Washington, D.C. - Today Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS+), which will establish a National Secure Data Service (NSDS). The CHIPS+ Act includes a provision to establish the NSDS demonstration project at the National Science Foundation. The NSDS has been a long-standing legislative priority of the Data Coalition Initiative, an organization that advocates for responsible policies to make government data high-quality, accessible, and usable.
“The Data Coalition Initiative is thrilled to see Congress support this type of innovation in our federal data system, and is looking forward to working with the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), and other stakeholders to ensure that the full benefits of a National Secure Data Service are realized,” said Corinna Turbes, Managing Director of the Data Coalition Initiative, whose members represent the national data community. “The Data Coalition calls on President Biden to sign this crucial data modernization effort into law.”
“The NSDS is an important step for improving the data infrastructure in our country to enable more evidence-informed policymaking at the scope and scale necessary to meet the growing demands for government policies and programs that are continuously improving,” said Nick Hart, President of the Data Foundation. “Establishing the NSDS at the National Science Foundation is an example of continued bipartisan support for improving the use of data and evidence.”
About the National Secure Data Service
The National Secure Data Service (NSDS) will unify and promote evidence-building activities across government. The NSDS is a component of the CHIPS+ Act, which includes major improvements to the national research infrastructure, and will provide for improved coordination across the national data ecosystem, while ensuring strong privacy and confidentiality practices are used. The NSDS will encourage government and research partners to organize, analyze, and use information in support of evidence-informed decision-making to improve society.
The NSDS was first proposed by the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking (Evidence Commission) in its 2017 report to Congress and the President as a viable and realistic solution for addressing data linkage challenges that exist in our society.
The NSDS can help government officials and researchers meet the demand from decision-makers for useful, high-quality evidence that is timely, relevant, reliable, and detailed enough to inform policy while protecting the privacy of individuals and businesses. By connecting this data service to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), the National Science Foundation (NSF) will leverage the privacy framework used by statistical agencies that enable strong confidentiality protections, which are enforceable with civil and criminal penalties. This privacy framework, known as the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) was reauthorized and strengthened in the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). Read our latest report on implementing the National Secure Data Service here.
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About the Data Coalition Initiative
The Data Coalition is an initiative of the non-profit Data Foundation. The membership-based initiative facilitates a strong national data community and advocates for responsible policies to make government data high-quality, accessible, and usable. The Data Coalition’s work unites the data communities that focus on data science, management, evaluation, statistics, and technology, including individuals in companies, nonprofit organizations, and academia.