Agency Information Collection Activities: Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation), 1601-0029, 60695-60698 [2023-19071]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 5, 2023 / Notices
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sheila Garrity, JD, MPH, MBA, Director,
Office of Research Integrity, 1101
Wootton Parkway, Suite 240, Rockville,
MD 20852, (240) 453–8200.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is
hereby given that the Office of Research
Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in
the following case:
Ivana Frech, Ph.D. (formerly Ivana De
Domenico), University of Utah: Based
on the evidence and findings of an
investigation conducted by UU, ORI’s
oversight review of UU’s investigation,
and additional analysis conducted by
ORI during its oversight review, ORI
found that Ivana Frech, Ph.D. (formerly
Ivana De Domenico), former Assistant
Professor, Department of Internal
Medicine, UU School of Medicine,
engaged in research misconduct under
42 CFR part 93 in research supported by
PHS funds, specifically NIDDK, NIH,
grants R01 DK070947, R01 DK090257,
and R01 DK030534, NIGMS, NIH, grant
P50 GM082545, NIAID, NIH, grant R01
AI051174, and NHLBI, NIH, grant R01
HL026922.
ORI found by a preponderance of the
evidence that Respondent intentionally,
knowingly, or recklessly falsified and/or
fabricated western blot and
autoradiogram images related to
mechanisms of cellular iron regulation
by reusing, relabeling, and manipulating
images to falsely report data in eight (8)
figures included in the following three
(3) PHS-supported published papers:
• Two Distinct Modes of ESCRT–III
Recognition are Required for VPS4
Functions in Lysosomal Protein
Targeting and HIV–1 Budding. Dev Cell.
2008 Jul;15(1):62–73. doi: 10.1016/
j.devcel.2008.05.014 (hereafter referred
to as ‘‘Dev. Cell 2008’’).
• The Role of Ubiquitination in
Hepcidin-independent and Hepcidindependent Degradation of Ferroportin.
Cell Metab. 2011 Nov 2;14(5):635–46.
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2011.09.008
(hereafter referred to as ‘‘Cell Met. Nov.
2011’’) Retracted: Cell Met. 2012 Jun
6;15(6):927. doi: 10.1016/
j.cmet.2012.04.107.
• Decoupling Ferritin Synthesis from
Free Cytosolic Iron Results in Ferritin
Secretion. Cell Metab. 2011 Jan
5;13(1):57–67. doi: 10.1016/
j.cmet.2010.12.003 (hereafter referred to
as ‘‘Cell Met. Jan. 2011’’). Retracted: Cell
Met. 2012 Jun 6;15(6):927. doi: 10.1016/
j.cmet.2012.04.012.
ORI found that these acts constitute a
significant departure from accepted
practices of the relevant research
community. Specifically, ORI found by
a preponderance of the evidence that
Respondent engaged in research
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:02 Sep 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
60695
misconduct by intentionally,
knowingly, or recklessly falsifying and/
or fabricating:
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
• a western blot image in Figure 5B
(right bottom panel) of Dev. Cell 2008
by reusing and relabeling an image of
three western blot bands to represent
the results of different experiments
• western blot images in Figure 1C (top
and bottom panels) of Cell Met. Nov.
2011 by reusing and relabeling an
image of western blot bands to
represent the results of two different
experiments
• western blot images in Figures 1D and
3 of Cell Met. Nov. 2011 by reusing
and relabeling one image to represent
the results of two different
experiments
• western blot images in Figures 2Aii
and 2B of Cell Met. Nov. 2011 by
reusing and relabeling one image as
representing the results of two
different experiments
• western blot images in Figures 2Aii
and 5 of Cell Met. Nov. 2011 by
reusing and relabeling one image as
representing the results of two
different experiments
• images in Figure 4B (top and bottom
left panels) of Cell Met. Jan. 2011 by
reusing and relabeling an image of an
autoradiogram to misrepresent the
reported experimental conditions and
results
National Institutes of Health
The following administrative actions
have been implemented:
(1) For a period of three (3) years,
beginning on August 21, 2023,
Respondent is debarred from
participating in ‘‘covered transactions’’
as defined in 42 CFR 180.200 and
procurement transactions covered under
the Federal Acquisition Regulation (48
CFR chapter 1).
