[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 78 (Tuesday, April 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23918-23920]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09506]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

COURT SERVICES AND OFFENDER SUPERVISION AGENCY FOR THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Submission to OMB for Review and Approval for Collection of Qualitative 
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery; Public Comment Request

AGENCY: Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia (PSA), 
CSOSA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Pretrial Services 
Agency for the District of Columbia, an independent entity within the 
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) to request that 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed 
information collection project: ``Pretrial Services Agency for the 
District of Columbia 2013 Judicial Survey.'' In accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, this notice announces 
PSA's intent to submit this collection to OMB for approval. PSA invites 
the public to comment on this proposed information collection.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by June 24, 
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].
    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 1890, 
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: Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia 2013 
Judicial Survey.
    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 
requirement, PSA 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. 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 judicial officers at the District of Columbia Superior and 
District Courts are one of PSA's critical customers. The Agency's 
mission statement notes that ``assistance to the courts'' is critical 
to promoting pretrial justice and community safety. The proposed survey 
will assess judicial satisfaction with PSA's responsiveness, staff 
professionalism, the quality and benefit of PSA reports, PSA's 
supervision of higher risk defendants (including those with mental 
health and substance dependence issues), and the provision of treatment 
services. The judicial survey will represent the only qualitative or 
quantitative measure of this important metric. PSA will use the 
collected information to support several organizational improvements 
including: Enhancements to PSA's supervision of medium to higher-risk 
pretrial defendants; improve communications with the Court regarding 
defendant compliance and noncompliance with supervision requirements; 
provide better performance ratings of Senior Executive Services staff; 
and creation of a qualitative performance measure to gauge overall 
judicial satisfaction under PSA's ``partnerships'' strategic objective. 
This type of collection for qualitative information will be used for 
quantitative information collections that are designed to yield 
reliable actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time or 
documenting program performance.
    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.
    This evaluation study addresses PSA's need for a report to inform 
strategic planning for dissemination and program activities to targeted 
60 DC Superior Court and District Court judicial officers as survey 
participants--the universe of judicial officers hearing criminal 
matters in both courts and those with bail setting duties.
    The survey is intended to assess judicial officers' perceptions and 
attitudes through a structured survey to measure judicial perceptions 
and attitudes about specific elements of

[[Page 23919]]

Agency performance. Given the qualitative nature of these data, PSA 
will use a customer satisfaction rank order response of customer 
satisfaction questionnaire format for its survey. These customer 
satisfaction questionnaires are a proven method to solicit and record 
critical input from primary customers and partner agencies for PSA to 
address customer-related issues more competently and resolve issues 
more quickly.
    The outcome will best provide a detailed analysis of customer 
feedback and may also provide ``customer intelligence'' that can be 
used as a roadmap to spur innovation efforts, research and development 
and new programs and initiatives. The outcome will also include a 
recommendation for strategic planning for future efforts which will 
engage and develop information and programming for DC judicial official 
audience. Survey results will not be published independently, but will 
be part of PSA's Performance Budget submitted to the United States 
Congress every February and used as a metric for performance appraisals 
for Senior Executive Staff, submitted in September of each year.

Method of Collection

    This survey will be conducted by PSA through its Office of 
Strategic Development. To achieve the goals that PSA hopes to obtain 
through its judicial survey, the following data collections will be 
implemented:
    (1) On-line instrument: All responses to the survey will be 
solicited, collected and recorded via a web-based survey instrument. 
This method will increase participants' ease in completing the survey 
and returning results to PSA. Automatically-logged results also ensure 
greater quality control of entered data and easier recording and 
analysis of results.
    (2) Rank-ordered responses: Most survey questions ask respondents 
to rank-order responses on a standard five-item Likert-scale, for 
example, ``Very Dissatisfied'' to ``Very Satisfied.'' The remaining 
questions are value neutral and open ended and allow respondents to 
give opinions on how PSA can improve specific functions.
    (3) Limited question set: The survey consists of 15 questions, 
making it relatively easy to understand, navigate and complete.
    (4) Anonymity: Survey results are anonymous, although respondents 
have the choice to identify themselves.

Since the survey targets all judicial officers that have direct 
exposure and knowledge of PSA services and supervision, there are no 
anticipated issues with sample selection, stratification or estimation 
procedures.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in this research. The judicial surveys 
will be conducted with 60 judicial officers and will take approximately 
10-15 minutes to complete. The total burden is estimated to be 15 
hours. Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden associated 
with the respondents' time to participate in this research. The total 
cost burden is estimated to be $1,200 annually. Exhibit 3 shows the 
total and annualized cost to the federal government for conducting this 
research. The total cost to the federal government is $150.00. The 
total annualized cost is estimated to be approximately $150.00. The 
total annual cost includes the questionnaire development, 
administration, analysis, and study management.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of
                   Survey form                       Number of     responses per    Minutes per    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DC Superior Court Judicial Survey...............              40              15           10-15              10
DC District Court Judicial Survey...............              20              15           10-15               5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of                     Average cost     Total cost
                    Form name                       respondents    Total burden     per survey        burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DC Superior Court Judicial Survey                             40              10          $20.00         $800.00
DC District Court Survey........................              20               5           20.00          400.00
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              60              15           20.00        1,200.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


             Exhibit 3--Estimated Total and Annualized Cost
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Annualized
                Cost component                   Total cost      cost
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Development.                                    N/A          N/A
Data Collection Activities.                         $150.00      $150.00
Project Management.                                     N/A          N/A
Overhead......................................          N/A          N/A
                                               -------------------------
    Total.....................................       150.00       150.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

[[Page 23920]]

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 18, 2013.
Rorey Smith,
Deputy General Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
[FR Doc. 2013-09506 Filed 4-22-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3129-04-P