****OMB Bulletin No. 98-03****
****OMB Home****

**November 18, 1997**
**OMB BULLETIN NO. 98-03**
**TO THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES**
**SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 1997 Information Collection Budget**
**I.**Purpose****.  Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the OMB Office of Information andRegulatory Affairs (OIRA) is responsible for oversight of Federal agencies' use of informationresources to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental operations to serve agencymissions, including burden reduction and service delivery to the public.  As part of this oversight,and as required by statute, OIRA publishes an annual report describing the information collectionburden imposed by the Federal government on the public, progress of the agencies towards theburden reduction goals set forth in the statute, and agency activities to improve the public's accessto Federal information resources.  This bulletin instructs agencies how to submit information toOIRA that will be the basis for this annual report and will demonstrate the agencies' fulfillment oftheir responsibilities under the Paperwork Reduction Act, including their continuing contributionto the statutory goal for paperwork burden reduction and the Administration's goal of a 25%paperwork burden reduction from FY 1995 to FY 1998.
**II.******Summary**.  This Bulletin and appendices instructs Executive departments and agencies:
A. to prepare an Information Collection Budget (ICB) for FY 1997 and FY 1998 , includingdescriptions of significant burden reduction accomplishments and planned initiatives for theseyears;
B. to document agency violations of the information collection provisions of the PaperworkReduction Act of 1995 and implementing regulations (5 CFR 1320); and
C. to demonstrate compliance with OMB Circular A-130, specifically section 8(a)(6) "InformationDissemination Management System" and section 9(a)(10).
These efforts will be led by the agency's Chief Information Officer (CIO) and carried out bysenior-level agency officials.  Note that this bulletin requires reporting which differs from thatwhich was required in the past.  The Appendices highlight these differences.
**III.******Authority**.  This Bulletin is issued pursuant to the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, asamended; the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950, as amended; and the PaperworkReduction Act of 1995.
**IV.******Required Submissions**.  Executive department and agency reporting should be consistentwith OMB fiscal and policy guidance.  Agencies are to submit the following information inaccordance with the instructions and formats provided:
A. One copy of the agency's Information Collection Budget, prepared in accordance withinstructions in Appendix A.
B. One copy of data regarding agency compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act andimplementing regulations, prepared in accordance with instructions in
Appendix B.
C. One copy of data regarding compliance with OMB Circular No. A-130, "Management ofFederal Information Resources," in accordance with the instructions in
Appendix C.
You may submit any portion of this information electronically.  Please use WordPerfect, version6.1, file format on a 3.5" diskette.  Please label the disk with the agency name and the filename ofthe submission.
**V.  **Submission Date****.  Not later than **February 15, 1998**, each agency listed in Part VII(Coverage) shall provide the reports required by this Bulletin.  The reports should be delivered to:
David Rostker
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
The Office of Management and Budget
New Executive Office Building, Room 10202
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20503
**VI. **OMB Hearings on Submissions****.  During the last year, OMB has held hearings with manyagencies on their progress toward burden reductions goals and agency compliance with thePaperwork Reduction Act.  OMB intends to continue this practice and will schedule hearingscovering material submitted under this bulletin.
**VII.******Coverage****.  The following agencies are subject to the requirements of this Bulletin:
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of State
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
Department of Veterans Affairs
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR Secretariat)
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Trade Commission
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Office of Personnel Management
Securities and Exchange Commission
Small Business Administration
Social Security Administration
**VIII.******Information Contacts**.  Questions about specific agency matters should be directed to theagency's Desk Officer in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Questions about this Bulletin should be directed to David Rostker, tel. (202) 395-3897, E-mail:[email protected].
**IX.******Expiration Date**.  This Bulletin expires September 30, 1998.
Franklin D. RainesDirector
Attachments
Bulletin No. 98-03
Appendix A
**INFORMATION COLLECTION BUDGET (ICB)**
**I.  **Summary****.  This appendix explains what an Information Collection Budget (ICB) must includeand what you must submit to OMB.  You should note that the requirements for this year differfrom previous years.
In preparation for the ICB, you need:- to verify OMB's computer records of your agency's information collection activity;
- to present an accounting of your agency's total information collection burden as of the endof the previous and current fiscal years and to verify a breakdown by function of theburden imposed by your agency;
- to describe information collections with significant changes in burden (including newcollections) during the previous fiscal year; and
- to describe information collections with significant changes in burden (including newcollections) planned for the current fiscal year.

