OMB Requirements
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued "Guidelines
for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility,
and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies."
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/infopoltech.html#dq) Congress
directed OMB to issue these guidelines in section 515 of the
Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal
Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554); section 515 is now commonly
referred to as the Data Quality Act.
OMB published its guidelines in interim final form in the Federal
Register on September 28, 2001 at 66 FR 49718-49725 and updated
the guidelines on February 22, 2002 at 67 FR 8452-8460. Also,
after reviewing initial agency draft guidelines, OMB issued supplementary
guidance that discussed important issues, identified noteworthy
approaches for consideration, and provided guidance on those
provisions that need to be adopted uniformly in all agency guidelines
(Memorandum from John D. Graham for the President's Management
Council, "Agency Draft Information Quality Guidelines," June
10, 2002; Memorandum from John D. Graham for the President's
Management Council, "Agency Final Information Quality Guidelines," September
5, 2002; and, Memorandum from John D. Graham for the President's
Management Council, "Executive Branch Implementation of the Information
Quality Law," October 4, 2002; ).
OMB's guidelines require Federal agencies subject to the Paperwork
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) to: (1) issue information
quality guidelines for the information the agencies disseminate;
(2) establish administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons
to seek and obtain correction of information disseminated by
the agencies on or after October 1, 2002 that does not comply
with OMB or agency guidelines; and (3) annually report to OMB
the number and nature of complaints received by the agencies
regarding agency compliance with OMB and agency guidelines and
how such complaints were resolved.
Effective Dates
OMB's guidelines stipulate that information that agencies first
disseminate on or after October 1, 2002 must comply with OMB
and agency information quality guidelines. Agency administrative
mechanisms shall apply to information that the agency disseminates
on or after October 1, 2002, regardless of when the agency first
disseminated the information.
Compliance of USDA Information
Quality Guidelines
USDA's information quality guidelines and administrative mechanisms
conform to the requirements of OMB's information quality guidelines. In
addition to revisions made in response to public comments, USDA's
guidelines include revisions to incorporate the detailed guidance
contained in OMB's supplemental guidance of June 10, 2002. USDA's
information quality guidelines adopt the definitions included
in OMB's guidelines.
Information
Quality: USDA Management Objective
In implementing these guidelines, USDA acknowledges that ensuring
the quality of information is an important management objective
that takes its place alongside other Departmental objectives,
such as ensuring the success of agency missions, observing budget
and resource priorities and restraints, and providing useful
information to the public. USDA intends to implement these
guidelines in a way that will achieve all these objectives in
a harmonious way.
Responsible Officials
USDA's Chief Information Officer is the
senior official responsible for USDA compliance with these
guidelines. The heads of USDA agencies and offices are
responsible for ensuring compliance with these departmental
guidelines by their agency or office. (See Agency
Quality of Information Guidelines to locate the Quality of Information
officials and for the USDA agencies and staff offices.)
USDA'S
Approach to Developing Quality Guidelines for the Information
Disseminated by USDA Agencies and Offices
USDA has developed general, inclusive, information quality guidelines
that apply to all types of information disseminated by USDA agencies
and offices. In addition, in accordance with OMB's guidance
for agencies to adopt specific standards of quality that are
appropriate for the various categories of information they disseminate,
USDA also has developed supplementary guidelines for major categories
of information disseminated by the department. These categories
include scientific
research information, statistical
and financial information, and information related to regulatory
activities, three categories of information that are
of particular importance in OMB's guidelines. Also, USDA
has developed supplementary guidelines for information about
the department's programs
and services, general
reference information, and information pertaining to
the organization
and administration of the Department and its agencies
and offices.
These general and supplementary information quality guidelines
apply to all USDA offices and agencies. Component agencies
and offices also may, if they so choose and as appropriate, develop
more detailed guidelines within the departmental framework for
the quality of the information that they disseminate. The
department's Economic Research Service and National Agricultural
Statistics Service are the first USDA organizations to develop
agency-specific information quality guidelines.
