A: No, the SAP does not take the place of a FOIA request. When Congress passed the Evidence Act of 2018, one of its goals was to make it easier to apply for access to the confidential data assets collected by the government’s 16 OMB recognized statistical agencies and units, with the goal of informing better policymaking. According to the statute, anyone who applies for access to restricted-use data using the SAP, therefore, must demonstrate that the project will contribute to evidence building in some way. FOIA requests, on the other hand, can be made to any federal agency and for any document, without specifying a reason.
Q: Which agencies are participating in the SAP, and how has each agency implemented it?
A: All 16 OMB recognized statistical agencies and units participate in the SAP. For questions about specific programs, datasets, or data files, applicants are asked to use the contact information included in the metadata about the asset. The owning agency or unit is the most knowledgeable about its data sources. Information about data assets that are not part of the SAP archive can be found at Data.gov, the official catalog for publicly available data from all federal agencies, or by visiting the agency’s home page.
Q: Can you explain the appeals process?
A: The SAP is required by law to include an appeals process that could potentially reverse an adverse determination. The appeals process resides within the agency that owns the data. Appeals are evaluated by three senior officials appointed by the agency and are expected to take no longer than 8 weeks.
Q: Who can or cannot apply for access to confidential data sets?
A: Reviewing whether an applicant should be granted access to confidential data through the SAP is an important part of each agency’s risk management decision process. Applicants must demonstrate that the data will be used for an exclusively statistical purpose and in a manner that complies with statutory limitations governing the data’s use. In addition, the applicant must be able to satisfy the physical and logistical requirements for access (e.g., a computing environment that can handle the purposed volume of data) and show that the project can be executed within a given timeframe. Statistical agencies and units retain the final authority to grant an applicant access to their data. Most require completion of data use, data stewardship, and confidentiality training before granting approval.
Q: Are instructions available on how to best navigate the SAP?
A: ResearchDataGov is an online portal for discovery of restricted data in the federal statistical system and houses the SAP. It contains detailed descriptions of data assets for all 16 OMB recognized statistical agencies and units. Users can search for data by topic, agency, and keywords. Questions related to the data should be directed to the owning agency, using the contact information on the page that describes the data.
Q: Do researchers with existing approvals for restricted-use data have to change what they do to access confidential data?
A: Individuals with approvals in place to use restricted-use data assets (“agents”) will not be required to submit an application with the SAP. However, they will need to submit applications via the SAP for any new projects that involve the use of restricted-use data.
Q: How is the SAP data inventory related to data.gov?
A: ResearchDataGov, where the SAP is housed, is the official portal for discovery of confidential data assets in the federal statistical system (FSS). It currently contains a data inventory and agency content pages for restricted-use data available from the 16 OMB recognized statistical agencies and units that make up the FSS. Data.gov, on the other hand, is the official catalog for publicly available data from all federal agencies, including the FSS. Data.gov is managed by the U.S. General Services Administration. Both websites were established by the Evidence Act of 2018, Data.gov in Title II and ResearchDataGov in Title III.
Q: By potentially expanding access to restricted data assets, could the SAP undermine data confidentiality?
A: Although the SAP facilitates applying for access to federal confidential data assets, it in no way relaxes the privacy protections governing restricted-use data. In fact, protecting the trust of information providers was an important goal of Title III of the Evidence Act, and the law includes several provisions to ensure that individually identifiable information would remain confidential.
Q: Where can I learn more about how confidential data may be accessed once my application is accepted?
A: Data access is determined by the owning or distributing agency and is limited to physical or virtual data enclaves. The specific access modality for each data asset can be found in the data inventory on ResearchDataGov. When your application is approved, the authorizing agency will guide you through the process of gaining access.
Q: Are any data collected via confidential surveys available without an application? How may these be discovered and accessed?
A: Many agencies that collect confidential information under the Privacy Act also release “de-identified” data under their own statutory authorities. These public use files are easily accessible and widely available; many can be downloaded from department websites. Data.gov is another good source of public data files. The catalog provides access to data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop Web and mobile applications, and design data visualizations for more than 300,000 federal data sets.
Q: What is the relationship between the SAP and the National Secure Data Service (NSDS)?
A: Both the SAP and the NSDS are part of a transformational federal effort to streamline secure researcher access to government data sets for authorized uses. The SAP provides an important gateway to the federal government’s extensive and growing catalog of restricted data assets available for evidence building, established as part of implementing the 2018 Evidence Act. The NSDS is currently a demonstration project established in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to enhance secure data access and linking across the whole of the federal government. Although the exact relationship between the SAP and the NSDS has not yet been defined, the goal is to advance both efforts to enable a seamless customer experience.
Q: How will the SAP relate to the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDCs)?
A: The SAP is an application process and not a secure data enclave like the FSRDCs. However, those seeking access to federal data through a secure data enclave like an FSRDC will apply for such access via the SAP, especially if the request is for data held by a federal statistical agency. Individuals with approvals in place to access restricted-use data assets (“agents”) will not be required to submit a new application via the SAP for projects that have already been approved. However, they will need to submit applications via the SAP for any new projects that involve the use of restricted-use data.
Q: How does the SAP relate to America’s DataHub Consortium (ADC)?
A: Both the SAP and the ADC are efforts to expand evidence building capability in a privacy-protective manner, a key goal of the Evidence Act, but they each fulfill a different need. The ADC is a partnership that brings together public and private data and research organizations to develop solutions that help build evidence—for example, the challenge of engaging more Americans in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. The SAP allows applicants to apply for access to many data assets, including those that may be used by the ADC.
Q: How do all of these things—the SAP, the FSRDCs, the ADC—come together?
A: In coordination with the Chief Statistician of the United States, all 16 OMB recognized statistical agencies and units are currently working together on multiple fronts to improve data access, modernize data privacy protections, and strengthen evidence-building capacity. The SAP is one part of this overall effort. For the first time, applicants can apply—in one place—for restricted federal data. The SAP portal also houses a metadata catalog of restricted data assets available from statistical agencies and units, where applicants can browse the nation’s inventory of restricted-use data without leaving the site.
Q: How much will the SAP cost applicants?
A: Currently, there are no fees to use the SAP, either for data discovery or to apply for access to restricted-use data. Fees may be required by individual agencies for data access.