[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 105 (Monday, June 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33085-33087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11709]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Agency Information Collection Activities; Generic Clearance
Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280
Implementation)
AGENCY: Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (DOC), as part of its commitment to
improving customer service delivery, is announcing an opportunity for
public comment on a new proposed Generic Clearance, ``Improving
Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)''.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 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. The purpose of this notice is to allow for
60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to
OMB.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before July 31, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 0690-
NEW, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280
Implementation), by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted
electronically, including attachments to https://www.regulations.gov,
will be posted to the docket unchanged.
E-Mail: Department of Commerce PRA Clearance Officer at
[email protected], Please reference OMB Control Number 0690-NEW A-11
Section 280 Improving Customer Experience.
Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information
Collection 0690-NEW, Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11,
Section 280 Implementation), in all correspondence related to this
collection. To confirm receipt of your comment(s), please check
regulations.gov, approximately two-to-three business days after
submission to verify posting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be directed to Amira Boland, Office of Management and Budget,
725 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20006, or
[[Page 33086]]
via email to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
In March 2018, the Administration of President Trump launched the
President's Management Agenda (PMA) and established new Cross-Agency
Priority (CAP) Goals. Excellent service was established as a core
component of the mission, service, stewardship model that frames the
entire PMA, embedding a customer-focused approach in all of the PMA's
initiatives. This model was also included in the 2018 update of the
Federal Performance Framework in Circular A-11, ensuring `excellent
service' as a focus in future agency strategic planning efforts. The
PMA included a CAP Goal on Improving Customer Experience with Federal
Services, with a primary strategy to drive improvements within 25 of
the nation's highest impact programs. This effort is supported by an
interagency team and guidance in Circular A-11 requiring the collection
of customer feedback data and increasing the use of industry best
practices to conduct customer research.
This new request will enable the Department of Commerce to act in
accordance with OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 to ultimately transform
the experience of its customers to improve both efficiency and mission
delivery, and increase accountability by communicating about these
efforts with the public.
Commerce will collect, analyze, and interpret information gathered
through this generic clearance to identify services' accessibility,
navigation, and use by customers, and make improvements in service
delivery based on customer insights gathered through developing an
understanding of the user experience interacting with Government. To
support this, OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 established government-wide
standards for mature customer experience organizations in government
and measurement. To enable Federal programs to deliver the experience
taxpayers deserve, they must undertake three general categories of
activities: conduct ongoing customer research, gather and share
customer feedback, and test services and digital products.
These data collection efforts may be either qualitative or
quantitative in nature or may consist of mixed methods. Additionally,
data may be collected via a variety of means, including but not limited
to electronic or social media, direct or indirect observation (i.e., in
person, video and audio collections), interviews, questionnaires,
surveys, and focus groups. DOC will limit its inquiries to data
collections that solicit strictly voluntary opinions or responses.
Steps will be taken to ensure anonymity of respondents in each activity
covered by this request.
All High Impact Service Providers listed at https://www.performance.gov/cx/HISPList.pdf are required to ask questions in
these domains of their customers. However, all agencies are encouraged
to conduct their customer experience measurement in line with these
standard measures.
As discussed in OMB guidance, agencies should identify their
highest-impact customer journeys (using customer volume, annual program
cost, and/or knowledge of customer priority as weighting factors) and
select touchpoints/transactions within those journeys to collect
feedback. For the purposes of this collection, Federal customer
experience will focus on real-time transaction-level measures.
The results will be used to improve the delivery of Federal
services and programs. It will also provide government-wide data on
customer experience that can be displayed on www.performance.gov to
help build transparency and accountability of Federal programs to the
customers they serve.
As a general matter, these 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 behavior and
attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly
considered private.
The Department of Commerce will only submit collections 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 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 (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained.
Information gathered is intended to be used for general
service improvement and program management purposes.
Upon agreement between OMB and the agency all or a subset
of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280
requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research
and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer
journey maps.
Additional release of data must be done coordinated with
OMB.
These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and
actionable communications between the Agency, its customers and
stakeholders, and OMB as it monitors agency compliance on Section 280.
These responses will 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 services will be
unavailable.
II. Method of Collection
The Department of Commerce will collect this information by
electronic means when possible, as well as by mail, fax, telephone,
technical discussions; and customer experience activities such as
feedback surveys, focus groups, user testing, and in-person interviews.
Department of Commerce may also utilize observational techniques to
collect this information.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0690-NEW.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: New.
Affected Public: Collections will be 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. For the
purposes of this request, ``customers'' are individuals, businesses,
and organizations that interact with a Federal Government agency or
program, either directly or via a Federal contractor. This could
include individuals or households; businesses or other for-profit
organizations; not-for-profit institutions; State, local or tribal
governments; Federal government; and Universities.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 752,925.
Estimated Time per Response: Varied, dependent upon the data
collection method used. The possible response time to complete a
questionnaire or survey may be 3 minutes or up to 2 hours to
participate in an interview or focus group.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 55,450.
[[Page 33087]]
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: 0.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
IV. Request for 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
(including hours and cost) 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 respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-11709 Filed 5-29-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-BP-P