[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 77 (Monday, April 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23755-23756]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09371]


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COURT SERVICES AND OFFENDER SUPERVISION AGENCY


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative 
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY: Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, CSOSA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of a federal government-wide effort to streamline the 
process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, CSOSA is 
seeking comment on the development of the following proposed Generic 
Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for 
the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' 
for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.). This notice announces our intent to submit this collection to 
OMB for approval and solicit comments on specific aspects for the 
proposed information collection.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by June 21, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments, identified by ``Collection 
of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to: Rorey Smith, 
Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, Office of General 
Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, 633 Indiana 
Avenue NW., Room 1380, Washington, DC 20004 or to 
[email protected], Fax: (202) 220-5315.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public. For this reason, please do not include in your comments 
information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal 
information or proprietary information. If you send an email comment, 
your email address will be automatically captured and included as part 
of the comment that is placed in the public docket and may be made 
available on the Internet. Please note that responses to this public 
comment request containing any routine notice about the confidentiality 
of the communication will be treated as public comments that may be 
made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the 
routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    Rorey Smith, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, 
Office of General Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision 
Agency, 633 Indiana Avenue NW., Room 1380, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 
220-5797 or to [email protected].
    For content support: Diane Bradley, Assistant General Counsel, 
Office of General Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision 
Agency, 633 Indiana Avenue NW., Room 1375, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 
220-5364 or to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    Abstract: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), federal agencies 
must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
each collection of information they collect or sponsor. Section 
3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (944 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) requires federal 
agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning 
each proposed collection of information, including each proposed 
extension of an existing collection of information, before submitting 
the collection of information to OMB for approval. To comply with this

[[Page 23756]]

requirement, CSOSA is publishing notice of the proposed collection of 
information set forth in this document. The proposed information 
collection activity provides a means to garner qualitative customer and 
stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with 
the Administration's commitment to improving service delivery. By 
qualitative feedback we mean information that provides useful insights 
on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield 
quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of 
study. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder 
perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of 
issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, 
training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or 
services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and 
actionable communications between the Agency and its customers and 
stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the 
improvement of program management.
    The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of 
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. 
Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this 
information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and 
stakeholders on the Agency's services will be unavailable.
    The Agency will only submit a collection for approval under this 
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
    1. The collections are voluntary;
    2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents 
and the federal government;
    3. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of 
concern to other federal agencies;
    4. Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from 
respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience 
with the program in the near future;
    5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to 
the extent necessary and is not retained;
    6. Information gathered will be used only internally for general 
service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended 
for release outside of the agency;
    7. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
    8. Information gathered will yield qualitative information; the 
collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically 
reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the 
population of study.

Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the 
overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative 
information will not be used for quantitative information collections 
that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as 
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such 
data uses require more rigorous designs that address: the target 
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, 
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the 
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed 
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing 
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any 
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding 
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely 
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative 
results.
    As a general matter, information collections will not result in any 
new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask 
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, 
religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered 
private.
    Current Actions: New collection of information.
    Type of Review: New Collection.
    (1) Affected Public: Individuals currently or recently under court-
ordered supervision by CSOSA. CSOSA stakeholders including members of 
the community (e.g., DC residents who attend CSOSA community justice 
advisory network meetings) and criminal justice systems (e.g., judges, 
parole commissioners, etc.).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1340.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 3.
    Average number of Respondents per Activity: 447.
    Annual responses: 1340.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 7.
    Burden hours: 145.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. 
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information. 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: April 16, 2013.
Rorey Smith,
Deputy General Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
[FR Doc. 2013-09371 Filed 4-19-13; 8:45 am]
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