(2) Respondent is prohibited from
serving in any advisory capacity to PHS
including, but not limited to, service on
any PHS advisory committee, board,
and/or peer review committee, or as a
consultant for a period of three (3) years,
beginning on August 21, 2023.
(3) In accordance with 42 CFR
93.407(a)(1) and 93.411(b), HHS will
send to the journal Developmental Cell
a notice of ORI’s findings and the need
for retraction or correction of Dev Cell.
2008 Jul;15(1):62–73. doi: 10.1016/
j.devcel.2008.05.014.
Dated: August 30, 2023.
Sheila Garrity,
Director, Office of Research Integrity, Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
[FR Doc. 2023–19086 Filed 9–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150–31–P
PO 00000
Frm 00064
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research; Amended
Notice of Meeting
Notice is hereby given of a change in
the meeting of the National Advisory
Dental and Craniofacial Research
Council, September 12, 2023, 4:45 p.m.
to September 13, 2023, 3:30 p.m.,
National Institutes of Health, Natcher
Building, 45 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD
20892, which was published in the
Federal Register on August 17, 2023, FR
Document 2023–17712, 88 FR 56028.
The National Advisory Dental and
Craniofacial Research Council Open and
Closed Sessions meeting room has
changed from the Natcher Building, 45
Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, and
will now be held at the John Edward
Porter Neuroscience Research Center
Building, 35 Convent Drive Room 620/
630, Bethesda, MD 20892. Meeting
times remain the same. The meeting is
partially closed to the public.
Dated: August 29, 2023.
Melanie J. Pantoja,
Program Analyst, Office of Federal Advisory
Committee Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023–19017 Filed 9–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
[Docket Number DHS–2023–0020]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience (OMB
Circular A–11, Section 280
Implementation), 1601–0029
Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:
The Department of Homeland
Security, DHS will submit the following
information collection request (ICR) to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act. DHS previously
published this information collection
request (ICR) in the Federal Register on
June 23, 2023, for a 60-day public
comment period. No comments were
received by DHS. The purpose of this
notice is to allow additional 30-days for
public comments.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 5, 2023.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\05SEN1.SGM
05SEN1
60696
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 5, 2023 / Notices
This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR 1320.10.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to 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.
The Office of Management and Budget
is particularly interested in comments
which:
1. Evaluate 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of
On
September 11, 1993, President Clinton
issued Executive Order 12862, ‘‘Setting
Customer Service Standards’’ which
clearly define his vision that the Federal
agencies will put the people first.
Executive Order 12862 directs Federal
agencies to provide service to the public
that matches or exceeds the best service
available in the private sector. Section
1(b) of Executive Order 12862 requires
government agencies to ‘‘survey
customers to determine the kind and
quality of services they want and their
level of satisfaction with existing
services’’ and Section 1(e) requires
agencies ‘‘survey front-line employees
on barriers to, and ideas for, matching
the best in business.’’
On March 30, 2016, President Obama
established the Core Federal Services
Council, which again emphasized the
need to deliver world-class customer
service to the American people. The
Council, composed of the major highvolume, high-impact Federal programs
that provide transactional services
directly to the public, were encouraged
‘‘to improve the customer experience by
using public and private sector
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:02 Sep 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
management best practices, such as
conducting self-assessments and
journey mapping, collecting
transactional feedback data, and sharing
such data with frontline and other
staff.’’
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.
These Presidential actions and
requirements establish an ongoing
process of collecting customer insights
and using them to improve services.
This new request will enable the
Department of Homeland Security
(hereafter ‘‘the Agency’’) 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.
The Agency 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.
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.
