EPA Data Governance Council Meeting Summary - April 25, 2022 General Updates • EPA's Chief Data Officer, Richard Allen, welcomed the group. • FY 22 ITPR Data Discussions began in April 2022. • Ongoing DGC project updates are available in the 04/25/2022 DGC Project Updates wiki. Paperwork Reduction Act and Information Collection Request Requirements • Courtney Kerwin presented an overview of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and Information Collection Request (ICR) requirements. • The PRA requires OMB approval before a federal agency undertakes a collection of information directed at ten or more persons. o This protects the public from unnecessary, duplicative and burdensome requests for information by the federal government, o It ensures the greatest possible benefit from information collected by the federal government. • Failure to comply with the PRA can result in a halt to information collections, an affirmative defense in an enforcement case and/or reporting to Congress as part of the Information Collection Budget of the United States. • If someone only needs to provide their name, email address or address, for example, to register for a webinar, you are not required to complete an ICR. • There is a generic ICR process for satisfaction surveys that is much quicker. • Asking questions of Federal employees as part of their job does not require an ICR. • The ICR Team does not have a contracting vehicle to support offices in the development of ICRs, but many offices have their own contract support to assist with this. • The PRA is not waived when there is an emergency, but there is an expedited process that can be used in the case of an emergency. • Each program office and region has an ICR desk officer. Data Sharing • Cat Foley presented the data sharing decision tree developed in support of the implementation of the Evidence Act. • The draft data sharing decision tree provides guidance on the appropriate way to share Agency data in alignment with EPA's priority for increased access to data. • The next step is to review EPA's infrastructure to ensure that it can support the approach outlined in the decision tree. • EPA is developing an overall approach to collecting and disseminating information so that programs can adopt EPA processes. This will be incorporated in the governance processes being developed. • The DGC Data Inventory Subcommittee is looking at solutions for tagging and metadata. • EPA is in the process of procuring a metadata management tool that will assist with data sharing. • There is EPA senior leadership support for this effort which is important in successfully implementing a standardized process. A Proof of Concept could be beneficial in reinforcing the value in the effort. EPA Data Governance Council Meeting Summary 1 April 25,2022 ------- Governance Subcommittee Updates • Heather Barnhart presented an update on the DGC Governance Subcommittee activities. • Action: DGC members to review and comment on the Data Governance - Aligning Existing Governance- Subcommittee Feedback.docx and Data Activities-DGC Full List- March 2022.xlsx by May 20, 2022. • Next Steps o DGC Governance Subcommittee Update-Roadmap Update-March 2022.docx o May-June: Finalize Governance, o May-July: ITPRs and Data Discussions. o September: Evaluate Data Management Process Project for CY 22/23 Work, o October: Finalize Data Officer Suggested PARS Elements. Communications Subcommittee Updates • Stephanie Montrallo presented an update on the DGC Communications Subcommittee activities. • The purpose of the Communications Subcommittee is to effectively coordinate internal and external communications for the DGC. • The strategy is to implement the foundations for subcommittees to document and plan their communication needs and coordinate communication among those subcommittees. • For subcommittee-specific communication plans, the Communications Subcommittee needs to know what and when subcommittee deliverables and updates are. • Action: The Communications Subcommittee is seeking representatives from each subcommittee to liaise with on communications needs and updates by April 25, 2022. EPA Data Governance Council Meeting Summary 2 April 25, 2022 ------- |