[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 17, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52379-52381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22490]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Docket Number USBC-2018-0017]


Request for Comments on the Cross-Agency Priority Goal: 
Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset: Phase 2

AGENCY: Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: In March 2018, President Trump launched the President's 
Management Agenda (PMA). It lays out a long-term vision for modernizing 
the Federal Government in key areas that will improve the ability of 
agencies to deliver mission outcomes, provide excellent service, and 
effectively steward taxpayer dollars on behalf of the American people. 
The PMA established a Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal of Leveraging 
Data as a Strategic Asset with an intended purpose of guiding 
development of a comprehensive long-term Federal Data

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Strategy to grow the economy, increase the effectiveness of the Federal 
Government, facilitate oversight, and promote transparency (https://www.performance.gov/CAP/CAP_goal_2.html). This notice seeks comment on 
practices for Federal agencies to adopt in order to achieve this CAP 
goal.
    A subsequent Request for Comments to be published in January 2019 
will seek input on a year-one action plan for implementing the Federal 
Data Strategy.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by November 16, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments through either the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal or the Federal Data Strategy website at https://strategy.data.gov. Include the Docket ID and the phrase ``Leveraging 
Data as a Strategic Asset Phase 2 Comments'' at the beginning of your 
comments. Also indicate which questions described in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION of this notice are addressed in your comments. Comments 
will not be accepted by fax or paper delivery.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically under Docket ID USBC-2018-0017. 
Information on using regulations.gov, including instructions for 
accessing documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is 
available on the site under ``How to Use This Site.''
     Privacy Note: Comments and information submitted in 
response to this notice may be made available to the public through 
relevant websites. Therefore, commenters should only include in their 
comments information that they wish to make publicly available on the 
internet. Note that responses to this public comment request containing 
any routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will 
be treated as public comments that may be made available to the public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Hawk, Economist, U.S. Census 
Bureau, [email protected] or 301-763-0654.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose

    The Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, performing the 
nonexclusive duties and functions of the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. 
Department of Commerce, along with the Federal Chief Information 
Officer, the Chief Statistician of the United States, and executives 
from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the White House Office 
of Science and Technology Policy, is charged with developing a 
comprehensive Federal Data Strategy under the President's Management 
Agenda CAP goal of Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset. Under this 
goal, the Federal Government should leverage program, statistical, and 
mission-support data as a strategic asset to grow the economy, increase 
the effectiveness of the Federal Government, facilitate oversight, and 
promote transparency. The Federal Government's role in collecting and 
disseminating data is rooted in the U.S. Constitution. Advances in 
technology have transformed the production and use of data across 
society, business, and government. The Federal Government needs a 
robust, integrated approach to creating, acquiring, using, and 
disseminating data to deliver on mission, serve customers, and steward 
resources while respecting privacy and confidentiality.
    The Federal Data Strategy is currently under development and, by 
the spring of 2019, will set forth principles, practices, and a year-
one action plan to deliver a more consistent approach to federal data 
stewardship, access, and use. The principles are a framework for 
agencies, while the practices are actionable, yet aspirational, goals 
for a 5- to 10-year time horizon, and the action steps will be 
strategically chosen activities for agencies to implement the practices 
in any given year. The year-one action plan, with initial action steps, 
will begin in 2019 and will guide agencies in their data stewardship 
and information management responsibilities.
    Stakeholder engagement is critical to developing a viable and 
sustainable Federal Data Strategy. This Federal Register Notice is the 
second of three notices and requests for comment to seek public input 
on the development of the strategy. The Department of Commerce 
published the first of these notices in the Federal Register (83 FR 
30113) on June 27, 2018. The notice included a set of ten draft 
principles for a comprehensive data strategy and asked the public to 
``review and provide feedback on their clarity, appropriateness, 
completeness, and potential duplications.'' Comments were also 
requested on practices related to key aspects of the Federal Data 
Strategy, on mechanisms for stakeholder engagement, and on use cases, 
or real-world examples, that leverage Federal Government data for the 
benefit of the public. Comments were also submitted through the Federal 
Data Strategy website. A total of 237 comments were received, with 
almost 100 comments related to the draft principles. Based on comments 
received, the data strategy team revised the principles, which are 
available at https://strategy.data.gov.
    This request for comments solicits stakeholder feedback on the next 
products in the development of the federal data strategy: draft 
practices for the federal data strategy. Feedback will also be accepted 
through the Federal Data Strategy website at https://strategy.data.gov.

