A Jan. 17 White House memo on the importance of private sector involvement in standards-setting sends an important message to federal agencies and foreign governments, said Mary Saunders, director of the standards coordination office in the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Senior executives of three White House Offices--the offices of Science And Technology Policy and Information And Regulatory Affairs, and the U.S. Trade Representative--signed the memo, which articulates principles for federal agencies to follow when developing standards.

Most standards developed and used in U.S. markets are created with little or no government involvement, the memo notes, and federal policy continues to be one of "reliance on private sector leadership, supplemented by federal government contributions to discrete standardization process," it adds.

Until the memo was signed, "we've never had out of the White House a strategic statement about the importance of standards to innovation, about the importance of the private sector-led system," Saunders said in an interview.

The federal government has taken a lead role in the development of standards for some industries in which there exists a national interest, including electronic health record systems and smart grid technologies. Standards-setting agencies within the federal government include the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and NIST itself.

The memo says agencies should ensure cooperation among each other, should clearly articulate priorities and ensure that the government has an exit strategy from the standards process development, said Saunders.

"That's a very important signal to set internationally, because we have other governments that take different approaches in this area, which we feel may stifle innovation," Saunders said.

The memo is the outcome of a 2010 NIST request for information soliciting feedback on federal standards-making practices. Respondents to the RFI brought up additional issues not dealt with in the memo, Saunders said, such as treatment of intellectual property, that could be the subject of follow up guidance.

For more:
- download the memo, M-12-08 (.pdf)
- go to standard.gov, which includes links to the 2010 RFI, comments received on it and policy recommendations produced in response to the comments

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