[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 69 (Monday, April 11, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-8596]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: April 11, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration

 

Agency Information Collections Under Review by the Office of 
Management and Budget

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of request submitted for expedited review by the Office 
of Management and Budget.

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SUMMARY: The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has submitted the 
energy information collection(s) listed at the end of this notice to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under provisions 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (Pub. L. No. 96-511, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.). The listing does not include collections of information 
contained in new or revised regulations which are to be submitted under 
section 3504(h) of the Paperwork Reduction Act, nor management and 
procurement assistance requirements collected by the Department of 
Energy (DOE).
    Each entry contains the following information: (1) The sponsor of 
the collection; (2) Collection number(s); (3) Current OMB docket number 
(if applicable); (4) Collection title; (5) Type of request, e.g., new, 
revision, extension, or reinstatement; (6) Frequency of collection; (7) 
Response obligation, i.e., mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain 
or retain benefit; (8) Affected public; (9) An estimate of the number 
of respondents per report period; (10) An estimate of the number of 
responses per respondent annually; (11) An estimate of the average 
hours per response; (12) The estimated total annual respondent burden; 
and (13) A brief abstract describing the proposed collection and the 
respondents.

DATES: DOE has requested expedited OMB approval by April 15, 1994. The 
Desk Officer may be telephoned at (202) 395-3084. (Also, please notify 
the EIA contact listed below.)

ADDRESSES: Address comments to the Department of Energy Desk Officer, 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, 726 Jackson Place NW., Washington, DC 20503. (Comments should 
also be addressed to the Office of Statistical Standards at the address 
below.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Casselberry, Office of Statistical 
Standards, (EI-73), Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, 
Washington, DC 20585. Mr. Casselberry may be telephoned at (202) 254-
5348.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The energy information collection submitted 
to OMB for review was:
    1. Energy Information Administration.
    2. EIA-887.
    3. N.A.
    4. DOE Customer Surveys.
    5. New--A copy of the Supporting Statement is published below. Any 
question can be directed to Jay Casselberry, EI-73, U.S. Department of 
Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585. (Phone 202-
254-5346 or FAX 202-254-9700).
    6. On occasion.
    7. Voluntary.
    8. Individuals or households, State or local governments, Farms, 
Businesses or other for-profit, Federal agencies or employees, Non-
profit institutions, and Small businesses or organizations.
    9. 100,000 respondents.
    10. 1 response.
    11. .25 hours per response.
    12. 25,000 hours.
    13. EIA 887 will be used to contact users and beneficiaries of DOE 
products or other services to determine how DOE can better improve its 
services to meet their needs. Information is needed to make DOE 
products more effective, efficient, and responsive and at a lesser 
cost. Respondents will be users and beneficiaries of DOE products and 
services (Federal, State, and local government representatives, 
industry, trade associations, consultants, libraries, and individuals).

    Statutory Authority: Section 2(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1980, (Pub. L. No. 96-511), which amended chapter 35 of title 44 
United States Code (See 44 U.S.C. 3506(a) and (c)(1)).

    Issued in Washington, DC, April 4, 1994.
John Gross,
Acting Director, Statistical Standards, Energy Information 
Administration.

Supporting Statement, DOE Customer Surveys, EIA-887

Introduction:

