The Federal Research Data Centre (FRDC)

The Federal Research Data Centre (FRDC) was established, in Ottawa, in response to a growing demand for access to detailed micro data for analytical purposes in the federal departments. The FRDC gives federal employees access to selected detailed micro data collected by Statistics Canada. It is a combination of a secure Statistics Canada office and a statistical analysis computing laboratory. This center permits Statistics Canada to offer the necessary services and support on data and methods. It also creates an environment where exchange of ideas and collaboration between researchers can flourish. The FRDC operates on a cost-recovery basis.

There are two venues to access the FDAC- direct access and indirect access.

Direct access

Direct access enables researchers to perform their analyses using the detailed micro data bases produced by Statistics Canada. Prospective researchers submit proposals that must be adjudicated and approved by one of four peer review procedures:

1. through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council  (SSHRC) Peer review procedure;
2. through the Departmental Peer Review Procedure for federal government employees;
3. through the Departmental Peer Review procedure for provincial and territorial government employees; or,
4. For policy related work, through the senior statistical focal point within each ministry for federal-provincial-territorial governments.  To assist researchers requesting statistical analyses needed in policy work, the Project Proposal Framework should be consulted.

Once these projects are approved, researchers are sworn-in under the Statistics Act, thereby becoming 'deemed employees' of Statistics Canada. They are subject to all the conditions and penalties of the Statistics Act. They must also sign a contract and deliver a product to Statistics Canada at the end of their project.

The fees for the direct access option are $3,500 per month.

Indirect access

Researchers who do not wish to submit a project proposal through the formal process described above may request indirect access. Indirect access requires a 'Memorandum of Understanding' between Statistics Canada and the interested federal department. A researcher working for this specific department will have access to a workstation on which synthetic and dummy files are stored (depending of the survey being used). He or she will prepare the statistical and analytical models and procedures using the synthetic and/or dummy data which they will then submit to a Statistics Canada employee on site. The statistical procedures will be run against the detailed micro data base and the results will be returned to researcher after they have been reviewed for risk of disclosure.

The fees for the indirect access are $5,500 per month.