[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 68 (Friday, April 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16415-16416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-8179]


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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, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR 
1320, which implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-
13), require that interested members of the public and affected 
agencies have an opportunity to comment on information collection and 
recordkeeping activities (see 5 CFR 1320.8 (d)). This notice identifies 
an information collection activity that the Office of Civil Rights, 
Office of the Secretary, Department of the Interior (DOI) has submitted 
to OMB for renewal.

DATES: OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information 
collection renewal request, but may respond after 30 days; therefore, 
public comments should be submitted to OMB by May 11, 2009, in order to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments by facsimile to 202-395-5806 or 
e-mail ([email protected]) to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: 
Department of the Interior Desk Officer (1091-0001). Also, please send 
a copy of your comments to Department of the Interior, Office of the 
Secretary, Office of Civil Rights, Attn. Ophelia Anderson, 1849 C St., 
NW., MS 5230 MIB, Washington, DC 20240. Send any faxed comments to 
(202) 208-6112, attn Ophelia Anderson. Comments may also be e-mailed to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this 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. Ophelia Anderson 1849 C St., 
NW., MS 5230 MIB, Washington, DC 20240. Before including your address, 
phone number, e-mail 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

[[Page 16416]]

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: 335,820
    Frequency of Response: Once per job application.
    (2) Annual reporting and record keeping burden:
    Average reporting burden per application: 2 minutes.
    Total annual reporting: 11,194.
    (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.
    As required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), a Federal Register notice 
soliciting comments on the collection of information was published on 
November 28, 2008 (73 FR 72518). No comments were received. This notice 
provides the public with an additional 30 days in which to comment on 
this information collection activity.

III. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the 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.
    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 Ophelia Anderson by telephone on (202) 
219-0805, or by e-mail at [email protected]. A valid 
picture identification is required for entry into the Department of the 
interior.

    Dated: April 6, 2009.
Sharon Eller,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, Office of the Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E9-8179 Filed 4-9-09; 8:45 am]
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