[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 57 (Friday, March 24, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14938-14939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-2846]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary


Notice of Proposed Agency Information Collection

AGENCY: Office of Civil Rights, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Civil Rights, Office of the 
Secretary, Department of the Interior (DOI), announces that it has 
forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposed 
extension of the public information collection described below. Copies 
of the proposed information collection request may be obtained by 
contacting the Clearance Officer at the phone number listed below. 
Comments and suggestions on the requirement should be made directly to 
the Office of Management and Budget. A copy of the comments and 
suggestions should also be sent to the Clearance Officer.

DATES: OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information 
collection but may respond after 30 days. Therefore, public comments 
should be submitted to OMB by April 24, 2006, in order to be assured of 
consideration.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments to Office of Management and 
Budget, Office of Information and

[[Page 14939]]

Regulatory Affairs, Attention, Department of the Interior Desk Officer, 
by fax to 202-395-6566, or by e-mail to [email protected]. Send 
a copy of your written comments to Mercedes Flores, Department of the 
Interior, 1849 C Street, NW., MS-2607 MIB, Washington, DC 20240, or 
electronically to [email protected]. Please mention that 
your comments concern the Applicant Background Survey, OMB control 
 1091-0001.

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 Mercedes Flores, (202) 208-6120. The collection instrument is also 
available on the Internet at: http://www.doi.gov/diversity/doc/di_1935.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    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 its current and future workforce. The job skills it 
will need are dispersed throughout its 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-out wild horses and burros found 
in the west, protecting archeological 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 of the Department's customers.
    In order to determine if there are barriers in its recruitment and 
selection processes, DOI must track the demographic groups that apply 
for its 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 DOI's records management procedures.

II. Data

    (1) Title: Applicant Background Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 1091-0001.
    Current Expiration Date: March 31, 2006.
    Type of Review: Information Collection Renewal.
    Affected Entities: Applicants for DOI jobs.
    Estimated annual number of respondents: 535,160.
    Frequency of response: Once per job application.
    (2) Annual reporting and recordkeeping burden.
    Average reporting burden per application: 3 minutes.
    Total annual reporting: 26,758 hours.
    (3) Description of the need and use of the information: This 
information is required 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 relevant labor pools 
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.

III. Request for Comments

    Request for Comments: 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.
    Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources 
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide 
information to or for a federal agency. This includes the time needed 
to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize 
technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and 
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and 
disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able 
to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to 
complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or 
otherwise disclose the information.

    Dated: March 16, 2006.
Sharon Eller,
Director, Office of Civil Rights.
[FR Doc. 06-2846 Filed 3-23-06; 8:45 am]
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