Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection, 17758-17760 [2016-07169]

Agencies

• Federal Highway Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 61 (Wednesday, March 30, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17758-17760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-07169]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2016-0010]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for 
Approval of a New Information Collection

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of request for approval of a new information collection.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request 
described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for approval of a new information collection. We published a Federal 
Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information 
collection on June 23, 2015. We are required to publish this notice in 
the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Please submit comments by April 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments within 30 days to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention DOT Desk Officer. 
You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, 
including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the 
FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways 
for the FHWA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the 
collected information; and

[[Page 17759]]

(4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including the use of 
electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the collected 
information. All comments should include the Docket No. FHWA-2016-0010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Nesbitt 
(michael.nesbitt@dot.gov), 202-366-1179, Office of Infrastructure, 
Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 8 a.m. 
to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: National Transportation Performance 
Management (TPM) Implementation Review, TPM Toolbox, and TPM State-of-
Practice Questionnaires.
    Type of request: New information collection requirement.
    Background: Moving The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st 
Century (MAP-21) Act and the subsequent Fixing America's Surface 
Transportation Act (FAST Act) transformed the Federal-aid highway 
program by establishing new requirements for transportation performance 
management to ensure the most efficient investment of Federal 
transportation funds. Transportation performance management increases 
the accountability and transparency of the Federal-aid highway program 
and provides for a framework to support improved investment decision 
making through a focus on performance outcomes for key national 
transportation goals. State transportation agencies (STAs) will be 
expected to use the information and data generated as a result of the 
new regulations to make better informed transportation planning and 
programming decisions. The new performance aspects of the Federal-aid 
program will allow FHWA to better communicate a national performance 
story and to more reliably assess the impacts of Federal funding 
investments.
    Under the ``National Transportation Performance Management (TPM) 
Implementation Review Survey, TPM State-of-Practice Questionnaires, and 
TPM Toolbox'' information collection request (ICR), the FHWA will 
collect information on the current state of the practice, data, 
methods, and systems used by State, metropolitan, regional, local, and/
or tribal transportation entities to support their TPM processes in 
accordance with 23 U.S.C. 119, 134-135, and 148-150, as amended by MAP-
21 and the FAST Act. This information will also be used to develop and 
deliver existing and future Federal Highway Programs through successful 
partnerships, value-added stewardship, and risk-based oversight. 
Underpinning this effort will be a robust focus on improving FHWA and 
its partners' capacity to implement performance provisions. The 
information collected from these activities will translate into having 
a better skilled workforce, effective supporting systems, and clearly 
articulated programs that are optimally positioned and equipped to 
deliver the FHWA's mission. In general, the components of the 
``National TPM Implementation Review Survey, TPM State-of-Practice 
Questionnaires, and TPM Toolbox'' will involve questions related to:
    1. TPM related implementation efforts, programs, and activities,
    2. Needs for TPM guidance and policy concerning MAP-21 and FAST 
provisions;
    3. TPM capacity building needs;
    4. Effectiveness implementing performance based planning and 
programming and TPM processes.
    The most consequential activity covered by this ICR is the 
``National TPM Implementation Review Survey,'' which is scheduled to be 
administered in 2016 and again several years later.

Overview

    In the summer of 2015, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 
published the National TPM Implementation Review Survey and Information 
Collection Request, Docket FHWA-2015-0013. In that 60-day Federal 
Register Notice (FRN), FHWA stated it would administer the first 
National TPM Implementation Review Survey in 2016 to establish a 
baseline and assess:
    1. FHWA and its partners' progress implementing MAP-21 performance 
provisions and related TPM best practices; and
    2. The effectiveness of performance-based planning and programming 
processes and transportation performance management.
    In that FRN, FHWA also stated that a second National TPM 
Implementation Review Survey will be conducted several years after the 
first to assess FHWA and its partners' progress in addressing any gaps 
or issues identified during the first survey. The findings from the 
first review survey will be used in a pair of statutory reports to 
Congress due in 2017 on the effectiveness of performance-based 
planning, programming processes, and transportation performance 
management (23 U.S.C. 119, 134(l)(2), and 135(h)(2)). The findings from 
the second survey will be used in a subsequent follow-up report. It is 
important to note that this is not a compliance review. The overall 
focus of the National TPM Implementation Review Survey is on the TPM 
and performance-based planning processes and practices used by STAs and 
MPOs, not the performance outcomes of those processes.
    FHWA received 20 comment letters and over 24 unique comments. While 
a number of concerns were expressed by the commenters, they generally 
supported the information collection request outlined in the FRN. 
Regarding the National TPM Implementation Review Survey, stakeholders 
were most concerned about the estimated burden of effort and time for 
administration of the survey. Based on those specific comments to the 
docket, it became clear that a majority of responding States, MPOs, and 
their respective associations want FHWA to: (1) ``coordinate with 
stakeholders when developing'' the design of any TPM surveys, 
questionnaires, or related instruments; (2) Provide more information on 
the type of questions to be asked as part of the National TPM 
Implementation Review Survey and any State-of-Practice Questionnaires; 
(3) Minimize the burden of effort to the greatest extent practicable; 
(4) Delay administration of National TPM Implementation Review Survey 
until after the final rulemakings; and (5) Share data from the National 
TPM Implementation Review Survey with States, MPOs, and their 
respective associations to support the development of federally and 
state funded TPM capacity building efforts.
    To address the first three concerns listed in the preceding 
paragraph, stakeholders can provide input on the design of National TPM 
Implementation Review Survey by:
    1. Submitting comments on the draft survey questions and survey 
design report to the docket.
    2. Participating in one of two webinar listening sessions on the 
design of the National TPM Implementation Review Survey. The date and 
time of these webinars will be advertised at www.fhwa.dot.gov/TPM. To 
receive an email notification announcing the date and time of these 
webinar listening sessions, please visit www.fhwa.dot.gov/TPM and 
subscribe to email updates.
    To address the concern on the timing of the National TPM 
Implementation Review Survey, FHWA decided to delay administering the 
review until after publication of the Statewide and Nonmetropolitan 
Transportation Planning; Metropolitan Transportation Planning Final 
Rulemaking.

