[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 185 (Thursday, September 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 57571]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24232]


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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: Commodity Flow Survey Advance Questionnaire; a Component of 
the 2017 Economic Census.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0921.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Reinstatement, with change, of an expired 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 150,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 5 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 12,500.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau plans to conduct the 2017 
Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) as a part of the quinquennial Economic 
Census. In advance of the 2017 CFS, we will conduct the 2017 CFS 
Advance Questionnaire, which is the subject of this request. The 2017 
CFS will be the subject of a separate Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) clearance submission in the spring of 2016.
    The information collected in the 2017 CFS Advance Questionnaire 
will be used to: Improve the quality of the information the Census 
Bureau has on the 2017 CFS universe with associated improvements in 
sampling efficiency, and to provide contact information for the 
selected establishments, reducing the cost and improving the timeliness 
of data collection for the 2017 CFS.
    The CFS, a component of the Economic Census, is the only 
comprehensive source of multi-modal, system-wide data on the volume and 
pattern of goods movement in the United States. The CFS is conducted in 
partnership with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office 
of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department 
of Transportation.
    An advance letter will be mailed to a sample from U.S. 
manufacturing, mining, and wholesale establishments, enterprise support 
establishments, electronic shopping, mail-order houses, and publishing 
establishments, and establishments expected to be selected with 
certainty in the 2017 CFS. Selected small establishments from 
industries with a high incidence of non-shipping activity will also 
receive the letter. The Census Bureau is streamlining operations to 
conserve taxpayer time and money. This includes moving from paper-based 
data collection operations to on-line-based data collection operations. 
The letter will direct the selected establishments to complete the on-
line 2017 CFS Advance Questionnaire. No paper questionnaires were 
created for mailing. Respondents will have the opportunity to print 
what they report on the on-line questionnaire at the time of data 
submission for their records.
    The six items on the on-line questionnaire attempt the following 
for each establishment/location:

(1) Verify shipping status
(2) Verify and update physical shipping address
(3) Determine the amount of annual shipping activity
(4) Verify and update mailing address/contact information

    All information collected in the 2017 CFS Advance Questionnaire 
will be used internally to improve the 2017 CFS universe and mail-out 
processing.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Frequency: Every 5 years.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: The Census Bureau will conduct the 2017 CFS 
Advance Questionnaire under authority of title 13, U.S.C., sections 
8(b), 131 and, 193. Title 13, U.S.C., sections 224 and 225 require 
response. The BTS also has authority to collect these data based on its 
enabling legislation at 49 U.S.C., section 6302.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-24232 Filed 9-23-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P