Reinstatement with change of a previously approved collection
No
Regular
11/03/2026
table that charts list comparision
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
605,000
0
843,750
0
0
0
The U.S. Census Bureau, in partnership with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), requests Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to conduct the 2027 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), a component of the 2027 Economic Census, as it is the only comprehensive source of multi-modal, system-wide data on the volume and pattern of goods movement in the United States.
The CFS provides a crucial set of statistics on the value, weight, mode, and distance of commodities shipped by mining, manufacturing, wholesale, and selected retail and services establishments, as well as auxiliary establishments that support these industries. The Census Bureau will publish these shipment characteristics for the nation, census regions and divisions, states, and CFS defined geographic areas. As with the 2022 Commodity Flow Survey, this survey also identifies export, hazardous material, and temperature-controlled shipments.
BTS is mandated by Congress under Title 49 to collect economic data on transportation mode choice and goods movement. This information informs freight flows and is critical to understanding the use, performance, and condition of the nationâs transportation system, as well as informing transportation policy and investment decisions. Data on the movement of freight are important for effective analyses of changes in regional and local economic development, safety issues, and environmental concerns. They also provide the private sector with valuable data needed for critical decision-making on a variety of issues including market trends, analysis, and segmentation. Each day, governments, businesses, and consumers make countless decisions about where to go, how to get there, what to ship and which transportation modes to use. Transportation constantly responds to external forces such as shifting markets, changing demographics, safety concerns, weather conditions, energy and environmental constraints, and national defense requirements. Good decisions require having the right information in the right form at the right time.
The CFS provides critical data to federal, state and local government agencies to make a wide range of transportation investment decisions for developing and maintaining an efficient transportation infrastructure that supports economic growth and competitiveness.
Transportation planners require the periodic benchmarks provided by a continuing CFS to evaluate and respond to ongoing geographic shifts in production and distribution centers, as well as policies such as âjust in time delivery.â
The 2027 CFS will be split into 2 separate, but related surveys: the pre-screener survey and the main survey.
⢠The pre-screener survey is the first survey and is an electronic reporting sample survey of approximately 45,000 business establishments in selected retail industries, as well as auxiliary establishments. The pre-screener survey is used to determine if the establishment ships goods or not. If the respondent indicates that no shipments are made from the establishment, it will be removed from the main survey.
⢠The main survey is an electronic reporting sample survey of approximately 140,000 business establishments in the mining, manufacturing, wholesale, and selected retail and services industries, as well as auxiliary establishments that support these industries.
The 2027 CFS will include a pre-screener survey, in addition to the main survey. The main survey will no longer include the supplemental questions on hazardous material packaging that were in the 2022 CFS. This change will reduce the total number of sampled establishments in the main survey from 165,000 in 2022 to 140,000 in 2027. It will also reduce the estimated burden hours for each respondent in the first and fourth quarters from 2.5 hours in 2022 to 1.5 hours in 2027. The changes mentioned above will decrease the total annual burden hours from 1,280,000 in 2022 to 843,750 in 2027.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
CFS_30dayfrn_published_103026.pdf
A3 2027 CFS Shipments upload spreadsheet columns document.docx
A8 CFS_2027_Shipments_Template_CR.xlsx
2027 Commodity Flow Survey