11.016, Statistical, Research, and Methodology Assistance | CENSUS RMD RMDPO 2021 2006906

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is this grant opportunity?

This opportunity (CFDA 11.016) is a discretionary cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. It supports research and development aimed at advancing the science and practice of record linkage and entity resolution, with an emphasis on improvements that strengthen a production-scale (operational) system.

What is the main purpose of the funding?

The main purpose is to fund work that helps the Census Bureau more accurately measure the U.S. population and the U.S. economy by improving how records are matched and reconciled across different data sources when they refer to the same real-world entity.

What do “record linkage” and “entity resolution” mean in this context?

In this context, record linkage and entity resolution refer to methods and systems that identify when different records (from the same or different datasets) actually refer to the same underlying person, household, business, or other entity, and then link or reconcile those records in a consistent way.

What does “production-scale system” mean here?

A production-scale system is one intended for ongoing operational use, not a one-off research prototype. The work is aimed at strengthening a system that can be maintained, monitored, and integrated into real Census-scale workflows over time.

What kinds of entities does the Census Bureau want to link?

The announcement explicitly includes humans and households, and also references businesses and other entity types. This signals interest in methods and technologies that can generalize across multiple domains rather than being narrowly tailored to a single dataset or entity type.

What does the opportunity mean by expanding “population coverage”?

Expanding population coverage refers to increasing the range of populations or entity types that the production linkage system can successfully cover, so the system can be applied more broadly while maintaining or improving linkage accuracy and reliability.

What kinds of improvements is the Census Bureau seeking in linkage quality?

The goal includes reducing missed links (false negatives), reducing incorrect links (false positives), and reducing inconsistencies that can distort downstream analyses. The improvements are expected to be measurable and defensible and to support better official statistics.

What are the two program priorities listed in the notice?

The notice highlights two priorities: (1) Improvement of Methodology Related to Record Linkage, Entity Resolution and Evaluation Thereof, and (2) Development and Improvement of the Technology for Entity Resolution and Record Linkage.

What types of projects fit Priority 1 (methodology and evaluation)?

Priority 1 is focused on the statistical and methodological side of linkage and entity resolution. Examples described include developing or refining matching strategies, improving model-based or rules-based linkage approaches, handling messy identifiers and inconsistent attributes, addressing bias and differential error across subpopulations, and building stronger evaluation frameworks.

Why is evaluation emphasized in this opportunity?

Evaluation is called out because record linkage quality is not always obvious without careful approaches such as ground-truthing strategies, linkage error estimation, validation study design, and performance metrics that reflect the real operational use case.

What evaluation-related work does the notice suggest could be included?

The notice indicates evaluation work could include estimating linkage error, designing validation studies, assessing how uncertainty propagates into published estimates, and improving linkage decision-making when data quality varies across sources or groups.

What types of projects fit Priority 2 (technology development and improvement)?

Priority 2 is focused on engineering and implementation for Census-scale operations. The notice points to work such as building or enhancing pipelines for data standardization, blocking and indexing methods for efficient candidate pair generation, privacy-preserving or secure linkage capabilities, scalable computation, reproducible workflows, and software that can be maintained and integrated into production environments.

What does it mean that the priorities “should proceed simultaneously”?

The notice indicates the priorities should proceed simultaneously overall, but it also states that an awardee does not have to take on both priorities. Applicants can propose a primarily methodological project or a primarily technological project, as long as it supports the overarching objective of improving and expanding a production record linkage and entity resolution system.

Do applicants have to address both priorities to be competitive?

Based on the notice summary provided, applicants are not required to address both priorities. A project can focus mainly on methodology/evaluation or mainly on technology, provided it aligns with the overall goal of improving and expanding the production-scale linkage and entity resolution system.

What does it mean that this is a “cooperative agreement”?

A cooperative agreement typically implies substantial involvement by the Census Bureau during the project. The notice suggests this involvement could include coordination on research direction, access to expertise, integration considerations, and iterative feedback, rather than the agency only providing funds with minimal engagement.

How many awards did the Census Bureau anticipate making?

The Census Bureau anticipated making one award.

What is the maximum (ceiling) award amount?

The award ceiling is listed as $6,000,000.

When was the opportunity created and when was it originally due?

The opportunity was created on May 4, 2021, with an original closing date of June 4, 2021.

What is the activity category for this opportunity?

The activity category is research and development, reflecting an intent to produce usable advances in methods and/or systems that improve official measurement of population and economic activity through better linkage and entity resolution.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described broadly as “Others,” with additional clarification referenced in the full notice. This generally indicates eligibility may extend beyond standard applicant categories, depending on the specific wording in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

What outcomes is the Census Bureau ultimately trying to improve?

The work is intended to strengthen official statistics by improving the accuracy and reliability of linkage results, expanding coverage across populations and entity types, and reducing linkage errors and inconsistencies that can affect downstream analyses of the U.S. population and economy.

Is the Census Bureau looking for solutions tailored to a single dataset?

The notice signals interest in methods that generalize across domains (humans, households, businesses, and other entity types), suggesting a preference for approaches that can adapt to multiple sources and entity types rather than being narrowly tuned to one dataset.

What does “measurable” and “defensible” improvement mean for proposed work?

Based on the notice language emphasizing evaluation, measurable and defensible improvements would be those that can be demonstrated through appropriate metrics, error estimation, validation strategies, and analysis of impacts (including potential bias or differential error across subpopulations) in ways that match operational use.