[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21992-21993]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8810]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Renewal of Information Collection: Applicant Background 
Survey

AGENCY: U.S. Department of the 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 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 June 11, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments to the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Office of the Secretary, Office of Civil Rights, Attn: 
Ophelia Anderson, Chief, Compliance and Programs Division, 1849 C St. 
NW., MS 4309 Main Interior Building, Washington, DC 20240. Send any 
faxed comments to (202) 208-6112, Attn: Ophelia Anderson. 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 the above address. 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 DOI Strategic 
Plan identifies the job skills that will be needed in its current

[[Page 21993]]

and future workforce. The job skills it will need are dispersed 
throughout its nine 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 DOI touches the lives of most Americans.
    The people who deal with the DOI bring with them a wide variety of 
backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. A diverse workforce enables the 
DOI 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 DOI'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. The most effective and statistically valid method to make 
these determinations is information 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: July 31, 2012.
    Type of Review: Information Collection Renewal.
    Affected Entities: Applicants for DOI jobs.
    Estimated annual number of respondents: 13,433.
    Frequency of Response: One per job application.
    (2) Annual reporting and record keeping burden: Average reporting 
burden per application: 5 minutes.
    Total annual reporting: 1,119 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 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 email at [email protected]. A valid picture 
identification is required for entry into the Department of the 
interior.

    Dated: April 5, 2012.
Sharon Eller,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-8810 Filed 4-11-12; 8:45 am]
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