Mq-c2

QPC-E-CL
(10/07/2015)

DC

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233-0001
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

A Message from the Director, U.S. Census Bureau:
Your plant(s) has been selected to participate in the 2015 Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization (QPC).
The U.S. Census Bureau, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Defense Logistic
Agency (DLA), is conducting this survey.
Please report online, using the following information:

The Census Bureau conducts the survey and requests your voluntary assistance under the authority of Title
13 U.S.C., Section 8(b); Title 50 U.S.C., Section 98, et. seq; and Title 12 U.S.C., Section 244. We estimate this
survey to take 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete. On the back of this letter, you will find disclosure
descriptions regarding Office of Management and Budget number; authority and confidentiality; and burden
estimate statement.
Beginning with this quarter, the QPC will be an electronic only survey. Online services, survey
instructions, as well as FAQ’s are available on the Business Help Site:
https://econhelp/census.gov/pcu. We ask that you access, complete and submit your survey by the
due date above. If you have additional questions, please call my staff on 1-800-201-4647, option 5.
This survey measures changes in the use of production facilities. Government analysts use the estimates to
develop monetary and fiscal policies and investment demands. In particular, the FRB will use these data to
estimate monthly industrial production and assess change in industrial production and capacity and the DLA
will use these data to assess readiness to meet demand for goods under selected national emergency
scenarios.
Title 13 U.S.C., Section 9 also requires that we keep your answers strictly confidential. The information you
provide may be seen only by persons sworn to uphold the confidentiality of Census Bureau information and
may be used only for statistical purposes. Further, copies retained in your files are immune from legal
process.
Please utilize your business expertise and judgment in completing the survey. If actual data are not available,
carefully prepared estimates are acceptable. Due to the nature of the questions asked, you may need to enlist
the assistance of your plant manager. Use the ‘Remarks’ section to provide any needed explanations.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this important project. We appreciate your response.
Sincerely,

John H. Thompson
Director
Enclosures

OMB Number
This collection has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The eight-digit OMB
approval number is 0607-0175 and appears at the upper right of the letter/login screen. Without this
approval we could not conduct this survey.
Authority and Confidentiality
Title 13 U.S.C., Section 8(b); Title 50 U.S.C., Section 98, et seq; and Title 12 U.S.C., Section 244 authorizes
the Census Bureau to conduct this collection and to request your voluntary assistance. By Section 9 of the
same law, your report is confidential. It may be seen only by persons sworn to uphold the confidentiality of
Census Bureau information, and may be used only for statistical purposes. The law also provides that copies
of your report retained in your files are immune from legal process.
Burden Estimate Statement
We estimate this survey to take an average of 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete, including the time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and
completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or
any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: ECON
Survey Comments 0607-0175, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Room EMD-8K122, Washington,
DC 20233. You may e-mail comments to [email protected]. Be sure to use ECON Survey
Comments 0607-0175 as the subject.

QPC-E-CL (10/07/2015)