To qualify for and receive a restricted-use data license, applicants must designate a Principal Project Officer (PPO), Senior Official (SO), and Systems Security Officer (SSO). These persons will sign the required documents for the license.
The PPO is responsible for the day-to-day operations involving the requested data. Academic applicants must have the rank of post-doctoral fellow or above to serve as the PPO. Visiting professors or scholars cannot be a PPO. Applicants in research laboratories or analytic consulting firms must have the rank of research associate or above to serve as a PPO.
Each application must have the support of a SO who has the legal authority to sign the license (contract) on behalf of the institution or organization to bind the organization to the terms of the license. To find out who your SO would be, contact your grant/contract office or sponsored projects office.
Each application must have a SSO to oversee the security of the data. The SSO must be a full-time employee of the institution or organization that is applying. Students cannot serve as the SSO. The PPO can serve as the SSO.
You may designate up to seven professional/technical and support staff who will access the restricted-use data. The PPO is counted as one of these seven staff persons. (Note: If you need to designate more than seven staff, please send a request to the IES Data Security Program with an indication of the number of users you are requesting and the justification for that number: IESData.Security@ed.gov)
Applicants must read the Restricted-use Data Procedures Manual prior to submitting the application. This manual specifies required procedures and details the security requirements.
To proceed with a license application, the PPO must Submit a Formal Request, and then submit the following three types of documents:
To complete your application, please mail:
To the IES Data Security Office, at:
If approved, you will receive the following information: