Notice2022-03724
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Annual Business Survey
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 22, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 35 (Tuesday, February 22, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9568-9570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-03724]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
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
[[Page 9569]]
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, Department of Commerce.
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: 58 minutes.
Burden Hours: 301,533.
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
five-year 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 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 sampled approximately 850,000 employer businesses for
survey year 2018 (reference year 2017). Starting with survey year 2019
(reference year 2018), the sample is reduced to approximately 300,000
employer businesses annually (survey years 2019-2022) to reduce the
burden on the respondents. The reduced sample size will yield summary-
level estimates for women-owned, minority-owned, 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, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander,
Non-Hispanic White Men, 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 (reference year 2020), the ABS
sample included 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
before the 2021 ABS 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
increased 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 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.
Employer businesses will be asked questions about the sex,
ethnicity, race, 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, R&D costs, and R&D capital expenditures (Sections C and D
of the questionnaire respectively). Further, employer businesses
sampled will be asked about the following topics: Goods, Services, and
Business Processes and Technology (Section E of the questionnaire);
Design and Intellectual Property (Section F of the questionnaire);
Domestic and Foreign Transactions (Section G of the questionnaire); and
Coronavirus Pandemic Impact on Research and Development and Business
Activities (Section H of the questionnaire). The 2022 ABS includes
additional questions on capital expenditures for R&D performers. The
R&D capital expenditures is asked of nonprofits and businesses with 1-9
employees (sections C and D of the ABS questionnaire).
The ABS is primarily collected via an electronic or web-based
instrument. Respondents selected for the survey receive an initial
letter informing them of their requirement to complete the survey as
well as instructions on accessing the survey. The 2022 ABS initial
mailing is scheduled for July 2022. 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. The Census
Bureau plans to conduct two follow-up mailings and an optional third
follow-up if deemed necessary based on check-in. Nonrespondents may
receive a certified mailing for the second and third follow-up
mailings. The Census Bureau may also plan to conduct an email follow-up
to select nonrespondents reminding them to submit their report in the
electronic instrument. The Census Bureau may include a paper
questionnaire during the follow-up activities to assist with collecting
data from select nonrespondents. Closeout of mail operations is
scheduled for January 2023 but may be extended to allow ample time to
receive returned forms if necessary. Response data will be processed as
they are received. Upon the close of the collection period, data
processing will continue, and records will be edited, reviewed,
tabulated, and disseminated.
The Census Bureau, in collaboration with the NCSES, has started
discussing topics for the 2023-2027 ABS 5-year cycle. As a result, a
draft 5-year content plan has been developed for OMB's review.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
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
[[Page 9570]]
Title 13, United States Code, require a response from sampled firms.
This information collection request may be viewed at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>. 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 <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
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. 2022-03724 Filed 2-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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