60-day FRN

60-Day Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement Without Change:..., 86 FR 33466-04

86 FR 33466-04, 2021 WL 2577378(F.R.)
NOTICES
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
60-Day Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement Without Change: Generic
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery
Thursday, June 24, 2021
*33466 ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
*33466 SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives notice that it is requesting from the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) a reinstatement without change of Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery. This collection was developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline
the process for seeking feedback from the public on the Board's service delivery.
*33467 DATES: Comments on this information collection should be submitted by August 23, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Chris Oehrle, PRA Officer, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington,
DC 20423-0001, or to [email protected]. When submitting comments, please refer to “Paperwork Reduction Act Comments, Generic
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.”
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regarding this collection, contact Michael Higgins, Acting Director, Office of
Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance, at (202) 245-0284 or at [email protected]. Assistance for
the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are requested concerning: (a) Whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e)
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire,
install, and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose
the information. Submitted comments will be summarized and included in the Board's request for OMB approval.
Description of Collection
Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.
OMB Control Number: 2140-0019.
STB Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension without change.

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60-Day Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement Without Change:..., 86 FR 33466-04

Respondents: Customers and stakeholders of the Board.
Number of Respondents, Frequency, Estimated Time Per Response, and Total Burden Hours: A variety of instruments and
platforms may be used to collect information from respondents. The estimated annual burden hours (277) are based on the
number of collections we expect to conduct over the requested period for this clearance, as set forth in the table below.
Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
Type of collection

Number of

Annual

Hours per

Total hours

respondents
frequency per response
response
Focus Group

15

1

2

30

Comment Card/Brief Survey

200

2

.17

67

Surveys

150

2

.6

180

Needs and Uses: The proposed information collection activity provides a means to garner qualitative customer and stakeholder
feedback in an efficient and timely manner, in accordance with the Administration's commitment to improving service delivery.
By qualitative feedback we mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but not statistical
surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study. This feedback will provide insights
into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and expectations; provide an early warning with issues about how the
Board provides service to the public; or focus attention on areas where communication, training, or changes in operations
might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable
communications between the Board and its customers and stakeholders. They will also allow feedback to contribute directly
to the improvement of program management.
The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency
of service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. Responses will be assessed to plan and inform 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 the Board's services will be unavailable.
The Board will only process a collection under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
• The collections are voluntary;
• the collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents,
or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
• the collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
• any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have
experience with the program in the near future;
• personally identifiable information is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;

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60-Day Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement Without Change:..., 86 FR 33466-04

• information gathered will be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and
not for release outside of the agency;
• information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
• information gathered will yield qualitative information, and 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 will not yield data that can be generalized to
the overall population. Such data uses would require more rigorous designs than the collections covered by this notice.
As a general matter, information collections will not result in any new *33468 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.
Under the PRA, a federal agency conducting or sponsoring a collection of information must display a currently valid OMB
control number. Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available to the public by the Board. For this
reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or
proprietary information. If you send an electronic comment (e-file or email), your email address is automatically captured and
may be accessed if your comments are made public. Please note that responses to this public comment request containing any
routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as public comments that may be made available
to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.
Dated: June 17, 2021.
Tammy Lowry,
Clearance Clerk.

[FR Doc. 2021-13233 Filed 6-23-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

End of Document

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