[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 186 (Monday, September 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51952-51953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25024]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    DOC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
clearance the following proposal for collection of information under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Company Organization Survey.
    Form Number(s): NC-9901.
    Agency Approval Number: 0607-0444.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 140,000 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 90,000.
    Avg Hours Per Response: 1 hour and 33 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau conducts the annual Company 
Organization Survey (COS) in order to update and maintain a central, 
multipurpose business register, known as the Standard Statistical 
Establishment List (SSEL). In particular, the COS supplies critical 
information to the SSEL concerning the establishment composition, 
organizational structure, and operating characteristics of 
multiestablishment enterprises. The SSEL serves two fundamental 
purposes:
    First and most important, it provides sampling populations and 
enumeration lists for the Census Bureau's economic surveys and 
censuses, and it serves as an integral part of the statistical 
foundation underlying those programs.
    Second, it provides establishment data that serve as the basis for 
the annual County Business Patterns (CBP) statistical series.
    The COS is typically conducted as a detailed inquiry sent to a 
sample of multiestablishment companies. In years ending in 2 & 7, the 
COS is conducted in conjunction with the economic censuses and is sent 
to the universe of multiestablishment companies but requests much less 
detailed information. This is done to coordinate the COS with the 
quinquinnial economic census and

[[Page 51953]]

minimize burden for both collections. This request is for clearance of 
the 1999--2001 COS collections which will take place in a non-census 
environment. The information collection form is largely unchanged from 
previous years except for our plan to pilot certain questions in the 
2000--2001 COS. We will include a question on the number of leased 
employees working in the company and evaluate an alternative method for 
collecting the inventory of Federal Identification Numbers (EINs) 
belonging to the company. These additional questions will be directed 
to less than 500 companies.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations, 
farms, not-for-profit institutions, State, local or Tribal governments.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 USC, Sections 182, 195, 224, & 225.
    OMB Desk Officer: Susan Schechter, (202) 395-7313.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Linda Engelmeier, DOC Forms Clearance Officer, 
(202) 482-3272, Department of Commerce, room 5027, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
LE[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Linda Hutton, OMB Desk Officer, room 10201, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503.

    Dated: September 21, 1999.
Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 99-25024 Filed 9-24-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P