Briefing on the National Secure Data Service Act

Within the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act approved by Congress in late July, there is a significant and monumental piece of legislation - the creation of the National Secure Data Service (NSDS). Authorized in legislation as a pilot project, with the ability to scale, the NSDS will allow some federal data to be combined temporarily in a privacy-protected environment, substantially improving our national capability for data analytics, program evaluation, and evidence-building activities. This service was envisioned by the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking in their final, unanimous and bipartisan recommendations. Since then, much of the groundwork has been laid to ensure that the NSDS can serve to meet the data and evidence needs of policymakers, including the passage of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, which allowed for both improved data sharing and increased privacy protections.

The Data Foundation hosted a discussion with President Nick Hart, Data Coalition Initiative Managing Director Corinna Turbes, and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies’ Yvette Chocolaad about how this exciting next step in the evidence movement can make a real difference for evidence-informed policymaking.