Assessment Development Process
Experts from USAFacts, the Partnership and several federal agencies developed criteria to assess federal data products.
Data scientists, evaluators, analysts and program officers from the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, the Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Science Foundation provided feedback on the criteria’s clarity, validity and weighting.
Data Products Collection
In the fall of 2025, the Partnership and USAFacts solicited nominations from federal employees and their own staff who work frequently with federal data. Together, we assessed 43 data products.
We used the following eligibility criteria for data products nominated by federal employees:
- A nominator of a data product had to be a federal employee and use a federal email address, but products built, in whole or in part, by a federal contractor were considered.
- The nominators did not have to be a member of the agency or team that produced the data product.
- The data product and underlying data had to be managed by a federal agency but did not have to be composed solely of federal data.
- The data product had to be accessible by a publicly available link and have no restricted access requirements.
Assessment Process
Two program staff members—one from USAFacts and one from the Partnership—served as evaluators who reviewed the products independently, using an assessment rubric and then worked together to determine a final score for each submission. When the graders could not agree on a score, a third grader broke the tie.
Weighting and Scoring
Each criterion in the assessment was scored on a binary zero-to-one scale. If the element or feature was present, one point was given. If it was not present, no points were given. Partial points were not given.
Each criterion was weighted to reflect the reality that data product features vary in complexity and their impact on the user experience. Weights were determined based on feedback from federal data leaders.
For more detailed information on our methodology and the full assessment rubric, see USAFacts.