2023-10046. Agency Information Collection Activities; Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)

AGENCY:

Department of the Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of information collection; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the Department of the Interior are proposing to renew an information collection.

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before July 10, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Send your comments on this information collection request (ICR) by mail to Jeffrey Parrillo, Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240; or by email to [e-mail]. Please reference OMB Control Number 1090–0012 in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this ICR, contact Jeffrey Parrillo, Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240; or by email to [e-mail], or by telephone at 202–208–7072. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), all information collections require approval under the PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burdens, we invite the public and other Federal agencies to comment on new, proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand our information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format.

We are especially interested in public comment addressing the following:

(1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether or not the information will have practical utility;

(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

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

(4) How might the agency 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 submission of response.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Abstract: A modern, streamlined and responsive customer experience means: raising government-wide customer experience to the average of the private sector service industry; developing indicators for high-impact Federal programs to monitor progress towards excellent customer experience and mature digital services; and providing the structure (including increasing transparency) and resources to ensure customer experience is a focal point for agency leadership.

This information collection activity provides a means to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner in accordance with the Administration's commitment to improving customer service delivery as discussed in Section 280 of OMB Circular A–11 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/​wp-content/​uploads/​2018/​06/​s280.pdf.

As discussed in OMB guidance, agencies should identify their highest-impact customer journeys (using customer volume, annual program cost, and/or knowledge of customer priority as weighting factors) and select touchpoints/transactions within those journeys to collect feedback. These results will be used to improve the delivery of Federal services and programs. It will also provide government-wide data on customer experience that can be displayed on www.performance.gov to help build transparency and accountability of Federal programs to the customers they serve. As a general matter, these 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.

The Department of the Interior will only submit collections if they meet the following criteria.

• The collections are voluntary;
• The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours 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 is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management purposes.

• Upon agreement between OMB and the agency, all or a subset of information may be released as part of A–11, Section 280 requirements on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer journey maps.

• Additional release of data must be done in coordination with OMB.

These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between the Agency, its customers and stakeholders, and OMB as it monitors agency compliance on Section 280. These responses will 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 services will be unavailable.

Title of Collection: Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A–11, Section 280 Implementation).

OMB Control Number: 1090–0012.

Form Number: None.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

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

Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 146,384.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 146,384.

Estimated Completion Time per Response: Varied, dependent upon the possible response time to complete a questionnaire or survey may be 3 minutes up to 90 minutes to participate in an interview based on the data collection method used.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 13,876.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: One time.

Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

An agency 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.

The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Jeffrey Parrillo,

Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.