[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 119 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33466-33468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13233]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD


60-Day Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement Without Change: 
Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency 
Service Delivery

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives notice that it is 
requesting from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a 
reinstatement without change of Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery. This collection was 
developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the 
process for seeking feedback from the public on the Board's service 
delivery.

[[Page 33467]]


DATES: Comments on this information collection should be submitted by 
August 23, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Chris Oehrle, PRA Officer, Surface 
Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001, or to 
[email protected]. When submitting comments, please refer to ``Paperwork 
Reduction Act Comments, Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regarding this collection, contact 
Michael Higgins, Acting Director, Office of Public Assistance, 
Governmental Affairs, and Compliance, at (202) 245-0284 or at 
[email protected]. Assistance for the hearing impaired is 
available through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are requested concerning: (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. Submitted comments will be summarized and 
included in the Board's request for OMB approval.

Description of Collection

    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 2140-0019.
    STB Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Extension without change.
    Respondents: Customers and stakeholders of the Board.
    Number of Respondents, Frequency, Estimated Time Per Response, and 
Total Burden Hours: A variety of instruments and platforms may be used 
to collect information from respondents. The estimated annual burden 
hours (277) are based on the number of collections we expect to conduct 
over the requested period for this clearance, as set forth in the table 
below.

                                        Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      Annual
               Type of collection                    Number of     frequency per     Hours per      Total hours
                                                    respondents      response        response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Focus Group.....................................              15               1               2              30
Comment Card/Brief Survey.......................             200               2             .17              67
Surveys.........................................             150               2              .6             180
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Needs and Uses: The proposed information collection activity 
provides a means to garner qualitative customer and stakeholder 
feedback in an efficient and timely manner, in accordance with the 
Administration's commitment to improving 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 of 
study. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder 
perceptions, experiences, and expectations; provide an early warning 
with issues about how the Board provides service to the public; 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 Board and its customers and stakeholders. 
They 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 Board's services will be unavailable.
    The Board will only process a collection 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 near future;
     personally identifiable information 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 not for 
release outside of the agency;
     information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
     information gathered will yield qualitative information, 
and 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 will not yield data that can be generalized to the 
overall population. Such data uses would require more rigorous designs 
than the collections covered by this notice.
    As a general matter, information collections will not result in any 
new

[[Page 33468]]

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.
    Under the PRA, a federal agency conducting or sponsoring a 
collection of information must display a currently valid OMB control 
number. Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made 
available to the public by the Board. For this reason, please do not 
include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as 
sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send 
an electronic comment (e-file or email), your email address is 
automatically captured and may be accessed if your comments are made 
public. 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.

    Dated: June 17, 2021.
Tammy Lowry,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2021-13233 Filed 6-23-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P