[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85579-85580]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28717]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 249 / Tuesday, December 29, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 85579]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Office of the Chief Information Officer; Notice of Request for a 
Revision to and Extension of an Information Collection; Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service 
Delivery

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the Chief Information Officer, as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites 
the public to comment on the ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' for approval under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act. This collection was developed as part of a 
Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking 
feedback from the public on service delivery. This notice announces our 
intent to submit this collection to Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for approval and solicit comments on specific aspects for the 
proposed information collection.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by March 1, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments by one of the following methods:
     Website: www.regulations.gov.
     Email: [email protected] and
     Fax: 202-692-0203.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public. For this reason, please do not include in your comments 
information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal 
information (PII) or proprietary information. If you send an email 
comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included 
as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made 
available on the internet. Please note that responses to this public 
comment request containing any routine notice about the confidentiality 
of the communication will be treated as public comments that may be 
made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the 
routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ruth Brown, 202-720-8958, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 0503-0021.
    Abstract: The proposed information collection activity provides a 
means to garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an 
efficient, timely manner, in accordance with the Administration's 
commitment to improve 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. This feedback will, (1) 
provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences 
and expectations, (2) provide an early warning of issues with service 
and, (3) focus attention on areas where communication, training or 
changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. 
This collection 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.
    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:
     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 future;
     Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected 
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
     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;
     Information gathered will not be used for substantially 
informing influential policy decisions; and
     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.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized 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. Such 
data usage requires more rigorous designs that address the target 
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, 
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the 
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed 
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing 
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any 
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding 
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely 
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative 
results.
    As a general matter, information collections will not result in any 
new

[[Page 85580]]

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.
    Current Actions: Revision/Extension of approval for a collection of 
information.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and 
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 30,000.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next 3-years:
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 20.
    Average Number of Respondents per Activity: 1.
    Annual Responses: 30,000.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average Minutes per Response: 30.
    Burden Hours: 16,750.
    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 (1) 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; (2) train 
personnel and be able to respond to a collection of information, to 
search data sources, (3) complete and review the collection of 
information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
    All written comments will be available for public inspection at 
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.

Gary Washington,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-28717 Filed 12-28-20; 8:45 am]
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