Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information Collection Request: FMCSA Annual Grant Program Effectiveness Survey |
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G. Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
October 8, 2014
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 8, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60889-60891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23994]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2014-0196]
Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information
Collection Request: FMCSA Annual Grant Program Effectiveness Survey
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR)
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its
review and approval and invites public comment. The purpose of this
information collection is to acquire the perspectives of FMCSA State
partners who support the operation, regulation and enforcement of
various mutually-beneficial safety programs. This knowledge will
improve the Federal government's understanding of the effectiveness of
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety related grant programs. The FMCSA
is interested in surveying grant recipients to collect information on
the strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness of FMCSA grant programs
with the intent of improving our capacity to meet the needs of our
grantees. FMCSA needs this information to support program evaluation
endeavors, program management, and fiscal decision making. FMCSA will
use the results in various analyses conducted by FMCSA designed to
assess the effectiveness of existing rules, grant programs, and safety
programs.
DATES: We request your comments on or before December 8, 2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2014-0196 using any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
[[Page 60890]]
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001
between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and
docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and
additional information on the exemption process, see the Public
Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the
online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street
address listed above.
Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket Management System
published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or
you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8-794.pdf.
Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available
24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic
submission and retrieval assistance and guidelines under the ``help''
section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. If you want FMCSA
to notify you that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard, or print your request on the
acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments online.
Comments received after the comment closing date will be included in
the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Eugene Johnson, Strategic
Planning, and Program Evaluation Division, Office of Policy, Strategic
Planning and Regulations, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-
5490; email Eugene.Johnson@dot.gov. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. If you have
questions on viewing material in the docket, contact Docket Operations
(202) 366-9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration
(FMCSA) needs a survey of its State partner-grant recipients who
support the operation, regulation and enforcement of various mutually-
beneficial safety programs. This knowledge will improve the Federal
government's understanding of the effectiveness of commercial motor
vehicle (CMV) safety related grant programs. The FMCSA is interested in
surveying grant recipients to collect information on the strengths,
weaknesses, and effectiveness of FMCSA grant programs.
In 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a final
report on a FMCSA grant program called Performance Registration
Information System Management PRISM. The GAO reported was entitled,
``Motor Carrier Safety: Commercial Vehicle Registration Program Has
Kept Carriers from Operating, but Effectiveness Is Difficult to
Measure, GAO-09-495.'' The GAO recommended FMCSA measure the PRISM
program's effectiveness when the number of States that have the ability
to deny, suspend, or revoke registrations of CMVs operated by OOS
carriers is sufficient to make such measurements meaningful.
The authority to require Federal Agencies to monitor grants is 2
CFR Chapter I, and Chapter II Parts 200, 215, 220, 225, and 230 Uniform
Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements
for Federal Awards. OMB Circular A-110, Reports and Records, sections
50 through 53 set forth the procedures for monitoring and reporting on
the recipient's financial and program performance and the necessary
standard reporting forms.
The Agency proposes to collect the data for this project via
electronic mail surveys and conduct clarifying interviews as
appropriate. The information collection supports the DOT's Strategic
Goal of Safety, and will help confirm whether the program(s) improve
public health and safety by reducing transportation-related fatalities
and injuries. Therefore, the purpose of this ICR is to conduct a survey
using Form MCSA-5888 to evaluate the effectiveness of FMCSA's grant
programs through the use of in-person interviews and electronic
surveys. The survey will not be statistical in nature, as the intention
is to receive the comments of all affected state partners. The survey
will not exceed 30 questions and the complexity of the question
structure will be Likert scale and short responses. The decision to use
the Likert scale over the ordinal scale is the numbers in the ordinal
level indicate the relative position of items, but not the magnitude of
difference that you get from the Likert scale. For example, the survey
will present a question like ``The grant funding provided in support of
your program is adequate to meet all aspects of the mission.'' The
response options may include:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neural
3. Agree
4. Strongly agree
5. Not Applicable
The Agency will use this information to establish a baseline of our
grant programs from the grantee's perspective for use in future grant-
related decision making, to include: (1) Assessing the impacts of
proposed rules, (2) identifying potential improvements in its grant
supported safety programs, and (3) complement future budget and
resource related decisions.
Title: FMCSA Annual Grant Program Effectiveness Survey.
OMB Control Number: 2126-00XX.
Type of Request: New information collection.
Respondents: State Grant Recipients.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 50 State Respondents.
Estimated Time per Response: 45 minutes per response.
Expiration Date: N/A. This is a new ICR.
Frequency of Response: Once.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 49 hours [(50 electronic mail-in
respondents x 45 minutes/60 minutes) + (15 State personnel interviews x
45 minutes/60 minutes) = 49]. Minutes per response = 48.75 rounded to
49.]
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including: (1) whether the proposed
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2)
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4)
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of
the collected information. The agency will summarize or include your
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information
collection.
[[Page 60891]]
Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on:
September 30, 2014.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-23994 Filed 10-7-14; 8:45 am]
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