Governance and Partners

The NSDS is made possible through countless valuable partnerships across the data ecosystem including:

ICSP. Strategic oversight and guidance for NSDS development is provided by a subcommittee of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP). The ICSP, led by the United States Chief Statistician, is charged with implementing the federal statistical system’s vision of operating as a seamless system and working to bolster the statistical system’s role in supporting evidence-based decision-making.

S-NSDS. The ICSP’s Subcommittee on the NSDS (S-NSDS) is charged with developing a vision and creating a strategic action plan for the NSDS; developing fiscal year (FY) objectives and milestones; presenting findings and recommendations to ICSP; coordinating with stakeholders; and approving NSDS projects. For more information, see the S-NSDS charter and FYs 25-26 NSDS milestones. As of spring 2026, the S-NSDS is made up of 10 members representing 10 ICSP agencies.

NSDS Working Group. The S-NSDS is supported by an interagency NSDS Working Group. The Working Group is responsible for supporting the S-NSDS in fulfilling its chartered responsibilities and assisting with carrying out program management duties specified in the CHIPS and Science Act, as appropriate. As of spring 2026, the Working Group is made up of 12 members representing 11 federal Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units (RSAUs).

The NSDS demonstration project is being managed by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) in accordance with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. 

NCSES is an OMB-recognized statistical agency or unit (RSAU). As one of 16 RSAUs, NCSES designs, supports, and directs periodic national surveys and performs a variety of other data collections and research. NCSES manages the National Secure Data Service demonstration project and works closely with the S-NSDS and its Working Group to prototype the NSDS demonstration platform.

The CHIPS and Science Act called for the NSDS Demonstration to “engage with Federal and State agencies.”

Since 2024, NSDS representatives have conducted or participated in 112 engagements, including presentations at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM), the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology’s (FCSM) conference, and the Privacy and Public Policy Conference; meetings with federal agencies’ Data Governance Boards, senior officials, or similar groups; briefings to Congressional staffers; and many more.

NSDS’s project partners are illustrated in the graph below, which includes federal and state agencies who developed and led Demonstration projects and use cases, are actively participating in tool development, or have supported tool testing.  

In 2023, the NSDS launched its first projects and then gained a few additional collaborators in 2024. Then, in 2025, a flurry of activity brought federal statistical agencies, nonstatistical agencies, and state agencies into a range of project activities. In 2026, the NSDS onboarded more state partners into its tool development projects, and had the most statistical agencies participating to date (these numbers are current only through the first quarter of the year).