2018-11128. 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.

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 [e-mail], or faxed to [phone], 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 [phone]; or email [e-mail]. 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 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.