[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12493-12494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-04894]
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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Corporation for National and Community Service.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), as
part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent
burden, conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the
general public and federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)). This program helps to ensure that requested data can be
provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial
resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood,
and the impact of collection requirement on respondents can be properly
assessed.
Currently, CNCS is soliciting comments concerning its proposed
renewal of the following proposed Generic Information Collection
Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' for approval under
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). This
collection was developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to
streamline the process for seeking feedback from the public on service
delivery. This notice announces our intent to submit this collection to
OMB for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the
proposed information collection,
Copies of the information collection request can be obtained by
contacting the office listed in the Addresses section of this Notice or
on www.regulations.gov.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the individual and office
listed in the ADDRESSES section by May 5, 2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by the title of the
information collection activity, by any of the following methods:
(1) By mail sent to: Corporation for National and Community
Service; Attention Amy Borgstrom, Room 10508B; 1201 New York Avenue
NW., Washington, DC 20525.
(2) By hand delivery or by courier to the CNCS mailroom at Room
8100 at the mail address given in paragraph (1) above, between 9:00
a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
(3) Electronically through www.regulations.gov.
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TTY-
TDD) may call 1-800-833-3722 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time, Monday through Friday.
Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available
to the public through www.regulations.gov. For this reason, please do
not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such
as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you
send an email comment, your email address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the
public docket and made available on the Internet. Please note that
responses to this public comment request containing any routine notice
about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as
public comments that may be made available to the public
notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Borgstrom, 202-606-6930, or by
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CNCS is particularly interested in comments
that:
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of CNCS,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are expected to respond, including the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology (e.g., permitting
electronic submissions of responses).
Background
CNCS seeks to continue to use this information collection to seek
feedback on the agency's service delivery from grantees and other
stakeholders.
[[Page 12494]]
Current Action
The proposed information collection activity provides a means to
garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient,
timely manner, in accordance with the Administration's commitment to
improving service delivery. By qualitative 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. This feedback will provide
insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and
expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus
attention on areas where communication, training or changes in
operations might improve delivery of products or services. These
collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable
communications between the Agency and its customers and stakeholders.
It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement
of program management.
The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness,
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery.
Responses will be 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 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;
Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
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 behavior and attitudes,
religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered
private.
The information collection will otherwise be used in the same
manner as the existing application. CNCS also seeks to continue using
the current application until the revised application is approved by
OMB. The current application is due to expire on April 30, 2014.
Type of Review: Renewal.
Agency: Corporation for National and Community Service.
Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback
on Agency Service Delivery.
OMB Number: 3045-0137.
Agency Number: None.
Affected Public: Individuals and Households; Businesses and
Organizations; State, Local or Tribal Governments.
Total Respondents: 2,000.
Frequency: Once.
Average Time per Response: Averages 15 minutes.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 500 hours.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): None.
Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): None.
Request for Comments
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. Comments are invited
on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including through the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e)
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to
a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise
disclose the information.
All written comments will be available for public inspection on
regulations.gov.
An 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 Office of Management and Budget control number.
Dated: February 27, 2014.
Mary Hyde,
Acting Director, Research and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2014-04894 Filed 3-4-14; 8:45 am]
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