[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5367-5368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-01651]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 20 / Thursday, January 30, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 5367]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

[OMB Control No. 0503-XXXX]


Information Collection; Improving Customer Experience (OMB 
Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)

AGENCY: Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of the Administration's commitment to improving 
customer service delivery, the Department of Agriculture, has under OMB 
review the following proposed Information Collection Request 
``Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 
Implementation)'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).

DATES: Submit comments on or before: March 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 0503-
XXXX, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 
Implementation), by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments to https://www.regulations.gov, 
will be posted to the docket unchanged.
     Mail: Departmental Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 
7602, Washington, DC 20250-7602, Improving Customer Experience (OMB 
Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation).
    Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information 
Collection 0503-XXXX, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, 
Section 280 Implementation) in all correspondence related to this 
collection. To confirm receipt of your comment(s), please check 
regulations.gov, approximately two-to-three business days after 
submission to verify posting (except allow 30 days for posting of 
comments submitted by mail).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Ruth Brown, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Information Resources Management Center, 1200 Independence 
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250 or via email to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 
280 Implementation).
    Abstract: A modern, streamlined and responsive customer experience 
means: Raising government-wide customer experience to the average of 
the private sector service industry; developing indicators for high-
impact Federal programs to monitor progress towards excellent customer 
experience and mature digital services; and providing the structure 
(including increasing transparency) and resources to ensure customer 
experience is a focal point for agency leadership.
    This proposed information collection activity provides a means to 
garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner 
in accordance with the Administration's commitment to improving 
customer service delivery as discussed in Section 280 of OMB Circular 
A-11 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/s280.pdf.
    As discussed in OMB guidance, agencies should identify their 
highest-impact customer journeys (using customer volume, annual program 
cost, and/or knowledge of customer priority as weighting factors) and 
select touchpoints/transactions within those journeys to collect 
feedback.
    These results will be used to improve the delivery of Federal 
services and programs. It will also provide government-wide data on 
customer experience that can be displayed on www.performance.gov to 
help build transparency and accountability of Federal programs to the 
customers they serve.
    As a general matter, these 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.
    Department of Agriculture will only submit collections if they meet 
the following criteria.
     The collections are voluntary;
     The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours 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;
     Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected 
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
     Information gathered is intended to be used for general 
service improvement and program management purposes
     Upon agreement between OMB and the agency all or a subset 
of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 
requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research 
and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer 
journey maps.
     Additional release of data must be done coordinated with 
OMB.
    These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and 
actionable communications between the Agency, its customers and 
stakeholders, and OMB as it monitors agency compliance on Section 280. 
These responses will inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality 
of service offered to the public. If this information is not collected, 
vital feedback from customers and stakeholders on services will be 
unavailable.
    Current Action: New Collection of Information.
    Type of Review: New.
    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and 
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: Below is a preliminary estimate of 
the aggregate burden hours for this new collection. Department of 
Agriculture will provide refined estimates of burden in subsequent 
notices.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: Approximately 
2,040,000

[[Page 5368]]

customer experience activities such as feedback surveys, focus groups, 
user testing, and interviews.
    Average Number of Respondents per Activity: 1 response per 
respondent per activity.
    Annual Responses: 2,040,000.
    Average Minutes per Response: 2 minutes--120 minutes, dependent 
upon activity.
    Burden Hours: Department of Agriculture requests approximately 
240,000 burden hours.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. 
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information.
    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.
    All written comments will be available for public inspection 
Regulations.gov.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.

    Dated: January 27, 2020.
Ruth Brown,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-01651 Filed 1-29-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-KR-P