[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3141-3142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01717]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


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: Annual Business Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1004.
    Form Number(s): ABS-L1--Initial Letter; ABS-L1R--Due Date Reminder; 
ABS-L2--Follow-up; ABS-1 Worksheet; ABS-2 Worksheet; ABS Email Follow-
up.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 300,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 52 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 260,000.
    Needs and Uses: In an effort to improve the measurement of business 
dynamics in the United States, the Census Bureau is conducting the 
Annual Business Survey (ABS). The ABS combines Census Bureau firm-level 
collections to reduce respondent burden, increase data quality, reduce 
operational costs, and operate more efficiently. The ABS replaced the 
five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the 
Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), and the Business R&D and 
Innovation for Microbusinesses (BRDI-M) surveys. The ABS provides 
information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for 
businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran 
status. Further, the survey measures research and development for 
microbusinesses, new business topics such as innovation and technology, 
as well as other business characteristics. The ABS is sponsored by the 
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within 
the National Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted by the Census 
Bureau for five years (2018-2022).
    The ABS includes all nonfarm employer businesses filing Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms as individual proprietorships, 
partnerships, or any other type of corporation, with receipts of $1,000 
or more. The ABS samples approximately 850,000 employer businesses in 
2018 and approximately 300,000 employer businesses in years 2019-2022. 
The sample is stratified by state, frame, and industry. The Census 
Bureau selects some companies with certainty based on volume of sales, 
payroll, number of paid employees or NAICS. All certainty cases are 
sure to be selected and represent only themselves.
    The ABS is designed to incorporate new content each survey year 
based on topics of relevance. Each year the new module of questions is 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. 
The table below shows the proposed ABS content for each survey year.

                                                     Proposed Content for the Annual Business Survey
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                       Collection year
           Topic modules            --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              2018                    2019                    2020                   2021                   2022
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Owner Characteristics...........  Full..................  Reduced...............  Reduced..............  Full.................  Reduced.
B. Innovation......................  Full..................  Reduced...............  Full.................
C. Research & Development (1-9       Full..................  Full..................  Full.................  Full.................  Full.
 employees only).
D. Technology and Intellectual       Reduced (digital).....  Full (automation).....  Full (technology TBD)  Full (digital).......  Full (automation).
 Property.
E. Financing.......................  Full..................  ......................  .....................  Full.................
F. Globalization...................  ......................  ......................  Full.................
G. Business Structure..............  Full..................  Full..................  Full.................  Full.................  Full.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The ABS collection is electronic only. Those selected for the 
survey receive an initial letter informing the respondents of their 
requirement to complete the survey as well as instructions on accessing 
the survey. The 2019 ABS initial mailing is scheduled for July 2019. 
Responses will be due approximately 30 days from initial mailing. 
Respondents will also receive a due date reminder approximately one 
week before responses are due. The

[[Page 3142]]

Census Bureau plans to conduct two follow-up mailings and an optional 
third follow-up if deemed necessary based on check-in. Nonrespondents 
may receive a certified mailing for the second and third follow-up 
mailings. The Census Bureau may also plan to conduct an email follow-up 
to select respondents reminding them to submit their report in the 
electronic instrument. Closeout of mail operations is scheduled for 
December 2019. Upon the close of the collection period, the response 
data will be processed, edited, reviewed, tabulated, and released 
publicly.
    Starting with the 2019 calendar year, the Annual Business Survey 
will use the collection year in the survey name rather than a single 
reference year. The ABS includes questions from multiple reference 
periods and Census felt this change would better reflect the collection 
cycle of the survey. Therefore, the 2019 collection will be referred to 
as the 2019 Annual Business Survey (rather than the 2018 Annual 
Business Survey).
    Statistics from the ABS will be used by government program 
officials, industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts, 
business entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign researchers in 
academia, business, and government. Estimates produced on owner 
demographic data may be used to assess business assistance needs, 
allocate available program resources, and create a framework for 
planning, directing, and assessing programs that promote the activities 
of disadvantaged groups; to assess minority-owned businesses by 
industry and area and to educate industry associations, corporations, 
and government entities; to analyze business operations in comparison 
to similar firms, compute market share, and assess business growth and 
future prospects. Estimates produced on research and development and 
innovation may be used to compare R&D costs across industries, 
determine where R&D activity is conducted geographically, and identify 
the types of businesses with R&D to contribute to the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA) system of national accounts; to increase 
investments in research and development, strengthen education, and 
encourage entrepreneurship; and to compare business innovation in the 
United States to other countries, including those in the European 
Union.
    Additional examples of data use include:

     The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the 
Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to assess business 
assistance needs and allocate available program resources.
     Local government commissions on small and disadvantaged 
businesses to establish and evaluate contract procurement practices.
     Federal, state and local government agencies as a 
framework for planning, directing and assessing programs that 
promote the activities of disadvantaged groups.
     The National Women's Business Council to assess the 
state of women's business ownership for policymakers, researchers, 
and the public at large.
     Consultants and researchers to analyze long-term 
economic and demographic shifts, and differences in ownership and 
performance among geographic areas.
     Individual business owners to analyze their operations 
in comparison to similar firms, compute their market share, and 
assess their growth and future prospects.
    Additional questions on the 2019 ABS for technology will measure 
the effect of technology on the workforce including, the number of 
workers and the skill mix of workers.

    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 United States Code, Sections 8(b), 131, 
and 182, Title 42 United States Code, Section 1861-76 (National Science 
Foundation Act of 1950, as amended), and Section 505 within the America 
COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 authorize this collection. 
Sections 224 and 225 of Title 13 United States Code requires response 
from sampled firms.
    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, 
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-01717 Filed 2-8-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P