[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 73 (Monday, April 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26208-26209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07891]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0182]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently 
Approved Information Collection: Generic Clearance of Customer 
Satisfaction Surveys

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval. In order to work continuously to ensure that our programs 
are effective and meet our customers' needs, FMCSA requests approval to 
renew an ICR titled, ``Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction 
Surveys.'' This ICR allows

[[Page 26209]]

FMCSA to continue collecting feedback on our service delivery. By 
feedback, we mean information that provides useful insights on 
perceptions and opinions but are not statistical surveys that yield 
quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of 
study.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before May 15, 
2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Roxane Oliver, FMCSA, Office of 
Analysis, DOT, FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, 
(202) 385-2324, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0061.
    Type of Request: Renewal of currently approved collection.
    Respondents: State and local agencies, general public and 
stakeholders; original equipment manufacturers and suppliers to the 
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry; fleets, owner-operators, state 
CMV safety agencies, research organizations and contractors; news 
organizations and safety advocacy groups.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,900 (5,000 customer satisfaction 
survey respondents + 100 listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums 
respondents + 300 focus group respondents + 500 strategic planning 
customer satisfaction survey respondents).
    Estimated Time per Response: Range from 10 to 120 minutes.
    Expiration Date: July 31, 2024.
    Frequency of Response: Generally, on an annual basis.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,758 hours (833 hours for customer 
satisfaction surveys + 200 hours for listening sessions/stakeholder 
feedback forums + 600 hours for focus groups + 125 hours for strategic 
planning customer satisfaction surveys).

Background

    Executive Order (E.O.) 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards, 
requires the Federal government to provide the ``highest quality 
service possible to the American people.'' E.O. 13571, Streamlining 
Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service, requires the standard 
of quality for services provided to the public to be customer service 
equal to the best in business. In order to work continuously to ensure 
that our programs are effective and meet our customers' needs, FMCSA 
seeks to renew OMB's approval of a generic clearance to collect 
qualitative feedback from our customers on our service delivery. The 
surveys covered in this generic clearance provide a means for FMCSA to 
collect this data directly from our customers. By qualitative feedback, 
we mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and 
opinions but are not generated from statistical surveys that yield 
quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of 
study. This feedback provides insights into customer or stakeholder 
perceptions, experiences, and expectations, provides an early warning 
of issues with service, or focuses attention on areas of communication, 
training, or changes in operations that might improve delivery of 
products or services. These collections allow for ongoing, 
collaborative, and actionable communications between the Agency and its 
customers and stakeholders. They also allow feedback to contribute 
directly to the improvement of program management.
    The solicitation of feedback targets areas such as: timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of 
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. 
Responses are 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 Agency's services will be unavailable.
    The Agency will submit a planned collection for approval under this 
generic clearance only if it meets the conditions that such collections 
are:
     voluntary;
     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;
     noncontroversial and do not raise issues of concern to 
other Federal Agencies;
     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;
     only collecting personally identifiable information (PII) 
to the extent necessary and not retaining it;
     only collecting information intended to be used only 
internally for general service improvement and program management, and 
any release outside the Agency must indicate the qualitative nature of 
the information;
     not to be used for the purpose of substantially informing 
influential policy decisions; and
     intended to yield only qualitative information.
    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 nonresponse 
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 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 behavior and attitudes, religious 
beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) 
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the 
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2024-07891 Filed 4-12-24; 8:45 am]
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