[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 122 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34258-34260]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16652]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5847-3]
Agency Information Collection Request: Measuring Success of
Compliance Assistance Centers
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit the
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB): Measuring the Success of Compliance
Assistance Centers. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review, EPA is
soliciting comments on specific aspects of the collection as described
below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 25, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Lynn Vendinello (2224A) Office of Compliance, US EPA, 401 M
St. SW., Washington, DC 20460. Interested persons may obtain a copy of
the ICR without charge by calling Lynn Vendinello at 202-564-7066 or
vie e-mail at vendinello.lynn@epamil.epa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lynn Vendinello, 202-564-7066 or vendinello.lynn@epamail.epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are
those small businesses and technical assistance providers who are
current users of the
[[Page 34259]]
compliance assistance Centers as well as potential users of the
Centers. Technical assistance providers are comprised of such groups
as: state pollution prevention programs, state small business
assistance programs, small business development centers, manufacturing
extension partnership programs, and trade associations. The request for
information from these affected entities will be voluntary.
Title: Program Evaluation for the Compliance Assistance Centers.
(OMB Control No. XXXX-XXXX: EPA ICR No. 1758.02). This is a new
collection.
Abstract: This will be a voluntary collection of information to
gather feedback on the Presidential Regulatory Reinvention Initiative:
Small Business Compliance Assistance Centers. This effort complies with
the mandate of the ``Government Performance and Results Act of 1997'',
the goal of which is to ``improve Federal program effectiveness and
public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service
quality, and customer satisfaction.'' The Compliance Assistance Centers
are a regulatory reinvention initiative that aims to improve small
businesses' environmental performance by facilitating their access to
easily-understandable compliance information, enabling them to make
educated business decisions towards improving their compliance status.
EPA has adopted this approach as part of its expansion of compliance
assistance, as a complement to its ongoing strong enforcement program;
as such, it is critically important to learn if these Centers do
improve small businesses' environmental performance.
The Centers are communications-based rather than physical
locations. Via the Internet, toll-free numbers, computer-based list
servers, training, videoconference downlinks and other communications
methods, the Centers provide easy access to: (1) Industry-specific
multi-media environmental regulatory information; (2) compliance
assessment tools; (3) a place to ask questions and get answers about
compliance obligations; and (4) searchable databases on technologies
that can help small businesses comply. The Centers serve two clients:
small businesses themselves and their assistance providers. They are
run, using cooperative assistance agreements between EPA, industry,
states, universities, trade associations and other partners that small
businesses trust to go to for compliance and technical information.
Currently there are four operating Centers which serve the following
sectors: printing, auto service and repair, metal finishing, and the
agriculture community. Over the next year, the program will be expanded
to include Centers for printed wiring board manufacturers, small
chemical manufacturers, local governments, and transportation
facilities.
In order to comply with GPRA, the Office of Compliance needs to
collect certain information that is currently not collected and which
does not exist in our current databases. In accordance with Government
Performance and Results Act, which ask that Federal Agencies determine
the outcomes of their activities, EPA would like to determine if the
Centers are achieving the goal of facilitating small businesses'
understanding of their federal regulatory requirements as well as
improving technical assistance providers' understanding of the
industries they serve. In order to determine the extent to which the
small business community are being reached, the users of our web sites
would be asked to identify themselves by name or by category (e.g.
printer, trade association, government agency). In order to adjust the
Centers' services to best fit their clients' needs, Center users would
be asked to provide feedback on the services of the Centers that are
most useful to them. Moreover, although awareness and usefulness are
important measures of effectiveness, the most critical measure of
effectiveness is what actions Center users take to improve their
compliance status and environmental performance.
The EPA is soliciting comments to:
(i) 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;
(ii) 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;
(iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and
(iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
Burden Statement: EPA is interested in three types of voluntary
information collections: (1) User identification of Centers' web sites
and toll-free numbers by type of user (e.g. shop owner, technician,
consultant, state agency, etc. * * *) to determine the reach of the
Centers within their respective small business and assistance provider
communities. (2) 5-minute phone-surveys of a random sample of the
target audiences for each Center to determine their awareness of the
Centers program. This survey will be administered once for each of the
four existing Centers and once for each of the new Centers six months
after they are operational. (3) On-line/fax-back 5-minute surveys of
Center web site and toll free number users to get feedback on the
program and to determine what Center users do as a next step with the
information they acquire from a compliance assistance Center. This
survey will be administered twice a year for each of the Centers.
The Census Bureau, who is likely to conduct the phone surveys, has
calculated the necessary sample size for each of the Centers for each
type of survey. For the phone surveys, Census will need to make 500
calls for each of the Centers to obtain the necessary 400 responses.
For the chemical Center, local government Center and transportation
Center, where the sectors represented are quite diverse, a larger
sample size is needed in order to differentiate between the different
types of users (e.g. pharmaceutical versus inorganic chemical
manufacturer). For the on-line/fax-back surveys, the survey will be
taken off-line upon receipt of 500 respondents (EPA will not be able to
differentiate among respondents since EPA will not know who the users
are). In both cases, the identity of the respondents will be kept
confidential. Only aggregate data will be supplied to the Agency by
Census and the Center grantees who will administer the on-line/fax-back
surveys. The amount of time necessary to record the type of new user on
the web site is negligible so no separate burden estimate is
calculated.
In addition to small business users, the Centers also aim to better
familiarize state and local technical assistance providers with
industry-specific processes. EPA estimates that each state has about 10
technical assistance programs or 500 nationwide. Census has determined
that the required sample size for this population would be 150. This
Center audience will receive one annual phone-survey that covers all of
the Centers, since many are interested in more than one industry
sector. The annual public reporting burden for this overall collection
is estimated to be 503 hours. The total annual estimated number of
respondents is 6050.
The average annual burden per respondent for both the on-line and
phoned survey is .08 hours or 5 minutes. The frequency of response for
the phone surveys is annual. The
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frequency of response for the on-line/fax-back survey is biannually.
The total annual cost burden is $16,626. No person is required to
respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently
valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations
are displayed in 40 CFR Part 9.
Send comments regarding these matters, or any other aspect of the
information collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden,
to the address listed above.
Dated: June 12, 1997
Elaine Stanley,
Director.
[FR Doc. 97-16652 Filed 6-24-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M
