Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 199 / Tuesday, October 17, 2023 / Notices 71529 

Insert your comments under the 

‘‘Comment’’ title, click ‘‘Browse’’ to 

attach files (if applicable). Input your 

email address and select an identity 

category then click ‘‘Submit Comment.’’ 

Information on using Regulations.gov, 

including instructions for accessing 

documents, submitting comments, and 

viewing the docket after the close of the 

comment period, is available through 

the site’s ‘‘FAQ’’ link. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Crystal Pemberton, Management 

Analyst, Branch 1, Rural Development 

Innovation Center—Regulations 

Management Division, United States 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, South 

Building, Washington, DC 20250–1522. 

Telephone: (202) 260–8621. Email: 

Crystal.Pemberton@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office 

of Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

regulation (5 CFR part 1320) 

implementing provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 

L. 104–13) requires that interested 

members of the public and affected 

agencies have an opportunity to 

comment on information collection and 

recordkeeping activities (see, 5 CFR 

1320.8(d)). This notice identifies the 

following information collection that 

RUS is submitting to OMB as extension 

to an existing collection with Agency 

adjustment. 

Title: Electric System Emergency 

Restoration Plan. 

OMB Control Number: 0572–0140. 

Expiration Date of Approval: March 

31, 2024. 

Type of Request: Extension of a 

currently approved information 

collection. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average .5 hour per 

response. 

Respondents: Not-for-profit 

institutions. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

41. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 1. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 20.5 hours. 

Abstract: USDA Rural Development 

administers rural utilities programs 

through the Rural Utilities Service 

(Agency). The Agency manages loan 

programs in accordance with the Rural 

Electrification Act (RE Act) of 1936, 7 

U.S.C. 901 et seq., as amended. One of 

the Agency’s main objectives is to 

safeguard loan security. An important 

part of safeguarding loan security is to 

make sure Agency financed facilities are 

utilized responsibly, adequately 

operated, and maintained. Accordingly, 

RUS borrowers have a duty to RUS to 

maintain their respective systems. In 

performing this duty, borrowers further 

the purposes of the RE Act while also 

preserving the value of electric systems 

to serve as collateral for repayment of 

RUS assistance. 

A substantial portion of the electric 

infrastructure of the United States 

resides in rural America and is 

maintained by rural Americans. RUS is 

uniquely coupled with the electric 

infrastructure of rural America and its 

electric borrowers serving rural 

America. To ensure that the electric 

infrastructure in rural America is 

adequately protected, electric borrowers 

conduct a Vulnerability and Risk 

Assessment (VRA) of their respective 

systems and utilize the results of this 

assessment to enhance an existing 

Emergency Restoration Plan (ERP) or to 

create an ERP. The VRA is utilized to 

identify specific assets and 

infrastructure owned or served by the 

electric utility, to determine the 

criticality and the risk level associated 

with the assets and infrastructure 

including a risk versus cost analysis, to 

identify threats and vulnerabilities, if 

present, to review existing mitigation 

procedures and to assist in the 

development of new and additional 

mitigating procedures, if necessary. The 

ERP provides written procedures 

detailing response and restoration 

efforts in the event of a major system 

outage resulting from a natural or manmade disaster. The annual exercise of 

the ERP ensures operability and 

employee competency and serves to 

identify and correct deficiencies in the 

existing ERP. The exercise may be 

implemented individually by a single 

borrower, or by an individual borrower 

as a participant in a multi-party (to 

include utilities, government agencies 

and other participants or combination 

thereof) tabletop execution or actual 

implementation of the ERP. 

Electric borrowers maintain ERPs as 

part of prudent utilities practices. These 

ERPs are essential to continuous 

operation of the electric systems. Each 

electric applicant provides RUS with a 

written self-certification letter form that 

an ERP exists for the system and that an 

initial VRA has been performed as part 

of the application process. 

Comments are invited on: 

(a) Whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s 

estimate of the burden of the collection 

of information including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions 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 

respondents, including through the use 

of appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. All responses 

to this notice will be summarized and 

included in the request for OMB 

approval. All comments will become a 

matter of public record. 

