[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 215 (Thursday, November 6, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65922-65923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26438]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Agency Information Collection Activities: Revision and Extension 
of Approved Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the 
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

November 3, 2014.
AGENCY: The Office of the Chief Information Officer--OCIO, USDA.

ACTION: 30-Day notice of submission of information collection approval 
from the Office of Management and Budget and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the 
process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the 
Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Office of the Chief Information 
Officer (OCIO) has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request 
(Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative 
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

DATES: Comments must be submitted by December 8, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted to the Desk Officer for 
Agriculture, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 
20503; [email protected] or fax (202) 395-5806 and to 
Departmental Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 7602, Washington, 
DC 20250-7602.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information, 
please contact Ruth Brown (202) 720-8958 or Charlene Parker (202) 720-
8681.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    Abstract: The information collection activity will 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

[[Page 65923]]

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.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance will provide useful 
information, but it will 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 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.
    The Agency received no comments in response to the 60-day notice 
published in the Federal Register on July 9, 2014 (79 FR 38850). With 
this 30-day notice we are correcting an error that occurred in the 60-
day notice with the number of burden hours. The burden hours should 
have been 20,000 instead of 10,000 and the time it takes to complete 
should have been 1 hour and not 30 minutes as stated in the Federal 
Register.

The Office of the Chief Information Officer--0503-0021

    Current Actions: Revision and Extension of Currently Approved 
Collection.
    Type of Review: Revision and Extension.
    Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and 
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 20.
    Respondents: 20,000.
    Annual Responses: 20,000.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average Minutes per Response: 60.
    Burden Hours: 20,000.
    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.

Ruth Brown,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-26438 Filed 11-5-14; 8:45 am]
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