[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 192 (Tuesday, October 5, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54056-54057]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25811]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment Standards Administration
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to
ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format,
reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized,
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
Currently, the Employment Standards Administration is soliciting
comments concerning the proposed new information collection of The
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' Equal Opportunity
Survey. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be
obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section
of this Notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
addressee section on or before December 6, 1999.
ADDRESSEE: Ms. Patricia A. Forkel, U.S. Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Ave., N.W., Room S-3201, Washington, D.C. 20210, telephone
(202) 693-0339 (this is not a toll-free number), fax (202) 693-1451.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Government contractors provide information on their personnel
activities and the results of their affirmative efforts to employ and
promote minorities and women. This information is used to select
specifically identified contractors for compliance evaluations and
technical assistance. This requirement has been established under
Executive Order 11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment
Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, 38 USC 4212, and OFCCP's
implementing regulations at 41 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations)
Chapter 60.
II. Review Focus
The Department of Labor is particularly interested in comments
which:
evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submissions of responses.
[[Page 54057]]
III. Current Actions
The Department of Labor is developing an Equal Opportunity Survey
in order to improve its implementation of the laws enforced by OFCCP:
Executive Order 11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, as amended; and the affirmative action provisions of the
Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended,
38 U.S.C. 4212. The three-part survey, as currently envisioned, would
collect general information on the status of the federal contractor's
affirmative action plan and aggregated personnel and compensation data,
with a breakdown by gender and minority status.
Each year, OFCCP will collect survey data from federal contractors
who are subject to the laws enforced by the agency. DOL's goals for the
survey are: to increase compliance with equal employment opportunity
requirements by improving contractor self-awareness; to improve the
deployment of scarce federal government resources toward contractors
more likely than not to be in noncompliance; and to increase agency
efficiency by building on the tiered-review process already
accomplished by OFCCP's regulatory reform efforts, thereby allowing
better resource allocation.
In consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), DOL
has developed a plan for phasing in the implementation of the Equal
Opportunity Survey. As part of the developmental process, the
instrument first is being tested using procedures established by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics to assure that it is structured in a manner
that respondents understand and that the data OFCCP is seeking are
readily available.
Once the survey development process has been completed, the survey
will be phased in using two mailings in FY 2000. The phase-in process
will allow updating of the flagged contractor list with the new EEO-1
data expected in the summer of 2000. It will also permit modifications
to be made to data processing procedures to assure timely processing.
Phase I--Survey Instrument Development
During this phase the survey instrument will be put in final form
and tested for clarity; the analytical model will be developed; and,
initial consultation with an outside contractor on survey processing
procedures will take place.
The draft survey instrument has been tested and evaluated using the
facilities of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Behavioral Science
Research Center. This assures that the definitions and instructions are
clearly written and can be readily understood. Suggestions for
improving the clarity of the form have been incorporated into the
current version. This part of the process began in August 1999 and was
completed in September 1999.
Between October 1999 and January 2000 the Department will field
test the survey instrument. This field test, conducted on a voluntary
basis, will be designed to test the procedures used when the survey is
implemented and will include a follow-up component for both respondents
and nonrespondents. The field test will be conducted by OFCCP with the
assistance of BLS. Following the field test, appropriate revisions will
be made to the survey instrument. The final report of the results of
the field test and the survey in final form will be included with the
final ICR submission to OMB in January 2000.
Phase II--Survey
At this time OFCCP intends to send the survey to contractor
establishments that are ``flagged'' by OFCCP's Equal Employment Data
System (EEDS) as being potentially out of compliance with Executive
Order 11246. An initial mailing of the survey will be made to
respondents selected from those establishments that were flagged in
1999. Approximately 7,000 of the flagged establishments will be
surveyed in April 2000. This number was chosen to provide a sufficient
sample to test the data intake and processing procedures. Flagged
establishments will be selected for the survey based on geographic
location and size.
The survey data from the initial mailing will be processed and
analyzed and the results used to identify establishments for compliance
evaluations. The analytical model will result in a ranking of
contractors based on the nature and number of adverse indicators.
Compliance evaluations will be scheduled beginning with those
establishments with the highest rankings on the indicator scale. As
part of the compliance evaluation process, survey responses will be
validated for a sample of establishments to assure that accurate data
are being submitted. Establishments where compliance evaluations are
not initiated may be notified of areas that require additional self-
analysis.
The second mailing will be sent to the flagged establishments that
were not previously surveyed in the first mailing (i.e., about 53,000
establishments). These surveys will be mailed in late FY 2000, and will
be used to select establishments for compliance evaluations during FY
2001. Thereafter OFCCP intends to survey contractors on an annual
basis.
Type of Review: New Collection.
Agency: Employment Standards Administration.
Title: Equal Opportunity Survey.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions; State, Local or Tribal Government.
Total Respondents: 60,000.
Frequency: Annually.
Total Responses: 60,000.
Estimated Time Per Response: 12 hours.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 720,000.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): 0.
Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $60,000.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the information collection request; they will also become a
matter of public record.
Dated: September 30, 1999.
Margaret J. Sherrill,
Chief, Branch of Management Review and Internal Control, Division of
Financial Management, Office of Management, Administration and
Planning, Employment Standards Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-25811 Filed 10-4-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-27-P
