§ 212. INTEGRATED REPORTING STUDY AND PILOT PROJECTS.
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Purposes .— The purposes of this section are to— enhance the interoperability of Federal information systems; assist the public, including the regulated community, in electronically submitting information to agencies under Federal requirements, by reducing the burden of duplicate collection and ensuring the accuracy of submitted information; and enable any person to integrate and obtain similar information held by 1 or more agencies under 1 or more Federal requirements without violating the privacy rights of an individual.
Definitions .— In this section, the term— ‘agency’ means an Executive agency as defined under section 105 of title 5 , United States Code; and ‘person’ means any individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a government corporation), partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a State, interstate body, or agency or component of the Federal Government. Report.— In general .— Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act [ Dec. 17, 2002 ], the Director shall oversee a study, in consultation with agencies, the regulated community, public interest organizations, and the public, and submit a report to the Committee on Governmental Affairs [now Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs] of the Senate and the Committee on Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability] of the House of Representatives on progress toward integrating Federal information systems across agencies.
Contents .— The report under this section shall— address the integration of data elements used in the electronic collection of information within databases established under Federal statute without reducing the quality, accessibility, scope, or utility of the information contained in each database; address the feasibility of developing, or enabling the development of, software, including Internet-based tools, for use by reporting persons in assembling, documenting, and validating the accuracy of information electronically submitted to agencies under nonvoluntary, statutory, and regulatory requirements; address the feasibility of developing a distributed information system involving, on a voluntary basis, at least 2 agencies, that— provides consistent, dependable, and timely public access to the information holdings of 1 or more agencies, or some portion of such holdings, without requiring public users to know which agency holds the information; and allows the integration of public information held by the participating agencies; address the feasibility of incorporating other elements related to the purposes of this section at the discretion of the Director; and make any recommendations that the Director deems appropriate on the use of integrated reporting and information systems, to reduce the burden on reporting and strengthen public access to databases within and across agencies.
Pilot Projects To Encourage Integrated Collection and Management of Data and Interoperability of Federal Information Systems.— In general .— In order to provide input to the study under subsection (c), the Director shall designate, in consultation with agencies, a series of no more than 5 pilot projects that integrate data elements. The Director shall consult with agencies, the regulated community, public interest organizations, and the public on the implementation of the pilot projects.
Goals of pilot projects.— In general .— Each goal described under subparagraph
(B)shall be addressed by at least 1 pilot project each. Goals .— The goals under this paragraph are to— reduce information collection burdens by eliminating duplicative data elements within 2 or more reporting requirements; create interoperability between or among public databases managed by 2 or more agencies using technologies and techniques that facilitate public access; and develop, or enable the development of, software to reduce errors in electronically submitted information. Input .— Each pilot project shall seek input from users on the utility of the pilot project and areas for improvement. To the extent practicable, the Director shall consult with relevant agencies and State, tribal, and local governments in carrying out the report and pilot projects under this section. Protections .— The activities authorized under this section shall afford protections for— confidential business information consistent with section 552(b)(4) of title 5 , United States Code, and other relevant law; personal privacy information under sections 552(b)(6) and (7)(C) and 552a of title 5, United States Code, and other relevant law; other information consistent with section 552(b)(3) of title 5 , United States Code, and other relevant law; and confidential statistical information collected under a confidentiality pledge, solely for statistical purposes, consistent with the Office of Management and Budget’s Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order, and other relevant law.