by Meghan Maury
Statistical 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.
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
Domestic Mail Manual. USPS is proposing a new federal database linking people who receive mail or absentee ballots to their addresses and the unique barcodes on their outgoing and return ballot envelopes. The records would be retained for five years and used by election officials and for law-enforcement purposes, allowing named voters’ ballot mail to be tracked even though their voting choices would not be collected. The system would take effect only if USPS finalizes its currently enjoined ballot-mail rule.
Comments due August 16.
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse (WFA)
NSF and Treasury Data Matching Program. NSF is establishing an agency-wide match between records for applicants and recipients of grants, fellowships, and other federal funds and Treasury’s Do Not Pay system to screen eligibility and identify or recover alleged improper payments. NSF may share identifying, contact, and bank-account information; potential matches must be reviewed and verified before adverse action.
Comments due August 12.State Exchange Improper Payment Measurement (SEIPM). CMS is creating a new program requiring state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces to submit annual samples of households receiving advance premium tax credits so CMS can assess whether subsidies were calculated correctly. CMS will report an aggregate improper-payment rate across state Exchanges; an improper payment does not necessarily indicate fraud.
Comments due August 13.
Immigration
ORR Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program Application. ORR is revising the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program application by cutting open-ended questions and using more structured questions on sponsors, placement preferences, and minors’ medical, mental-health, behavioral, and accommodation needs. Despite public comments, the form limits sex responses to male or female and continues using the term “unaccompanied alien child.” However, in response to public comments, ORR restored an optional upload for child advocates’ best-interest determinations and added language allowing minors, providers, advocates, and legal services providers to identify placement and support needs.
Comments due August 14.
Civil Rights
OneRD Loan Guarantee Program. USDA is revising its loan guarantee program forms to update the civil rights compliance language. The prior version specifically required collection of data on race, sex, and national origin; the current version requires a more generalized collection of demographics.
Comments due September 4.Questionnaire for National Security Positions. OPM is renewing the SF-86 national-security background questionnaire after making earlier changes to align personnel vetting with the administration’s gender policy. Related revisions remove an optional pronoun question and delete explicit references to sexual orientation and gender identity from the nondiscrimination statement and from questions asking whether applicants targeted people or advocated unlawful violence based on protected characteristics.
Comments due September 8.
Health
National Marrow Donor Program Patient Support Center Survey. This survey collects feedback from all HCT patients, caregivers, and family members who had contact with the NMDP/Be The Match Patient Support Center (PSC) for service and support. Survey results will be used to inform program development and resource allocation decisions. Last year, to comply with EO 14168, HRSA removed the survey's question about gender. Notably, the survey now collects no information on sex or gender; this is the first opportunity the public has had to comment on that change.
Comments due August 31.Consumer Experience Survey Data Collection. CMS is revising its survey of Marketplace plan enrollees to remove four tobacco-use questions, combine race and ethnicity into one question aligned with the 2024 SPD15 federal standards, and update questions about telehealth. The revisions also add screening questions to reduce unnecessary follow-up questions and make several changes intended to improve response rates.
Comments due August 13.Application for the Reviewer Contact Information Form. SAMHSA is revising its application for grant peer reviewers to replace gender with a binary sex question; remove transgender and “prefer not to answer” options; implementing new SPD15 standards by adopting a combined race and ethnicity question that adds Middle Eastern or North African and removes “Mixed Race”; and eliminate LGBTQ and racial or ethnic minority expertise categories. It also removes SAMHSA’s statement of values promoting positive behavioral health.
Comments due August 15.