2020-18495. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Client Impact Survey

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on May 27, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Title: Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Client Impact Survey.

OMB Control Number 0693-0021.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Revision and extension of current information collection.

Number of Respondents: 13,000.

Average Hours per Response: 12 minutes.

Burden Hours: 2,600.

Needs and Uses: The objective of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (MEP) is to enhance productivity, technological performance, and strengthen the global competitiveness of small-and medium-sized U.S.-based manufacturing firms. Through this client impact survey, the MEP will collect data necessary for program accountability; analysis and research into the effectiveness of the MEP program; reports to stakeholders; GPRA; continuous improvement efforts; knowledge sharing across the MEP system; and identification of best practices. Collection of this data is needed in order to comply with the MEP charter, as mandated by Congress.

Affected Public: Private sector.

Frequency: Annually.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Legal Authority: Not applicable.

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0693-0021.

Sheleen Dumas,

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Commerce Department.