by Meghan Maury
Related Blog of the Week: Quick Take: The Rise of Data-Sharing Agreements. Federal agencies are increasingly entering into data-sharing agreements (especially with the Department of the Treasury) often to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. When done well, these arrangements can cut paperwork and improve services. But without strong guardrails, automated data matching can produce errors that wrongly deny people essential benefits, with serious real-world consequences. As these agreements expand, public oversight matters: agencies need accurate data linkage, regular testing for false matches, clear ways for individuals to correct errors, and limits on how sensitive data are copied and stored. There are four open public comment periods on data-sharing agreements in this week’s Take Action! – a key opportunity to weigh in on how these systems should (and should not) work.
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.
Note: The Take Action tab of dataindex.us provides information about even more surveys, forms, evaluations, and records notices than are listed in your weekly newsletter.
Data Sharing
GSA and Treasury Data Sharing Agreement. GSA is entering into a data sharing agreement with the Department of Treasury under which it will share data from its Pegasys system with Treasury for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant for, or recipient of, Federal funds, including funds disbursed by a state in a state-administered, federally funded program. Pegasys is GSA's financial management system of record for financial transactions and reporting utilized for its main business lines including the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Public Buildings Service (PBS), and General Management and Administrative Offices.
Comments due February 11.VA and Treasury Data Sharing Agreements. Through this notice, VA is announcing its intention to share data from more than 20 of its records systems with the Department of Treasury for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant for, or recipient of, Federal funds. Shared data will include records from various VA programs including childcare subsidies, caregiver support, health information exchange, home loans, payroll processing, pension, and education programs.
Comments due February 14.CIA and Treasury Data Sharing Agreements. Through this notice, the CIA is announcing its intention to share data from more than 40 of its records systems with the Department of Treasury for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant for, or recipient of, Federal funds. Shared data will include records from various CIA programs including environmental safety, alumni relations, arms control, IG investigations, EEO records, polygraph records, psychological testing data, and more.
Comments due February 17.HUD and Treasury Data Sharing Agreements. Through this notice, HUD is announcing its intention to share data from a dozen of its records systems with the Department of Treasury for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant for, or recipient of, Federal funds. Shared data will include records from various HUD programs including the single-family insurance system, single family housing enterprise data warehouse, reverse mortgage program, and tenant rental assistance program.
Comments due February 17.
Immigration
Biographic Information (for Deferred Action). These forms are used to collect biographic information from individuals requesting deferred action for certain military service members and their family members, or for non-military deferred action (other than deferred action based on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Violence Against Women Act, A-3, G-5 nonimmigrants, and T and U nonimmigrant visas). While the listing does not clarify what changes are being made to the form, elsewhere USCIS indicates that they are changing the collection and burden estimate to account for new biometric data collection and processing.
Comments due February 13.Traveler-Based Genomic Surveillance Program (TGS) Traveler Questionnaire. The TGS is used to monitor for communicable diseases among arriving international travelers at select U.S. airports. CDC is making a number of changes to the form under this listing and has made several "non-substantive" changes to the form over the past year, which include removing gender identity-related questions and response options and aligning the race and ethnicity questions with the new SPD15 standards.
Comments due March 16.
Health and Healthcare
Bureau of Health Workforce Performance Data Collection. Data collected from grantees through these forms are used to inform policymakers on the barriers, opportunities, and outcomes involved in health care workforce development. HRSA is making significant changes to this suite of forms, including removing four forms and 50 questions that are "no longer needed," and revising race and ethnicity questions to comply with OMB's revisions to SPD15. Earlier in the year, HRSA removed questions about gender identity and response options about transgender and nonbinary people from this set of forms without providing an opportunity for public comment.
Comments due March 9.Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA). The MMRIA is a standardized data system that MMRCs use to collect timely, accurate, and standardized information about deaths to women during pregnancy and the year after the end of pregnancy, including opportunities for prevention, within and across jurisdictions. Last year, CDC removed gender identity questions from this form and noted that they were holding on implementing new SPD15 standards until the form was renewed; however, the listing doesn't indicate that SPD15 standards are being implemented in this iteration.
Comments due March 16.Use of Bayesian Methodology in Clinical Trials of Drug and Biological Products. Through this notice, FDA is announcing the availability of and accepting public comment on draft guidance for industry entitled “Use of Bayesian Methodology in Clinical Trials of Drug and Biological Products,” which provides guidance on the appropriate use of Bayesian methods in clinical trials. The primary focus is on the use of Bayesian methods to support primary inference in pivotal clinical trials designed to support the effectiveness and safety of drug and biological products.
Comments due March 19.
Finance and Economy
Census of Finance Companies and Other Lenders and Survey of Finance Companies. These surveys are used to collect information on the activities of finance companies, to benchmark the consumer and business finance series collected on the monthly Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (which in turn serves as an input to several statistical releases), and to increase the Federal Reserve's understanding of an important part of the financial system. The Fed is making several changes to the surveys, most of which are focused on improving clarity and consolidating existing questions.
Comments due March 13.