USDA's Quality of Information Guidelines
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued "Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies." Congress directed OMB to issue these guidelines in Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554); section 515 is now commonly referred to as the Data Quality Act.
OMB published its guidelines in interim final form in the Federal Register on September 28, 2001, at 66
FR 49718-49725 and updated the guidelines on February 22, 2002, at 67 FR 8452-8460, and on March 4, 2002, at 67 FR 9797. Also, after reviewing initial agency draft guidelines, OMB issued supplementary guidance that discussed important issues, identified noteworthy approaches for consideration, and provided guidance on those provisions that need to be adopted uniformly in all agency guidelines (Memorandum from John D. Graham for the President's Management Council, "Agency Draft Information Quality Guidelines," June 10, 2002; and, Memorandum from John D. Graham for the President's Management Council, "Agency Final Information Quality Guidelines," September 5, 2002). This guidance is available from OMB's Information Policy, IT & E-Gov web page.
Peer Review
Based on the review it has conducted, RMA finds that at this time, it does not disseminate influential scientific information or highly influential scientific assessments as defined in OMB's Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review.
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