Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request-Generic Clearance for FNS Quick Response Surveys (FNS QRS), 73585-73587 [2023-23660]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Food and Nutrition Service

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 206 (Thursday, October 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73585-73587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23660]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Generic Clearance for FNS Quick Response Surveys (FNS 
QRS)

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision 
of a currently approved collection to conduct short, quick-turnaround 
surveys of State and local agencies providing food, education, and 
other services in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Child 
Nutrition Programs, and Supplemental Nutrition and Safety Programs 
administered at the federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service 
(FNS). These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, 
Infants, and Children (WIC); National School Lunch Program (NSLP); 
School Breakfast Program (SBP); Special Milk Program (SMP); Fresh Fruit 
and Vegetable Program (FFVP); Summer Food Service Program (SFSP); 
Summer EBT (SEBT); Team Nutrition; the Patrick Leahy Farm to School 
Program; the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); USDA Foods in 
Schools; Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR); The 
Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); and the Commodity 
Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 26, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted via email to 
[email protected]. Comments will also be accepted through the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov, and 
follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed to Conor 
McGovern at [email protected], 703-457-7740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
that were used; (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 those who are to respond, including 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Title: Generic Clearance for FNS Quick Response Surveys (FNS QRS).
    Form Number: N/A.
    OMB Number: 0584-0613.
    Expiration Date: 05/31/2024.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) intends to request 
the renewal of a generic clearance that allows FNS to conduct short, 
quick-turnaround surveys of State, local, and Tribal agencies and 
businesses that receive food, funds, and nutrition information through 
programs administered by FNS. This generic clearance enables FNS to 
better meet the goals of Executive Order 14058, Transforming Federal 
Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in 
Government, by allowing FNS to expeditiously gather information from 
program operators to improve and refine customer experience and service 
delivery.
    These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, 
Infants, and Children (WIC); National School Lunch Program (NSLP); 
School Breakfast Program (SBP); Special Milk Program (SMP); Fresh Fruit 
and Vegetable Program (FFVP); Summer Food Service Program (SFSP); 
Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (SEBT); the Patrick Leahy Farm to 
School Program; Team Nutrition; the Child and Adult Care Food Program 
(CACFP); USDA Foods in Schools; Food Distribution Program on Indian 
Reservations (FDPIR); The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); 
and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).
    Legislation authorizing these programs requires operators to 
cooperate with USDA program research and evaluation activities. 
Traditionally, FNS conducts large, program-specific studies to collect 
information on numerous features of each program. Such studies often 
take several years to complete. Quick response surveys provide a system 
for rapidly collecting current information on a specific feature or 
issue, and, therefore, enable FNS to administer the programs more 
effectively.
    The data collection activities under this clearance will include: 
(1) sample frame data collections and (2) quick-response surveys. The 
sample frame data collections are used to request contact information 
from State agencies for the local program operators within their 
purview. The quick-response survey data collections will be used to 
survey key administrators of FNS programs at the State, local, and site 
level to answer policy and implementation questions.
    Following standard OMB requirements, FNS will submit a change 
request to OMB for each data collection activity undertaken under this 
generic clearance. The respondents will be identified at the time that 
each change request is submitted to OMB. FNS will provide OMB with the 
instruments and supporting materials describing the research project 
and specific pre-testing activities.
    This revision makes some changes to the information collection as 
previously approved. SNAP, Summer EBT, and the Patrick Leahy Farm to 
School Program have been added as separate programs, thereby expanding 
it to all current FNS programs. The type of information to be collected 
and the methods of collection will remain broadly the same. In this 
revision, FNS has changed the manner in which we account for burden on 
respondents. Previously, we requested burden for exactly one survey per 
program per year at the state and local levels. This had several 
downsides. First, it overestimated the burden of the clearance itself 
on many respondent groups, as some programs are surveyed more commonly 
than others. Second, it reduced flexibility for FNS to perform multiple 
surveys for a given program when there were significant policy or

[[Page 73586]]

operational needs. In making these revisions, we still take steps to 
ensure that a given individual respondent receives no more than three 
surveys about the same program each year, with an average of one per 
program per year expected.
    Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Governments and 
Businesses. State, Local and Tribal government respondents will 
include: (1) State Program Directors, including SNAP State agency 
directors, WIC State Agency directors and nutrition education and 
breastfeeding coordinators, directors of the Child Nutrition programs 
(NSLP, SBP, FFVP, SFSP, SEBT, Farm to School, CACFP), directors of 
State Distributing Agencies (CSFP, TEFAP, USDA Foods in Schools), and 
FDPIR State Agencies and Indian Tribal Organizations; and (2) local-
level program administrators, including Local WIC Agencies and Sites, 
School Food Authorities (SFAs), Schools, SFSP Sponsors and Sites, USDA 
Foods in Schools Local Agencies and Providers, TEFAP Eligible Recipient 
Agencies (ERAs) and Emergency Food Organizations (EFOs), CSFP Local 
Agencies, etc. Business respondents include not-for-profit local WIC 
Sites, not-for-profit SFSP Sponsors and Sites, for-profit and not-for-
profit CACFP Sponsors and Providers, not-for-profit TEFAP ERAs and 
EFOs, not-for-profit CSFP Local Agencies, etc.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of 
annual respondents is 41,346. This includes all State Program Directors 
(675 total) and a sample of local-level program administrators from 
local government agencies (20,391 total) and businesses (20,280 total). 
The total number of respondents includes an estimated 34,213 total 
responsive entities as well as 7,133 local program administrators from 
both local agencies (3,479 total) and (3,654 total) whom FNS expects 
will not respond to the information collection request.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: Approximately once 
each year, State agencies responsible for a program will be asked to 
update contact information for their respective local agencies as part 
of the sample frame data collection. Any single individual respondent, 
State agency or local program operator, will receive no more than three 
surveys about the same FNS program in a given year, with each expected 
to receive a single survey in a given year. Including recruitment 
requests for the surveys, FNS estimates that respondents will average 2 
responses per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 82,692.
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time of response ranges 
from 3 minutes (0.05 hours) to 1 hour for respondents and 1 minute (.02 
hours) for non-respondents, depending on the data collection activity, 
as shown in the table below. The average estimated time across all 
responses is approximately 14 minutes (0.24 hours).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The estimated total 
annual burden is 19,744 hours, for a total of 59,231 over the clearance 
period. See the table below for estimated total annual burden for each 
type of collection and respondent.

Tameka Owens,
Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
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[FR Doc. 2023-23660 Filed 10-25-23; 8:45 am]
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