    The Department of Energy (DOE) requests an expedited approval by 
April 15, 1994, of a three-year generic clearance from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct customer surveys. The focus will 
be to contact users of DOE products or other services and individuals 
or businesses in partnership agreements with the Department to 
determine their needs, and how the department can improve its products 
and services to better meet these needs. The surveys will be conducted 
by various components of the department with support from the Energy 
Information Administration. Information is needed to make DOE products 
and services more effective, efficient, and responsive at a lesser 
cost. Both quantitative and qualitative studies will be undertaken. The 
objective of quantitative studies are to ask ``questions concerning 
satisfaction with timeliness, courtesy, accuracy and other particular 
aspects of the agency's operations.'' Examples of qualitative studies 
are ``a focus group of customers assembled to discuss a specific set of 
questions'' and ``a cognitive laboratory experiment that asks volunteer 
subjects to tell what they are thinking as they read a survey 
question.''
    For each study that the department undertakes under this generic 
clearance, we will notify OMB, at least two weeks in advance, and 
provide them with a summary of objectives, specific burden estimates, 
and all final or near final survey instruments (focus group scripts, 
test questions, etc.) covered by the generic clearance for inclusion in 
the OMB public docket prior to their use. If we do not hear that you 
disapprove of a customer survey within ten days, then DOE will assume 
OMB has no objections and may conduct the survey.
    Before any proposal is forwarded to OMB, an adequate internal 
review to ensure that the Paperwork Reduction Act rules are carried 
out, along with an evaluation of the proposed survey, will be 
conducted. All Energy Information Administration program office 
directors will be provided copies of the proposed survey for review and 
comment. EIA will verify that the material submitted to OMB is 
accurate, timely, and complete. Copies will also be provided to 
contacts throughout the Department for their review and comment.
    EIA's Office of Statistical Standards will also prepare a progress 
reporting schedule on an annual basis for summarizing actual burden, 
reporting results achieved, and any problems or revisions needed to the 
basic clearance agreement.
A. Justification
    1. Legal authority. The authority for the voluntary customer 
surveys is Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service 
Standards,'' signed September 11, 1993, aimed at:

    Ensuring that the Federal Government provides the highest 
quality service possible to the American people.'' The Executive 
Order establishes an explicit goal for the quality of service--
''Customer service equal to the best in business.'' That is--''The 
highest quality of service delivered to customers by private 
organizations providing a comparable or analogous service.

