in
    February 2009, and (6) begin preparation of numerous census follow-on
    studies, including a revamped Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey to
    evaluate current access to reuse water, quantities of water used, and
    costs associated with various water delivery systems.
      National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): Funding is requested
    to continue NCES' core programs and to: (1) conduct the National
    Assessment of Educational Progress, including voluntary 12th grade
    reading and mathematics assessments, in 2009; (2) conduct a new high
    school longitudinal study that will begin with a cohort of 9th graders
    in 2009 and follow them through postsecondary education and into the
    workforce; (3) conduct surveys and analyze data from international
    studies such as the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science
    Study and the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment and
    plan for new international assessments; (4) analyze data from the 2007-
    08 Schools and Staffing Survey and collect data for the Teacher Followup
    Study; and (5) conduct the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal
    Survey, which provides information on the progress of postsecondary
    students.
      National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS): Funding is requested to
    continue data collection, analysis, and dissemination activities for key
    national health data systems, including the National Vital Statistics
    System, National Health Interview Survey, National Health and Nutrition
    Examination Survey (NHANES), and National Health Care Survey; and to:
    (1) further gains in timeliness by implementing systems improvements in
    data collection and processing; (2) work on the creation and use of new
    data access tools and tutorials to ensure data are available in easily
    accessible forms; (3) use birth and death data from the States for
    tracking priority health initiatives in prevention, cancer control, out
    of wedlock births, and teenage pregnancy; (4) transition from
    International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 9-CM to ICD-10-CM code
    sets to improve comparability between mortality and morbidity data in
    the U.S. and internationally; (5) ensure availability of NHANES data on
    diet and nutrition, blood pressure, and other health indicators; and (6)
    allow the National Health Interview Survey to return to its designed
    sample of 100,000, permitting estimates for smaller populations to be
    published.
      Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES), SSA: Funding is
    requested to continue ORES' core programs, and to: (1) further modernize
    ORES's processes for developing and disseminating data from the Social
    Security Administration's major administrative data files for
    statistical purposes; (2) support outside surveys and linkage of SSA
    administrative data to surveys; (3) create a new public use file of
    administrative data on earnings histories and benefits for a sample of
    Social Security Numbers; and 4) evaluate the analytic validity of a
    synthetic data file based on data from the 1990-1993 and 1996 Survey of
    Income and Program Participation panels matched to SSA and IRS
    administrative data.
      Science Resources Statistics Division (SRS), NSF: Funding is requested
    to implement ongoing programs on the science and engineering enterprise,
    and

    [[Page 43]]

    to: (1) continue redesign and improvement activities for a broad range
    of surveys, particularly the suite of research and development surveys;
    (2) support the Science of Science and Innovation Policy initiative to
    develop the data, tools, and knowledge needed for a new science of
    science policy by enhancing the comparability, scope, and availability
    of international data; (3) implement a full-scale pilot of a redesigned
    Survey of Industrial Research and Development; (4) develop a pilot data
    collection on postdoctoral students; and (5) enhance SRS data linking,
    data extraction, and data matching activities.
      Statistics of Income Division (SOI), IRS: Funding is requested to
    continue SOI's core programs, and to: (1) continue to modernize tax data
    collection systems, particularly to more efficiently assimilate into SOI
    systems data captured from the electronic filing of tax and information
    returns; (2) examine means to better mask individual records to minimize
    the risk of reidentification in the Individual Public Use cross-section
    file; (3) undertake a feasibility study to develop an Individual Public
    Use panel data file; (4) develop statistical techniques to identify
    outliers and edit data in IRS administrative population files; and (5)
    modernize and expedite dissemination of data products and reports on the
    www.irs.gov/TaxStats website.

                      Table 4-1.  2007-2009 BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR PRINCIPAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES\1\
                                                (In millions of dollars)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                    Estimate
                                                                                   2007    -------------------------
                                                                                  Actual        2008         2009
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bureau of Economic Analysis..............................................          80           80           91

    Bureau of Justice Statistics \2\.........................................          47           49           53

    Bureau of Labor Statistics...............................................         548          544          593

    Bureau of Transportation Statistics......................................          28           27           27

    Census Bureau \3\........................................................         913         1260         2635
      Salaries and Expenses \3\..............................................         217          233          269
      Periodic Censuses and Programs.........................................         696         1027         2366

    Economic Research Service \4\............................................          75           77           82

    Energy Information Administration........................................          91           95          111

    National Agricultural Statistics Service \5\.............................         147          162          153

    National Center for Education Statistics.................................         183          192          244
      Statistics.............................................................          90           88          105
      Assessment.............................................................          88           98          130
      National Assessment Governing Board....................................           5            6            9

    National Center for Health Statistics \6\................................         107          114          125

    Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, SSA......................          15           20           16

    Science Resources Statistics Division, NSF...............................          36           36           40

    Statistics of Income Division, IRS.......................................          38           41           41
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Reflects any recissions.
    \2\ Includes funds for management and administrative costs of $12, $14, and $15 million in 2007, 2008, 2009,
      respectively that were previously displayed separately.
    \3\ Includes Mandatory Appropriations of $20 million in 2007 and $30 million in 2008 and 2009 for the Survey of
      Program Dynamics and collection of data related to the allocation to States of State Children's Health
      Insurance Program funds.
    \4\ 2007 funding assumes the reallocation of $350,000 provided in 2006 for a comprehensive report on the
      economic development and current status of the sheep industry in the United States. Funding for that purpose
      will not be needed in 2008.
    \5\ Includes funds for the periodic Census of Agriculture of $36, $52, and $39 million in 2007, 2008, and 2009,
      respectively. The FY 2009 Budget reflects a decrease of $8.7 million, due to the cyclical nature of the census
      preparations.
    \6\ All funds from the Public Health Service Evaluation Fund. Administrative costs for NCHS that previously were
      displayed as part of the NCHS budget line are now reflected in two consolidated CDC-wide budget lines for
      management and administrative costs.