[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 158 (Thursday, August 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41707-41708]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17496]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration


Agency Information Collection Extension

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Department 
of Energy.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EIA submitted an information collection request for extension 
as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information 
collection requests a three-year extension of its Generic Clearance for 
the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery, OMB 
Control Number 1905-0210. This generic clearance enables EIA to collect 
customer and stakeholder feedback from the public on service delivery 
in an efficient and timely manner to ensure that EIA's programs 
effectively meet our customers' needs and to collect feedback on 
improving service delivery to the public.

DATES: Comments on this information collection must be received on or 
before September 16, 2019. If you anticipate any difficulties in 
submitting your comments by the deadline, contact the DOE Desk Officer 
at (202) 395-3093.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to:

EIA Desk Officer: Robert Sivinski, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office 
Building, Room 10102, 735 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503, 
[email protected].

And send a copy to:

Jacob Bournazian, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 1000 
Independence Avenue SW, EI-21, [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacob Bournazian, telephone: (202) 
586-5562, email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    This information collection request contains
    (1) OMB No. 1905-0210;
    (2) Information Collection Request Title: Generic Clearance for the

[[Page 41708]]

Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery;
    (3) Type of Request: Three-year extension;
    (4) Purpose: This 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. Qualitative feedback means 
data that provide 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 provides insights 
into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and 
expectations. It 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 report on survey 
instruments or the delivery of products or services. These collections 
allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between 
the agency and its customers and stakeholders. It also allows feedback 
to contribute directly to the improvement of program management. The 
solicitation of feedback on Agency Service Delivery includes topics 
such as: timeliness of publishing, understanding of questions and 
terminology used in EIA products, perceptions on data confidentiality 
and security, appropriateness and relevancy of information published, 
accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of service delivery, and 
resolution of issues with service delivery. Responses are assessed to 
plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service 
offered to the public. EIA will only submit a collection for approval 
under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
     Information gathered will be used only internally for 
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not 
intended for release outside of the agency (if released, procedures 
outlined in Question 16 will be followed);
     Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions;
     Information gathered will yield qualitative information; 
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 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; and
     With the exception of information needed to provide 
remuneration for participants of focus groups and cognitive laboratory 
studies, personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to 
the extent necessary and is not retained.
    If these conditions are not met, EIA will submit an information 
collection request to OMB for approval through the normal PRA process. 
The solicitation of feedback on Agency Service Delivery includes topics 
such as: timeliness of publishing, understanding of questions and 
terminology used in EIA products, perceptions on data confidentiality 
and security, appropriateness and relevancy of information published, 
accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of service delivery, and 
resolution of issues with service delivery. Responses are assessed to 
plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service 
offered to the public. Advances in technology and service delivery 
systems in the private sector, have increased the public's expectations 
of the Government's customer service promise. The Federal Government 
has a responsibility to streamline and make more efficient its service 
delivery to better serve the public.
    (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: 241,800;
    (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 241,800;
    (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 25,800;
    (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: EIA 
estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated 
with these qualitative studies other than the costs associated with the 
burden hours. The cost of the burden hours is estimated to be 
$2,025,816 (25,800 burden hours times $78.52 per hour).

    Statutory Authority  E.O. 12862, Setting Customer Service 
Standards, E.O. 13571, Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving 
Customer Service.

    Signed in Washington, DC on August 9, 2019.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U. 
S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-17496 Filed 8-14-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P