Notice2025-16777
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
September 2, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed revision to the Annual Business Survey prior to the submission of this information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 167 (Tuesday, September 2, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 167 (Tuesday, September 2, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42382-42384]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16777]
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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
AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the
proposed revision to the Annual Business Survey prior to the submission
of this information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before November 3, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e1b5898e8c8092cfabcfb28c889589a182848f929492cf868e97"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2f7b4740424e5c0165017c42465b476f4c4a415c5a5c01484059">[email protected]</span></a>. Please reference Annual Business
Survey in the subject line of your comments. You may also submit
comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2025-0104, to the Federal e-
Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. All comments received
are part of the public record. No comments will be posted to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> for public viewing until after the comment period
has closed. Comments will generally be posted without change. All
Personally Identifiable Information (for example,
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name and address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be
publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe
PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Aneta Erdie, Assistant Division Chief, Governments and Business
Owners Programs, by phone at 301-763-4841, or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#375659524356195245535e527754525944424419505841"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6a0b040f1e0b440f180e030f2a090f04191f19440d051c">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
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 provides information on
measures of research and development (R&D) as well as business and
owner characteristics by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. The
ABS is co-sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
and conducted by the Census Bureau.
Starting in 2026, the Business Enterprise Research and Development
survey (BERD) (OMB number 0607-0912) will be merged onto the ABS. This
merger will result in an expanded collection of R&D on the ABS to
include R&D from all in scope employer businesses and nonprofit
organizations. This change comes as an effort to reduce respondent
burden and streamline collections based on respondent feedback.
Additionally, preliminary findings from an external assessment of the
feasibility of merging the ABS and BERD indicated that it would not
increase burden on respondents, although burden may change based on
other selected content for the survey. The new merged ABS content will
be cognitively tested and will focus on business topics such as R&D,
innovation, and technology, as well as other business and owner
characteristics. In line with Office of Science and Technology Policy
recommendations, two questions regarding technology have been modified
to also collect use and funding of cybersecurity technology and nuclear
technology. These modifications have undergone expert review.
The ABS will sample 230,000 businesses and nonprofit organizations
(222,000 employer business; 8,000 nonprofit organizations). 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
employer sample will yield national and state R&D estimates for
employer businesses as well as summary-level estimates for women-,
minority-, and veteran-owned businesses at the 2-digit NAICS, U.S.,
state, counties and MSA levels. The Census Bureau selects some
companies with certainty. All certainty cases are sure to be selected
and represent only themselves. Also included are nonprofit
organizations to measure their research activities. The ABS samples
approximately 8,000 nonprofit organizations who are required to
complete IRS form 990. The nonprofit sample will yield national
estimates of R&D performance within the nonprofit sector. 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 incorporate new content each survey year
based on topics of relevance. Each year new questions are submitted to
the OMB for approval.
The ABS collects the following information from employer
businesses:
<bullet> Sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, and other owner
characteristics from the principal owner(s) of the business.
<bullet> Company information including, worldwide sales, domestic
sales, number of employees, and business ownership from all employer
businesses in the sample.
<bullet> Business characteristics from all employer businesses in
the sample.
<bullet> Research, development, and related topics from businesses
and nonprofits.
<bullet> Innovation related data and data on critical and emerging
technologies (selected to be collected in 2026).
<bullet> Other potential module topics such as, cybersecurity,
technology, intellectual property and technology transfer, and
financing.
II. Method of Collection
The ABS is primarily collected electronically using a web-based
questionnaire. 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. There will be pre-
notice contact for respondents who were previously in BERD informing
the respondents of the consolidation of collections. 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
optional follow-ups if deemed necessary based on check-in. 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. 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 released publicly.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-1004.
Form Number(s): ABS-1.
Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations
(large and small employer businesses), nonprofit organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 230,000.
Estimated Time per Response: The average ABS respondent will take
45 minutes to respond; Respondents that would have previously reported
R&D on the BERD survey will take an average of 2 hours and 37 minutes
to respond; Nonprofit organizations will take an average of 38 minutes
to respond.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 295,858.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services
required specifically by the collection.)
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 response
from sampled firms.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a)
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Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is necessary for
the proper functions of the Department, including whether the
information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of
our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed collection,
including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c)
Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden on
those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-16777 Filed 8-29-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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