‘‘Service delivery’’ or ‘‘services’’ refers
to the multitude of diverse interactions
between a customer and Federal agency
such as applying for a benefit or loan,
receiving a service such as healthcare or
small business counseling, requesting a
document such as a passport or social
PO 00000
Frm 00065
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
security card, complying with a rule or
regulation such as filing taxes or
declaring goods, utilizing resources
such as a park or historical site, or
seeking information such as public
health or consumer protection notices.
Under this request, three types of
activities will be conducted to generate
customer insights:
Customer Research (E.g., User
Persona and Journey Map
Development): A critical first
component of understanding customer
experience is to develop customer
personas and journey maps. This
process enables the Agency to more
deeply understand the customer
segments they serve and to organize the
processes customers interact with
throughout their engagement with the
Federal entity to accomplish a task or
meet a need. In order to adequately
capture the perspective of the customer
and the barriers or supports that exist as
they navigate these journeys, it is
necessary to directly interact with
customers rather than relying solely
upon the Agency’s stated policy of how
a process should work or employees’
interpretation of how services are
delivered. This can occur through a
variety of information collection
mechanisms that include focus groups,
individual intercept interviews at a
service site, shadowing a user as they
navigate a Federal service and
documenting their reactions and
frustrations, customer free-response
comment cards, or informal small
discussion groups.
Regardless of the format, the Agency
will apply Human Centered Design
(HCD) Discovery methods to generate
personas and journey maps, ultimately
identifying customer insights. An
approach to recruiting participants,
resources for preparing and structuring
interviews, and a consent form for
interviewees can be found at https://
www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/HCD-DiscoveryGuide-Interagency-v12-1.pdf. This
document is also included in the
package.
Insights documented, summarized
and presented in customer personas and
journey maps can then be shared across
the program, the Agency, other Federal,
State, and Local government
stakeholders and even with the public
to validate and discuss common themes
identified. These products can be used
as ‘‘indicator lights’’ for where more
rigorous qualitative and quantitative
research can be conducted to improve
Federal service delivery.
Publicly shared personas and journey
maps will include language that
qualifies their use (see question #16),
and high-level, non-identifying
E:\FR\FM\05SEN1.SGM
05SEN1
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 5, 2023 / Notices
descriptive statistics of the
population(s) interviewed to develop it
(ex. ‘‘25 Service members that
transitioned to civilian employment
within the last decade, 14 female, 11
male, 21 enlisted and 4 officers) to
ensure that the perspective represented
is understood. Quotes or insights will
never be associated with an actual
individual unless they have signed a
release form (see link above for
template) and this was included in the
specific collection request.
Customer Feedback (Satisfaction
Survey): Surveys to be considered under
this generic clearance will only include
those surveys modeled on the OMB
Circular A–11 CX Feedback survey to
improve customer service by collecting
feedback at a specific point during a
customer journey. This could include
upon submitting a form online on a
Federal website, speaking with a call
center representative, paying off a loan,
or visiting a Federal service center.
In an effort to develop comparable,
government-wide scores that will enable
cross-agency or industry benchmarking
(when relevant) and a general indication
of an agency’s overall customer
satisfaction, OMB Circular A–11 Section
280 requires high impact services to
measure their touchpoint/transactional
performance in as a real-time manner as
possible, with respect to satisfaction and
confidence/trust using the following
questions, without modification.
Responses will typically be assessed on
a 5-point Likert scale (1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)). These
questions align to drivers of experience
developed in consultation with leading
organizations in customer experience
both in the private sector and industry
groups that study the most critical
drivers of customer experience.
• 5 point Likert scale: I am satisfied
with the service I received from
[Program/Service name].
• 5 point Likert scale: This
interaction increased my confidence in
[Program/Service name]. OR I trust
[Agency/Program/Service name] to
fulfill our country’s commitment to
[relevant population].
• Free response: Any additional
feedback on your scores above?
• 5 point Likert scale: My need was
addressed OR My issue was resolved.
OR I found what I was looking for.
• 5 point Likert scale: It was easy to
complete what I needed to do.
• 5 point Likert scale: It took a
reasonable amount of time to do what
I needed to do.
• 5 point Likert scale: I was treated
fairly.
