Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 23503-23504 [2015-09796]
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asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 81 / Tuesday, April 28, 2015 / Notices
household (Person Question No. 20) and
their relationships to each other (Person
Question No. 2), the Census Bureau
remains sensitive to these criticisms
More than 100 supporters of retaining
the marital history questions mentioned
their utility for research into marital
status changes over time and they
correctly noted that there is currently no
other national source of the marital
history information. As a result, many
commenters felt they would not be able
to compare marriage characteristics and
patterns with other nations in the same
depth that is possible today. Similarly,
without these questions, the
commenters felt that the analysis of
changes in marriage events (especially
those due to changing societal values
and pressures or policy changes) would
be less robust. In particular, comments
focused on 6 research areas that would
be more difficult to analyze without the
marital history questions:
• Family formation and stability (23)
• Patterns/trends of marriage and
divorce (168)
• Marital effects on earnings, education
and employment (45)
• Marital effects on child wellbeing (6)
• Same-sex marriages, civil unions and
partnerships (70)
• New government policy effects on
marriage (9)
Because the initial analysis of Person
Question Nos. 21–23 on marital history
did not uncover any evidence that data
from these questions were ‘‘Required’’
for federal use at sub-state geographies,
those questions received a lower benefit
score than many other ACS questions.
However, in deference to the very large
number (1,367) of comments received
on the Census Bureau proposal to
eliminate those questions, the Census
Bureau plans to retain those questions
on the 2016 ACS.
The Census Bureau takes very
seriously respondent concerns and
recognizes that the Content Review and
the resulting, proposed question
changes discussed above are only initial
steps to addressing them. The Census
Bureau has implemented an extensive
action plan on addressing respondent
burden and concerns. The work
completed, and the comments received,
on the 2014 Content Review provide a
foundation for ongoing and future
efforts to reduce burden and concerns.
In addition to the immediate content
changes (proposed above), the Census
Bureau is also currently testing the
language on the survey materials that
may cause concern such as reminding
people that their responses are required
by law. In order to be responsive to
these concerns about the prominence of
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the mandatory message on the
envelopes, we are conducting research
with a subset of ACS respondents in
May 2015. Over the summer, we will
work with external methodological
experts to test other revisions of the
ACS mail materials to check respondent
perceptions of the softened references to
the mandatory nature of participation in
the ACS. The preliminary results of
those tests will be available in the fall,
and the Census Bureau will make
changes to the 2016 ACS mail materials
based on those results.
Concurrently we also are identifying
additional questions that we may only
need to ask intermittently, rather than
each month or year. The current ACS
sample design asks all of the survey
questions from all selected households
in order to produce estimates each year
for small geographies and small
populations. However, during the
Content Review we learned about over
300 data needs that federal agencies
require to implement their missions. We
see several potential opportunities to
either include some questions
periodically, or ask a smaller subset of
ACS respondents in cases where those
agencies do not need certain data
annually. The Census Bureau plans to
engage the federal agencies and external
experts on this topic during 2015. In
addition, we need to assess the
operational and statistical issues
associated with alternate designs. The
alternate designs will result in a
reduction in the number of questions
asked of individual households.
We are also conducting research on
substituting the direct collection of
information with the use of information
already provided to the government. It
is possible that the Census Bureau could
use administrative records from federal
and commercial sources in lieu of
asking particular questions on the ACS.
Lastly, we are examining our
approaches to field collection to reduce
the number of in-person contact
attempts while preserving data quality.
For example, based on research
conducted in 2012, we implemented
changes in 2013 which led to an
estimated reduction of approximately
1.2 million call attempts per year, while
sustaining the 97 percent response rate
for the survey overall. For the person
visit operation, we are researching a
reduction in the number of contact
attempts. We plan to field test this
change in August 2015. If successful we
would implement nationwide in spring
2016.
We will continue to look for other
opportunities to reduce respondent
burden while maintaining survey
quality. Taken together, these measures
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23503
will make a significant impact on
reducing respondent burden in the ACS.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households.
Frequency: Response to the ACS is on
a one-time basis.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United
States Code, Sections 141, 193, and 221.
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
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 sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to OIRA_Submission@
omb.eop.gov or fax to (202)395–5806.
Dated: April 22, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–09741 Filed 4–27–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35).
Agency: Bureau of Industry and
Security.
Title: Miscellaneous Short Supply
Activities.
Form Number(s): N/A.
OMB Control Number: 0694–0102.
Type of Request: Regular.
Burden Hours: 201 hours.
Number of Respondents: 1
respondent.
Average Hours Per Response: 201
hours per response.
Needs and Uses: This information
collection is comprised of two rarely
used short supply activities:
‘‘Registration Of U.S. Agricultural
Commodities For Exemption From
Short Supply Limitations On Export’’,
and ‘‘Petitions For The Imposition Of
Monitoring Or Controls On Recyclable
Metallic materials; Public Hearings.’’
These activities are statutory in nature
and, therefore, must remain a part of
BIS’s information collection budget
authorization.
Affected Public: Businesses and other
for-profit institutions.
Frequency: On occasion.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain benefits.
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23504
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 81 / Tuesday, April 28, 2015 / Notices
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view
Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
collection should be sent within 30 days
of publication of this notice to
OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov or fax
to (202) 395–5806.
Dated: April 23, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–09796 Filed 4–27–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–33–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
Establishment of a Ready Applicant
Pool for Department of Commerce
Trade Missions
International Trade
Administration, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The United States Department
of Commerce (Department),
International Trade Administration
(ITA), is establishing a Ready Applicant
Pool initiative, the Ready Applicant
Pool (RAP), for organizations and
companies that would like to receive
information directly from the
Department, when it organizes a trade
mission aligned with the products,
services, technologies, sectors, target
markets or goals of the applicant.
