30-day notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 25 / Tuesday, February 9, 2021 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau

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Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Business 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 July 6, 2020
during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days
for public comments.
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Annual Business Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607–1004.
Form Number(s): ABS–1.
Type of Request: Regular submission,
Request for a Revision of a Currently
Approved Collection.
Number of Respondents: 308,000.
Average Hours per Response:
Employer Businesses—52 minutes;
Nonprofits who are R&D performers—3
hours; Nonprofits who are not R&D
performenrs—20 minutes.
Burden Hours: 270,133.
Needs and Uses: In an effort to
improve the measurement of business
dynamics in the United States, the
Census Bureau is conducting the
Annual Business Survey (ABS). The
ABS combines Census Bureau firm-level
collections to reduce respondent
burden, increase data quality, reduce
operational costs, and operate more
efficiently. The ABS replaced the fiveyear Survey of Business Owners (SBO)
for employer businesses, the Annual
Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), and the
Business Research and Development
(R&D) and Innovation for
Microbusinesses (BRDI–M) surveys. The
ABS provides information on selected
economic and demographic
characteristics for businesses and
business owners by sex, ethnicity, race,
and veteran status. Further, the survey
measures research and development for
microbusinesses, new business topics
such as innovation and technology, as
well as other business characteristics.
The ABS is sponsored by the National

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Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and
conducted by the Census Bureau for five
years (2018–2022).
The ABS includes all nonfarm
employer businesses filing Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms as
individual proprietorships,
partnerships, or any other type of
corporation, with receipts of $1,000 or
more. The ABS samples approximately
300,000 employer businesses annually
yielding summary-level estimates for
women-, minority-, and veteran-owned
businesses at the 2-digit NAICS, U.S.,
state, and metropolitan statistical area
(MSA) levels. The Census Bureau uses
administrative data to estimate the
probability that a firm is minority- or
women-owned. Each firm is then placed
in one of nine frames for sampling. The
sampling frames are: American Indian
or Alaskan Native, Asian, Black, or
African American, Hispanic, NonHispanic White Men, Native Hawaiian,
and Other Pacific Islander, Other,
Publicly Owned, and Women. The
sample is stratified by state, industry,
and frame. The Census Bureau selects
some companies with certainty based on
volume of sales, payroll, and number of
paid employees or NAICS. All certainty
cases are sure to be selected and
represent only themselves.
Starting with survey year 2021, the
ABS sample will include an additional
8,000 respondents to collect research
activities from nonprofit organizations.
Historically, nonprofit organizations
were in scope to the ABS, however, they
were not mailed because the survey
does not expect nonprofit organizations
to be classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race,
or veteran status. To include the
nonprofit organizations, the sample size
will increase to approximately 308,000
(300,000 employer businesses + 8,000
nonprofit organizations). Of note,
nonprofit organizations will only see
questions relating to research activities
and will not be asked any questions
relating to owner demographics. The
questions were adopted from the 2016
Nonprofit Research Activities—NPRA
Survey which collected information
about research activities at nonprofit
organizations. Based on estimates from
that survey, the estimated burden for
R&D performers is 3 hours. This
includes the time it will take to gather
materials prior to reporting and
responding to the survey. For nonprofit
organizations that are not R&D
performers and therefore will not
answer all the questions, the estimated
burden is 20 minutes.
Employer businesses will be asked
questions about the sex, ethnicity, race,

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and veteran status for up to four persons
owning the majority of rights, equity, or
interest in the business (Section B of the
questionnaire). Organizations sampled
as nonprofits and respondents with 1–
9 employees will be asked about
research and development (R&D)
activities and related costs (Sections C
and D of the questionnaire respectively).
Further, employer businesses sampled
will be asked about the following topics:
Technology, Operations, and Innovation
(Section E of the questionnaire);
Financing (Section F of the
questionnaire); Management Practices
(Section G of the questionnaire); and
Coronavirus Pandemic as related to R&D
(Section H of the questionnaire).
The ABS is designed to allow for
incorporating new content each survey
year based on topics of relevance. Each
year new questions will be submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for approval.
New questions on the 2021 ABS
collect data on the following topics:
Research activities at nonprofit
organizations (Section C of the 2021
ABS questionnaire); technology,
operations, and innovation (Section E of
the 2021 ABS questionnaire), financing
(Section F of the 2021 ABS
questionnaire), and management
practices (Section G of the of the 2021
ABS questionnaire). Within Sections F
and H of the questionnaire, several
questions have been added to measure
the impact of the 2020 coronavirus
pandemic on business activity and R&D,
respectively.
The ABS is primarily collected via an
electronic instrument. Those selected
for the survey receive an initial letter
informing the respondents of their
requirement to complete the survey as
well as instructions on accessing the
survey. The 2021 ABS initial mailing is
scheduled for July 2021. Responses will
be due approximately 30 days from
initial mailing. Respondents will also
receive a due date reminder
approximately one week before
responses are due.
Statistics from the ABS will be used
by government program officials,
industry organization leaders, economic
and social analysts, business
entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign
researchers in academia, business, and
government. Estimates produced on
owner demographic data may be used to
assess business assistance needs,
allocate available program resources,
and create a framework for planning,
directing, and assessing programs that
promote the activities of disadvantaged
groups; to assess minority-owned
businesses by industry and area and to
educate industry associations,

