2020-15566. Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

We are planning to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) renew its approval for us to engage in the following generic information collection request (generic ICR), and we invite you to comment on it: “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.” As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, we developed this generic ICR to cover all of our requests for feedback on our services.

DATES:

We must receive comments in writing on or before September 18, 2020.

ADDRESSES:

Send comments by email to [e-mail]. Because our buildings are temporarily closed during the COVID-19 restrictions, we are not able to receive comments by mail during this time.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tamee Fechhelm, Paperwork Reduction Act Officer, by email at [e-mail] or by telephone at 301.837.1694 with requests for additional information or copies of the proposed information collection and supporting statement.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), we invite the public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed information collections. The comments and suggestions should address one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the proposed information collections are necessary for NARA to properly perform its functions; (b) our estimates of the burden of the proposed information collections and their accuracy; (c) ways we could enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information we collect; (d) ways we could minimize the burden on respondents of collecting the information, including through information technology; and (e) whether these collections affect small businesses.

We will summarize any comments you submit and include the summary in our request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public record. For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or proprietary information.

In this notice, we solicit comments concerning the following information collection:

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

OMB Number: 3095-0070.

Abstract: This information collection activity provides a means to gather qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean information that provides useful insights into customers' or stakeholders' perceptions and opinions, but not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study. Qualitative feedback provides insights into perceptions, experiences, and expectations, provides an early warning of issues with service, or focuses attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. Collecting this information allows for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between NARA and its customers and stakeholders. It also allows us to contribute feedback directly to improving program management.

We collect feedback in areas of service delivery such as timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, plain language, courtesy, efficiency, and resolution of issues with service delivery. We use customer feedback to plan 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 NARA's services will be unavailable.

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

• The collection is voluntary;
• The collection is low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and is low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
• The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
• It is targeted to solicit opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future;
• It collects personally identifiable information (PII) only to the extent necessary and we will not retain it;
• We will use the information gathered only internally, for general service improvement and program management purposes, and do not intend to release it outside of the agency;
• We will not use the information gathered for substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
• 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 provides useful information, but it does 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 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, but do not fall under the current generic collection.

As a general matter, information collections under this generic collection request 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.

Current Actions: OGIS FOIA Program Compliance Review, NPRC Survey of Customer Satisfaction, and Training and Event Evaluations.

Type of Review: Regular.

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

Estimated Number of Respondents: 25,000.

Below, we provide projected average estimates for the next three years:

Swarnali Haldar,

Executive for Information Services/CIO.