You should note three significant changes to the ICB preparation from last year.  First, you arerequested to verify the categorization by purpose of your agency's burden, based on theinformation provided on the Form 83-I, question 15, and compiled from our records.  Second,instead of documenting only significant decreases as in past years, you will need to documentsignificant increases and decreases.  Third, you should provide information about any newinitiatives, including statutory mandates, that have affected or will affect your paperwork burden.
While you prepare your ICB and estimate your agency's total information collection burden forFY 1998, you should take into consideration statutory goal for paperwork burden reduction, theAdministration's goal of a 25% reduction in paperwork burden by the end of FY 1998 from theFY 1995 baseline, and your agency's Information Streamlining Plan, submitted under OMBBulletin 97-03, dated January 13, 1997.
**II.  **Verify FY 1997 Individual Information Collections****.  Enclosed with this Bulletin is a listfrom OMB's official records of all active information collections and their associated burdenfigures as of the end of FY 1997 (September 30, 1997).  Check the "annual reporting hours" foreach collection presented in this inventory list against your own records.  You should not submitcorrections for 83-I and 83-C submissions approved after September 30, 1997.
If there are no errors in the OMB printout, include in your cover letter to the ICB a statement tothat effect.
If there are errors, provide OMB with the revised annual reporting hours.  You do not need re-submit the entire inventory list, but rather only those pages containing annual reporting hoursrevisions and any appropriate documentation.
**III. **Statement of Agency's Total Information Collection Burden****.  Summarize, in the format inExhibit 1, your agency's total information collection burden (in hours and in number of ongoingcollections) for FY 1997 as corrected in Section II and as estimated for FY 1998.  If there areexpired information collections for which reinstatement was pending as of September 30, 1997,include these burden hours in your total FY 1997 burden and provide a list of these collectionsand hour burdens.
Follow this listing with a breakdown of your agency's FY 1997 total hour burden by purpose.Use the following consolidated categories from question 15 of the 83-I:- Application for benefits;
- Program management (includes "Program evaluation" and "Program planning ormanagement");
- General purpose statistics;
- Research; and
- Regulatory (includes "Audit" and "Regulatory or compliance").

In addition, we request that you report on the number of burden hours imposed by your agencythrough "third-party disclosure" requirements.  Definitions of these terms are in section VI of thisappendix.
You may base your submission on the information we have provided you or you may do yourown analysis.  If you use our data, please assign each of the OMB numbers listed as "UnassignedPrimary Purpose" to one of these seven categories and report the new totals.
Follow these listings with a description, in narrative form, of primary goals and timetables towardsreducing burden on the public; these goals should be consistent with improving agencymanagement of the information collection review process.  Also describe any circumstances,including new statutes and initiatives, which may prevent or reverse burden reduction efforts.
**IV. **Significant Burden Changes for FY 1997****.  Using the format in Exhibit 2, detail youragency's **most significant** FY 1997 actions that changed the information collection burdens onthe public, both increases and decreases.  Do not report every program change, just the mostnoteworthy.  For each action, list the OMB numbers affected, describe the specific changes (e.g.,more frequent reporting, consolidation of several forms, cross-cutting activities), the causes foraction (e.g., new statutes, initiatives, policy changes), a breakdown of the hours affected by eachchange, and whether each change was due to program changes or adjustments to the reportedburden (See Section VII. **Definitions**).  Use the comments section to explain any additionaldetails, including specific statutory changes which led directly to changes in paperwork burden.Please be specific, but brief.  Attach additional sheets as necessary.
**V.  **Significant Burden Changes for FY 1998****.  Using the format in Exhibit 3, detail youragency's **most significant** planned actions for FY 1998 that will change the information collectionburdens on the public, both increases and decreases.  Do not report every change, just the mostnoteworthy.  Be sure to include significant actions which will be required by changes in statute.For each action, list the OMB numbers affected, describe the specific changes (e.g., more frequentreporting, consolidation of several forms, cross-cutting activities), the causes for action (e.g., newstatutes, initiatives, policy changes), a breakdown of the hours affected by each change, andwhether each change was due to program changes or adjustments to your reported burden (SeeSection VII. **Definitions**).  Use the comments section to explain any additional details.  Please bespecific, but brief.  Attach additional sheets as necessary.
**VI. **Burden Categories**.  You are requested to categorize your agency's burden into sevencategories and report on the burden of "third-party disclosures".  These categories are describedbelow.- Application for benefits  covers the collection of information which is required in order toreceive a benefit of any form from the agency, including entitlements, grants, permits,loans, and contracts.
- Program management  covers any collection of information designed  to obtaininformation necessary to conduct program oversight, make decisions about programoperations, develop new program strategies, or assess the efficiency or effectiveness of anexisting program.  This category includes "Program evaluation" and "Program planning ormanagement" categories in number 15 on the 83-I.
- General purpose statistics  includes those surveys which are performed to generatestatistical compilations of general public interest and not for any specific programmaticpurpose.
- Research  covers any collection of information designed to test an hypothesis, permitconclusions to be drawn, and thereby to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.
- Regulatory  covers any collection of information required of a regulated population aspart of their obligations under statute or regulation.  This category include "Regulatory orcompliance" and "Audit" categories in number 15 on the 83-I