Use
of Web sites
USDA agencies and offices will use their Web sites to keep the
public informed about information quality on a timely basis.
Specifically, each agency and office will establish an information
quality site on its Web site. The purpose of the information
quality site will be to meaningfully inform the public about
the agency's or office's information quality practices and procedures.
The information quality site will include access to USDA's Information
Quality Guidelines, agency/office specific guidelines (if any),
and an easy-to-understand explanation of the agency's/office's
procedures regarding requests for correction. The explanation
will include instructions for filing a request, and subsequently,
an administration appeal of the agency's response to the request.
The information quality site also will contain information describing
corrections that the agency has made as a result of the correction
procedures.
Information Subject to USDA's
Information Quality Guidelines
- Except for those categories of information that are specifically
exempted from coverage (see below), these guidelines apply
to all information disseminated by USDA and USDA initiated
or sponsored dissemination of information by USDA grantees,
contractors, or cooperators on or after October 1, 2002, regardless
of when the information was first disseminated.
- These guidelines apply to all media, including printed, electronic,
or other form.
- These guidelines apply not only to information that USDA
generates, but also to information that USDA disseminates that
was provided by or obtained from outside parties and which
USDA adopts, endorses, or uses to formulate or support a regulation,
guidance, or other agency decision or position.
- Some information products released prior to October 1, 2002
continue to be used for decision-making or are relied on by
USDA agencies or offices and the public as official, authoritative,
government information. This information is, in effect, constantly
being re-disseminated and is thus subject to these Guidelines.
Previously released information products that do not meet these
criteria are considered archived information and thus are not
subject to these Guidelines.
These guidelines are not intended to be, and should not be construed
as, legally binding regulations or mandates. The guidelines
do not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or equity, by any party against the United
States, its agencies (including USDA or any USDA agency or office),
officers, or employees or any persons.
Information Not
Subject to USDA's Information Quality Guidelines
Most of the categories of information listed below are exempted
from coverage by OMB's guidelines. In the case of internal
manuals and material presented to Congress that has been disseminated
elsewhere, USDA is adding categories of information that the
OMB guidelines do not specifically exempt. The following
categories of information are not subject to USDA's Information
Quality Guidelines.
- Views or opinions, where the presentation makes it clear
that what is being offered is someone's opinion rather than
fact.
- Dissemination of information by Federal employees and recipients
of grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts:
- These Guidelines do not apply to information disseminated
by recipients of grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts
unless a USDA agency or office represents the information as,
or uses the information in support of, an official agency position;
or the grantee, cooperator, or contractor is disseminating
the information at the request of the agency; or the grant
or agreement requires USDA agency approval of dissemination
of the information.
- These Guidelines do not apply to dissemination of any type
of research by Federal employees and recipients of USDA grants,
cooperative agreements, or contracts where the researcher,
not USDA, decides whether and how to communicate and publish
the research, does so in the same manner as his or her academic
colleagues, and disseminates the research in a manner that
indicates that the research does not represent USDA's official
position (for example, by including an appropriate disclaimer). Distribution
of research in this manner is not subject to these Guidelines
even if USDA retains ownership or other intellectual property
rights because the Federal Government paid for the research.
- Information for which distribution is intended to be limited
to government employees, agency contractors, or grantees.
- Information that is intended only for intra-agency or inter-agency
use or sharing of government information, unless the receiving
agency disseminates the information to the public.
- Responses to requests for agency records under the Freedom
of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Federal Advisory Committee
Act, or other similar law.
- Press releases, fact sheets, press conferences, or similar
communications in any medium that announce, support the announcement,
or give public notice of information that USDA has disseminated
elsewhere.
- Public filings, unless USDA disseminates the information
to the public in a manner that suggests that USDA endorses
or adopts the information or indicates in its dissemination
that the agency is using the information to formulate or support
a regulation, guidance, or other decision or position.
- Correspondence with individuals, persons, or entities (regardless
of media, such as electronic mail).
