[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33117-33118]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11747]



[[Page 33117]]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Intent To Reinstate a Previously Approved Information 
Collection

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites 
the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service 
Delivery'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This 
collection was developed to create a vehicle for obtaining stakeholder 
feedback and was previously approved in 2017. The collection approval 
expired on June 30, 2020. This notice announces our intent to revise 
and re-submit this collection to Office of Management and Budget for 
approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed 
information collection.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by August 1, 
2022 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
    Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Martin, 202-445-5388, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title of Collection: Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 0524-0051.
    Expiration Date of Current Approval: 06/30/2020.
    Type of Request: Notice of intent to reinstate and revise a 
previously approved information collection. The burden for this 
collection remains unchanged.
    NIFA is requesting approval to reinstate a previously approved, but 
expired, information collection.
    Abstract: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, oversees roughly $1.7 billion to fund 
research, education, and extension efforts in a wide range of 
scientific fields related to agricultural and behavioral sciences. NIFA 
achieves its mission through partnerships with Land-Grant Universities 
(LGU), non-profit organizations, private sector firms, and other 
government agencies. These partners, through research, education, and 
extension activities, help NIFA and USDA address highly complex and 
multidimensional challenges in food and agriculture. To ensure that our 
programs address the Nation's food and agricultural priorities, and our 
processes minimize burden without jeopardizing accountability, NIFA 
seeks OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect qualitative 
feedback on our service delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean 
information that provides insights on perceptions and opinions but are 
not statistical surveys or quantitative results that can be generalized 
to the population of study.
    This collection of information is necessary to enable NIFA, herein 
``the Agency,'' to garner feedback from customers, stakeholders, and 
partners (herein ``stakeholders'') in an efficient and timely manner, 
and in accordance with our commitment to providing the highest quality 
service delivery.
    The information collected from our stakeholders will help NIFA 
identify emerging and significant priorities in food and agriculture; 
refine NIFA's business processes; and promote inclusiveness and 
diversity to ensure that NIFA drives outcomes that meet the needs of 
all Americans.
    Improving agency programs requires ongoing assessment of NIFA's 
programs and processes, by which we mean systematic review of the 
operation of a program compared to a set of explicit or implicit 
standards. NIFA will collect, analyze, and interpret information 
gathered through this generic clearance to identify strengths and 
weaknesses of current services and make improvements based on 
stakeholder feedback.
    If this information is not collected, NIFA's ability to respond to 
stakeholders' needs and continuously improve programs and services will 
be greatly diminished.
    The solicitation of feedback will target areas in: Strategic, 
portfolio, and programmatic planning; competitive and non-competitive 
awards processes; post-award management; information technology systems 
and websites; and, grants management training. Responses will inform 
efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the 
public.
    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 near future;
     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 the purpose of 
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 uses require 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 system of records containing privacy information and will not ask 
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual

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behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are 
commonly considered private.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,250.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 15.
    Average number of Respondents per Activity: 750.
    Annual responses: 11,250.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 30.
    Burden hours: 5,625.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to 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.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request to OMB for approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.
    Obtaining a Copy of the Information Collection: A copy of the 
information collection and related instructions may be obtained free of 
charge by contacting Robert Martin as directed above.

    Done at Washington, DC, this day of May 13, 2022.
Dionne Toombs,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2022-11747 Filed 5-31-22; 8:45 am]
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