**Third-party Disclosures** are situations where a person is required, by a Federal agency, toprovide information to a person or entity other than the Federal government.  These includerequired reporting from companies to citizens through labels, posters, or advertisements.
**VII. **Definitions****.  Program changes should not be confused with adjustments.
A **"**Program increase**"** is an additional burden resulting from an action or directive of theExecutive branch of the Federal government (e.g., an increase in sample size or coverage, amountof information, reporting frequency, or expanded use of an existing form).  This also includespreviously in-use and unapproved information collections discovered during the ICB process, orduring the fiscal year, which will be in use during the next fiscal year.
A **"**Program decrease**"** is a reduction in burden because of:  (1) the discontinuation of aninformation collection; or (2) a change in an existing information collection as by a Federal agency(e.g., the use of sampling (or smaller samples), a decrease in the amount of information requested(fewer questions), or a decrease in reporting frequency).
An **"**Adjustment**"** denotes a change in burden hours due to factors over which the governmenthas no control, such as population growth, or in factors which do not affect what information thegovernment collects or how (e.g., changes in the methods used to estimate burden or correctionof errors in burden estimates).
**Note** : For sections III. and IV., only expired collections that are no longer in use (and will not beput back in use) can be counted as program decreases (e.g., surveys that have been completed).For an expired collection which is still in use and for which reinstatement is pending or expected,agencies should write "REINSTATEMENT PENDING" in the margin next to the collection.
****INFORMATION COLLECTION BUDGET****
**EXHIBIT 1**
**Information Collection Burden Reduction Achievements and Goals**
- (1)  Total actual hour  burden  forall FY 1997 collections (1) : 2,500,000 hrs 
(2)  Total estimated hour 
burden
forall FY 1998 collections
(2)
:
1,500,000 hrs

