(a) In General.—There shall be within the Department of Transportation the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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(b) Director.—

(1) Appointment.—The Bureau shall be headed by a Director, who shall be appointed in the competitive service by the Secretary.

(2) Qualifications.—The Director shall be appointed from among individuals who are qualified to serve as the Director by virtue of their training and experience in the collection, analysis, and use of transportation statistics.

(3) Duties.—

(A) In general.—The Director shall—

(i) serve as the senior advisor to the Secretary on data and statistics; and

(ii) be responsible for carrying out the duties described in subparagraph (B).

(B) Duties.—The Director shall—

(i) ensure that the statistics compiled under clause (vi) are designed to support transportation decisionmaking by—

(I) the Federal Government;

(II) State and local governments;

(III) metropolitan planning organizations;

(IV) transportation-related associations;

(V) the private sector, including the freight community; and

(VI) the public;

(ii) establish on behalf of the Secretary a program—

(I) to effectively integrate safety data across modes; and

(II) to address gaps in existing safety data programs of the Department;

(iii) work with the operating administrations of the Department—

(I) to establish and implement the data programs of the Bureau; and

(II) to improve the coordination of information collection efforts with other Federal agencies;

(iv) continually improve surveys and data collection methods of the Department to improve the accuracy and utility of transportation statistics;

(v) encourage the standardization of data, data collection methods, and data management and storage technologies for data collected by—

(I) the Bureau;

(II) the operating administrations of the Department;

(III) State and local governments;

(IV) metropolitan planning organizations; and

(V) private sector entities;

(vi) collect, compile, analyze, and publish a comprehensive set of transportation statistics on the performance and impacts of the national transportation system, including statistics on—

(I) transportation safety across all modes and intermodally;

(II) the state of good repair of United States transportation infrastructure;

(III) the extent, connectivity, and condition of the transportation system, building on the national transportation atlas database developed under section 6309;

(IV) economic efficiency across the entire transportation sector;

(V) employment in the transportation sector;

(VI) the effects of the transportation system, including advanced technologies and automation, on global and domestic economic competitiveness;

(VII) demographic, economic, and other variables influencing travel behavior, including choice of transportation mode and goods movement;

(VIII) transportation-related variables that influence the domestic economy and global competitiveness;

(IX) economic costs and impacts for passenger travel and freight movement;

(X) intermodal and multimodal passenger movement;

(XI) intermodal and multimodal freight movement; and

(XII) consequences of transportation for the human and natural environment;

(vii) build and disseminate the transportation layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure developed under Executive Order 12906 (59 Fed. Reg. 17671) (or a successor Executive Order), including by coordinating the development of transportation geospatial data standards, compiling intermodal geospatial data, and collecting geospatial data that is not being collected by other entities;

(viii) issue guidelines for the collection of information by the Department that the Director determines necessary to develop transportation statistics and carry out modeling, economic assessment, and program assessment activities to ensure that such information is accurate, reliable, relevant, uniform, and in a form that permits systematic analysis by the Department;

(ix) review and report to the Secretary on the sources and reliability of—

(I) the statistics proposed by the heads of the operating administrations of the Department to measure outputs and outcomes as required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-62; 107 Stat. 285); and

(II) at the request of the Secretary, any other data collected or statistical information published by the heads of the operating administrations of the Department; and

(x) ensure that the statistics published under this section are readily accessible to the public, consistent with applicable security constraints and confidentiality interests.

(c) Access to Federal Data.—In carrying out subsection (b)(3)(B)(ii), the Director shall be given access to all safety data that the Director determines necessary to carry out that subsection that is held by the Department or any other Federal agency upon written request and subject to any statutory or regulatory restrictions.

(d) Independence of Bureau.—

(1) In general.—The Director shall not be required—

(A) to obtain the approval of any other officer or employee of the Department with respect to the collection or analysis of any information; or

(B) prior to publication, to obtain the approval of any other officer or employee of the United States Government with respect to the substance of any statistical technical reports or press releases lawfully prepared by the Director.

(2) Budget authority.—The Director shall have a significant role in the disposition and allocation of the authorized budget of the Bureau, including—

(A) all hiring, grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts awarded by the Bureau to carry out this section; and

(B) the disposition and allocation of amounts paid to the Bureau for cost-reimbursable projects.

(3) Exceptions.—The Secretary shall direct external support functions, such as the coordination of activities involving multiple modal administrations.

(4) Information technology.—The Department Chief Information Officer shall consult with the Director to ensure decisions related to information technology guarantee the protection of the confidentiality of information provided solely for statistical purposes, in accordance with section 3572 of title 44.