[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 226 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70450-70451]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29766]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Office for Equal Opportunity, Office of the Secretary, DOI.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, the Office for Equal Opportunity announces the 
proposed extension of a public information collection and seeks public 
comments on the provisions thereof.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by January 
21, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations on the proposed 
information collection should be sent to the Office for Equal 
Opportunity, Attn: Samuel Bowser, Department of the Interior, 1849 C 
St, NW., Washington, DC 20240.

[[Page 70451]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on this 
proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and 
associated collection instrument, please write to the above address, or 
call Samuel Bowser, (202) 208-5549. The collection instrument is also 
available on the Internet at: http://www.doi.gov/diversity/doc/di_1935.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOI is below parity with the Relevant 
Civilian Labor Force representation for many mission critical 
occupations. The Department's Strategic Human Capital Management Plan 
identifies the job skills that will be needed in our current and future 
workforce. The job skills we will need are dispersed throughout our 
eight bureaus and include, among others, making visitors welcome to 
various facilities, such as parks and refuges, processing permits for a 
wide variety of uses of the public lands, collecting royalties for 
minerals extracted from the public lands, rounding-up and adopting-put 
wild horses and burros found in the west, protecting archaeological and 
cultural resources of the public lands, and enforcing criminal laws of 
the United States. As a result of this broad spectrum of duties and 
services, the Department touches the lives of most Americans.
    The people who deal with the Department bring with them a wide 
variety of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. A diverse workforce 
enables the Department to provide a measure of understanding to its 
customers by relating to the diverse background of those customers. By 
including employees of all backgrounds, all DOI employees gain a 
measure of knowledge, background, experience, and comfort in serving 
all the Department's customers.
    In order to determine if there are barriers in our recruitment and 
selection processes, we must rack the demographic groups that apply for 
our jobs. There is no other statistically valid method to make these 
determinations, and no source of this information other than directly 
from applicants. The data collected is not provided to selecting 
officials and plays no part in the merit staffing or the selection 
processes. The data collected will be used in summary form to determine 
trends covering the demographic make-up of applicant pools and job 
selections within a given occupation or organizational group. The 
records of those applicants not selected are destroyed in accordance 
with the Department's records management process.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 
the burden of the information collection on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Title, Associated Form, and OMB Number: Applicant Background 
Survey, DI form 1935; OMB Control No.: 1091-0001.
    Needs and Uses: This form is used to obtain the source of 
recruitment, ethnicity, race, and disability data on job applicants to 
determine if the recruitment is effectively reaching all aspects of the 
relevant labor pool and to determine if there are proportionate 
acceptance rates at various stages of the recruitment process. Response 
is optional. The information is used for evaluating recruitment only, 
and plays no part in the selection of who is hired.
    Affected Public: Applicants for DOI jobs.
    Annual Burden Hours: 9,960.
    Number of Respondents: 120,000.
    Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: No more than 5 minutes.
    Frequency: 1 per application.

    Dated: November 5, 2002.
Samuel Bowser,
Assistant Director for Workforce Diversity, Department of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 02-29766 Filed 11-21-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-10-M