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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 25 / Tuesday, February 9, 2021 / Notices
corporations, and government entities;
to analyze business operations in
comparison to similar firms, compute
market share, and assess business
growth and future prospects. Estimates
produced on R&D and innovation may
be used to compare R&D costs across
industries, determine where R&D
activity is conducted geographically,
and identify the types of businesses
with R&D; to contribute to the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA) system of
national accounts; to increase
investments in research and
development, strengthen education, and
encourage entrepreneurship; and to
compare business innovation in the
United States to other countries,
including those in the European Union.
Results of the research activities data
collected from nonprofit organizations
will be used to report updated, valid,
and reliable estimates of U.S. nonprofit
R&D in National Patterns of R&D
Resources and BEA’s system of national
accounts.
The data collected by ABS will also
be incorporated into the National
Science Board’s biennial report, Science
and Engineering Indicators (SEI). The
R&D data from the nonprofit module
will be reported in the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) periodic
publications and for international
comparisons of R&D efforts. NCSES also
anticipates professional associations
will use data from the nonprofit
module. Likely users in this category
include, but are not limited to, the
Science Philanthropy Alliance, the
Association of Independent Research
Institutes, and the Health Research
Alliance.
Additional examples of data use
include:
• The Small Business Administration
(SBA) and the Minority Business
Development Agency (MBDA) to assess

business assistance needs and allocate
available program resources.
• Local government commissions on
small and disadvantaged businesses to
establish and evaluate contract
procurement practices.
• Federal, state, and local government
agencies as a framework for planning,
directing, and assessing programs that
promote the activities of disadvantaged
groups.
• The National Women’s Business
Council to assess the state of women’s
business ownership for policymakers,
researchers, and the public at large.
• Consultants and researchers to
analyze long-term economic and
demographic shifts, and differences in
ownership and performance among
geographic areas.
• Individual business owners to
analyze their operations in comparison
to similar firms, compute their market
share, and assess their growth and
future prospects.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; Not-for-profit
institutions.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United
States Code, Sections 8(b), 131, and 182;
Title 42, United States Code, Section
1861–76 (National Science Foundation
Act of 1950, as amended); and Section
505 within the America COMPETES
Reauthorization Act of 2010 authorize
this collection. Sections 224 and 225 of
Title 13, United States Code, require a
response from sampled firms.
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 0607–1004.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2021–02613 Filed 2–8–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economic Development Administration
Notice of Petitions by Firms for
Determination of Eligibility To Apply
for Trade Adjustment Assistance
Economic Development
Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce.

AGENCY:

Notice and opportunity for
public comment.

ACTION:

The Economic Development
Administration (EDA) has received
petitions for certification of eligibility to
apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance
from the firms listed below.
Accordingly, EDA has initiated
investigations to determine whether
increased imports into the United States
of articles like or directly competitive
with those produced by each of the
firms contributed importantly to the
total or partial separation of the firms’
workers, or threat thereof, and to a
decrease in sales or production of each
petitioning firm.

SUMMARY:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

LIST OF PETITIONS RECEIVED BY EDA FOR CERTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY TO APPLY FOR TRADE ADJUSTMENT
ASSISTANCE

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[1/15/2021 through 1/26/2021]
Date accepted
for
investigation

Firm name

Firm address

LaFox Screw Products, Inc .....................

440 North Gilbert Street, South Elgin, IL
60177.
1040 NE 44th Avenue, Portland, OR
97213.
975 Comstock Street, Marne, MI 49435

Dehen Jackets, Inc ..................................
Competition Engineering, Inc ..................

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Product(s)

1/21/2021

The firm manufactures metal screws.

1/22/2021

The firm manufactures apparel.

1/25/2021

The firm manufactures metal stamping
dies.

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