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

Thomas P. Keane
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
12 February 2021

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 28 (Friday, February 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9422-9423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02850]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2020-0215]


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

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. FMCSA requests 
approval to extend an existing ICR titled, ``Generic Clearance for the 
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.'' This 
ICR allows for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communication 
between FMCSA and its customers and stakeholders. It also allows 
feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program 
management. The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public 
comment before FMCSA submits its request to OMB.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 13, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2020-0215 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 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, 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 can 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 https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2008-01-17/pdf/E8-785.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 website. If you want us to notify you 
that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope or postcard if you submitted your comments by mail or 
hand delivery, 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. Dan Britton, FMCSA, Office of 
Research. Telephone 202-366-9980; or email dan.britton@dot.gov. 
Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Mail Stop W63-312, 
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 extend OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect 
qualitative feedback from our customers on our service delivery. The 
surveys covered in this generic clearance provide a way for FMCSA to 
collect this data directly from our customers.
    The proposed future information collection activity provides a 
means to 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 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. The information collected from our customers and 
stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, 
and satisfying experience with FMCSA's programs.
    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

[[Page 9423]]

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 non-controversial 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 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.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but it 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 non-response 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 for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0049.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: State and local agencies, the general public and 
stakeholders, original equipment manufacturers and suppliers to the 
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry, CMV fleet owners, CMV owner-
operators, state CMV safety agencies, research organizations and 
contractors, news organizations, safety advocacy groups, and other 
Federal agencies.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 9,270.
    Estimated Time per Response: Range from 5 to 30 minutes.
    Expiration Date: August 31, 2021.
    Frequency of Response: Generally, on an annual basis.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 2,233 hours.
    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.

Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2021-02850 Filed 2-11-21; 8:45 am]
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