[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 202 (Friday, October 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48807-48808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22802]



[[Page 48807]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration


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

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: EIA intends to extend with changes for three years with the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its Generic Information 
Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the 
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' under 
OMB Control No. 1905-0210. As part of a Federal Government-wide effort 
to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service 
delivery, this generic clearance enables EIA to collect customer and 
stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with 
our commitment to ensure that our programs are effective, meet our 
customers' needs, and receive feedback on improving service delivery to 
the public.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by December 
19, 2017. If you anticipate difficulty in submitting comments within 
that period, contact the person listed in ADDRESSES as soon as 
possible.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to Jacob Bournazian, U.S. 
Energy Information Administration, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., EI-21 
Washington, DC 20585 or by email at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection supporting statement should be 
directed to Jacob Bournazian, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 
telephone: 202-586-5562, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed information collection activity 
provides a means to collect 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. This feedback also provides 
an early warning of issues with service, or focuses attention on areas 
where communication, training or changes in operations might improve 
the accuracy of data reported on survey instruments or the 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.
    This information collection request contains:
    (1) OMB Control No.: 1905-0210;
    (2) Information Collection Request Title: Generic Clearance for the 
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery;
    (3) Type of Request: Renewal with changes;
    (4) Purpose: The solicitation of feedback will target areas such 
as: Timeliness, understanding of questions and terminology used in 
survey instruments, perceptions on data confidentiality and security, 
appropriateness and relevancy of information, 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: 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; 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; Personally identifiable information (PII) 
is collected only to the extent necessary for initially contacting 
respondents and is not retained; Information gathered is intended to be 
used only internally for general service improvement, the design, 
modification, and evaluation of survey instruments, modes of data 
collection, and program management purposes. It is not intended for 
release outside of the agency (if released, the agency must indicate 
the qualitative nature of the information); Information gathered will 
not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential 
policy decisions; and 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. The information gathered 
will only generate qualitative type of information. 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.
    (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: 80,600.
    (6) Annual Estimated Number of Responses: 80,600.
    (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 8,450.
    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

[[Page 48808]]

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. All 
written comments will be available for public inspection at 
www.Regulations.gov. 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 notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine 
notice. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.

    Statutory Authority:  Executive Order (E.O.) 13571, Streamlining 
Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 24, 2017.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, 
U.S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017-22802 Filed 10-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P