[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54884-54885]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21932]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: 2012 Survey of Business Owners.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0943.
    Form Number(s): SBO-1, SBO-1S, SBO-2, SBO-2S.
    Type of Request: Reinstatement, with change, of an expired 
collection.
    Burden Hours: 149,167.
    Number of Respondents: 875,000.
    Average Hours per Response: SBO-1 = 12 minutes, SBO-2 = 8 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-
Employed Persons (SBO) will provide the only comprehensive, regularly 
collected source of information on selected economic and demographic 
characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, 
ethnicity, race, and veteran status. It is conducted as part of the 
economic census program, which is required by law to be taken every 
five years.
    The survey was initiated following an Executive Order signed March 
5, 1969, by President Richard Nixon, which directed the Secretary of 
Commerce to ``Establish a center for the development, collection, 
summarization, and dissemination of information that will be helpful to 
persons and organizations throughout the nation in undertaking or 
promoting the establishment and successful operation of minority 
business enterprise.'' This project was later incorporated into the 
1972 Economic Census and has been conducted on a quinquennial basis as 
part of the economic census ever since.
    Government program officials, industry organization leaders, 
economic and social analysts, and business entrepreneurs routinely use 
the SBO statistics. Examples of data use include those by:
     The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Minority 
Business Development Agency (MBDA) to assess business assistance needs 
and allocate available program resources.
     Local government commissions on small and disadvantaged 
businesses to establish and evaluate contract procurement practices.
     Federal, state and local government agencies as a 
framework for planning, directing and assessing programs that promote 
the activities of disadvantaged groups.
     A national women-owned business trade association to 
assess women-owned businesses by industry and area, and educate other 
industry associations, corporations and government entities.
     Consultants and researchers to analyze long-term economic 
and demographic shifts, and differences in ownership and performance 
among geographic areas.
     Individual business owners to analyze their operations in 
comparison to similar firms, compute their market share, and assess 
their growth and future prospects.
    Businesses which reported any business activity on any one of the 
following Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms will be eligible for 
survey selection: 1040 (Schedule C), ``Profit or Loss from Business'' 
(Sole Proprietorship); 1065, ``U.S. Return of Partnership Income''; 
941, ``Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return''; 944 ``Employer's 
Annual Federal Tax Return'', or any one of the 1120 corporate tax 
forms.
    The 2012 SBO-1 and SBO-2 questionnaires will be mailed in two 
phases from our processing headquarters in Jeffersonville, Indiana. 
Approximately 850,000 questionnaires for partnerships and corporations,

[[Page 54885]]

which were in business in 2011, will be mailed out in the first phase 
scheduled to begin June 2013, with two follow-up mailings at six-week 
intervals. Closeout of this phase of the mailout operations is 
scheduled for October 2013. The second phase mailout of approximately 
900,000 questionnaires to sole proprietorships and new partnerships and 
corporations operating in 2012 is scheduled to begin in May 2014, with 
two follow-ups at six-week intervals. Closeout of mailout operations is 
scheduled for August 2014. Upon closeout of the survey, the response 
data will be edited and reviewed.
    For the 2012 SBO, significant changes have been made to the 
program. These changes include the following:
     To reduce the SBO sample size, mailing and processing 
costs, and respondent burden, the Census Bureau is expanding its use of 
direct data substitution from existing sources, such as the American 
Community Survey (ACS) and the Decennial Census.
     Select businesses will be mailed the new 2012 SBO-2 short 
form with 39 fewer questions to answer than the 2012 SBO-1 long form.
     Spanish-language paper versions of the SBO-1 and SBO-2 
forms, respectively designated as the SBO-1S and SBO-2S forms, will be 
available upon request.
     The first eight questions on the 2007 SBO-1 form have been 
reorganized into three questions on the 2012 SBO-1 and SBO-2 forms to 
improve navigation through these forms.
     To eliminate confusion for business owners born to 
American citizens overseas, the foreign-born question that asked if the 
owner was born in the United States has been replaced by a new question 
that asks if the owner was born a citizen of the United States.
     The veteran question has been revised and expanded to 
collect information on whether the veteran was service-disabled, served 
on active duty or as a reservist during the survey year, served on 
active duty at any time, and served on active duty after September 11, 
2001. The revised and expanded wording for the veteran categories and 
the collection of the additional service characteristics reflects input 
received during consultations with many leaders in the veteran 
community. Input was received from, among others, the Department of 
Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the 
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the Small Business 
Administration, the American Legion, the Veterans Entrepreneurship Task 
Force (VET-Force), and the American Veterans (AMVETS).
     Interest from researchers on the possible correlation 
between intellectual property rights and business success led to the 
addition of a question on whether the business owned a copyright, 
trademark, granted patent, or a pending patent.
    Using principles of questionnaire design and methodological 
research, cognitive interviews were completed with eighty-three 
respondents in three rounds of interviews. Upon completion of each 
round of interviews, the interview team met, decided on the changes to 
the form, and made revisions based on the findings and recommendations.
    The survey collects data on the gender, ethnicity, race, and 
veteran status for up to four persons owning the majority of rights, 
equity, or interest in the business. These data are needed to evaluate 
the extent and growth of business ownership by women, minorities, and 
veterans in order to provide a framework for assessing and directing 
federal, state, and local government programs designed to promote the 
activities of disadvantaged groups.
    The SBA and the MBDA use the SBO data when allocating resources for 
their business assistance programs.
    The Census Bureau merged its 2007 SBO data product with its 2007 
Profile of U.S. Exporting Companies data product to create a first-ever 
report that provides the ownership characteristics of classifiable U.S. 
exporters by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status, and their 
export values by country. This report is planned again for the 2012 
data.
    The data are also widely used by private firms and individuals to 
evaluate their own businesses and markets and to write business plans 
and loan application letters, by the media for news stories, by 
researchers and academia for determining firm characteristics, and by 
the legal profession in evaluating the concentration of minority 
businesses in particular industries and/or geographic areas.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; State, local or Tribal governments.
    Frequency: Every 5 years.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 of the United States Code (USC), Sections 
131, 193, and 224.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) 
or email ([email protected]).

    Dated: August 31, 2012.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-21932 Filed 9-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P