Notice2022-11747
Notice of Intent To Reinstate a Previously Approved Information Collection
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
June 1, 2022
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentNational Institute of Food and Agriculture
Abstract
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the "Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery" for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This collection was developed to create a vehicle for obtaining stakeholder feedback and was previously approved in 2017. The collection approval expired on June 30, 2020. This notice announces our intent to revise and re-submit this collection to Office of Management and Budget for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed information collection.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33117-33118]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11747]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Notice of Intent To Reinstate a Previously Approved Information
Collection
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites
the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service
Delivery'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This
collection was developed to create a vehicle for obtaining stakeholder
feedback and was previously approved in 2017. The collection approval
expired on June 30, 2020. This notice announces our intent to revise
and re-submit this collection to Office of Management and Budget for
approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed
information collection.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by August 1,
2022 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change
to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any personal information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Martin, 202-445-5388,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#16447974736462387b7764627f7825566365727738717960"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bbe9d4d9dec9cf95d6dac9cfd2d588fbcec8dfda95dcd4cd">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.
OMB Control Number: 0524-0051.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: 06/30/2020.
Type of Request: Notice of intent to reinstate and revise a
previously approved information collection. The burden for this
collection remains unchanged.
NIFA is requesting approval to reinstate a previously approved, but
expired, information collection.
Abstract: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA),
U.S. Department of Agriculture, oversees roughly $1.7 billion to fund
research, education, and extension efforts in a wide range of
scientific fields related to agricultural and behavioral sciences. NIFA
achieves its mission through partnerships with Land-Grant Universities
(LGU), non-profit organizations, private sector firms, and other
government agencies. These partners, through research, education, and
extension activities, help NIFA and USDA address highly complex and
multidimensional challenges in food and agriculture. To ensure that our
programs address the Nation's food and agricultural priorities, and our
processes minimize burden without jeopardizing accountability, NIFA
seeks OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect qualitative
feedback on our service delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean
information that provides insights on perceptions and opinions but are
not statistical surveys or quantitative results that can be generalized
to the population of study.
This collection of information is necessary to enable NIFA, herein
``the Agency,'' to garner feedback from customers, stakeholders, and
partners (herein ``stakeholders'') in an efficient and timely manner,
and in accordance with our commitment to providing the highest quality
service delivery.
The information collected from our stakeholders will help NIFA
identify emerging and significant priorities in food and agriculture;
refine NIFA's business processes; and promote inclusiveness and
diversity to ensure that NIFA drives outcomes that meet the needs of
all Americans.
Improving agency programs requires ongoing assessment of NIFA's
programs and processes, by which we mean systematic review of the
operation of a program compared to a set of explicit or implicit
standards. NIFA will collect, analyze, and interpret information
gathered through this generic clearance to identify strengths and
weaknesses of current services and make improvements based on
stakeholder feedback.
If this information is not collected, NIFA's ability to respond to
stakeholders' needs and continuously improve programs and services will
be greatly diminished.
The solicitation of feedback will target areas in: Strategic,
portfolio, and programmatic planning; competitive and non-competitive
awards processes; post-award management; information technology systems
and websites; and, grants management training. Responses will inform
efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the
public.
The Agency will only submit a collection for approval under this
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
<bullet> The collections are voluntary;
<bullet> 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;
<bullet> The collections are non-controversial and do not raise
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
<bullet> 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;
<bullet> Information gathered will be used only internally for
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not
intended for release outside of the agency;
<bullet> Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
<bullet> Information gathered will yield qualitative information;
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 it does not yield data that can be generalized to the
overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative
information will not be used for quantitative information collections
that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such
data uses require more rigorous designs that address: The target
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame,
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative
results.
As a general matter, information collections will not result in any
new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual
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behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are
commonly considered private.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,250.
Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three
years:
Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 15.
Average number of Respondents per Activity: 750.
Annual responses: 11,250.
Frequency of Response: Once per request.
Average minutes per response: 30.
Burden hours: 5,625.
Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request to OMB for approval. All comments will become a matter of
public record.
Obtaining a Copy of the Information Collection: A copy of the
information collection and related instructions may be obtained free of
charge by contacting Robert Martin as directed above.
Done at Washington, DC, this day of May 13, 2022.
Dionne Toombs,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2022-11747 Filed 5-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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