2026 Redistricting Data Program NSC Memo

Request for Non-Substantive Change (NSC) to the

Redistricting Data Program (RDP)

OMB Control No. 0607-0988

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Census Bureau

Purpose

The Redistricting Data Program (RDP) is administered in accordance with Public Law (P.L.) 94-171. The RDP provides states, the District of Columbia (DC), and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (PR) the opportunity to delineate the small area geographies for which they need to receive data tabulations to support their redistricting efforts. The RDP provides high-quality redistricting data to the states, DC, and PR in a timely manner in support of their redistricting efforts. The RDP also collects state legislative district and congressional district plans from the states, DC, and PR, delineated using the decennial census P.L. 94-171 redistricting data tabulations, and allows for periodic collection of updated state legislative and congressional district boundaries. In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau is designated as the official manager of congressional and state legislative districts under the National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Management Plan. 

The RDP is one of many voluntary geographic partnership programs that collects boundaries and attributes to update the Census Bureau's geographic database of addresses, streets, and boundaries. The Census Bureau uses its geographic database, i.e., the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System, to link statistical data from surveys and the decennial census to locations and areas, such as cities, congressional and legislative districts, and counties. To tabulate statistics by localities, the Census Bureau must have accurate addresses, streets, boundaries, and attributes. 

Approved on November 18, 2024, the current RDP Office of Management and Budget (OMB) collection will expire on November 30, 2027. This non-substantive change (NSC) requests updates to materials used for the RDP, which include:

• GUPS Web Guide

• GUPS Standalone Guide

• Non-GUPS Guide

• Privacy Act Statement in Geography Division Partner Portal.

• Privacy Act Statement in Geographic Update Partnership Software.

• Privacy Act Statement in Secure Web Incoming Module.

The NSC updates to the guides include changes to ensure consistency and clarity between all the guides. Sections were reorganized for consistency and clarity, then renumbered in various sections of the documents. Additional documents have been added to the package that are three Privacy Act Statements that will be added to information systems collecting the data from respondents. In all. Please review the attachment “2026RDP_NSC_Change_Matrixv2.xlsx” for detailed changes to individual sections. There is a tab for each of the guides showing the sections and paragraph numbers where a change was made.

Background

The RDP provides the states, DC, and PR the opportunity to suggest census block boundaries for use in the 2030 Census redistricting data tabulations (Public Law 94-171 Redistricting Data File) during the Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP). Participation is voluntary and allows the states, DC, and PR to provide suggestions to their block boundaries to fit their redistricting needs. BBSP will start in January 2026 and last through May 2026. Participants can review and update their data using the Geographic Partnership Software (GUPS) or participants can use their own geographic information system (GIS) software. For GUPS, there are currently two versions available, GUPS Standalone which is a desktop-based version of the software and GUPS Web which is a cloud-based version of the software.

There are no substantive changes to the RDP resulting from these modifications. The finalized guides do not alter the content or objective of the RDP. The changes made were necessary to reflect the most current RDP information or to update the style in the guides.

Burden

The burden of the RDP is unchanged by this update.

Please see the table below from the Excel spreadsheet included in this Paperwork Reduction Act package titled “2026RDP_NSC_Change_Matrixv2.xlsx” for a list of the NSC changes for all the materials. More details are in the spreadsheet.

Attachments

Table 1: Changes to the 2026 RDP Materials

Reported Change	Material	Location in Material	Description/Summary of Change(s)
Added Privacy Act Statement in Geography Division Partner Portal	N/A	N/A	Added privacy statement to comply with requirements from the Policy and Coordination Office (PCO). This statement is specific to the Geography Division Partner Portal (GDPP) and is required for all geographic programs, whether active or not. The GDPP will not be used during the RDP.
Added Privacy Act Statement in Geographic Update Partnership Software	N/A	N/A	Added privacy statement to comply with requirements from the Policy and Coordination Office (PCO). This statement is specific to the Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS) and is required for all geographic programs, whether active or not.
Added Privacy Act Statement in Secure Web Incoming Module	N/A	N/A	Added privacy statement to comply with requirements from the Policy and Coordination Office (PCO). This statement is specific to the Secure Web Incoming Module (SWIM) and is required for all geographic programs, whether active or not.
Edited Title	Non-GUPS Guide	Title Page
Edited Title	GUPS Standalone Guide	Title Page
Edited Title	GUPS Web Guide	Title Page
Reorganized subsections within Section 2 in the Table of Contents	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 2.5.1-2.5.3 and 2.8.1-2.8.2	Reorganized the subsections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Reorganized subsections within Section 3 in the Table of Contents	Non-GUPS Guide	Sections 3.3.1-3.3.4	Reorganized the subsections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Reorganized subsections within Section 4 in the Table of Contents	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 4.1	Reorganized the sections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Added Introduction.	Non-GUPS Guide	Introduction	Added final text for Introduction. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 1	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 1	Added final text for Section 1. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 2	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 2	Added final text for Section 2. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 3	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 3	Added final text for Section 3. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 4	Non-GUPS Guide	Section 4	Added final text for Section 4. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Appendix	Non-GUPS Guide	Appendix A and B	Modified Appendix A and B across the guides and removed Appendix C-E as they were no longer needed.
Added Introduction.	GUPS Standalone Guide	Introduction	Added final text for Introduction. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 1	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 1	Added final text for Section 1. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 2	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 2	Added final text for Section 2. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 3	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 3	Added final text for Section 3. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 4	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 4	Added final text for Section 4. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 5	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 5	Added final text for Section 5. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Appendix	GUPS Standalone Guide	Appendix A and B	Modified Appendix A and B across the guides and removed Appendix C-F as they were no longer needed.
Reorganized subsections within Section 2 in the Table of Contents	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 2.6.1-2.6.3 and 2.9-2.11	Reorganized the sections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Combined Sections 3 and 4 into one section	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 3 and 4	Integrated the sections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Section 5 changed into Section 4	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 4 and 5	Reorganized the subsections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Section 6 changed to Section 5	GUPS Standalone Guide	Section 5 and 6	Reorganized the subsections for consistency and clarity; then renumbered the sections.
Added Introduction.	GUPS Web Guide	Introduction	Added final text for Introduction. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 1	GUPS Web Guide	Section 1	Added final text for Section 1. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 2	GUPS Web Guide	Section 2	Added final text for Section 2. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 3	GUPS Web Guide	Section 3	Added final text for Section 3. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 4	GUPS Web Guide	Section 4	Added final text for Section 4. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Added content to Section 5	GUPS Web Guide	Section 5	Added final text for Section 5. References and hyperlinks updated throughout the section.
Appendix	GUPS Web Guide	Appendix A and B	Modified Appendix A and B across the guides and removed Appendix C-E as they were no longer needed.