How the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics Advances Excellence in Federal Statistics
Steven B. Cohen
RTI International
The primary goal of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) is to advance excellence in federal statistics. It helps to accomplish this supporting role as a facilitator, coordinator and disseminator serving to connect producers of official statistics with essential stakeholders. These prominent users of federal statistics include policy makers, program planners, researchers, and businesses. It works with those in the federal statistical system to inform stakeholders of issues impacting the federal statistical system and statistical policy initiatives, in addition to recent new data releases, new products, changes, and innovations. It helps advance the quality of federal statistics by its facilitation of information exchanges among its many constituencies. In this invited session at the Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association, I have served as a discussant providing further commentary of the following topics that were given attention: The Role of Policy and Advocacy; Collaboration to Enable the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology Conferences; and Engaging Federal Statistical Agencies with Stakeholders and Users: Roles of COPAFS Quarterly Meetings, Monthly Updates, Workshops, and Seminars. My discussion also identifies several recent challenges confronting the federal statistical system and opportunities that are also presenting themselves to further advance excellence in federal statistics.