• 5 point Likert scale: Employees I
interacted with were helpful.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:02 Sep 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
• Free response: Any additional
feedback for [Program/Service name]?
The surveys shall include no more
than 15 questions in total. The Agency
may add a few additional questions to
those listed above to clarify type of
service received, inquiry type, service
center location, or other programspecific questions that can help program
managers to filter and make use of the
feedback data.
As part of the Customer Experience
CAP goal’s strategy to increase
transparency to drive accountability, the
feedback data collected through the A–
11 Standard Feedback survey is meant
to be shared with the public. This
collection is part of the governmentwide effort to embed standardized
customer metrics within high-impact
programs to create government-wide
performance dashboards. Data collected
from the questions listed above will be
submitted by the Agency to OMB at a
minimum quarterly for updating of
customer experience dashboards on
performance.gov. This dashboard will
also include the total volume of
customers that passed through the
transaction point at which the survey
was offered, the number of customers
the survey was presented to, the number
of responses, and the mode of
presentation and response (online
survey, in-person, post-call touchtone,
mobile, email). This will help to qualify
the data’s representation by showing
both the response rate and total number
of actual responses.
User Testing of Services and Digital
Products: Agencies should continually
review, update and refine their service
delivery, including communication
materials, processes, supporting
reference materials, and digital products
associated with a Federal program. This
often requires ‘‘field testing’’ program
informational materials, process
updates, forms, or digital products (such
as websites or mobile applications) by
interacting with past, existing, or future
customers and soliciting feedback.
These activities can include cognitive
laboratory studies, such as those used to
refine questions on a program form to
ensure clarity, demo kiosks at a service
center where customers can provide
informal feedback while waiting for a
service, or more formally scheduled inperson observation testing (e.g., website
or software usability tests). These
information collection activities are
more specific than broad customer
research and related to a particular
artifact/product of a Federal program.
As such, there will be a more structured
interview/set of questions than more
open-ended customer research. Findings
from these activities are meant to
PO 00000
Frm 00066
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
60697
support the design and implementation
of Federal program services and digital
products, and may only be shared in an
anonymized/in aggregate if a particular
insight is useful to include as part of a
customer persona, journey map, or
common lesson learned for improving
service delivery.
The Agency will only submit 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 noncontroversial 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. Additionally,
summaries of customer research and
user testing activities may be included
in public-facing customer journey maps
and summaries.
• Additional release of data must be
done coordinated with OMB.
This clearance will help the Agency
to establish a process where customer
experience is regularly monitored and
measured. The results will assist the
Agency in the planning and decisionmaking processes to improve the quality
of the Agency’s products and services.
Results from feedback activities and
surveys will be used to measure against
established baseline standards and for
measuring the Agency’s progress toward
defined goals.
There are neither legal nor technical
obstacles to the use of technology in
these information collection activities.
The determination to use technology,
and which technology to use, will be
based on the type of information
collected and the utility and the
availability of specific technology to
each respondent in a proposed customer
research activity or feedback survey.
The information collected in these
surveys will represent the minimum
burden necessary to evaluate customer
experience with the Agency’s programs
E:\FR\FM\05SEN1.SGM
05SEN1
60698
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 5, 2023 / Notices
and processes. The Agency will
minimize the burden on respondents by
sampling as appropriate, asking for
readily available information, and using
short, easy-to-complete information
collection instruments.
Without regular mechanisms for
collecting and generating customer
insights, the Agency is not able to
provide the public with the highest
level of service. These activities will be
coordinated to ensure that most
individual respondents will not be
asked to respond to more than one
survey instrument per transaction or to
participate in more than one qualitative
feedback or testing activity.
Activity and survey instructions will
provide all necessary assurances of
confidentiality to the respondents.
Although there is no requirement for
such an assurance in statute, the quality
of this type of information requires
respondent candor and anonymity.
This is a no changes to the burden or
information being collected.
The Office of Management and Budget
is particularly interested in comments
which:
1. Evaluate 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Analysis
Agency: Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
Title: Generic Clearance for Improving
Customer Experience (OMB Circular A–
11, Section 280 Implementation).
