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U.S. Standards System: Key Organizations

The U.S. standards system consists of public and private-sector players who work together in partnership to achieve shared objectives. The following chart outlines key stakeholders in the U.S. Standards System, describing their roles and responsibilities. On the right side of the chart, the private sector is depicted showing the wide variety of stakeholders whose positions and input are “funneled” through ANSI to become the official U.S. Policies and Positions within ISO and IEC and other non-treaty organization, one country, one vote fora, where the U.S. is represented by ANSI. It is important to note that, although this side of the diagram is labeled “private sector”, the government is also considered a stakeholder and participates as an equal voice in the development of private-sector policy positions.

On the left side, the government’s role in private-sector standardization activity is shown. NIST coordinates U.S. federal government agencies’ standardization activities with those of the private sector and facilitates their adherence to both the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) and the policies of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-119. NIST also coordinates annual reports to the U.S. Congress on agencies’ progress towards implementation of certain provisions of the NTTAA.

The following pages outline the respective roles of each of these players, including:

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• Standards developing organizations (SDOs) and consortia
• U.S. industry: companies, retailers, and manufacturers
• Consumers
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
• U.S. regulators
• U.S. procurement agencies