Legislation and Policy
The SAP fulfills Section 3583 of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (also referred to as the Evidence Act), which requires statistical agencies and units to do the following:
- Develop and adopt a standard application form, to be used for all applications to access federal confidential data
- Develop common criteria to approve or deny applications
- Implement standard time frames for reviewing applications
- Implement appeals processes
- Implement standards for transparency on applications to access data
Following the passage of the Evidence Act, the OMB published a policy memorandum, Establishment of Standard Application Process Requirements on Recognized Statistical Agencies or Units (M-23-04). This policy memorandum outlines application review time frames, common review criteria, transparency standards, and other SAP process requirements.
Development of the SAP
The SAP was developed over three project phases, as pictured in the timeline below.
Figure 2. Timeline of the development of the SAP
Development of a Pilot Portal (2019–21)
- The Evidence Act was signed into law in 2019.
- Seven federal statistical agencies collaborated to develop a pilot data catalog and application.
- Interviews and discussions were held with different stakeholder groups (e.g., data users, data owners).
- A pilot portal went live in December 2019 and sunsetted in 2021, as work began on the full portal.
- Read the SAP Phase 1 Lessons Learned Report to learn more.
Launch of the SAP Portal (2021–22)
- Sixteen federal statistical agencies and units collaborated to form interagency working groups and develop SAP portal technical requirements, draft policy, and conduct stakeholder outreach.
- The SAP Data Catalog went live in February 2022.
- The SAP policy memorandum was released by OMB in December 2022, and the SAP portal began accepting applications.
- Read the SAP Phase 2 Lessons Learned Report (310 KB) to learn more.
Continuous Improvement (2023–Present)
- Phase 3 focuses on maintenance and improvement of the SAP.
- The SAP Data Catalog is regularly updated to include new data as they become available.
- New features and functionality are made available in the SAP portal, based on user feedback.
- Read the SAP annual reports to learn more about the achievements and goals for each calendar year.