Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information Collection Request: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

G. Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
August 29, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 168 (Friday, August 29, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51639-51641]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-20640]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2014-0237]


Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information 
Collection Request: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

AGENCY: FMCSA, DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide 
service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service 
available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to 
ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers' needs, 
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) seeks to obtain 
OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect feedback on our service 
delivery. By 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.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before October 28, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2014-0237 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Services; U.S. Department of Transportation, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-

[[Page 51640]]

140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
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 is able to 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 help and guidelines under the ``help'' section 
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. If you want us to notify 
you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope or postcard, or print 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. Brian Ronk, Program Manager, 
FMCSA, Office of Enforcement and Program Delivery, Outreach Division/
MC-ESO. Telephone (202) 366-1072; or email brian.ronk@dot.gov. 
Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
    Mr. Jeff Loftus, Supervisory Transportation Specialist, Technology 
Division/MC-RRT, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology, telephone 
(202) 385-2363; or email jeff.loftus@dot.gov, Department of 
Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: Executive Order 12862 ``Setting Customer Service 
Standards,'' directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public 
that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private 
sector (58 FR 48257, Sept. 11, 1993). In order to work continuously to 
ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers' needs, 
FMCSA seeks to obtain OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect 
qualitative feedback from our customers on our service delivery. The 
surveys covered in this generic clearance will provide a means for 
FMCSA to collect this data directly from our customers. 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 of communication, 
training or changes in operations that 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 noncontroversial 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 is intended to be used only 
internally for general service improvement and program management and 
any release outside the agency must indicate the qualitative nature of 
the information;
     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 generalized to the 
population of study.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but 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 nonresponse 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.
    Title: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-New.
    Type of Request: New information collection request.
    Respondents: State and local agencies, general public and 
stakeholders; original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and suppliers to 
the commercial

[[Page 51641]]

motor vehicle (CMV) industry; fleets, owner-operators, state CMV safety 
agencies, research organizations and contractors; news organizations 
and safety advocacy groups.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,900.
    Estimated Time per Response: Range from 10-120 minutes.
    Expiration Date: N/A. This is a new ICR.
    Frequency of Response: Generally, on an annual basis.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,274.
    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.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 on: August 18, 2014.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology 
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-20640 Filed 8-28-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P