[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 204 (Wednesday, October 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66985-66987]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-23247]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-21-1071; Docket No. CDC-2020-0108]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or 
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed 
information collection project titled Generic Clearance for the 
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery. This 
Generic Information Collection enables the CDC to garner customer and 
stakeholder feedback on service delivery through routine surveys, focus 
groups, usability testing, and customer comment cards.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before December 21, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2020-
0108 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and

[[Page 66986]]

instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7118; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. Evaluate 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;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submissions of responses.
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Service Delivery (OMB Control No. 0920-1071, Exp. 02/28/2021)--
Extension--National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious 
Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    CDC/NCEZID is seeking a three-year extension of OMB control No. 
0920-1071 to continue collecting routine customer feedback on agency 
service delivery. Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to 
provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service 
available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to 
ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers' needs, 
the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (hereafter the 
``Agency'') seeks to obtain OMB approval of a generic clearance to 
collect qualitative feedback on our service delivery. By qualitative 
feedback, we mean information that provides 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 collection of information is necessary to enable the Agency to 
garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely 
manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service 
delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders 
will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and 
satisfying experience with the Agency's programs. This feedback will 
provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences 
and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or 
focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in 
operations might improve delivery of products or services. These 
collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable 
communications between the Agency and its customers and stakeholders. 
It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement 
of program management.
    Since the previous renewal in 2018, NCEZID has utilized 0920-1071 
on 10 different occasions. The total number of responses was 15,585. 
The total number of burden hours was 2,525.
    Improving agency programs requires ongoing assessment of service 
delivery, by which we mean systematic review of the operation of a 
program compared to a set of explicit or implicit standards, as a means 
of contributing to the continuous improvement of the program. The 
Agency will collect, analyze, and interpret information gathered 
through this generic clearance to identify strengths and weaknesses of 
current services and make improvements in service delivery based on 
feedback. The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as 
timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, 
efficiency of service delivery, and resolution of issues with service 
delivery. Responses will be assessed to plan and 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 the Agency's services will be unavailable.
    The Agency 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; \1\
     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 
renumeration 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, the Agency will submit an 
information collection request to OMB for approval through the normal 
PRA process.
    To obtain approval for a collection that meets the conditions of 
this generic clearance, a standardized form (Attachment C) will be 
submitted to OMB along with supporting documentation.
    The types of collections that this generic clearance covers 
include, but are not limited to:

 Customer comment cards/complaint forms
 Small discussion groups
 Focus Groups of customers, potential customers, delivery 
partners, or other stakeholders

[[Page 66987]]

 Cognitive laboratory studies, such as those used to refine 
questions or assess usability of a website;
 Qualitative customer satisfaction surveys (e.g., post-
transaction surveys; opt-out web surveys)
 In-person observation testing (e.g., website or software 
usability tests)

    The Agency has established a manager/managing entity to serve for 
this generic clearance and will conduct an independent review of each 
information collection to ensure compliance with the terms of this 
clearance prior to submitting each collection to OMB. CDC requests 
approval for an estimated 3,850 annual burden hours. There are no costs 
to respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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General public................  Online surveys..           1,500               1           30/60             750
                                Focus groups....             800               1               2           1,600
                                In-person                  1,000               1           30/60             500
                                 surveys.
                                Usability                  1,500               1           30/60             750
                                 testing.
                                Customer comment           1,000               1           15/60             250
                                 cards.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           3,850
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-23247 Filed 10-20-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P