OMB Number: 1601–0029.
Frequency: Annually.
Affected Public: Individuals or
household.
Number of Respondents: 2,001,500.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:02 Sep 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
Total Burden Hours: 101,125.
Robert Porter Dorr,
Executive Director, Business Management
Directorate.
[FR Doc. 2023–19071 Filed 9–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9112–FL–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
[Docket No. CISA–CISA–2022–0012]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Incident Communications
Activity Report (ICAR)
Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS).
ACTION: 30-Day Notice and request for
comments; New collection (Request for
a new OMB Control Number, 1670–
NEW.
AGENCY:
The Emergency
Communications Division (ECD within
the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency (CISA) is issuing a 30day notice and request for comments to
for the following information collection
request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to 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.
The Office of Management and Budget
is particularly interested in comments
which:
1. Evaluate 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00067
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wes
Rogers, 202–897–8132, wes.rogers@
cisa.dhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CISA
previously published this information
collection request (ICR) in the Federal
Register on October 20, 2022 for a 60day public comment period. One
comment was received from the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry
Association (CTIA) during the 60 Day
FRN comment period for the Incident
Communications Activity Report. The
response to this comment has been
addressed within the contents of this
30–DAY FRN. The purpose of this
notice is to allow additional 30-days for
public comments.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency (CISA) Emergency
Communications Division (ECD) is
mandated by The Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Act of 2018, 6
U.S.C. 652(f) under Sections (9) carry
out emergency communications
responsibilities, in accordance with subchapter XIII; (10) carry out
cybersecurity, infrastructure security,
and emergency communications
stakeholder outreach and engagement
and coordinate that outreach and
engagement with critical infrastructure
Sector Risk Management Agencies, as
appropriate; and (11) provide education,
training, and capacity development to
Federal and non-Federal entities to
enhance the security and resiliency of
domestic and global cybersecurity and
infrastructure security;.
This information collection is
requested to be completed by ECD
stakeholders—including state and local
emergency communications
professionals—through The Incident
Communications Activity Report (ICAR)
form. The ICAR was developed with the
intention of capturing and documenting
the emergency communications activity
and utilization of public safety
communications technologies
controlled by state or local emergency
response officials organized to provide
command and coordination for an
incident, planned event, or exercise. As
a result, CISA/ECD seeks to execute a
standard request from the Paper
Reduction Act (PRA) to review, analyze,
and revise current Incident
Communication Activity.
The Emergency Communications
Division (ECD) is a division within the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
E:\FR\FM\05SEN1.SGM
05SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 170 (Tuesday, September 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60695-60698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19071]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[Docket Number DHS-2023-0020]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280
Implementation), 1601-0029
AGENCY: Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security, DHS will submit the
following information collection request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with
the Paperwork Reduction Act. DHS previously published this information
collection request (ICR) in the Federal Register on June 23, 2023, for
a 60-day public comment period. No comments were received by DHS. The
purpose of this notice is to allow additional 30-days for public
comments.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until October 5,
2023.
[[Page 60696]]
This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.10.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to 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.
The Office of Management and Budget is particularly interested in
comments which:
1. Evaluate 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 11, 1993, President Clinton
issued Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service Standards''
which clearly define his vision that the Federal agencies will put the
people first. Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide
service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service
available in the private sector. Section 1(b) of Executive Order 12862
requires government agencies to ``survey customers to determine the
kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction
with existing services'' and Section 1(e) requires agencies ``survey
front-line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best
in business.''
On March 30, 2016, President Obama established the Core Federal
Services Council, which again emphasized the need to deliver world-
class customer service to the American people. The Council, composed of
the major high-volume, high-impact Federal programs that provide
transactional services directly to the public, were encouraged ``to
improve the customer experience by using public and private sector
management best practices, such as conducting self-assessments and
journey mapping, collecting transactional feedback data, and sharing
such data with frontline and other staff.''
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.
