[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 14, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37177-37178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14397]



[[Page 37177]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-7034-N-37]


30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Improving 
Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280) OMB Control 
Number: New Collection

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has 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). 
HUD has submitted the proposed information collection requirement 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of 
this notice is to allow for an additional 30 days of public comment.

DATES: Comments Due Date: August 13, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 3090-
XXXX, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 
Implementation), by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments to https://www.regulations.gov, 
will be posted to the docket unchanged.
     Mail: General Services Administration, Regulatory 
Secretariat Division (MVCB), 1800 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20405. 
ATTN: Ms. Mandell/IC 3090-XXXX, Improving Customer Experience (OMB 
Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation).
    Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information 
Collection 3090-XXXX, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, 
Section 280 Implementation) in all correspondence related to this 
collection. To confirm receipt of your comment(s), please check 
regulations.gov, approximately two-to-three business days after 
submission to verify posting (except allow 30 days for posting of 
comments submitted by mail).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Amira Boland, Office of Management and Budget, 
725 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20006, or via email to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Abstract: 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. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
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. This notice informs the public that HUD has submitted to 
OMB a request for approval of the information collection described in 
Section A. The Federal Register notice that solicited public comment on 
the information collection for a period of 60 days was published on 
January 27, 2021 at 86 FR 7302.

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Information Collection: Information Collection; Improving 
Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280.
    OMB Approval Number: Pending.
    Type of Request: New.
    Form Number: None.
    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and 
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use:
    Under the 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. ``Collection of 
information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and 
includes Agency requests or requirements that members of the public 
submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. 
Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA requires Federal Agencies to provide a 
60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed 
collection of

[[Page 37178]]

information, including each proposed extension of an existing 
collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for 
approval. To comply with this requirement, HUD is publishing notice of 
the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.
    Whether seeking a loan, Social Security benefits, veterans' 
benefits, or other services provided by the Federal Government, 
individuals and businesses expect Government customer services to be 
efficient and intuitive, just like services from leading private-sector 
organizations. Yet the 2016 American Consumer Satisfaction Index and 
the 2017 Forrester Federal Customer Experience Index show that, on 
average, Government services lag nine percentage points behind the 
private sector.
    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. To support this, OMB 
Circular A-11 Section 280 established government-wide standards for 
mature customer experience organizations in government and measurement. 
To enable Federal programs to deliver the experience taxpayers deserve, 
they must undertake three general categories of activities: conduct 
ongoing customer research, gather and share customer feedback, and test 
services and digital products.
    These data collection efforts may be either qualitative or 
quantitative in nature or may consist of mixed methods. Additionally, 
data may be collected via a variety of means, including but not limited 
to electronic or social media, direct or indirect observation (i.e., in 
person, video and audio collections), interviews, questionnaires, 
surveys, and focus groups. HUD will limit its inquiries to data 
collections that solicit strictly voluntary opinions or responses. 
Steps will be taken to ensure anonymity of respondents in each activity 
covered by this request.
    The results of the data collected will be used to improve the 
delivery of Federal services and programs. It will include the creation 
of personas, customer journey maps, and reports and summaries of 
customer feedback data and user insights. It will also provide 
government-wide data on customer experience that can be displayed on 
performance.gov to help build transparency and accountability of 
Federal programs to the customers they serve.
    Method of Collection:
    HUD will collect this information by electronic means when 
possible, as well as by mail, fax, telephone, technical discussions, 
and in-person interviews. HUD may also utilize observational techniques 
to collect this information.
    Below is a preliminary estimate of the aggregate burden hours for 
this new collection. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development will provide refined estimates of burden in subsequent 
notices.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: Approximately five 
types of customer experience activities such as feedback surveys, focus 
groups, user testing, and interviews.
    Average Number of Respondents per Activity: 1 response per 
respondent per activity.
    Annual Responses: 500,000.
    Average Minutes per Response: 2 minutes-60 minutes, dependent upon 
activity.
    Burden Hours: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
requests approximately 25,000 burden hours.

B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    This notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and 
affected parties concerning the collection of information described in 
Section A on the following: 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 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.
    All written comments will be available for public inspection 
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.
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to 
these questions.

C. Authority

    Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35.

Colette Pollard,
Department Reports Management Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-14397 Filed 7-13-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P