Information Quality Correction Requests and Responses
Under Office of Management and Budget information quality requirements, individuals may challenge the accuracy of information disseminated by a federal agency and seek to have the information corrected. The NPS procedures for addressing challenges are found in Director's Order #11B: Ensuring Quality of Information Disseminated by the National Park Service. This Director's Order identifies the following process for challenging the quality of information disseminated by NPS:
Complaints About Information Quality. Affected persons may avail themselves of four methods for notifying the NPS of complaints:
1. Informally discuss their complaint in person with park or program office staff, providing information in the form of written documents or oral presentations.
2. Informally direct complaints about the quality of disseminated information to the superintendent of the park or manager of the program office responsible for disseminating the information.
3. Formally direct complaints about the quality of disseminated information by mail to the NPS Washington Administrative Program Center, 1849 C Street, N.W. Stop 2605, attention: Correspondence Control Unit (CCU). The complainant should use the subject: "Complaint About Information Quality" so that it may be clearly recognizable to those managing the process.
4. Formally e-mail complaints about the quality of disseminated information to cynthia_adonoo@nps.gov. The complainant should use the subject: "Complaint About Information Quality" so that it may be clearly recognizable to those managing the process.
A request for formal informational correction must include the following:
1. A written statement that the person is seeking correction of information disseminated by the National Park Service and the specific reasons for believing the information fails to meet OMB or DOI standards, along with supporting documentation, if any.
2. Name, mailing address, telephone number, email address (if applicable) and organizational affiliation, if any, of the individual making the complaint. Organizations submitting a complaint should identify one individual to serve as the primary contact.
3. A detailed description of the specific material in question, including where the material is located (that is, publication title, date, and publication number, if any, or the website and web page address).
4. A description of how the person submitting the complaint is affected by the informational error.
5. The specific recommendations for corrective action.
Processing Complaints. The CCU will route complaints they receive to the park or office that disseminated the information and track response to assure that it complies with the requirements of Director's Order #11B. The park or office receiving the complaint, regardless of the manner of receipt, will notify the complainant of receipt within 10 working days. The disseminating office will evaluate the complaint within 60 calendar days of the day it is received by the NPS, in accordance with the OMB guidelines, and notify the complainant as to whether the information has been corrected, deleted, or confirmed to be accurate.
A second complaint received before the issuance of a 60 calendar day notice for an overlapping complaint under review will be treated with simultaneous consideration, and the second complainant will be notified within 10 working days that an analysis is in progress and advised of its status. The earlier and later complaints will be combined, and a combined 60 calendar day finding will be issued based on the date of the first complaint. If the second identical complaint on the same subject is received after a 60 calendar day notice has been issued, then the second complaint will require a new and separate review, however recent. Unless substantial new information has been submitted, the 60 calendar day finding for the earlier complaint shall suffice and should be relatively easy to produce.
At this time, NPS believes it has received no formal information quality correction
requests; NPS will update this page if and when any such requests are received.