Applicants willing and interested to
send a high-level representative to
participate on an expedited trade
mission to any location, at any time, on
very short notice are especially
encouraged to apply for the RAP.
Applications to join the RAP can be
found at https://www.export.gov/
trademissions/eg_main_023185.asp and
will be accepted at any time.
DATES: The RAP is established as of
April 28, 2015. Applications may be
submitted at any time at https://
www.export.gov/trademissions/eg_
main_023185.asp. Applications will be
evaluated quarterly and those accepted
will be notified as soon as possible.
Applicants will be selected for the
current RAP term and will need to
reapply when the term ends on
December 31, 2016. Each term will last
two years.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The United States Department of
Commerce (the Department),
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
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International Trade Administration
(ITA), is establishing a Ready Applicant
Pool (RAP) initiative for companies and
organizations that would like to receive
information directly from the
Department when it organizes a trade
mission aligned with the products,
services, technology, sectors, target
markets or goals of the applicant. The
program is entitled the Ready Applicant
Pool (RAP).
One of the primary goals of the RAP
is to provide a fast and efficient method
for the Department to recruit for
expedited trade missions. Expedited
trade missions will utilize expedited
procedures, web-based notification, and
will have short application deadlines.
Because of their expedited nature, the
Department will rely heavily on the
members of the RAP for recruitment,
especially those RAP members that are
willing to send a high-level
representative to participate on a
mission to any location, at any time, on
very short notice. The Department may
also rely on appropriate RAP members
in its recruitment for other trade
missions. Specifically, the Department
intends to directly contact those RAP
members with products, services,
technologies, target sectors, target
markets or goals that align with a
particular trade mission.
The benefits of joining the RAP are:
(1) To ensure the Department will
contact the current point-of-contact
when it organizes a trade mission that
it determines is aligned with the RAP
member’s products, services,
technologies, target sectors, target
markets or goals; (2) to speed up the
trade mission selection process by
providing the Department with the
information necessary for pre-screening
with respect to participation generally
in its trade missions and (3) to indicate
in advance a willingness to apply for
and potentially participate in expedited
trade missions to any location at any
time, possibly on very short notice.
Any member of the U.S. business
community may apply to become a
member of the RAP. The U.S. business
community consists of corporations,
partnerships, and other business
associations created under the laws of
the United States or of any state; U.S.
citizens; state or local economic
development or international trade
office or agency; trade association and
other non-profit organizations that
represent a sector or sectors of the U.S.
economy; university competitiveness
programs; and any other U.S. entity
seeking to promote United States
business interests abroad.
The criteria for evaluating applicants
for selection for the RAP are:
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• Whether the applicant will be a
suitable representative of the U.S.
industry sector in which it operates;
• The applicant’s potential for
helping to advance Department of
Commerce strategic priorities;
• The applicant’s past, present, and
prospective business activities abroad;
• The applicant’s conduct on past
trade missions; and
• Whether the applicant is willing to
send a high-level representative to
participate on an expedited trade
mission to any location, at any time, on
very short notice.
The last criterion will not be
dispositive for RAP selection but it will
be weighted significantly in selection
for the RAP. Applicants that cannot
fulfill this criterion will not be excluded
from the RAP.
Applicants selected for the RAP will
be contacted directly by the Department
when it organizes a trade mission
aligned with the products, services,
technologies, target sectors, target
markets or goals of the applicant. The
Department will have up-to-date contact
information for RAP members, ensuring
that trade mission information reaches
the correct company contact. When
contacted, RAP members will be given
step-by-step instructions on how to
apply for the mission. Selection for the
RAP does not guarantee or assure
selection for a particular trade mission.
But, RAP members are pre-screened
with respect to participation generally
in Department trade missions.
Applications for the RAP may be
submitted at any time at https://
www.export.gov/trademissions/eg_
main_023185.asp. They will be
evaluated on a quarterly basis and those
accepted will be notified as soon as
possible. Once selected, the Department
will reach out to the RAP member for
updated contact information every six
months. This ensures that the
Department has current information
about the applicant’s products, services,
technologies, target sectors, target
markets and goals. The RAP term will
end every two years. The first RAP term
will begin immediately and conclude on
December 31, 2016. At that time, all
members will be required to reapply in
order to gain membership for the
following term (January 1, 2017—
December 31, 2018). Applications
received after July 1, 2016 will be
reviewed for both the first and second
cohorts of the RAP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Frank Spector, Acting Director, Trade
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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23503-23504]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09796]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: Bureau of Industry and Security.
Title: Miscellaneous Short Supply Activities.
Form Number(s): N/A.
OMB Control Number: 0694-0102.
Type of Request: Regular.
Burden Hours: 201 hours.
Number of Respondents: 1 respondent.
Average Hours Per Response: 201 hours per response.
Needs and Uses: This information collection is comprised of two
rarely used short supply activities: ``Registration Of U.S.
Agricultural Commodities For Exemption From Short Supply Limitations On
Export'', and ``Petitions For The Imposition Of Monitoring Or Controls
On Recyclable Metallic materials; Public Hearings.'' These activities
are statutory in nature and, therefore, must remain a part of BIS's
information collection budget authorization.
Affected Public: Businesses and other for-profit institutions.
Frequency: On occasion.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain benefits.
[[Page 23504]]
This information collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce
collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed collection
should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to
OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Dated: April 23, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-09796 Filed 4-27-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-33-P
