[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 238 (Monday, December 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77244-77245]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31750]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
Renewal of Information Collection; OMB Control Number 1040-0001,
DOI Programmatic Clearance for Customer Satisfaction Surveys
AGENCY: Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We (Department of the Interior, DOI) plan to ask the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to extend the approval for the information
collection (IC) described below. This IC is scheduled to expire March
31, 2012. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and as
part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent
burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take
this opportunity to comment on this IC.
DATES: You must submit comments on or before February 10, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Mail or hand carry comments to the Department of the
Interior; Office of Policy Analysis; Attention: Don Bieniewicz; Mail
Stop 3530; 1849 C Street NW., Washington, DC 20240. If you wish to
email comments, the email address is [email protected].
Reference ``DOI Programmatic Clearance for Customer Satisfaction
Surveys'' in your email subject line. Include your name and return
address in your email message and mark your message for return receipt.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information
about this IC, contact Donald Bieniewicz on (202) 208-4915.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) (Pub. L.
103-62) requires agencies to ``improve Federal program effectiveness
and public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service
quality, and customer satisfaction.'' Executive Order 13571 on
``Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service''
requires Federal agencies to establish ``mechanisms to solicit customer
feedback on Government services.'' To fulfill this responsibility, DOI
bureaus and offices must collect data from their respective user groups
to better understand the needs and desires of the public and to respond
accordingly.
We use customer satisfaction surveys to help us fulfill our
responsibilities to provide excellence in government by proactively
consulting with those we serve. This programmatic clearance provides an
expedited approval process for DOI bureaus and offices to conduct
customer research through external surveys such as questionnaires and
comment cards. We will use this information to support all aspects of
planning to include buildings, roads, interpretive exhibits, and
technical systems. We anticipate that the information obtained could
lead to reallocation of resources, revisions in certain agency
processes and policies, development of guidance related to customer
services, and improvement in the way we serve the American public.
The proposed renewal covers all of the organizational units and
bureaus in DOI. Bureaus and offices will voluntarily obtain information
from their customers and stakeholders. No one survey will cover all the
topic areas; rather, these topic areas serve as a guide within which
the agencies will develop questions. Topic areas include:
(1) Communication/information/education. Questions will focus on
customer satisfaction with aspects of communication/information/
products/education offered. Respondents may be asked for feedback
regarding the following attributes of the services provided:
(a) Timeliness.
(b) Consistency.
(c) Ease of Use and Usefulness.
(d) Ease of Information Access.
(e) Helpfulness and Effectiveness.
(f) Quality.
(g) Value for fee paid for information/product/service.
(h) Level of engagement in communications process (i.e., whether
respondent feels he/she was asked for input and whether or not that
input was considered).
(2) Disability accessibility. This area will focus on customer
satisfaction data related to disability access to DOI buildings,
facilities, trails, etc.
(3) Management practices. This area covers questions relating to
how well customers are satisfied with DOI management practices and
processes, what improvements they might make to specific processes, and
whether or not they feel specific issues were addressed and reconciled
in a timely, courteous, and responsive manner.
(4) Resource management. We will ask customers and partners to
provide satisfaction data related to DOI's ability to protect,
conserve, provide access to, and preserve natural resources that we
manage.
(5) Rules, regulations, policies. This area focuses on obtaining
feedback from customers regarding fairness, adequacy,
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and consistency in enforcing rules, regulations, and policies for which
DOI is responsible. It will also help us understand public awareness of
rules and regulations and whether or not they are explained in a clear
and understandable manner.
(6) Service delivery. We will seek feedback from customers
regarding the manner in which DOI delivers services. Attributes will
range from the courtesy of staff to timeliness of service delivery and
staff knowledge of the services being delivered.
(7) Technical assistance. Questions developed within this topic
area will focus on obtaining customer feedback regarding attributes of
technical assistance, including timeliness, quality, usefulness, and
the skill level of staff providing this assistance.
(8) Program-specific. Questions for this area will reflect the
specific details of a program that pertain to its customer respondents.
The questions will address very specific and/or technical issues
related to the program. The questions will be geared toward gaining a
better understanding about how to provide specific products and
services and the public's attitude toward their usefulness.
(9) General demographics. Some general demographics may be used to
augment satisfaction questions so that we can better understand the
customer and improve how we serve that customer. We may ask customers
how many times they have used a service, visited a facility within a
specific timeframe, their ethnic group, or their race.
II. Data
OMB Control Number: 1040-0001.
Title: DOI Programmatic Clearance for Customer Satisfaction
Surveys.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Extension of an approved collection.
Affected Public: DOI customers. We define customers as anyone who
uses DOI resources, products, or services. This includes internal
customers (anyone within DOI) as well as external customers (e.g., the
American public, representatives of the private sector, academia, other
government agencies). Depending upon their role in specific situations
and interactions, citizens and DOI stakeholders and partners may also
be considered customers. We define stakeholders to mean groups or
individuals who have an expressed interest in and who seek to influence
the present and future state of DOI's resources, products, and
services. Partners are those groups, individuals, and agencies who are
formally engaged in helping DOI accomplish its mission.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 120,000. We estimate
approximately 60,000 respondents will submit DOI customer satisfaction
surveys and 60,000 will submit comment cards.
Estimated Total Annual Responses: 120,000.
Estimated Time per Response: 15 minutes for a customer survey; 3
minutes for a comment card.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,000.
III. Request for Comments
We invite comments concerning this IC on:
(1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary,
including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection
of information;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(4) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
respondents.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include and/or summarize each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this IC. 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 can 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.
A Federal 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 OMB control number.
Dated: December 6, 2011.
Benjamin Simon,
Assistant Director, Office of Policy Analysis, U.S. Department of the
Interior.
[FR Doc. 2011-31750 Filed 12-9-11; 8:45 am]
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