Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 22717-22718 [2020-08656]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 79 (Thursday, April 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22717-22718]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08656]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; 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.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Survey of State Government Research and Development.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0933.
    Form Number(s): Survey Frame Review Module; SRD-1 (State Agency 
Form).
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: State Governors--52, State Coordinators--52, 
Department/Agency respondents--700.
    Average Hours per Response: State Governors--5 minutes, State 
Coordinators--1 hour, Department/Agency respondents--3 hours 
(previously 2 hours).
    Burden Hours: 2,156. (The burden requested is higher than the 
figure included in the presubmission notice because we only determined 
the amount of burden increase for Agency respondents after cognitive 
testing was done.)
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau is requesting clearance to 
conduct the Survey of State Government Research and Development (SGRD) 
for the 2020-2022 survey years with the revisions outlined in this 
document. The Census Bureau conducts this survey on behalf of the 
National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Center for Science and 
Engineering Statistics (NCSES). The NSF Act of 1950 includes a 
statutory charge to ``provide a central clearinghouse for the 
collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on scientific and 
engineering resources and to provide a source of information for policy 
formulation by other agencies in the Federal Government.'' This mandate 
was further codified in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 
2010 Sec.  505, which requires NSF's National Center for Science & 
Engineering Statistics to ``collect, acquire, analyze, report, and 
disseminate . . . statistical data on (A) research and development 
trends . . .'' NCSES also provides the official U.S. statistics on R&D 
to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 
OECD measures R&D through R&D personnel data and R&D expenditures. 
Under the aegis of this legislative mandate, NCSES and its predecessors 
have sponsored surveys of research and development (R&D) since 1953, 
including the SGRD since 2006. This survey has helped to expand the 
scope of R&D collections to include state governments, where previously 
there had been no regularly established collection efforts, and thus a 
gap in the national portfolio of R&D statistics.
    NCSES sponsors surveys of R&D activities of Federal agencies, 
higher education institutions, and private industries. The results of 
these surveys provide a consistent information base for both federal 
and state government officials, industry professionals, and researchers 
to use in formulating public policy and planning in science and 
technology. These surveys allow for the analysis of current and 
historical trends of R&D in the U.S. and in international comparisons 
of R&D with other countries. The data collected from the SGRD fills a 
void that previously existed

[[Page 22718]]

for collection of R&D activities. Although NCSES conducted periodic 
data collections of state government R&D in 1995, 1988 and 1987, more 
frequent collection was necessary to account for the changing dynamic 
of state governments' role in performing and funding R&D and their role 
as fiduciary intermediaries of federal funds for R&D. The survey is a 
census of state government departments, agencies, commissions, public 
authorities, and other dependent entities as defined by the Census 
Bureau's Census of Governments program, that performed or funded R&D 
activities in a given fiscal year.
    The Census Bureau, serving as collection agent, employs a 
methodology similar to the one used to collect information from state 
and local governments on other established censuses and surveys. This 
methodology involves identifying a central coordinator in each state 
who will assist Census Bureau staff in identifying appropriate state 
agencies to be surveyed. Since not all state agencies have the budget 
authority or operational capacity to perform or fund R&D, NCSES and 
Census Bureau staffs have identified those agencies most likely to 
perform or fund R&D based on state session laws, authorizing 
legislation, budget authority, previous R&D activities, and reports 
issued by state government agencies. The state coordinators, based on 
their knowledge of the state government's own activities and 
priorities, are asked to confirm which of the selected agencies 
identified should be sent the survey for a given fiscal year or to add 
additional agencies to the survey frame. These state coordinators also 
verify the final responses at the end of the data collection cycle and 
may assist with nonresponse follow-up with individual state agencies. 
The collection approach using a central state coordinator is used 
successfully at the Census Bureau in surveys of local school districts, 
as well as the annual surveys of state and local government finance.
    The FY 2020 survey will include the same content that was collected 
during the FYs 2016-2019 survey cycles along with two new questions on 
R&D personnel at state agencies. The new questions are Questions 10 and 
11 on the survey form.
    Cognitive testing of the new questions was conducted by the NCSES 
and a report will be available for OMB upon their request.
    Adding these new questions to the SGRD will improve measures of the 
national R&D workforce. The addition of these question will help the 
NCSES fulfil its mandate to provide statistics on research and 
development for the benefit of U.S. policy makers and for international 
comparisons of R&D competitiveness.
    Final survey results produced by NCSES contain state and national 
estimates and are useful to a variety of data users interested in R&D 
performance, including: The National Science Board; the OMB; the Office 
of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other science policy 
makers; institutional researchers; and private organizations; and many 
state governments.
    Legislators, policy officials, and researchers rely on statistics 
to make informed decisions about R&D investment at the Federal, state, 
and local level. These statistics are derived from the existing NCSES 
sponsored surveys of Federal agencies, higher education institutions, 
and private industry. The total picture of R&D expenditures, however, 
had been incomplete due to the lack of data from state governments 
prior to this implementation of the SGRD in 2006, which now fills that 
void.
    State government officials and policy makers garner the most 
benefit from the results of this survey. Governors and legislatures 
need a reliable, comprehensive source of data to help in evaluating how 
best to attract the high-tech R&D industries to their state. Officials 
are able to evaluate their investment in R&D based on comparisons with 
other states. These comparisons include the sources of funding, the 
type of R&D being conducted, and the type of R&D performer.
    State governments serve a unique role within the national portfolio 
of R&D. Not only are they both performers and funders of R&D like other 
sectors such as the Federal Government, higher education, or industry, 
but they also serve as fiduciary intermediaries between the Federal 
Government and other R&D performers while also providing state specific 
funds for R&D. The information collected from the SGRD provides data 
users with perspective on this complex flow of funds. Survey results 
are used at the Federal level to assess and direct investment in 
technology and economic issues. Congressional committees and the 
Congressional Research Service use results of the R&D surveys. The BEA 
uses these data to estimate the contribution of state agency-funded R&D 
to the overall impact of treating R&D as an investment in BEA's 
statistics of gross domestic product by state-area.
    NSF also uses data from this survey in various publications 
produced about the state of R&D in the U.S. The Science and Engineering 
Indicators, for example, is a biennial report mandated by Congress and 
describes quantitatively the condition of the country's R&D efforts, 
and includes data from the SGRD. Survey results are also included in 
the National Patterns of Research and Development report's tabulations.
    The availability of state R&D survey results are posted to NSF's 
web page allowing for public access from a variety of other data users 
as well. Media, university researchers, nonprofit organizations, and 
foreign government officials are also consumers of state R&D 
statistics. All users are able to utilize this information in an 
attempt to better understand the Nation's R&D resources.
    Affected Public: State, local or tribal governments.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 8(b); Title 42 U.S.C., 
Sections 1861-76 (National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended).
    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 information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0933.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-08656 Filed 4-22-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P