[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14682-14684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07172]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and 
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators. Timing of Public 
Comments by Employees of the Executive Branch

AGENCY: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President.

ACTION: Notice of solicitation of comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Under the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 and the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (``the PRA''), the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) issues a request for comments on the continued 
relevance of one provision within Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: 
Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic 
Indicators (50 FR 38932, Sep. 25, 1985) (``Directive No. 3''). 
Directive No. 3 remains a robust, comprehensive source of guidance for 
statistical series produced by Federal statistical agencies and 
recognized statistical units. The government and private sector widely 
watch and heavily rely upon those statistical series as indicators of 
the current condition and direction of the economy. The procedures in 
Directive No. 3, published in 1985, were designed to ensure equitable, 
policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination of Principal 
Federal Economic Indicators (``PFEIs''). The goals of Directive No. 3 
remain sound, and changing those overall goals is not the subject of 
this notice; however, advances in information dissemination technology 
lead OMB to seek comment on the continued relevance of the provision 
that prohibits employees of the Executive Branch from commenting 
publicly about the release of PFEIs until at least one hour following 
their release. For example, in addition to more traditional means of 
dissemination (e.g., newspaper or radio), agencies now disseminate 
their data releases to the public through the internet, including on 
their own websites, allowing instantaneous and equitable access to the 
releases. In particular, OMB seeks comment on whether advances in 
information dissemination technology since Directive No. 3's issuance 
in 1985 could provide for meeting the goals of Directive No. 3 to 
ensure equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination 
of PFEIs under a shorter time delay, including no time delay at all.
    Additional discussion of the request for public comment may be 
found in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
    Electronic Availability: This notice is available on the internet 
on the OMB website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/. Federal Register 
notices are also available electronically at https://www.federalregister.gov/.

DATES: To ensure consideration of comments on this Notice, they must be 
received no later than 60 days from the publication date of this 
notice. Because of delays in the receipt of regular mail related to 
security screening, respondents are encouraged to send comments 
electronically (see ADDRESSES, below).

ADDRESSES: Comments may be addressed to: Nancy Potok, Chief 
Statistician, Office of Management and Budget, fax number (202) 395-
7245. Email comments may be sent to [email protected], 
with the subject ``Directive No. 3.'' Alternatively, comments may be 
sent via www.regulations.gov--a Federal E-Government website that 
allows the public to find, review, and submit comments on documents 
that agencies have published in the Federal Register and that are open 
for comment. Simply type ``OMB-2019-0001'' (in quotes) in the Comment 
or Submission search box, click Go, and follow the instructions for 
submitting comments. Comments received by the date specified above will 
be included as part of the official record.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public through relevant websites. For this reason, please do not 
include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as 
sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send 
an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket. 
Please 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

[[Page 14683]]

the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this request for 
comments, contact Kerrie Leslie, Office of Management and Budget, 9215 
New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, telephone (202) 
395-1093, email [email protected] with the subject 
``More Info: Directive No. 3.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The Nation relies on the flow of 
relevant, accurate, timely, reliable, and objective statistics to 
support the decisions of governments, businesses, individuals, 
households, and other organizations. Federal statistical agencies 
release many of the statistics available about the United States' 
economy, population, natural resources, environment, and public and 
private institutions. It is the responsibility of Federal agencies 
engaging in statistical work to support the quality and accessibility 
of the Federal statistical information our Nation uses to monitor and 
assess performance, progress, and needs. In its role as coordinator of 
the Federal statistical system under the PRA, OMB, among other 
responsibilities, is required to ensure the efficiency and 
effectiveness of the system. A key method OMB uses to achieve this 
responsibility is the promulgation, maintenance, and oversight of 
Government-wide principles, policies, standards, and guidelines 
concerning the development, presentation, and dissemination of 
statistical products.
    OMB's Statistical Policy Directive Nos. 3 and 4 are designed to 
preserve and enhance the objectivity and transparency, in fact and in 
perception, of the processes used to release and disseminate the 
statistical products of Federal statistical agencies. The procedures in 
these directives are intended to ensure that statistical data releases 
adhere to data quality standards through equitable, policy-neutral, and 
timely release of information to the general public.
    The preamble to Statistical Policy Directive No. 4 (``Directive No. 
4'') summarizes the history of Directive No. 3 as well as the long-
standing concern about the need to maintain public confidence in the 
objectivity of Federal statistics. For example, in 1962, the 
President's Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment 
Statistics, stated: \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ ``Measuring Employment and Unemployment.'' U.S. President's 
Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics. 
Transmitted September 27, 1962. p20.

    The need to publish the information in a nonpolitical context 
cannot be overemphasized. * * * a sharper line should be drawn 
between the release of the statistics and their accompanying 
explanation and analysis, on the one hand, and the more general type 
of policy-oriented comment which is a function of the official 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
responsible for policy making, on the other.