Request for Comments

    The draft practices are based on the work of the four Federal Data 
Strategy working groups, each centered on a specific strategic area: 
Enterprise Data Governance; Decision Making and Accountability; Access, 
Use, and Augmentation; and Commercialization, Innovation, and Public 
Use. The working groups are teams of approximately 10 Federal Data 
Fellows, selected for their multidisciplinary experience and expertise 
in federal data.
    The working groups conducted research on practices, reviewed 
relevant Federal policies, such as OMB Circular A-130, Managing 
Information as a Strategic Resource, and incorporated public and agency 
comments, including information about use cases provided in response to 
the June 27 Federal Register Notice (83 FR 30113). The work of the 
separate groups was synthesized into 47 draft practices, which are 
available at https://strategy.data.gov.
    The Federal Data Strategy will apply to all Executive Branch 
agencies with responsibilities for information management and will 
guide them in data collection and stewardship. The strategy will be a 
point of guidance for actions across the data lifecycle and will inform 
and guide actions for the full spectrum of data assets, including:
     Program data: Data generated in carrying out the 
administration of a government program or mission, such as processing 
benefit applications, tracking services received, monitoring the 
weather, or mapping oceans. These data can relate to individuals, 
businesses, and other institutions, as well as the environment and 
scientific phenomena.
     Statistical data: Data used to describe, estimate, or 
analyze the characteristics and activities of groups, without 
identifying the individuals or organizations that constitute such 
groups, such as for research and evaluation.
     Mission-support data: Program data focused on internal 
government operations, such as government spending, performance, or 
personnel data, that are common across government.
    The practices are designed to inform agency actions on a regular 
basis, to be

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continually relevant, and to be sufficiently general so as to broadly 
apply at all federal agencies and across all missions. The practices 
represent aspirational goals that, when fully realized, will enable 
agencies, practitioners, and policymakers to improve the government's 
approach to data stewardship and leverage data to create value.
    The draft practices are grouped according to five broad objectives 
that begin to operationalize five corresponding objectives.

 Govern and Manage Data as a Strategic Asset
 Protect and Secure Data
 Promote Efficient Use of Data Assets
 Build a Culture that Values Data as an Asset
 Honor Stakeholder Input and Leverage Partners

    In addition to applying across government, the strategy and its 
practices apply across the data lifecycle, which can be depicted in six 
stages:
    1. Creation, collection, or acquisition;
    2. processing;
    3. access;
    4. use;
    5. dissemination; and
    6. storage and disposition.
    See https://strategy.data.gov for more information about how the 
draft practices pertain to each of those stages.
    The draft practices will be revised and further developed in 
response to public and agency comments. Specifically, comments are 
requested on the following:
    1. What framework(s) for organizing or classifying the practices 
would be most useful to Federal practitioners and other key 
stakeholders? For example, should they be classified according to 
whether they pertain to data creation, collection, or acquisition; 
processing; access; use; dissemination; and storage and disposition?
    2. List and describe any additional practices relevant to data 
creation, collection, acquisition, processing, access, use, 
dissemination, storage, and disposition that are not included in the 
draft practices.
    3. Identify any draft practices that should be omitted and explain 
why.
    4. Provide any necessary edits to the practices to ensure that they 
effectively identify objectives, outcomes, or goals and are helpful to 
a practitioners and data policymakers.
    5. Please provide examples of how Federal, state, local, or tribal 
government agencies have successfully implemented a particular 
practice.
    6. Please provide specific action steps that should be associated 
with a particular practice.
    For guidance in proposing action steps, use the following as 
examples of specific practices and associated action steps. These 
examples are provided for guidance only.

 Practice: Prioritize Data Security
Example Action Steps

    1. Leverage existing standards for comprehensive and high quality 
data management.
    2. Define, implement, and maintain formal expectations throughout 
government for data oversight and transparency.
 Practice: Connect Federal Spending to Outcomes
Example Action Steps

    1. Publish interactive reports with spending, performance, and 
mission-support data that enable the public to interact with the data 
and create customizable tables and report. These interactive charts and 
graphics should be embedded in Federal websites such as USAspending.gov 
and performance.gov.
    2. Standardize reporting data for federal grants to help make the 
data more accessible and useful.

Guidance for Submitting Documents

    This guidance for submitting documents is offered to facilitate the 
analysis and full consideration of the comments. If responding on 
behalf of an organization or agency, please include the name and 
address of your institution or affiliation, and your name, title, email 
addresses, and telephone number. No specific information about you is 
required, other than that necessary for self-identification, for full 
consideration of the comment.
    Comments should be informative for the Federal Data Strategy. 
Comments on issues not related to the strategy will not be considered.
    Please submit comments through the Federal Register portal at 
www.regulations.gov or through the Federal Data Strategy website at 
https://strategy.data.gov. Please submit your comment once using your 
preferred feedback platform.
    Please specify the number of the question to which your comment 
applies. If possible, structure your comments on specific practices so 
that they refer to the number of the relevant practice. If you have 
multiple comments on one practice, please organize them together by 
practice number.
    If possible, provide comments in a Microsoft Word or plain text 
file and avoid using footnotes, end notes, images, graphics, or tables. 
If you refer to reference material (documents, websites, research), 
please quote or paraphrase the specific content from referenced 
material.

    Dated: October 10, 2018.
Karen Dunn Kelley,
Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Performing the Nonexclusive 
Duties and Functions of the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Department of 
Commerce.
[FR Doc. 2018-22490 Filed 10-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P