[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 151 (Wednesday, August 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47341-47342]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16984]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


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

AGENCY: Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (DOC) will have 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), on or after the 
date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and 
other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing 
information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our 
information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting 
burden. Public comments for this proposed collection were previously 
requested via the Federal Register on June 1, 2020 (85 FR 33085) during 
a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days 
for public comments.
    Agency: Department of Commerce (DOC).
    Title: Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 
280 Implementation).
    OMB Control Number: 0690-NEW.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission. New collection.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 752,925.
    Estimated Time per Response: Varied, dependent upon the activity or 
the data collection method used. The possible response time to complete 
a questionnaire or survey may be 3 minutes or up to 2 hours to 
participate in an interview or focus group.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 55,471.
    Needs and Uses: 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.performance.gov/cx/a11-280.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.
    DOC 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 or summaries.
     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.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; State, Local, or Tribal 
government.
    Frequency: On Occasion; Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary. Average Number of Respondents 
per Activity: 1 response per respondent per
    activity.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: Approximately five 
types of customer experience activities such as feedback surveys, focus 
groups, user testing, and interviews.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    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.

[[Page 47342]]

    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.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-16984 Filed 8-4-20; 8:45 am]
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