    2. Uses of data. The data will be used to assist the Department in 
satisfying its customers' needs. The information will be analyzed to 
determine areas important to our customers, assess our performance in 
these areas, and to develop strategies to better meet customer 
expectations. Results will be shared throughout the Department and with 
other agencies in seminars and through presentations at meetings, e.g., 
the American Statistical Association's Energy Committee meetings. 
Reports and publications will also reflect the results.
    The data from the customer surveys will be used in conjunction with 
data from other sources, surveys of employees, input from management, 
agency audits, performance reviews, and complaint and suggestion 
systems.
    3. Technological considerations to reduce burden. One of the goals 
of this effort is to obtain the information required with a minimum 
amount of burden on the public. The information will be gathered 
through personal or telephone interviews, focus groups, or by mail 
questionnaires.
    4. Efforts to identify duplication. This effort does not duplicate 
any other survey being done by DOE or other Federal agencies. Other 
Federal agencies are conducting user surveys, but are not soliciting 
comments on the usefulness of DOE products. This effort does involve 
contacts with other agencies, especially OMB, Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS), and Census. In addition, staff members have and will 
take classes on customer surveys given by the Joint Program in Survey 
Methodology.
    5. Analysis of similar, existing information. We are keeping 
abreast of what other Federal agencies are doing regarding customer 
surveys. Stan Freedman of EIA is on a committee organized by OMB that 
is looking into customer surveys. Jerry Coffey, OMB, gave a 
presentation at the ASA Subcommittee on Energy Statistics November 1993 
meeting regarding this topic and OMB's role. EIA also coordinated the 
OMB approval for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Form FERC-
597, ``Customer Satisfaction Survey,'' (OMB No. 1902-0163) and has 
pretested under the EIA-882(T), ``Generic Clearance for Questionnaire 
Testing, Evaluation, and Research,'' (OMB No. 1905-0186).
    6. Provisions for reducing burden on small businesses. One of the 
main purposes of this effort is to gather information needed without 
putting significant additional burden on small businesses. Small 
samples will be used to select respondents and the number of questions 
on the surveys will be kept to a minimum. However, small businesses, as 
well as the agency, will benefit by the government being more 
responsive to their needs.
    7. Consequences of less frequent reporting. Without this 
information collection, DOE would not be able to determine the kind and 
quality of service customers want, their level of satisfaction, or ways 
in which to improve service to its customers.
    8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.6. The department will adhere to all 
the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.
    9. Consultations outside the agency. a. DOE has consulted with and/
or received relevant materials from several agencies, including the 
BLS, OMB, and Census Bureau.
    b. There are no unresolved problems regarding consultations 
conducted on this clearance package.
    c. DOE staff have attended several seminars where customer surveys 
have been discussed, and will attend more when offered.
    DOE/EIA staff will continue to review pertinent literature, seek 
advice from academia, industry, and others.
    10. Provisions regarding confidentiality. Respondents will be 
advised that their participation is voluntary and at this time any 
information they provide will be summarized and will become a matter of 
public record. We are currently studying whether handling the 
information as non-confidential would adversely affect response rates. 
If we determine it would and decide to protect the confidentiality, we 
will inform OMB at that time.
    11. Questions of a sensitive nature. The questions being asked will 
not be of a sensitive nature.
    12. Annualized cost. (a) The cost to the Federal Government is 
$500,000.
    (b) There is no cost to respondents for participating in this 
survey except for their time which is estimated at $36 an hour (100,000 
respondents  x  1 report  x  .25 hours = 25,000  x  .25 hours  x  $36 = 
$900,000). There are no plans to remunerate participants.
    13. Estimate of respondent burden (Annualized). The annual 
respondent burden is estimated to be 25,000 hours. [100,000 respondents 
 x  1 report  x  .25 hours (15 min.) = 25,000 burden hours]
    14. Summary of changes in respondent burden. Not applicable. This 
is a new collection.
    15. Schedule of data collection and publication. Specific customer 
surveys will be submitted to OMB for review and the information will be 
collected unless OMB disapproves within ten days. The results will be 
used by the Department to analyze customer satisfaction. Papers may be 
written and presented at public meetings, or published in service 
reports or policy guidelines.
B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
    1. Respondent description. The respondents are intended to be users 
of DOE products or services and others involved with DOE in partnership 
agreements (providing oil and gas products for sale, offering 
investment partnerships for commercial demonstrations, and delivering 
information rights in the form of exclusive intellectual property, 
etc.) Respondents include other Federal agencies, the military, State 
and local governments, defense contractors, U.S. industrial firms, 
universities, educational programs, medical and health care 
communities, utilities, energy suppliers, energy equipment vendors, 
trade associations, consultants, libraries, and individuals.
    2. Procedures for collecting the information. Departmental staff or 
DOE contractors will conduct the surveys by telephone or by mail, 
conduct focus groups, or cognitive techniques.
    3. Methods to maximize response rates and to deal with statistical 
issues of non-response. Participation is voluntary. When possible, 
respondents will be notified in advance by letter, questions will be 
designed so that they are easy to answer, and follow-up callbacks will 
be repeated when necessary to maximize response rates.
    4. Tests or procedures. The questions to be asked will be similar 
to those used by other Federal agencies in their customer surveys. If 
respondents are unable to supply the data, questions will be reworded. 
Results of these should make the agency more effective and efficient in 
responding to customers.
    To ensure quality while the data are being collected, special 
attention will be paid to (a) the percentage of sampled customers 
contacted, (b) interviewer response rate performance, (c) extent of 
questions read as worded, (d) questionnaire completion rates as the 
survey progresses, (e) response rates of individual survey items, and 
(f) daily records on problems arising in the data collection and calls 
coming into the agency regarding the survey.
    5. Name and telephone number of individual. Nancy Kirkendall, Chief 
Statistician of EIA's Office of Statistical Standards may be contacted 
on 202-254-5353 regarding the statistical aspects of the customer 
surveys. Mr. Jay Casselberry, a Team Leader in the Statistical 
Standards Division, may be contacted on (202) 254-5348 regarding other 
aspects of these surveys.

[FR Doc. 94-8596 Filed 4-8-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P