    In 1971, the Administration was widely criticized for the way it 
publicly characterized some Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment 
data at the time of their release. In response, the Congress instituted 
the monthly Joint Economic Committee hearings on the unemployment rate, 
and OMB issued Directive No. 3 to provide guidance to Executive branch 
agencies on the compilation and release of PFEIs. Directive No. 3 
provides for the designation of statistical series that provide timely 
measures of economic activity as Principal Economic Indicators, and 
requires prompt but orderly release of such indicators. The stated 
purposes of Directive No. 3 are to preserve the time value of the 
economic indicators, strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy, 
provide for periodic evaluation of each indicator, prevent early access 
to information that may affect financial and commodity markets, and 
preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by 
statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials. 
Thus, Directive No. 3 is designed to promote public confidence in 
Federal statistics and in the system responsible for their production, 
as well as trust in the purely statistical basis of PFEIs used in the 
Federal Government's policy decisions.
    Since OMB's publication of Directive No. 3, this theme and the 
importance of OMB's role in implementation has been reinforced. In 
1995, the Congress reauthorized the PRA, including OMB's responsibility 
for coordination of the Federal statistical system to ensure the 
integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of 
information collected for statistical purposes. In December 2000, the 
Congress passed and the President signed into law what has come to be 
known as the Information Quality Act (44 U.S.C. 3516 note), which 
directed OMB to issue Government-wide information quality guidelines to 
ensure the ``quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity'' of all 
information, including statistical information, disseminated by Federal 
agencies.
    In 2005, the National Research Council (``NRC'') of the National 
Academy of Sciences \2\ stated that for Federal Statistical Agencies to 
demonstrate their credibility, they:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ National Research Council. 2005. Principles and Practices 
for a Federal Statistical Agency: Third Edition. Washington, DC: The 
National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11252.

* * * must be, and must be perceived to be, free of political 
interference and policy advocacy. * * * Without the credibility that 
comes from a strong degree of independence, users may lose trust in 
the accuracy and objectivity of the agency's data, and data 
providers may become less willing to cooperate with agency requests. 
* * * [A statistical agency] must be impartial and avoid even the 
appearance that its collection, analysis, and reporting processes 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
might be manipulated for political purposes. * * *

    In 2014, consistent with these comments by the NRC, as well as 
those of the Government Accountability Office's report entitled Data 
Quality: Expanded Use of Key Dissemination Practices Would Further 
Safeguard the Integrity of Federal Statistical Data (GAO-06-607), OMB 
issued Statistical Policy Directive No. 1: Fundamental Responsibilities 
of Federal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Statistical Units (79 FR 
71610, Dec. 2, 2014). Further, in January 2019, Congress passed the 
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, which in 
section 3563 of title 44 codified the responsibilities of statistical 
agencies and units subject to section 3563 to:

* * * ``(A) produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical 
information;
 ``(B) conduct credible and accurate statistical activities;
 ``(C) conduct objective statistical activities; and
``(D) protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the 
confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses. * 
* *

    Dissemination of PFEIs must continue to adhere to these statutory 
requirements. However, advances in information dissemination technology 
may provide for meeting these requirements and the goals outlined in 
Directive No. 3 in different procedural ways than when Directive No. 3 
was issued in 1985. In particular, the internet has, for decades, 
provided broader, timelier dissemination of information to the public 
than more historic means of dissemination (e.g., newspaper or radio), 
as well as provided for attribution of the information to particular 
entities. Federal Statistical Agencies \3\ have long had their own

[[Page 14684]]

websites, providing a platform on which to disseminate their data 
releases and policy-neutral analysis, and, in many cases, also have 
other ways on the internet, such as social media accounts, to 
disseminate their data releases and policy-neutral analysis. In short, 
modern forms of dissemination, being more speedy and comprehensive, may 
reduce the need for such a long time period between the release of 
PFEIs, and policy comment on them by employees of the Executive Branch.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ A Federal Statistical Agency is an agency or organizational 
unit of the Executive Branch whose activities are predominantly the 
collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for 
statistical purposes. See 44 U.S.C. 3561(11).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Request for Comments: The full text of Directive No. 3, as issued 
in 1985, is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/assets/OMB/inforeg/statpolicy/dir_3_fr_09251985.pdf. This notice requests comment on the continued 
relevance of the provision of Directive No. 3 that prohibits public 
comment by employees of the Executive Branch from speaking about the 
release until at least one hour following the release of PFEIs. In 
particular, OMB seeks comment on whether advances in information 
dissemination technology since Directive No. 3's issuance in 1985 could 
provide for meeting the goals of Directive No. 3 to ensure equitable, 
policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination of PFEIs under a 
shorter time delay, including no time delay at all.
    The text relevant to the specified provision for comment appears 
within the last paragraph of Section 5. For ease of review, the 
abbreviated text of Section 5 is provided below, and the text 
describing the current limitation on Executive Branch employees is 
provided in bolded text.

    5. Release Procedure. * * * Except for the authorized 
distribution described in this section, agencies shall ensure that 
no information or data estimates are released before the official 
release time.
    The agency will provide prerelease information to the President, 
through the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, as soon as 
it is available. The agency may grant others prerelease access only 
under the following conditions:
    (a) The agency head must establish whatever security 
arrangements are necessary and impose whatever conditions on the 
granting of access are necessary to ensure that there is no 
unauthorized dissemination or use.
    (b) The agency head shall ensure that any person granted access 
has been fully informed of and agreed to these conditions.
 (c) Any prerelease of information under an embargo shall not 
precede the official release time by more than 30 minutes.
 (d) In all cases, prerelease access shall precede the official 
release time only to the extent necessary for an orderly review of 
the data.
 All employees of the Executive Branch who receive prerelease 
distribution of information and data estimates as authorized above 
are responsible for assuring that there is no release prior to the 
official release time. Except for members of the staff of the agency 
issuing the principal economic indicator who have been designated by 
the agency head to provide technical explanations of the data, 
employees of the Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the 
data until at least one hour after the official release time.

Any changes to the text from Section 5 would neither affect nor replace 
any of the other standards and guidelines articulated in Directive No. 
3.
    OMB seeks comments from all interested parties, including data 
users, businesses, and the media, on the continued relevance of the 
one-hour delay identified in the provision that ``employees of the 
Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the data until at least 
one hour after the official release time.'' In particular, OMB seeks 
comment about maintaining the one-hour delay, as well as reducing the 
time duration of the delay to some amount less than one hour, including 
consideration of the option of eliminating the delay entirely.

Dominic Mancini,
Deputy Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2019-07172 Filed 4-10-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3110-01-P