82 FR 42839 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 175 (September 12, 2017)

As part of the Federal Government-wide ongoing effort to streamline how agencies request feedback from the public on services (also called ``service delivery''), we are proposing to renew a generic information collection request (generic ICR) entitled Generic Clearance for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on Agency Services (previously entitled Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery). This notice announces that we have submitted this generic ICR plan to OMB for renewed approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act and solicits comments on specific aspects of the collection plan.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42839-42841]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19330]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

[NARA-2017-062]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative 
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Notice of a request for comments regarding a new information 
collection.

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SUMMARY: As part of the Federal Government-wide ongoing effort to 
streamline how agencies request feedback from the public on services 
(also called ``service delivery''), we are proposing to renew a generic 
information collection request (generic ICR) entitled Generic Clearance 
for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on Agency Services (previously 
entitled Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery). This notice announces that we have 
submitted this generic ICR plan to OMB for renewed approval under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act and solicits comments on specific aspects of 
the collection plan.

DATES: OMB must receive written comments at the address below on or 
before October 12, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Mr. Nicholas A. Fraser, desk officer for 
NARA, by mail to Office of Management and Budget; New Executive Office 
Building; Washington, DC 20503; by fax to 202-395-5167; or by email to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information, 
please contact Tamee Fechhelm by telephone at 301-837-1694 or by fax at 
301-837-0319.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (Public Law 104-13), we invite comments on: (a) Whether collecting 
this information is necessary for proper performance of the agency's 
functions, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of

[[Page 42840]]

our estimate of the information collection's burden on respondents; (c) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information we 
propose to collect; (d) ways to minimize the burden on respondents of 
collecting the information, 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 people need to 
provide the information, including time to review instructions, process 
and maintain the information, search data sources, and respond.

Explanation of Generic ICRs

    A generic ICR is a request for OMB to approve a plan for conducting 
more than one information collection using very similar methods when 
(1) we can evaluate the need for and the overall practical utility of 
the data in advance, as part of the review of the proposed plan, but 
(2) we cannot determine the details of the specific individual 
collections until a later time. Most generic clearances cover 
collections that are voluntary, low-burden (based on a consideration of 
total burden, total respondents, or burden per respondent), and 
uncontroversial. This notice, for example, describes a general plan to 
gather views from the public through a series of customer satisfaction 
surveys in which we ask the public about certain agency activities or 
services and how well we are providing them. As part of this plan, we 
construct, distribute, and analyze the surveys in a similar manner, but 
customize each survey for the type of service it is measuring.
    Because we seek public comment on the plan, we do not need to seek 
public comment on each specific information collection that falls 
within the plan when we later develop the individual information 
collection. This saves the Government time and burden, and it 
streamlines our ability to gather performance feedback. However, we 
still submit each specific information collection (e.g., each survey) 
to OMB for review, in accordance with the terms of clearance set upon 
approval of the plan. OMB assesses the individual surveys for PRA 
requirements, ensures that they fit within the scope of this generic 
ICR plan, and includes the specific surveys in the PRA public docket 
prior to our use of them.

Specifics on This Information Collection

    Title: Generic Clearance for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Services.
    Description: This generic information collection request allows us 
to gather qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an 
efficient, timely manner as part of our commitment to improve service 
delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean information that provides 
useful insights into customers' or stakeholders' perceptions and 
opinions, but not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results 
that we could generalize to the population. Qualitative feedback 
provides insights into perceptions, experiences, and expectations, 
provides an early warning of issues with service, or focuses attention 
on areas where communication, training, or operational changes might 
improve delivery of products or services. We will not use this 
qualitative generic clearance for quantitative information collections 
designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring 
trends over time or documenting program performance.
    Purpose: Collecting this information allows us to receive ongoing, 
collaborative, and actionable communications from our customers and 
stakeholders. We use customer feedback to plan efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service we offer to the public. If we do not 
collect this information, vital feedback from customers and 
stakeholders on our services will be unavailable. The feedback we 
collect about our services include assessments of timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, plain language, courtesy, 
efficiency, and issue resolution.
    Conditions: We will submit a specific information collection for 
approval under this generic clearance only if it meets the following 
conditions:
     The collection is voluntary;
     The collection is low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and is low-cost for both the respondents 
and the Federal Government;
     The collection is non-controversial and does not raise 
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
     It is targeted to solicit 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.
    As a general matter, information collections under this generic 
collection request 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.
    Current actions: We currently have 18 surveys that have been 
approved by OMB under this generic ICR that are ongoing and will 
continue through the renewal period. Some of these surveys include the 
OGIS Customer Service Assessment, NPRC Survey of Customer Satisfaction, 
Training and Event Evaluation, Public Vaults Exhibition Survey, Boeing 
Learning Center Visit Drivers, History Hub Survey, Agency Assistance 
Project Feedback Survey, National Archives and Records Administration 
Customer Survey, and the National Outreach Program Initiative (NOPI) 
Master Survey.
    Type of review: Regular.
    Potential affected public: Anyone who uses NARA's services, 
programs, or facilities, including requesting personnel records, 
requesting historical, genealogical, or other archival records, using 
research rooms, requesting research or asking research questions, 
ordering and receiving reproductions, using FOIA dispute resolution 
services, using records management services, working with records 
management schedules, renting facilities, attending exhibitions, 
events, or open houses, using learning centers or educational 
materials, attending training, etc. This can include individuals and 
households, businesses and organizations, or state, local, or Tribal 
governments.
    Estimated number of respondents: We currently have approximately 
25,000 respondents annually to our 18 surveys. We are completely 
restructuring one of the surveys, the NPRC Survey of Customer 
Satisfaction, and migrating it

[[Page 42841]]

from paper to online form. We anticipate that this will substantially 
increase the number of potential respondents to that survey from about 
10,000 to 100,000 potential respondents. In addition, we expect to add 
and remove some additional surveys during the next three years, which 
might also result in a net decrease or increase in potential 
respondents. Therefore, we are projecting that between 120,000 and 
150,000 respondents annually.
    Projected average estimates for the next three years:
    Average expected annual number of surveys: 12.
    Average projected number of respondents per survey: 12,994.
    Annual responses per respondent: 1.
    Frequency of response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 10-30 minutes, depending on the 
survey.
    Burden hours: 20,000-25,000.

Swarnali Haldar,
Executive for Information Services/CIO.
[FR Doc. 2017-19330 Filed 9-11-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7515-01-P