- Subpoenas or adjudicative processes. Excluded from
the scope of these Guidelines are the findings and determinations
that USDA makes in the course of adjudications involving specific
parties. The exemption for adjudications is limited to
adjudications that provide an opportunity to contest information
quality in a timely manner. Because there are well-established
procedural safeguards and rights to address the quality of
factual allegations and adjudicatory decisions, and to provide
persons with an opportunity to contest decisions, these Guidelines
do not impose any additional requirements on USDA during adjudicative
proceedings and do not provide parties to such adjudicative
proceedings any additional rights of challenge or appeal.
- Archival information disseminated by USDA libraries or other
similar USDA information repositories (e.g., inactive or historical
materials in USDA libraries and other data collections).
- Hyperlinks from USDA Web sites to information that others
outside USDA disseminate.
- Information presented to Congress as part of the legislative
or oversight processes (e.g., testimony of USDA officials,
information or drafting assistance provided to Congress in
connection with pending or proposed legislation) that the agency
has already disseminated to the public in some other way.
- Procedural, operational, policy, and internal manuals prepared
for the management and operations of USDA that are not primarily
intended for public distribution.
USDA's
Definition of Influential Scientific, Financial,
or Statistical Information
OMB's guidelines define "influential" information as information
that the agency reasonably can determine will have or does have
a clear and substantial impact on important public policies or
important private sector decisions. The guidelines assign
to each agency the task of clarifying this term in ways appropriate
to the agency and its various programs.
A clear and substantial impact is one that has a high probability
of occurring. If it is merely arguable that an impact will
occur, or if it is a close judgment call, then the impact is
probably not clear and substantial. The impact must be
on "important" public policy or private sector decisions. Even
if information has a clear and substantial impact, it is not
influential if the impact is not on a public or private decision
that is important to policy, economic, or other decisions. The
definition applies to "information" itself, not to decisions
that the information may support. Even if a decision or
action by a USDA agency or office is itself very important, a
particular piece of information supporting it may or may not
be "influential."
In rulemaking, influential information is scientific, financial,
or statistical information that will have a clear and substantial
impact on the resolution of one or more key issues in an economically
significant rulemaking, as that term is defined in Executive
Order 12866. Executive Order 12866 defines an economically
significant rulemaking as one that is likely to result in a rule
that may have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million
or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a
sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment,
public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments
or communities. The reference to key issues on significant
rules reflects the "important" public policy language of the
guidelines.
In non-rulemaking contexts, USDA agencies and offices will consider
two factors-breadth and intensity-in determining whether scientific,
financial, or statistical information is influential. Every
decision USDA makes based on disseminated information is important
to someone. That does not mean that disseminated information
used for each decision is influential, as the term is
used in these guidelines. In determining whether information
is influential, USDA agencies and offices should consider
whether the information affects a broad range of parties. Information
that affects a broad, rather than a narrow, range of parties
(e.g., an entire industry or a significant part of an industry,
as opposed to a single company) is more likely to be influential. USDA
agencies and offices also will consider whether the information
has an intense impact. Information that has a low cost
or modest impact on affected parties is less likely to be influential than
information that can have a very costly or crucial impact. Information
that has an intense impact on a broad range of parties should
be regarded as influential. Information that affects
a broad range of parties, with a low-intensity impact, or information
that affects a narrow range of parties, with a high intensity
impact, likely is not influential.
USDA agencies and offices may designate certain classes of scientific,
statistical, or financial information as "influential" or not
in the context of their specific programs. Absent such
designations, USDA agencies and offices will determine whether
scientific, statistical, or financial information is influential on
a case-by-case basis, using the principles articulated in these
guidelines.
The "influential" designation is intended to be applied to scientific,
statistical, or financial information only when clearly appropriate.
USDA agencies and offices should not designate scientific, statistical,
or financial information as influential on a regular or
routine basis.
http://www.ocio.usda.gov/qi_guide/background.html
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