[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 111 (Friday, June 8, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26653-26654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12356]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 180402335-8335-01]


Annual Business Survey

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of determination.

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

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of the Census (Census 
Bureau) has determined that it is conducting the Annual Business Survey 
(ABS) of domestic nonfarm employer businesses in 2018. We have 
determined that data to be collected in this survey are needed to aid 
the efficient performance of essential governmental functions and have 
significant application to the needs of the public and industry. The 
ABS will provide the only comprehensive federal data on owner 
demographics and business characteristics, including financing research 
and development (for microbusinesses), and innovation. The data derived 
from this survey are not publicly available from nongovernmental or 
other governmental sources.

ADDRESSES: The Census Bureau will make the reporting instructions 
available to the organizations included in the survey. Additional 
copies are available upon written request to the Director, 4600 Silver 
Hill Road, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-0101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nick Orsini, Assistant Director for 
Economic Programs, U.S. Census Bureau, 5H160, Washington, DC 20233, 
Telephone: 301-763-2558; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In an effort to improve the measurement of 
business dynamics in the United States, the Census Bureau, with support 
from the National Science Foundation (NSF), plans to conduct the Annual 
Business Survey (ABS). The ABS is a new survey designed to combine 
Census Bureau firm-level survey collections to reduce respondent burden 
and simultaneously increase data quality and operational efficiencies. 
The ABS replaces the following collections: The five-year Survey of 
Business Owners (SBO) (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control 
number 0607-0943) for employer businesses; the Annual Survey of 
Entrepreneurs (ASE) (OMB control number 0607-0986); and the Business 
Research and Development and Innovation for Microbusinesses (BRDI-M) 
form, a component of the Business Research and Development and 
Innovation Survey, BRDI-S (OMB control number 0607-0912). The ABS also 
replaces the innovation questions, formerly asked in the BRDI-S.
    ABS estimates will include the number of employer firms and their 
sales/receipts, annual payroll, and employment by gender, ethnicity, 
race, and veteran status as well as research and development and 
innovation and various other relevant topics. The ABS will be conducted 
jointly by the Census Bureau and the National Center for Science and 
Engineering Statistics within the NSF. It is planned for five reference 
years (2017-2021). Title 13, United States Code (U.S.C.), Sections 
8(b), 131, and 182, Title 42, U.S.C, Sections 1861-1875 (National 
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended), and Section 505 of the 
America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p) 
authorize this collection. Sections 224 and 225 of Title 13, U.S.C., 
require responses from sampled firms.
    The ABS covers all domestic nonfarm employer businesses filing 
Internal Revenue Service tax forms as individual proprietorships, 
partnerships, or any type of corporation, and with receipts of $1,000 
or more. The ABS will sample approximately 850,000 employer businesses 
for the benchmark survey year 2017, with data collection taking place 
in 2018. Annually for survey years 2018 to 2021, the survey sample will 
be reduced to approximately 300,000 employer businesses to reduce the 
burden on the respondents. The Census Bureau will use administrative 
data to estimate the owner demographics such that each firm is placed 
into one of nine frames for sampling: American Indian, Asian, Black or 
African American, Hispanic, Non-Hispanic White Men, Native Hawaiian and 
Other Pacific Islander, Some Other Race, Publicly Owned Businesses, and 
Women Owned Businesses. The sample would be stratified by state, 
industry, and frame. The Census Bureau will select companies with 
certainty based on volume of sales, payroll, number of paid employees 
or industry classification. All certainty cases are sure to be selected 
and represent only themselves.
    The ABS will provide continuing and timely national statistical 
data for the period between economic censuses. The data collected will 
be within the general scope and nature of those inquiries covered in 
the economic census. The next economic census is being conducted 
currently for the reference year 2017. Government program officials, 
industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts, business 
entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign researcher in academia, 
business, and government will use statistics from the new ABS. More 
details on expected uses of the statistics from the new ABS are found 
in the Notice of Consideration for the ABS published in the Federal 
Register on October 24, 2017 (82 FR 49175).

Public Comments

    The Census Bureau published a Notice of Consideration for the ABS 
in the Federal Register on October 24, 2017 (82 FR 49175). We received 
one comment. The commenter suggested that the Census Bureau take the 
following actions:
    (1) Determine the cost and benefits of the survey and consider 
whether the benefits outweigh the costs;
    (2) If the benefits outweigh the cost, consider how to minimize the 
cost imposed on the businesses participating in the survey;
    (3) If, after conducting the cost-benefit analysis and examining 
the means for minimizing the cost imposed on survey participants, the 
Census Bureau nevertheless wishes to proceed with the survey, publish a 
revised notice that includes a cost-benefit analysis and an explanation 
of steps taken to minimize the costs on businesses forced to 
participate in the survey; and
    (4) Eliminate the survey discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, 
race, and age.

Census Bureau Response to the Public Comment

    The Census Bureau agrees that costs and benefits should be analyzed 
and weighed, and has already carried out

[[Page 26654]]

this analysis, concluding that the value of information produced by the 
ABS outweighs the costs. The Census Bureau submitted a request to OMB 
on January 5, 2018, formally requesting approval of the ABS under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The request included information about 
the cost to administer the ABS and the cost imposed on respondents in 
terms of their time to respond. The request also documented the many 
uses of the data. The request demonstrated that the ABS has practical 
utility, i.e., that the value of information produced outweighs the 
cost. As noted in the Paperwork Reduction Act section below, OMB 
approved the ABS on March 7, 2018 (OMB control number 0607-1004).
    Furthermore, the ABS will provide data required by Executive Order 
11458 (March 5, 1969), ``Prescribing Arrangements for Developing and 
Coordinating a National Program For Minority Business Enterprise'' 
(http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=60475). Executive Order 11458 
prompted the Census Bureau to create the Survey of Minority Business 
Enterprises (SMOBE) and the Survey of Women Business Enterprises 
(SWOBE). The data previously collected in these two surveys was later 
collected in the SBO and the ASE, surveys that the ABS will now 
replace. Without the ABS, there will be no survey that complies with 
the executive order. The Minority Business Development Agency and Small 
Business Administration also rely on the Census Bureau to annually 
produce these data, including data on business ownership by gender, 
ethnicity, race, and veteran status as well as economic characteristics 
of businesses.
    The Census Bureau has designed the ABS survey to collect the 
required data while balancing the burden on businesses. The ABS is 
designed to combine Census Bureau firm-level collections to reduce 
respondent burden, increase data quality, reduce operational costs, and 
operate more efficiently.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required 
to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure 
to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C., Chapter 45) unless 
that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number. In accordance with the PRA, OMB approved the ABS under OMB 
control number 0607-1004 on March 7, 2018.
    Based upon the foregoing, I have directed that the current 
mandatory business surveys be conducted for the purpose of collecting 
these data.

    Dated: May 31, 2018.
Ron S. Jarmin,
Associate Director for Economic Programs, Performing the Non-Exclusive 
Functions and Duties of the Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 2018-12356 Filed 6-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P