Figure 5-1 Estimated direct funding levels for principal federal statistical agencies, fiscal year 2008

NOTES: NSF, National Science Foundation. Including the costs associated with the decennial census would add $797.1 million to the Census Bureau total.

SOURCE: U.S. Office of Management and Budget (2007:Table 1).

sources. As shown in Figure 5-1, the three largest statistical agencies—the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Center for Education Statistics—dominate the others in terms of resources even though the subject-matter portfolios of the smaller agencies—justice, transportation, agriculture, and so forth—are undeniably important.

It is appropriate, in the panel’s judgment, to evaluate BJS in the context of the larger federal statistical system, especially the principal statistical agencies whose primary mission is the collection and dissemination of statistical information. (There are 60–70 other federal agencies that spend more than $500,000 per year on statistical information dissemination, but whose program duties outweigh their statistical focus.)

The panel benefited from a preexisting, fully vetted set of evaluative criteria for a federal statistical agency. The observations that we make in this chapter are generally structured around the Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, a white paper of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) (National Research Council, 2005b). Principles and Practices ar-