The Standard Application Process (SAP) provides a single portal to discover and apply for access to confidential data assets in the federal statistical system (FSS). The site was created in response to Section 3583 of the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act of 2018. Participating agencies have provided detailed descriptions of each data asset listed in the portal’s data catalog. Users can search for data by topic, agency, and keywords. Questions related to the data should be directed to the owning agency. Contact information for each agency can be found on the Contact page.
The data described in the SAP portal are owned by and accessed through the agencies and units of the federal statistical system. Data access is determined by the owning or distributing agency and is limited to specific physical or virtual data enclaves, known as the data's "access modality." Applicants applying for access to multiple data assets should confirm that the data can be accessed in the same location or access modalities. Multiple data assets accessed in the same location may still not be able to be used together due to disclosure risk or other requirements. Please note the access modality of the data that you are interested in using and seek guidance from the owning agency about whether certain assets can be linked or otherwise used together. Applicants are encouraged to refer to the Help for application guidance and agency-specific requirements, such as access modality and eligibility. More information about the background and impact of the SAP within the FSS and across government can be found at the SAP informational website. You can also find application guidance and other learning resources on this page: https://ncses.nsf.gov/initiatives/standard-application-process/learning-resources.