2013-30258. Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY:

National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS.

ACTION:

60-day notice and request for comments; New Information Collection Request: 1670-NEW.

SUMMARY:

As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Office of the Chief Information Office (OCIO) has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request (ICR): “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery” to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

DATES:

Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until February 18, 2014. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.1.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and questions about this Generic Information Collection Request should be forwarded to DHS/NPPD/OCIO, 245 Murray Lane, Mail Stop 0380, Arlington, VA 20598-0380. Emailed requests should go to Evette Maynard-Noel, NPPD's PRA Coordinator at [e-mail]. Written comments should reach the contact person listed no later than February 18, 2014. Comments must be identified by “DHS-2013-0032” and may be submitted by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
• Email: Include the docket number in the subject line of the message.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the words “Department of Homeland Security” and the docket number for this action. Comments received will be posted without alteration at http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided.

Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available to the public through relevant Web sites. For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. Please note that responses to this public comment request containing any routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as public comments that may be made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The proposed 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. NPPD is planning to submit this collection to OMB for approval.

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. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between NPPD 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 Directorate's services will be unavailable.

NPPD will only submit a collection for approval under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:

1. The collections are voluntary;

2. 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;

3. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;

4. 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;

5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;

6. Information gathered is intended to be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the NPPD (if released, NPPD must indicate the qualitative nature of the information);

7. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; and

8. 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 will provide useful information, but it will 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 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 personal 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.

Comments are invited on:

1. Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of NPPD, including whether the information shall have practical utility;

2. The accuracy of the NPPD estimate of the burden of the collection of information;

3. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

4. Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and

5. Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

OMB is particularly interested in comments that:

1. 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;

2. 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;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. 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.

NPPD may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Analysis

Agency: Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and Programs Directorate, Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.

OMB Number: 1 670-NEW.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.

Number of Respondents: 14080. This estimate is based on a review of past behavior of NPPD with an average of 15 activities expected annual with an average of 939 respondents per activity.

Estimated Time per Respondent: 34 minutes.

Total Burden Hours: 7920.3 annual burden hours.

Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.

Total Burden Costs (operating/maintain): $0.

Dated: December 12, 2013.

Scott Libby,

Deputy Chief Information Officer, National Protection and Programs Directorate, Department of Homeland Security.