[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 125 (Thursday, June 30, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39096-39098]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13988]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-XXXX; Docket No. 2022-0001; Sequence No. 11]


Information Collection; Generic Clearance for the Collection of 
the Government-Wide Pulse Survey

AGENCY: Office of Shared Services and Performance Improvement, Office 
of Government-Wide Policy, General Services Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding a new request for an 
OMB clearance.

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SUMMARY: GSA is coordinating the development of the following proposed 
Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' for 
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice announces that 
GSA intends to submit this new collection to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for approval and will solicit comments on specific 
aspects for the proposed information collection.

DATES: Submit comments on or before August 29, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by ``Information Collection 3090-
XXXX Generic Clearance for the

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Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' to http://www.regulations.gov.
    Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching for 
``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide 
Pulse Survey''. Select the link ``Comment'' that corresponds with 
``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide 
Pulse Survey''. Follow the instructions provided on the screen. Please 
include your name, company name (if any), and ``3090-XXXX Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' on 
your attached document. If your comment cannot be submitted using 
regulations.gov, call or email the points of contact in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate 
instructions.
    Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite ``Information 
Collection 3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the 
Government-wide Pulse Survey'', in all correspondence related to this 
collection. Comments received generally will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal and/or business 
confidential information provided. To confirm receipt of your 
comment(s), please check www.regulations.gov, approximately two-to- 
three days after submission to verify posting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Trey Bradley, Program Director, 
Strategic Data Initiatives, Organization, at telephone 202-716-6410 or 
via email to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    GSA's Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement 
(OSSPI) improves mission delivery and implementation of the 
Administration's priorities by bringing the government together to 
drive innovation, foster collaboration, and shape effective policy. 
Working through its three functional areas of Executive Council 
management, Shared Services, and the President's Management Agenda 
(PMA) team, OSSPI's vision is to be a trusted partner delivering on the 
Administration priorities by unifying the government as one Federal 
enterprise.
    Because of our PMA responsibilities, GSA played a key role in 
FY2022 governmentwide pilot managing a series of Pulse surveys--
described in greater detail below.
    As the Federal workforce adjusts to the post-Pandemic environment, 
we have a unique, time-sensitive moment to rigorously learn about what 
enables Federal employees to thrive--informing our strategy for decades 
to come on the future of work.
    Better understanding what employees need to do their job and 
supporting them in this can result in improved mission delivery and 
experience of our customers, a fundamental principle the private sector 
has believed in for decades. A central management survey approach and 
service will provide information to improve Federal employee experience 
and mission delivery.
    Pulse surveys also provide a much faster turnaround time for the 
analysis of government-wide survey data--making data available for 
decision making within weeks (or even days), not months, of survey 
implementation to deliver more actionable information. In addition, 
these Pulses are short, discrete surveys, minimizing burden on Federal 
respondents.
    Given the large scale of the planned pulse surveys, we can build a 
``test and learn'' approach to these pulses. For example, in the pilot 
we used A/B testing to see whether different framing or the ``sent 
from'' branding affects response rates and answers.
    As the effort moves into its second year, the data will be an 
important source of information for the PMA and the Government-Wide 
Learning Agenda and will identify government-wide issues and priorities 
and support agency action planning.
    Thought leadership for this effort will be provided by OMB, OPM, 
GSA, and the Harvard University's People Lab. The work will be executed 
by OSSPI staff and colleagues in GSA's Office of Evidence and Analysis, 
supplemented by contractor support.
    We plan to continue the Pulse initiative that began as a 
government-wide pilot in FY2022. These ``pulse'' surveys are short 
surveys asked at regular cadence to enable comparison and in 
collaboration with the 24 CFO Act Agencies to generate actionable data 
within a short turnaround time on some timely, cross-cutting questions. 
We will conduct a series of pulses with both trended and unique 
questions. Some of the unique questions, as indicated above, will be 
designed for A/B testing.
    These questions will be related to the President's Management 
Agenda or the Government-Wide Learning Agenda. For example, during the 
pilot, questions covered three themes:
(1) Employee engagement (presenting questions that are highly 
predictive of turnover and burnout)
(2) Reentry (understanding expectations and concerns about the return 
to office plans)
(3) Equity and inclusion (including understanding current support 
systems and pain points)
    Here are other specifics around how we plan to share the data:
     The items and the results of the items will be made 
publicly available for Federal agencies to assess their scores to 
identify areas for improvement;
     The general public, including researchers and the media, 
will also have access to this information;
     The collections are voluntary;
     Access to completed surveys will be limited to GSA and OPM 
staff and contractors who are involved in collecting and/or preparing 
the information for further analysis at OMB and distribution to other 
agencies:
     Information is only shared for the for the whole 
population and for certain subgroups. Neither federal agencies nor the 
public will receive data by subgroups that could be used to identify a 
specific individual or a person's specific response to a survey 
question.
    The Agency has established a manager/managing entity to serve for 
this generic clearance and will conduct an independent review of each 
information collection to ensure compliance with the terms of this 
clearance prior to submitting each collection to OMB.
    Survey information will be collected through web surveys. The 
survey population is civilian federal employees of the CFO Act 
Agencies. The survey is voluntary.
    The government-wide Pulse surveys occupy an important niche for 
Federal data collection efforts. They are distinct from the other 
government-wide survey efforts, which are typically multi-year efforts 
with fixed content. Pulse surveys are more agile with questions that 
can be tailored to issues relevant to the PMA and the Government-wide 
Learning Agenda and evolve based on conditions on the ground. Moreover, 
to our knowledge, none of the CFO Act Agencies are currently conducting 
Pulse surveys to inform agency learning agendas, so the Pulse 
represents an important source of information for them. The pulse can 
also act as an early warning signal on critical issues (e.g., reentry, 
diversity, burnout).
    This survey only applies to the CFO Act Agencies. Moreover, the 
Pulse surveys are short (approximately three or four questions) and 
consist of three pulses conducted throughout the fiscal year.

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    Without pulse surveys, it will be difficult to measure changes 
employee sentiment on critical PMA issues in a short time frame. Having 
three pulses allows us to trend questions as conditions change.
    Technical experts will review and approve the survey content.
    Some questions may be asked that are of a personal or sensitive 
nature (e.g., questions on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and 
Accessibility).

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Respondents: 367,000.
    Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Total Annual Responses: 3.
    Hours per Response: 0.0106 (38 seconds).
    Total Burden Hours: 11,621.67.

C. Public Comments

    GSA invites comments on: whether this collection of information is 
necessary, whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate 
of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and 
based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the 
information collection documents from the Regulatory Secretariat 
Division by calling 202-501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please 
cite OMB Control No. ``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection 
of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' in all correspondence.

Beth Anne Killoran,
Deputy Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-13988 Filed 6-29-22; 8:45 am]
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