[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70402-70404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-24600]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC17-1-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of information collection 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, the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission or FERC) is 
coordinating the development of the following proposed Generic 
Information Collection Request (ICR): FERC-153, ``Generic Clearance for 
the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Commission Service Delivery'' 
for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).\1\ This notice 
announces that FERC intends to submit this collection to OMB for 
approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed 
information collection. Following review of public comments received in 
regard to this 60-day notice, FERC will issue a 30-day notice to 
solicit additional public comments and will submit a Generic ICR to OMB 
for review.\2\
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    \1\ 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
    \2\ FERC also participated in the initial 60-day notice to 
establish eligibility for the Generic Clearance process (75 FR 
80542, 12/22/2010).

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due December 12, 
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2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC17-1-
000) by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support 
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this

[[Page 70403]]

docket or in viewing/downloading comments and issuances in this docket 
may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202) 
273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: FERC-153, Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
Qualitative Feedback on Commission Service Delivery.
    OMB Control No.: To be determined.
    Type of Request: New generic information collection.
    Abstract: The proposed information collection 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 data 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. This 
collection will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable 
communications between FERC 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 Commission's services will be unavailable.
    The Commission will only submit a collection for approval under 
this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
     The collections are voluntary;
     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;
     The collections are non-controversial and do not raise 
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
     The 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;
     Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected 
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
     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 Commission (if 
released, the Commission must indicate the qualitative nature of the 
information);
     Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
     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.
    As a general matter, this information collection 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 information collection is subject to the PRA. The Commission 
generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and 
the public is generally not required to respond to an information 
collection, unless it is approved by the OMB under the PRA and displays 
a currently valid OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any 
other provisions of law, no person shall generally be subject to 
penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information which 
does not display a valid OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320. OMB 
authorization for an information collection cannot be for more than 
three years without renewal.
    Type of Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals and households; 
Businesses or other for-profit and not-for-profit organizations; State, 
Local, or Tribal government.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \3\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost for the information collection as:
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    \3\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For 
further explanation of what is included in the information 
collection burden, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \4\ 1,500 hours = 90,000 minutes.

                                  Estimated Annual Burden for Generic Clearance
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                                                  Number of                      Average burden
                                  Number of     responses per   Total number      minutes per      Total burden
                                 respondents     respondent     of responses        response           hours
                                          (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =                (4)     (3) * (4) =
                                                                          (3)                                (5)
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Generic Clearance............          15,000               1          15,000                  6       \4\ 1,500
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[[Page 70404]]

    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission'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.

    Dated: October 5, 2016.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-24600 Filed 10-11-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P