These Presidential actions and requirements establish an ongoing
process of collecting customer insights and using them to improve
services. This new request will enable the Department of Homeland
Security (hereafter ``the Agency'') 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.
The Agency 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.
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.
``Service delivery'' or ``services'' refers to the multitude of
diverse interactions between a customer and Federal agency such as
applying for a benefit or loan, receiving a service such as healthcare
or small business counseling, requesting a document such as a passport
or social security card, complying with a rule or regulation such as
filing taxes or declaring goods, utilizing resources such as a park or
historical site, or seeking information such as public health or
consumer protection notices.
Under this request, three types of activities will be conducted to
generate customer insights:
Customer Research (E.g., User Persona and Journey Map Development):
A critical first component of understanding customer experience is to
develop customer personas and journey maps. This process enables the
Agency to more deeply understand the customer segments they serve and
to organize the processes customers interact with throughout their
engagement with the Federal entity to accomplish a task or meet a need.
In order to adequately capture the perspective of the customer and the
barriers or supports that exist as they navigate these journeys, it is
necessary to directly interact with customers rather than relying
solely upon the Agency's stated policy of how a process should work or
employees' interpretation of how services are delivered. This can occur
through a variety of information collection mechanisms that include
focus groups, individual intercept interviews at a service site,
shadowing a user as they navigate a Federal service and documenting
their reactions and frustrations, customer free-response comment cards,
or informal small discussion groups.
Regardless of the format, the Agency will apply Human Centered
Design (HCD) Discovery methods to generate personas and journey maps,
ultimately identifying customer insights. An approach to recruiting
participants, resources for preparing and structuring interviews, and a
consent form for interviewees can be found at https://www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/HCD-Discovery-Guide-Interagency-v12-1.pdf. This document is
also included in the package.
Insights documented, summarized and presented in customer personas
and journey maps can then be shared across the program, the Agency,
other Federal, State, and Local government stakeholders and even with
the public to validate and discuss common themes identified. These
products can be used as ``indicator lights'' for where more rigorous
qualitative and quantitative research can be conducted to improve
Federal service delivery.
Publicly shared personas and journey maps will include language
that qualifies their use (see question #16), and high-level, non-
identifying
[[Page 60697]]
descriptive statistics of the population(s) interviewed to develop it
(ex. ``25 Service members that transitioned to civilian employment
within the last decade, 14 female, 11 male, 21 enlisted and 4 officers)
to ensure that the perspective represented is understood. Quotes or
insights will never be associated with an actual individual unless they
have signed a release form (see link above for template) and this was
included in the specific collection request.
Customer Feedback (Satisfaction Survey): Surveys to be considered
under this generic clearance will only include those surveys modeled on
the OMB Circular A-11 CX Feedback survey to improve customer service by
collecting feedback at a specific point during a customer journey. This
could include upon submitting a form online on a Federal website,
speaking with a call center representative, paying off a loan, or
visiting a Federal service center.
In an effort to develop comparable, government-wide scores that
will enable cross-agency or industry benchmarking (when relevant) and a
general indication of an agency's overall customer satisfaction, OMB
Circular A-11 Section 280 requires high impact services to measure
their touchpoint/transactional performance in as a real-time manner as
possible, with respect to satisfaction and confidence/trust using the
following questions, without modification. Responses will typically be
assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree)). These questions align to drivers of experience
developed in consultation with leading organizations in customer
experience both in the private sector and industry groups that study
the most critical drivers of customer experience.
5 point Likert scale: I am satisfied with the service I
received from [Program/Service name].
5 point Likert scale: This interaction increased my
confidence in [Program/Service name]. OR I trust [Agency/Program/
Service name] to fulfill our country's commitment to [relevant
population].
Free response: Any additional feedback on your scores
above?
5 point Likert scale: My need was addressed OR My issue
was resolved. OR I found what I was looking for.
5 point Likert scale: It was easy to complete what I
needed to do.
5 point Likert scale: It took a reasonable amount of time
to do what I needed to do.
5 point Likert scale: I was treated fairly.
