Access Board Information Quality Guidelines 10/1/02
Introduction
1. Why are these guidelines issued?
Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal
Year 2001 (PL 106-554) requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to
issue government-wide guidelines and Federal agencies to issue their own
guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and
integrity of information they disseminate. Section 515 also requires Federal
agencies to establish a complaint process so the public can request the
correction of information that does not comply with the OMB or agency
guidelines; and to periodically report on the number, nature, and disposition of
complaints received. The corrected version of the
OMB guidelines
were published in the Federal Register on February 22, 2002 (67 FR 8452).
The Access Board issued these guidelines to comply with section 515 and the OMB
guidelines. The Access Board may amend these guidelines in the future based on
its experience with implementing the guidelines and changes in the OMB
guidelines. These guidelines are intended only to improve the internal
management of the Access Board and do not create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity, by any party against
the United States, its agencies, its officers or employees, or any other person.
Scope
2. What does “information” mean?
“Information” means any communication or representation of knowledge such as
facts or data, in any medium or form, including print, electronic, or
audiovisual forms.
3. What information is covered by these guidelines?
These guidelines apply to information the Access Board disseminates to the
public. These guidelines apply not only to information the Access Board
develops, but also to information other persons develop if:
4. What information is not covered by these guidelines?
These guidelines do not apply to:
Quality Performance Goals
5. What are the Access Board’s quality performance goals?
The Access Board strives to achieve these quality performance goals:
6. How do the quality performance goals apply to
scientific, financial, or statistical information?
Scientific, financial, or statistical information will be developed using sound
research and statistical methods, and the information will be transparent.
Transparency means the original and supporting data, methods, models,
assumptions, outcomes, and error sources affecting data quality will be
identified and disclosed to the extent possible, consistent with privacy, trade
secrets, intellectual property, and other confidentiality protections.
Influential scientific, financial, or statistical information will provide a
high degree of transparency to facilitate reproducibility by qualified persons.
Original and supporting data should be capable of being substantially reproduced
according to commonly accepted scientific, financial, or statistical methods.
Independent analysis of original and supporting data using identical methods
should generate similar analytic results, subject to an acceptable degree of
error or imprecision. Where confidentiality protections prevent the disclosure
of data and methods, especially rigorous robustness checks will be applied to
analytic results, and the checks undertaken will be documented. In all cases,
specific data sources, quantitative methods, and assumptions will be disclosed.
Scientific, financial, or statistical information is influential if the agency
can reasonably determine that dissemination of the information will have or does
have a clear and substantial impact on important public policies or important
private sector decisions. In rulemaking, scientific, financial, or statistical
information is influential if the information can reasonably be regarded as
outcome determinative with respect to one or more key issues in an economically
significant regulatory action, as that term is defined in Executive Order 12866.
7. How are the quality performance goals implemented?
The Access Board will implement the quality performance goals in every step of
the development and dissemination of information. The Access Board will conduct
a pre-dissemination review of all information first disseminated on or after
October 1, 2002 to ensure the quality performance goals are met. The Access
Board may also request other persons who have a substantial interest in the
information to review the information prior to its dissemination. All
information first disseminated on or after October 1, 2002 will include the
following notice: “This information has been developed and reviewed in
accordance with the Access Board’s information quality guidelines (www.access-board.gov/infoquality.htm).”
Complaints
8. Who may file a complaint?
Any person who is affected by information disseminated by the Access Board on or
after October 1, 2002, regardless of when the information was first
disseminated, may file a complaint to request the correction of information that
does not comply with the Access Board’s and OMB’s information quality
guidelines. The complaint must clearly state that it is a “request for
correction of information under the Access Board’s and OMB’s information quality
guidelines.” Additional procedures described in number 12 below apply to persons
who file complaints regarding the quality of information disseminated for public
comment during rulemaking.
9. Where must complaints be submitted?
Complaints must be submitted in writing by letter, fax or e-mail to the Deputy
General Counsel, Access Board, 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC
2004-1111. Fax number: 202-272-0081. E-mail address:
stewart@access-board.gov. The
Deputy General Counsel is responsible for reviewing complaints and making a
decision for the agency.
10. What information must persons filing a complaint provide?
Persons filing a complaint must provide:
Persons filing a complaint have the burden of proof to
demonstrate that the information does not comply with the Access Board’s and
OMB’s information quality guidelines and that correction is necessary. Persons
who submit information to the Access Board and request the Access Board to adopt
or use the information, must demonstrate that the information complies with the
Access Board’s and OMB’s information quality guidelines.
11. When and how will the Deputy General Counsel respond to complaints?
The Deputy General Counsel ordinarily will respond to complaints within 45
calendar days of receipt. If a complaint requires more than 45 calendar days to
resolve, the Deputy General Counsel will inform the person who filed the
complaint that more time is required and give an estimated decision date. The
Deputy General Counsel will respond to each complaint in writing and explain the
agency’s decision. If the Deputy General Counsel determines that the information
does not comply with the Access Board’s and OMB’s information quality
guidelines, the response will describe what action, if any, will be taken to
correct the information. The Deputy General Counsel will consider the nature and
timeliness of the information involved and such factors as the significance of
the correction on the use of the information, the magnitude of the correction,
and the cost of the correction when determining whether and how the agency will
correct the information.
12. How will the Deputy General Counsel treat complaints regarding the
quality of information disseminated for public comment during rulemaking?
When the Access Board issues a notice of proposed rulemaking or a notice of
availability of a draft rule for public comment, the preamble to proposed rule
or draft rule typically describes the basis for the proposed or draft regulatory
provisions, which may include technical or research studies. The documents also
typically include a summary of the analyses performed under Executive Order
12866: Regulatory Planning and Review, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, and other
applicable laws. The full text of the analyses are made available on the Access
Board’s website. The Access Board disseminates the documents to solicit comments
from interested persons regarding the proposed or draft regulatory provisions
and the related information described in the documents. Persons who are directly
interested in the rulemaking and are concerned about the quality of information
disseminated for public comment during rulemaking must file complaints before
the public comment period closes. The Deputy General Counsel ordinarily will
treat complaints regarding the quality of information disseminated for public
comment during rulemaking as comments, and the Access Board will respond to the
complaints in the subsequent rulemaking document. The Deputy General Counsel
will not respond to each complaint separately as described in number 11 above,
unless there is good cause for a separate response such as where the complaint
demonstrates actual harm resulting from dissemination of the information and an
earlier response is necessary; or where the complaint is filed by a person who
is not directly interested in the rulemaking but is affected by the information,
and the person did not become aware of the information until after the comment
period or the rulemaking ended.
13. Can a person who disagrees with the Deputy General Counsel’s decision
request reconsideration of the decision?
If you disagree with the Deputy General Counsel’s decision, you have 15 calendar
days from receipt of the decision to file a request for reconsideration with the
General Counsel. Requests for reconsideration must include specific reasons why
the decision of the Deputy General Counsel should be modified or reversed. The
General Counsel will respond in writing within 45 days of the receipt of the
request and will determine whether an error exists and a correction is warranted
and what action, if any, will be taken.
Reports
14. What reports will the Access Board submit to OMB?
By January 1, 2004 and by January 1 of each year afterwards, the Access Board
will submit a report to OMB on the number, nature, and disposition of complaints
received during the preceding fiscal year regarding compliance with the Access
Board’s and OMB’s information quality guidelines.