[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 7, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19963-19964]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09355]


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NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES


Proposed Collection; 60-Day Comment Request; Generic Clearance 
for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY: National Endowment for the Humanities.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National 
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will be requesting from the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) reinstatement, without change, of NEH's 
Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency 
Service Delivery. This generic clearance will fast-track the process 
for NEH to seek feedback from the public, through surveys and similar 
feedback instruments, regarding NEH services and programs.

DATES: Please submit comments by July 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Michael McDonald, General Counsel, 
National Endowment for the Humanities: 400 Seventh Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20506, or [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael McDonald, General Counsel, 
National Endowment for the Humanities: 400 Seventh Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20506, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Overview of This Information Collection

    Type of Request: Reinstatement, without change, of a previously 
approved information collection for which approval has expired.
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 3136-0140.
    Abstract: Reinstatement of this information collection will enable 
NEH to obtain 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 not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results 
that can be generalized to the population of study. This feedback will 
provide NEH with insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, 
experiences, and expectations; help NEH quickly identify actual or 
potential problems with how the agency provides services to the public; 
or focus attention on areas where communication, training, or changes 
in operations might improve NEH's delivery of its products or services. 
These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable 
communications between NEH and its customers and stakeholders. It will 
also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of 
program management.
    NEH will solicit feedback in areas such as: Timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of 
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. NEH 
will use the responses to plan and inform its efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service and programs offered to the public. If 
this information is not collected, NEH will not have access to vital 
feedback from customers and stakeholders about the agency's services 
and programs.
    NEH will only submit an information 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 who 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 agency (if 
released, NEH will 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, 
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.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but will not yield data that can be generalize 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.
    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.

[[Page 19964]]

    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and 
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 10,000.
    Estimated Annual Frequency per Response: Once per information 
collection request.
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,500 hours.

Request for Comments

    NEH will make comments submitted in response to this notice, 
including names and addresses where provided, a matter of public 
record. NEH will summarize the comments and include them in the request 
for OMB approval. We are requesting comments on all aspects of this 
generic clearance request, including: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    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.

    Dated: May 1, 2019.
Carlos D[iacute]az-Rosillo,
Senior Deputy Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities.
[FR Doc. 2019-09355 Filed 5-6-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7536-01-P