[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 9, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8760-8761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02613]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Annual Business Survey

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, 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 were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on July 6, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Annual Business Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1004.
    Form Number(s): ABS-1.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 308,000.
    Average Hours per Response: Employer Businesses--52 minutes; 
Nonprofits who are R&D performers--3 hours; Nonprofits who are not R&D 
performenrs--20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 270,133.
    Needs and Uses: In an effort to improve the measurement of business 
dynamics in the United States, the Census Bureau is conducting the 
Annual Business Survey (ABS). The ABS combines Census Bureau firm-level 
collections to reduce respondent burden, increase data quality, reduce 
operational costs, and operate more efficiently. The ABS replaced the 
five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the 
Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), and the Business Research and 
Development (R&D) and Innovation for Microbusinesses (BRDI-M) surveys. 
The ABS provides information on selected economic and demographic 
characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, 
race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures research and 
development for microbusinesses, new business topics such as innovation 
and technology, as well as other business characteristics. The ABS is 
sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 
(NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted by 
the Census Bureau for five years (2018-2022).
    The ABS includes all nonfarm employer businesses filing Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms as individual proprietorships, 
partnerships, or any other type of corporation, with receipts of $1,000 
or more. The ABS samples approximately 300,000 employer businesses 
annually yielding summary-level estimates for women-, minority-, and 
veteran-owned businesses at the 2-digit NAICS, U.S., state, and 
metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. The Census Bureau uses 
administrative data to estimate the probability that a firm is 
minority- or women-owned. Each firm is then placed in one of nine 
frames for sampling. The sampling frames are: American Indian or 
Alaskan Native, Asian, Black, or African American, Hispanic, Non-
Hispanic White Men, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander, Other, 
Publicly Owned, and Women. The sample is stratified by state, industry, 
and frame. The Census Bureau selects some companies with certainty 
based on volume of sales, payroll, and number of paid employees or 
NAICS. All certainty cases are sure to be selected and represent only 
themselves.
    Starting with survey year 2021, the ABS sample will include an 
additional 8,000 respondents to collect research activities from 
nonprofit organizations. Historically, nonprofit organizations were in 
scope to the ABS, however, they were not mailed because the survey does 
not expect nonprofit organizations to be classifiable by sex, 
ethnicity, race, or veteran status. To include the nonprofit 
organizations, the sample size will increase to approximately 308,000 
(300,000 employer businesses + 8,000 nonprofit organizations). Of note, 
nonprofit organizations will only see questions relating to research 
activities and will not be asked any questions relating to owner 
demographics. The questions were adopted from the 2016 Nonprofit 
Research Activities--NPRA Survey which collected information about 
research activities at nonprofit organizations. Based on estimates from 
that survey, the estimated burden for R&D performers is 3 hours. This 
includes the time it will take to gather materials prior to reporting 
and responding to the survey. For nonprofit organizations that are not 
R&D performers and therefore will not answer all the questions, the 
estimated burden is 20 minutes.
    Employer businesses will be asked questions about the sex, 
ethnicity, race, and veteran status for up to four persons owning the 
majority of rights, equity, or interest in the business (Section B of 
the questionnaire). Organizations sampled as nonprofits and respondents 
with 1-9 employees will be asked about research and development (R&D) 
activities and related costs (Sections C and D of the questionnaire 
respectively). Further, employer businesses sampled will be asked about 
the following topics: Technology, Operations, and Innovation (Section E 
of the questionnaire); Financing (Section F of the questionnaire); 
Management Practices (Section G of the questionnaire); and Coronavirus 
Pandemic as related to R&D (Section H of the questionnaire).
    The ABS is designed to allow for incorporating new content each 
survey year based on topics of relevance. Each year new questions will 
be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval.
    New questions on the 2021 ABS collect data on the following topics: 
Research activities at nonprofit organizations (Section C of the 2021 
ABS questionnaire); technology, operations, and innovation (Section E 
of the 2021 ABS questionnaire), financing (Section F of the 2021 ABS 
questionnaire), and management practices (Section G of the of the 2021 
ABS questionnaire). Within Sections F and H of the questionnaire, 
several questions have been added to measure the impact of the 2020 
coronavirus pandemic on business activity and R&D, respectively.
    The ABS is primarily collected via an electronic instrument. Those 
selected for the survey receive an initial letter informing the 
respondents of their requirement to complete the survey as well as 
instructions on accessing the survey. The 2021 ABS initial mailing is 
scheduled for July 2021. Responses will be due approximately 30 days 
from initial mailing. Respondents will also receive a due date reminder 
approximately one week before responses are due.
    Statistics from the ABS will be used by government program 
officials, industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts, 
business entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign researchers in 
academia, business, and government. Estimates produced on owner 
demographic data may be used to assess business assistance needs, 
allocate available program resources, and create a framework for 
planning, directing, and assessing programs that promote the activities 
of disadvantaged groups; to assess minority-owned businesses by 
industry and area and to educate industry associations,

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corporations, and government entities; to analyze business operations 
in comparison to similar firms, compute market share, and assess 
business growth and future prospects. Estimates produced on R&D and 
innovation may be used to compare R&D costs across industries, 
determine where R&D activity is conducted geographically, and identify 
the types of businesses with R&D to contribute to the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA) system of national accounts; to increase 
investments in research and development, strengthen education, and 
encourage entrepreneurship; and to compare business innovation in the 
United States to other countries, including those in the European 
Union. Results of the research activities data collected from nonprofit 
organizations will be used to report updated, valid, and reliable 
estimates of U.S. nonprofit R&D in National Patterns of R&D Resources 
and BEA's system of national accounts.
    The data collected by ABS will also be incorporated into the 
National Science Board's biennial report, Science and Engineering 
Indicators (SEI). The R&D data from the nonprofit module will be 
reported in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 
(OECD) periodic publications and for international comparisons of R&D 
efforts. NCSES also anticipates professional associations will use data 
from the nonprofit module. Likely users in this category include, but 
are not limited to, the Science Philanthropy Alliance, the Association 
of Independent Research Institutes, and the Health Research Alliance.
    Additional examples of data use include:
     The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Minority 
Business Development Agency (MBDA) to assess business assistance needs 
and allocate available program resources.
     Local government commissions on small and disadvantaged 
businesses to establish and evaluate contract procurement practices.
     Federal, state, and local government agencies as a 
framework for planning, directing, and assessing programs that promote 
the activities of disadvantaged groups.
     The National Women's Business Council to assess the state 
of women's business ownership for policymakers, researchers, and the 
public at large.
     Consultants and researchers to analyze long-term economic 
and demographic shifts, and differences in ownership and performance 
among geographic areas.
     Individual business owners to analyze their operations in 
comparison to similar firms, compute their market share, and assess 
their growth and future prospects.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 131, 
and 182; Title 42, United States Code, Section 1861-76 (National 
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended); and Section 505 within the 
America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 authorize this collection. 
Sections 224 and 225 of Title 13, United States Code, require a 
response from sampled firms.
    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.
    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 or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-1004.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-02613 Filed 2-8-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P