[[Page 17760]]

    In addition to the more formal National TPM Implementation Review 
Survey, FHWA will conduct informal voluntary TPM State-of-Practice 
Questionnaires related to ongoing TPM policy and guidance, technical 
assistance, and capacity needs. To address concerns expressed by 
stakeholders regarding the burden of effort and administration of these 
additional questionnaires, FHWA is proposing to sequence the National 
TPM Implementation Review Survey and other State-of-the-Practice 
Questionnaires on a biennial cycle. Under this biennial cycle, the 
first National TPM Implementation Review Survey would be administered 
in 2016 and the follow-up in 2020. The smaller, less formal State-of-
the-Practice Questionnaires would be administered in 2018 and 2022. The 
State-of-the-Practice Questionnaires are essential to helping FHWA 
coordinate with its many stakeholders to reduce duplicative survey 
efforts as the industry works to implement and understand the TPM 
practices.
    Under this sequencing, the National TPM Implementation Review 
Survey will continue to serve the original purpose of allowing FHWA to 
evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to implement TPM and PBPP. The 
State-of-the-Practice Questionnaires will enable FHWA and its 
stakeholders to coordinate the collection of information necessary to 
advance the state-of-the-practice and further TPM capacity building 
efforts. This approach limits the number of TPM related surveys to 4 
over a number of years:
     National TPM Implementation Review Survey (Baseline): 
2016.
     State-of-the-Practice Questionnaires: 2018.
     National TPM Implementation Review Survey (Follow-up): 
2020.
     State-of-the-Practice Questionnaires: 2022.
    After each survey or questionnaire, FHWA and its stakeholders will 
explore how to better align the information collection requests with 
yet-to-be determined performance management reporting processes. The 
information will be collected from State, metropolitan, regional, 
local, and/or tribal transportation agencies via internet-based 
questionnaires or web applications and will be used to help FHWA and 
its partner organizations do the following:
     Strategically plan to meet ever growing demand for TPM 
technical assistance needs;
     Develop and refine TPM policy and guidance based on 
stakeholder feedback;
     Channel resources to meet capacity development and 
training needs; and
     Identify and prioritize TPM research needs.
    Lastly, as part of FHWA's ongoing technical assistance efforts, a 
TPM Toolbox is being created to help FHWA's partners self-assess and 
benchmark their TPM implementation progress, capabilities, and gaps. 
The TPM Toolbox will also help FHWA streamline the integration and 
administration of all the efforts described above. To maximize the 
effectiveness and efficiency of the TPM Toolbox, FHWA will collect 
business contact and organizational demographic (size of organization, 
location, etc.) information along with the responses submitted as part 
of the TPM Toolbox's self-assessment applications.
    Respondents: The 975 respondents estimate is based on soliciting 
input from 52 STA, 409 MPOS, and a sampling of other State and local 
transportation entities. In most cases, only STAs and MPOs will be 
surveyed.
    Frequency: Agencies will be solicited to provide information via a 
survey 1 time every two years. Additionally, transportation agencies 
may submit information more frequently by using the TPM Toolbox's self-
assessment tool.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: The estimated average annual 
burden hours is up to 20 hours per response during a year with a 
survey/questionnaire request.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: The estimated total annual 
burden hours for all respondents is estimated to be 19,500 burden hours 
(975 respondents x 20 burden hours) per year with survey/questionnaire 
requests.
Professional Staff Time During a Survey Year
 20 hours/respondent x 975 respondents x 1 questionnaire during 
a survey year = 19,500 hours
Clerical Staff Time During a Survey Year
 2 hours/respondent x 975 respondents x 1 questionnaire during 
a survey year = 1,950 hours

    The aggregated associated salary cost to all respondents (975) 
during a survey year is estimated to be $1,032,213 based on an average 
salary of $38 per hour (approximately $79,000 per year) for 
professional staff and $18 per hour (approximately $37,000 per year) 
for clerical staff. Disaggregated, the total average annual cost per 
respondent during a survey year is estimated to be $1,058.68. The 
burden hours and costs are illustrated below.
Professional Staff Cost During a Survey Year
 All respondents: 19,500 hours x $38 per hour = $741,000
    [cir] Per respondent: (20 x $38 = $760)
Clerical Staff Cost During a Survey Year
 All respondents: 1,950 hours x $18 per hour = $35,100
    [cir] Per respondent (2 hours x $18 per hour = $36)
Total Annual Cost During a Survey Year
 Subtotal Direct Salaries (Professional + Clerical) $776,100
 Overhead/fringe benefits at 33%: $256,113
 Total annual respondents cost during survey year: $1,032,213
    [cir] Total average annual cost per respondent during survey year: 
$1,058.68

    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the U.S. DOT's performance, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the 
accuracy of the U.S. DOT's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
information collection; (3) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, 
and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden 
could be minimized, including the use of electronic technology, without 
reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will 
summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's 
clearance of this information collection.

    Authority:  The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

     Issued On: March 25, 2016.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-07169 Filed 3-29-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-22-P