[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]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
[[Page 52380]]
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
[[Page 52381]]
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