[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 244 (Thursday, December 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76849-76851]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30258]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

[Docket No. DHS-2013-0032]


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

AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS.

ACTION: 60-day notice and request for comments; New Information 
Collection Request: 1670-NEW.

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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, the 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Protection and Programs 
Directorate (NPPD), Office of the Chief Information Office (OCIO) has 
submitted a Generic Information Collection Request (ICR): ``Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service 
Delivery'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 
(Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until February 18, 
2014. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.1.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and questions about this Generic 
Information Collection Request should be forwarded to DHS/NPPD/OCIO, 
245 Murray Lane, Mail Stop 0380, Arlington, VA 20598-0380. Emailed 
requests should go to Evette Maynard-Noel, NPPD's PRA Coordinator at 
[email protected]. Written comments should reach the contact person 
listed no later than February 18, 2014. Comments must be identified by 
``DHS-2013-0032'' and may be submitted by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
     Email: Include the docket number in the subject line of 
the message.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the words 
``Department of Homeland Security'' and the docket number for this 
action. Comments received will be posted without alteration at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public through relevant Web sites. 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 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

[[Page 76850]]

notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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. NPPD is 
planning to submit this collection to OMB for approval.
    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 NPPD 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 Directorate's services will be unavailable.
    NPPD 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 is intended to be used only internally for 
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not 
intended for release outside of the NPPD (if released, NPPD must 
indicate the qualitative nature of the information);
    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 will provide useful 
information, but it will 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 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 personal 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.
    Comments are invited on:
    1. Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of NPPD, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility;
    2. The accuracy of the NPPD estimate of the burden of the 
collection of information;
    3. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    4. 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
    5. 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.
    OMB is particularly interested in comments that:
    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submissions of responses.

NPPD may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number.

Analysis

    Agency: Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and 
Programs Directorate, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Number: 1 670-NEW.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and

[[Page 76851]]

Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents: 14080. This estimate is based on a review of 
past behavior of NPPD with an average of 15 activities expected annual 
with an average of 939 respondents per activity.
    Estimated Time per Respondent: 34 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 7920.3 annual burden hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Costs (operating/maintain): $0.

    Dated: December 12, 2013.
Scott Libby,
Deputy Chief Information Officer, National Protection and Programs 
Directorate, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2013-30258 Filed 12-18-13; 8:45 am]
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