Office of the Chief Information Officer &
High Performance Computing and Communications

NOAA Privacy Impact Assessments

Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) are required by Section 208 of the E-Government Act for all Federal government agencies that develop or procure new technology(e.g. an electronic database) involving the collection, maintenance or dissemination of personally identifiable information or that make substantial changes to existing technology for managing information in identifiable form. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ensures that PIAs necessitated under the E-Government Act are completed by requiring them as part of the annual budget process.

A PIA is an analysis of how personally identifiable information is collected, stored, protected, shared and managed. “Personally identifiable information” (PII) is defined as information in a system or online collection that directly or indirectly identifies an individual whether the individual is a U.S. Citizen, Legal Permanent Resident, or a visitor to the U.S. Please refer to the NOAA PIA Guidance and template for basic instructions and contact Sarah Brabson, NOAA OCIO Privacy Coordinator, (301) 713-3333 ext. 204, or Sarah.Brabson@noaa.gov. OMB's Guidance for Implementing Section 208 provides additional information.

See also the Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA) template - after reading the NOAA PIA Guidance, follow the instructions to determine if a PIA is needed.

Related Requirements which MAY apply:

1) The collection of information also may require approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act. For more information on Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements, please go to the Paperwork Reduction Act Home Page or contact Sarah Brabson (who is also the NOAA PRA Clearance Officer).

2) If the information is retrieved from its database by means of PII, a Privacy Act System of Records notice is also required, for Department of Commerce review and approval before publication in the Federal Register. For more information on the Privacy Ac t, systems of records and a list of current NOAA systems of records notices, please go to the NOAA Privacy Act webpage:http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/~foia/privacyact/. For consultation about developing a System of Records (SOR) notice, contact Jean Carter-Johnson, NOAA Privacy Act Officer, (301) 713-3540 ext. 209, or Jean.Carter.Johnson@noaa.gov.

PIA Template

PIA Example

PTA Template: DOC template with approved NOAA revisions.

Approved NOAA PIAs:

NOAA NMFS Permits Systems

NOAA Crab Economic Data Report for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Management Areas off the Coast of Alaska (National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Region)

NOAA Vessel Monitoring System (NMFS)

NOAA Law Enforcement Accessible Database System (LEADS), NMFS Office of Law Enforcement

NOAA Grants Online System

NOAA Non-Core CBS System (NOAA IT Center)

NOAA OCIO Boulder Technical Administrative Support Branch Local Area Network

NOAA OCIO Seattle Technical Administrative Support Branch Local Area Network