[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 230 (Friday, November 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72518-72519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-28340]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Renewal of Information Collection: OMB Control Number 
1091-0001, Applicant Background Survey

AGENCY: Office of Civil Rights.

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 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 
27, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments to the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Office of the Secretary, Office of Civil Rights, Attn. John 
Burden, Deputy Director, 1849 C St. NW., MS 2607 MIB, Washington, DC 
20240. Send any faxed comments to (202) 208-6112, attn. John Burden. 
Comments may also be emailed to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this renewed information collection or its Applicant Background Survey 
Form should be directed to U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of 
the Secretary, Office of Civil Rights, Attn. John Burden, Deputy 
Director, 1849 C St. NW., MS 2607 MIB, Washington, DC 20240. Before 
including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your 
entire comment--including your personal identifying information--may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public 
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

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 our 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: April 30, 2009.
    Type of Review: Information Collection Renewal.
    Affected Entities: Applicants for DOI jobs.
    Estimated annual number of respondents: 13433.
    Frequency of Response: Once per job application.
    (2) Annual reporting and record keeping burden: Average reporting 
burden per application: 5 minutes.
    Total annual reporting: 1119 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

    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

[[Page 72519]]

a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and 
review the collection of information, and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information.
    All written comments will be available for public inspection in the 
Main Interior Building, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC during 
normal business hours, excluding legal holidays. For an appointment to 
inspect comments, please contact John Burden by telephone on (202) 208-
3173, or by e-mail at [email protected]. A valid picture 
identification is required for entry into the Department of the 
Interior.

    Dated: November 14, 2008.
Sharon Eller,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-28340 Filed 11-26-08; 8:45 am]
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