(3)  Total actual 
number
 ofall FY1997 collections
(3)
:
20 collections

(4)  Total estimated 
number
 ofallFY 1998 collections
(4)
:
13 collections

(5) Total actual hour burden for FY 1997 bypurpose:
-  a. Application for benefits1,000,000 hrs40%b. Program management150,000 hrs6%c. General purpose statistics50,000 hrs2%d. Research50,000 hrs2%e. Regulatory or compliance1,250,000 hrs50%2,500,000 hrs100%     (6) Third-partydisclosures  500,000 hrs  20 %
-  (1) Describe, in narrative form, primary goals andtimetables towards reducing burden on thepublic; these goals should be consistent with improving agency management of the informationcollection review process.  Also describe any circumstances, include new statutes and initiatives,which may prevent or reverse burden reduction efforts.  ****INFORMATION COLLECTION BUDGET****
**EXHIBIT 2**
**FY 1997 Significant Changes in Burden**
**Title(s):**U.S. Survey**OMB Number(s):** 0000-0000****
**Total Burden Hours, end of FY 1996:**12,000,000****
**Total Burden Hours, end of FY 1997:**14,000,000**Change in Hours****Type of Change****Description of Change**+4,000,000Program[Describe specific agency action, causes for action, and, ifthis page covers multiple OMB numbers, which OMBnumber is affected.]­3,000,000Program[Describe specific agency action, causes for action, and, ifthis page covers multiple OMB numbers, which OMBnumber is affected.]+1,000,000AdjustmentIncrease in eligible recipients for aid from 25,000,000 to26,000,000.
**Comments:**[Use this section to provide additional information about the actions described onthis sheet.  Please include specific language or cites, if appropriate.]
[You may use this format to describe changes in a single collection, changes in a series of relatedcollections, or changes through a coordinated agency initiative.]
****INFORMATION COLLECTION BUDGET****
**EXHIBIT 3**
**FY 1998 Significant Planned Changes in Burden**
**Title(s):**U.S. Survey**OMB Number(s):** 0000-0000****
**Total Burden Hours, end of FY 1997:**12,000,000 [sum for all collections listed above]****
**Expected Total Burden Hours, end of FY 1998:**14,000,000**Change in Hours****Type of Change****Description of Change**+4,000,000Program[Describe specific agency action, causes for action, and, ifthis page covers multiple OMB numbers, which OMBnumber is affected.]­3,000,000Program[Describe specific agency action, causes for action, and, ifthis page covers multiple OMB numbers, which OMBnumber is affected.]+1,000,000AdjustmentIncrease in eligible recipients for aid from 25,000,000 to26,000,000.
**Comments:**[Use this section to provide additional information about the actions described onthis sheet.  Please include specific language or cites, if appropriate.]
[You may use this format to describe changes in a single collection, changes in a series of relatedcollections, or changes through a coordinated agency initiative.]
Bulletin No. 98-03
Appendix B
****Compliance with the Information Collection Provisions of the****
****Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 C.F.R. 1320**
**I.  **Summary****.  This appendix explains what you must submit to OMB to report violations of theinformation collection provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 and OMB'simplementing regulations, 5 C.F.R. 1320, over the last fiscal year.  OMB is required to reportPRA violations to Congress, but this is the first time agencies are asked to self-report violations asrequired by 44 U.S.C. 3514.
**II.  **Instructions****.  For each violation that occurred during FY 1997, provide the followinginformation:- Title of the collection and OMB control number if ever assigned;
- Nature of the violation, (for example:
- Unapproved collection;
- Expiration of ongoing collection;
- Modification of an approved collection without prior OMB approval; or
- Failure to display OMB control number.);
- How the violation was discovered; and
- How the violation was remedied.

If you discover any violations during the preparation of this report, please contact your OIRAdesk officer and remedy the violation immediately.
**III. **Attachments****.  To assist you in reviewing your agency's actions over FY 1997 for PRAviolations, OMB has included in this bulletin two lists, generated from the official computerrecords.
The first list details collections that expired during the last fiscal year and had not been reinstatedas of September 30, 1997.  The second list details collections that were reinstated during the fiscalyear.
Bulletin No. 98-03
Appendix C
****Compliance with the Information Dissemination Provisions of the****
****Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and OMB Circular No. A-130**
**I.  **Summary****.  This appendix explains what you must submit to OMB to demonstrate complianceby your agency with two specific sections of OMB Circular No. A-130 "Management of FederalInformation Resources," as revised on February 8, 1996 (61 **Federal Register** 6434, February 20,1996):- Section 8(b)(6), which requires the agency to maintain and implement a managementsystem for all information dissemination products; and
- Section 9(a)(10), which requires you to report to OMB all alleged failures to comply withthis Circular.

**II.  **Information Dissemination Management System****.  Describe your agency's informationdissemination management system, as required by Section 8(b)(6), including an assessment of theagency's progress in developing and implementing its portion of the Government InformationLocator System, as mandated by 44 U.S.C. 3511, and explain how this system functions withregards to your agency's most important information dissemination programs. This managementsystem need not be an elaborate formal system, so long as you can ensure that your agency isperforming the appropriate information dissemination activities on a routine basis.  For a more indepth description of this system and what it must cover, see Appendix IV of the Circular.
**III. **Alleged Failures to Comply with OMB Circular No. A-130**.  Section 9(a)(10) of theCircular provides that the head of each agency shall:
(10)  Direct the senior official [CIO] appointed pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 3506(b) to monitor agencycompliance with the policies, procedures, and guidance in this Circular.  Acting as an ombudsman,the senior official shall consider alleged instances of agency failure to comply with this Circularand recommend or take corrective action as appropriate.  The senior official shall report annually,not later than February 1st of each year, to the Director [of OMB] those instances of allegedfailure to comply with this Circular and their resolution.
Include this report in your submission to OMB under this bulletin.  If you have received nocomplaints for FY 1997, state that fact at the end of your submission.
**IV. **Additional information****.  Copies of OMB Circular A-130 are available via the Internet onOMB's homepage at /OMB.
1.  Sum of burden hours for **all** collections for FY 1997.
2.  Sum of expected burden hours for **all** collections for FY 1998.
3.  Total number (count) of **all** collections for FY 1997.
4.  Total number (count) of **all** collections for FY 1998.
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