Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently Approved Information Collection Request: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

G. Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
24 May 2018

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 101 (Thursday, May 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24155-24156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11128]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2017-0321]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently 
Approved Information Collection Request: Generic Clearance of Customer 
Satisfaction Surveys

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 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 Executive Order 
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 FMCSA seeks to obtain OMB approval of a 
currently approved 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. On January 19, 2018, FMCSA published a notice in 
the Federal Register allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. 
The Agency received one comment in response to the notice. The comment 
was unrelated to the information collection. Therefore, no agency 
response was necessary.

DATES: Please send your comments by June 25, 2018. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date in order to act on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2017-0321. Interested persons are 
invited to submit written comments on the proposed information 
collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget. Comments should be addressed to the attention 
of the Desk Officer, Department of Transportation/Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, and sent via electronic mail to 
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov, or faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Roxane Oliver, FMCSA, Office of 
Analysis, Research and Technology, Analysis Division/MC-RRA. Telephone 
(202) 385-2324; or email Roxane.Oliver@dot.gov. Department of 
Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0061.
    Type of Request: Renewal of currently approved collection.
    Respondents: State and local agencies; general public and 
stakeholders; original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and suppliers to 
the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry; fleets, owner-operators, 
state CMV safety agencies, research organizations and contractors; news 
organizations, safety advocacy groups; and other Federal agencies.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,900 [5,000 customer satisfaction 
survey respondents + 100 listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums 
respondents + 300 focus group respondents + 500 strategic planning 
customer satisfaction survey respondents].
    Estimated Time per Response: Range from 10-120 minutes per 
response.
    Expiration Date: July 31, 2018.
    Frequency of Response: Generally, on an annual basis.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,758 hours [833 hours for customer 
satisfaction surveys + 200 hours for listening sessions/stakeholder 
feedback forums + 600 hours for focus groups + 125 hours for strategic 
planning customer satisfaction surveys].
    Background: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
FMCSA invites public comments about our intention to request the OMB 
approval to renew a previously approved information collection. 
Executive Order 12862 Setting Customer Service Standards, and most 
recently updated in Executive Order 13571, requires the Federal 
Government to provide the ``highest quality service possible to the 
American people.'' Under the order, the ``standard of quality for 
services provided to the public shall be: Customer service equal to the 
best in business.'' 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 currently approved 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

[[Page 24156]]

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 the collections are:
     Voluntary;
     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;
     Noncontroversial and do not raise issues of concern to 
other Federal agencies;
     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;
     Only collecting personally identifiable information (PII) 
to the extent necessary and is not retained;
     Only collecting information intended to be used internally 
for general service improvement and program management, and any release 
outside the agency must indicate the qualitative nature of the 
information;
     Not to be used for the purpose of substantially informing 
influential policy decisions; and
     Intended to yield only 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.
    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.
    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 FMCSA to perform its functions; (2) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for the 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.

    Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on: May 16, 
2018.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology 
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-11128 Filed 5-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P