Newsletter Archive
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How Do We Track Terminations of Federal Data?
August 10, 2026by Chris Dick and Denice RossRead MoreFederal data benefit American lives and livelihoods in ways most people never see, touching every corner of our lives. This includes a farmer pricing a crop, a county planning a hospital, a business siting a warehouse — all of these decisions use federal data. Other data save patients money by identifying generic drugs that can replace more expensive brand names, help airplanes avoid deadly bird strikes, and warn consumers about recalls of dangerous products.
Because these data are mostly invisible, their disappearance is invisible too — that is, until we need the data and they aren’t there anymore.
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Take Action! Removal of EEOC Reporting Requirements and More
August 06, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreProposed Rule of the Week: Removal of Reporting Requirements. EEOC is proposing to abolish all six federal EEO workforce reports and their related recordkeeping requirements, ending the annual EEO-1 collection from large private employers and covered federal contractors as well as reporting by apprenticeship programs, unions, state and local governments, public schools, and colleges. The government would lose standardized data showing how workers are distributed by race and ethnicity, sex, occupation, salary level, and other employment categories. Although EEOC argues that the reports are burdensome, potentially unconstitutional, and may encourage discrimination, the data have long supported enforcement, employer self-assessment, research, and public accountability; eliminating them would leave the agency more dependent on individual complaints and case-specific requests, making systemic discrimination substantially harder to identify and document.
Comments due August 24.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
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Take Action! SPD 8: NAICS and More
August 03, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreStatistical Policy Directive of the Week: SPD 8: North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). OMB is seeking comment on proposed 2027 updates to NAICS, the government-wide system for classifying businesses by industry. The changes would separate streaming services from social networks, recognize spaceport operations and electric-vehicle motor manufacturing, and combine several related manufacturing, transit, training, and other industries. OMB is not proposing requested new classifications for the bioeconomy. If finalized, federal statistical agencies would use the revised categories for data covering 2027 and later.
Comments due August 12.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
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Take Action! Enforcement of Executive Order 14398 and More
July 28, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreForm of the Week: Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors (E.O. 14398) for Contract-Like Instruments. GSA is seeking approval for a new information collection to enforce Executive Order 14398, which bars federal contractors from engaging in what the order calls “racially discriminatory” DEI activities. The collection would extend the anti-DEI contract clause to GSA’s non-FAR contract-like instruments, including leases, concession contracts, and outleases, and would require contractors to provide records on request, report known or “reasonably knowable” subcontractor conduct that may violate the clause, and notify GSA if a subcontractor lawsuit challenges it. As a result of this form's requirements, prime contractors will need to monitor and report on subcontractors, which could discourage contractors and subcontractors from maintaining lawful DEI or supplier-diversity work if they fear federal scrutiny, contract remedies, or being reported by a business partner.
Comments due August 24.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
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Take Action! FEVS and More
July 24, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreSurvey + Rule of the Week: Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. OPM is proposing to redesign the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey following its cancellation of the survey in 2025. Under the new model, OPM would stop centrally administering the government-wide survey; each agency would conduct its own annual survey using 10 required questions rather than 16 and submit the core results to OPM and OMB. A companion proposed rule — Personnel Management in Agencies: Strategic Human Capital Management — would also let agencies decide what information to publish, removing current requirements to disclose details such as survey methodology, response rates, and question-level results. OPM says the changes will give agencies greater flexibility and more useful management information, but the decentralization, reduced set of common questions, and weaker transparency requirements could make results less consistent across agencies and over time while limiting public accountability.
Comments on the survey are due August 31; Comments on the proposed rule are due August 3.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.