[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 165 (Monday, August 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68388-68390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19090]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Annual Integrated Economic Survey

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on a 
proposed revision to the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES), 
prior to the submission of the

[[Page 68389]]

information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before October 25, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to [email protected]. Please reference Annual Integrated 
Economic Survey (AIES) in the subject line of your comments. You may 
also submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2024-0021, to 
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. All 
comments received are part of the public record. No comments will be 
posted to http://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until after the 
comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted without 
change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and 
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit 
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe 
PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Edward Watkins, U.S. Census Bureau, Economy-wide Statistics Division 
(EWD) by phone (301) 763-4750, or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES) is designed to 
integrate and replace seven existing annual business surveys into one 
survey. The AIES provides the only comprehensive national and 
subnational data on business revenues, expenses, and assets on an 
annual basis. The AIES is designed to combine Census Bureau collections 
to reduce respondent burden, increase data quality, and allow the 
Census Bureau to operate more efficiently to reduce long term costs. 
The existing collections integrated into the AIES are the Annual Retail 
Trade Survey (ARTS), Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS), Service 
Annual Survey (SAS), Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), Annual 
Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES), Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders 
Survey (M3UFO), and the Report of Organization.
    The AIES collects the following information from employer 
businesses in sample:
     Business characteristics, including employment, operating 
status, organizational change, ownership information, and co-op status.
     Business classification, including business activity, type 
of operation, and tax status.
     Revenue, including sales, shipments, and receipts, taxes, 
contributions, gifts, and grants, products, e-commerce activity, and 
other sources of revenue.
     Operating expenses, including purchased services, payroll, 
benefits, and other detailed operating expenses.
     Capital expenditures and inventories.
     Robotic equipment expenditures and usage.
    In preparation for the 2024 AIES, we are looking ahead and 
evaluating options to reduce respondent burden. The Census Bureau is 
considering a reduction in the content that we collect from 
respondents. We have identified areas where we can reduce the content 
collected from respondents without significantly impacting data users. 
We are considering the consolidation of select items that pertain to 
Revenues, Operating Expenses, Inventories, and Capital Expenditures. We 
have identified the content we would like to reduce/consolidate and are 
currently working with key stakeholders to incorporate feedback. Our 
intention is that the reduction in content would have a positive impact 
on respondents and would be of minimal or no impact to both internal 
and external stakeholders, and the public.
    All reduced/streamlined or combined content will be based on 
research, debriefing interviews, and feedback received from survey 
respondents during the 2023 collection period and any resulting 
reduction in respondent burden will be included in the revision request 
submitted to OMB after the conclusion of this 60-day comment period.
    One of the key features of the AIES is the ability, with Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval, to add and delete questions based 
on the importance of the economic situation at the time. The AIES may 
include new questions each year based on relevant business topics. 
Potential topics for such new questions could include technological 
advances including but not limed to artificial intelligence, machine 
learning, bioeconomy, financial technology robotics, exporting 
practices, energy, globalization, major event or catastrophe, and 
emerging societal trends. Any new questions or deletion of existing 
questions will be submitted to OMB for review as a revision with 30-day 
notice.

II. Method of Collection

    Respondents are notified via email and/or letter about their 
requirement to respond and how to access the survey, with responses due 
within 30 days. Select businesses receive a reminder before the due 
date through email or letter. Nonrespondents are followed up with up to 
three email or mail reminders at one-month intervals.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-1024.
    Type of Review: Regular submission, request for a revision of a 
currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Businesses, or other for profit or non-profit 
institutions or organizations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 393,460 companies.
    Estimated Time per Response: 3 hours and 23 minutes per company 
(this estimate will be re-evaluated based on results of testing reduced 
content).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,336,892.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 131, 182, and 193.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our 
request to OMB to approve this ICR.

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Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other 
personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 
that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you may 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-19090 Filed 8-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P