5 point Likert scale: Employees I interacted with were
helpful.
Free response: Any additional feedback for [Program/
Service name]?
The surveys shall include no more than 15 questions in total. The
Agency may add a few additional questions to those listed above to
clarify type of service received, inquiry type, service center
location, or other program-specific questions that can help program
managers to filter and make use of the feedback data.
As part of the Customer Experience CAP goal's strategy to increase
transparency to drive accountability, the feedback data collected
through the A-11 Standard Feedback survey is meant to be shared with
the public. This collection is part of the government-wide effort to
embed standardized customer metrics within high-impact programs to
create government-wide performance dashboards. Data collected from the
questions listed above will be submitted by the Agency to OMB at a
minimum quarterly for updating of customer experience dashboards on
performance.gov. This dashboard will also include the total volume of
customers that passed through the transaction point at which the survey
was offered, the number of customers the survey was presented to, the
number of responses, and the mode of presentation and response (online
survey, in-person, post-call touchtone, mobile, email). This will help
to qualify the data's representation by showing both the response rate
and total number of actual responses.
User Testing of Services and Digital Products: Agencies should
continually review, update and refine their service delivery, including
communication materials, processes, supporting reference materials, and
digital products associated with a Federal program. This often requires
``field testing'' program informational materials, process updates,
forms, or digital products (such as websites or mobile applications) by
interacting with past, existing, or future customers and soliciting
feedback. These activities can include cognitive laboratory studies,
such as those used to refine questions on a program form to ensure
clarity, demo kiosks at a service center where customers can provide
informal feedback while waiting for a service, or more formally
scheduled in-person observation testing (e.g., website or software
usability tests). These information collection activities are more
specific than broad customer research and related to a particular
artifact/product of a Federal program. As such, there will be a more
structured interview/set of questions than more open-ended customer
research. Findings from these activities are meant to support the
design and implementation of Federal program services and digital
products, and may only be shared in an anonymized/in aggregate if a
particular insight is useful to include as part of a customer persona,
journey map, or common lesson learned for improving service delivery.
The Agency will only submit 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. Additionally, summaries of
customer research and user testing activities may be included in
public-facing customer journey maps and summaries.
Additional release of data must be done coordinated with
OMB.
This clearance will help the Agency to establish a process where
customer experience is regularly monitored and measured. The results
will assist the Agency in the planning and decision-making processes to
improve the quality of the Agency's products and services.
Results from feedback activities and surveys will be used to
measure against established baseline standards and for measuring the
Agency's progress toward defined goals.
There are neither legal nor technical obstacles to the use of
technology in these information collection activities. The
determination to use technology, and which technology to use, will be
based on the type of information collected and the utility and the
availability of specific technology to each respondent in a proposed
customer research activity or feedback survey.
The information collected in these surveys will represent the
minimum burden necessary to evaluate customer experience with the
Agency's programs
[[Page 60698]]
and processes. The Agency will minimize the burden on respondents by
sampling as appropriate, asking for readily available information, and
using short, easy-to-complete information collection instruments.
Without regular mechanisms for collecting and generating customer
insights, the Agency is not able to provide the public with the highest
level of service. These activities will be coordinated to ensure that
most individual respondents will not be asked to respond to more than
one survey instrument per transaction or to participate in more than
one qualitative feedback or testing activity.
Activity and survey instructions will provide all necessary
assurances of confidentiality to the respondents. Although there is no
requirement for such an assurance in statute, the quality of this type
of information requires respondent candor and anonymity.
This is a no changes to the burden or information being collected.
The Office of Management and Budget is particularly interested in
comments which:
1. Evaluate 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses.
Analysis
Agency: Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Title: Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience (OMB
Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation).
OMB Number: 1601-0029.
Frequency: Annually.
Affected Public: Individuals or household.
Number of Respondents: 2,001,500.
Total Burden Hours: 101,125.
Robert Porter Dorr,
Executive Director, Business Management Directorate.
[FR Doc. 2023-19071 Filed 9-1-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9112-FL-P
