[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 146 (Monday, July 30, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 36519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16182]


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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.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0561.
    Form Number(s): MA-3000.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 6,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 3,000.
    Needs and Uses: The data collected in the Manufacturers' Unfilled 
Orders (M3UFO) Survey will be used to benchmark the new and unfilled 
orders information published in the monthly Manufacturers' Shipments, 
Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey. The M3 Survey collects monthly 
data on the value of shipments, inventories, and new and unfilled 
orders from manufacturing companies. The data are used by the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal 
Reserve Board, the Conference Board, and members of the business 
community such as trade associations and the media to analyze business 
conditions in the manufacturing sector.
    The associated monthly M3 Survey estimates are based on a panel of 
approximately 5,000 reporting units that represent approximately 3,100 
companies and provide an indication of month-to-month change for the 
Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of 
diversified large companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit 
manufacturers. The M3 estimates are periodically benchmarked to 
comprehensive data on the manufacturing sector from the Annual Survey 
of Manufactures (ASM), the Economic Census (shipments and inventories) 
and the M3UFO Survey, which is the subject of this notice. Unfilled 
orders data are not collected in the ASM or the Economic Census. To 
obtain more accurate M3 estimates of unfilled orders, which are also 
used in deriving M3 estimates of new orders, we conduct the M3UFO 
Survey annually to be used as the source for benchmarking M3 unfilled 
orders data. Industries that maintain unfilled orders cannot fulfill 
the order in the same month in which the order is received. This is not 
true for each industry, and occurs mainly in industries where 
production takes longer than one month. In order to reduce burden from 
our respondents, the M3UFO data are used to determine which North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries continue to 
maintain unfilled orders. We then utilize that information to only 
request unfilled orders on the monthly M3 survey from the NAICS 
industries that actually have unfilled orders which cannot be completed 
within the same month that the order was placed.
    There are no changes to the MA-3000 form, which is used to conduct 
the M3UFO survey.
    The Census Bureau will use mail out/mail back survey forms to 
collect the data with online reporting encouraged. Online response for 
the survey is typically 70 percent. Companies are asked to respond to 
the survey within 30 days of receipt. The Census Bureau mails letters 
encouraging participation to companies that have not responded within 
30 days and later uses telephone follow-up to seek response from 
delinquent companies.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 131 and 182.
    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,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-16182 Filed 7-27-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P