The first step in determining whether your data can be made available in the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (RDCs) is contacting the staff at the Center for Enterprise Dissemination at ced.fsrdc.directors.list@census.gov.

Work conducted in the RDCs: (1) must be for a statistical purpose and (2) must be research. RDCs cannot be used for enforcement purposes. An agency with regulatory or enforcement roles that also conducts or supports research may be able to house their data in RDCs if there is a clear delineation between enforcement and research in the agency. Further, the mission of RDCs is to facilitate research. RDCs cannot be used for profit-making purposes or other non-research uses. Some agencies have both “research” that supports the mission of the agency and “production” work. The RDCs cannot be used for production purposes or to meet critical agency deadlines.

If your agency’s data are to be made available to researchers, the next step is to determine costs associated with the Census Bureau's hosting of the data. These costs depend on the number of researchers or projects using the data and the size of the datasets to be hosted. See below for a template of the interagency agreement governing the transfer of files and funds to the RDC program.

Agreement documents are located on the Census Bureau website at //www.census.gov/about/business-opportunities/resources/iosa.html.