Copies of this information collection 

can be obtained from Crystal Pemberton, 

Rural Development Innovation Center— 

Regulations Management Division, at 

(202) 260–8621. Email: 

Crystal.Pemberton@usda.gov. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Andrew Berke, 

Administrator, Rural Utilities Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22839 Filed 10–16–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Generic Clearance for 

Internet Panel Pretesting and 

Qualitative Survey Methods Testing 

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection, 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 

1995, invites the general public and 

other Federal agencies to comment on 

proposed, and continuing information 

collections, which helps us assess the 

impact of our information collection 

requirements and minimize the public’s 

reporting burden. The purpose of this 

notice is to allow for 60 days of public 

comment on the proposed extension of 

the Generic Clearance for Internet Panel 

Pretesting and Qualitative Survey 

Methods Testing, prior to the 

submission of the information collection 

request (ICR) to OMB for approval. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments regarding this proposed 


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71530 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 199 / Tuesday, October 17, 2023 / Notices 

information collection must be received 

on or before December 18, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments by 

email to adrm.pra@census.gov. Please 

reference OMB Control Number 0607– 

0978 in the subject line of your 

comments. You may also submit 

comments, identified by Docket Number 

USBC–2023–0002, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. All comments 

received are part of the public record. 

No comments will be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov for public viewing 

until after the comment period has 

closed. Comments will generally be 

posted without change. All Personally 

Identifiable Information (for example, 

name and address) voluntarily 

submitted by the commenter may be 

publicly accessible. Do not submit 

Confidential Business Information or 

otherwise sensitive or protected 

information. You may submit 

attachments to electronic comments in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF 

file formats. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

specific questions related to collection 

activities should be directed to Aleia 

Clark Fobia, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 

Silver Hill Road, Center for Behavioral 

Science Methods, Washington, DC 

20233 or by calling 202–893–4091. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau is committed to 

conducting research in a cost-efficient 

manner. The U.S. Census Bureau plans 

to request an extension of the current 

OMB approval to conduct a series of 

medium-scale internet-based tests, as a 

cost-efficient method of testing 

questions and contact strategies over the 

internet through different types of 

samples. Using internet panel 

pretesting, we can answer some research 

questions more thoroughly than in the 

small-scale testing, but less expensively 

than in the large-scale field test. 

This research program will be used by 

the Census Bureau and survey sponsors 

to test alternative contact methods, 

including emails and text messages, 

improve online questionnaires and 

procedures, reduce respondent burden, 

and ultimately increase the quality of 

data collected in the censuses and 

surveys. We will use the clearance to 

conduct experimental pretesting of 

decennial and demographic census and 

survey questionnaires prior to fielding 

them as well as communications and/or 

marketing strategies and data 

dissemination tools for the Census 

Bureau. The primary method of 

identifying measurement problems with 

the questionnaire or survey procedure is 

split panel tests. This will encompass 

both methodological and subject matter 

research questions that can be tested on 

a medium-scale internet panel. 

This research program will also be 

used by the Census Bureau for remote 

usability testing of electronic interfaces 

and to perform other qualitative 

analyses such as respondent debriefings. 

An advantage of using remote, mediumscale testing is that participants can test 

products at their convenience using 

their own equipment, as opposed to 

using Census Bureau-supplied 

computers. A diverse participant pool 

(geographically, demographically, or 

economically) is another advantage. 

Remote usability testing would use click 

through rates and other paradata, 

accuracy and satisfaction scores, and 

written qualitative comments to 

determine optimal interface designs and 

to obtain feedback from respondents. 

The public is currently offered an 

opportunity to participate in this 

research remotely, by signing up for an 

online research panel. If a person opts 

in, the Census Bureau will occasionally 

email (or text, if applicable) the person 

an invitation to complete a survey for 

one of our research projects. Invited 

respondents will be told the topic of the 

survey, and how long it will take to 

complete it. Under this clearance, we 

will also conduct similar-scale and 

similarly designed research using other 

email lists to validate preliminary 

findings and expand the research. 

II. Method of Collection 

Split sample experiments. This 

involves testing alternative versions of 

questionnaires, invitations to 

questionnaires (e.g., emails or text 

messages), or websites, at least some of 

which have been designed to address 

problems identified in draft versions or 

versions from previous waves. The use 

of multiple questionnaires, invitations, 

or websites, randomly assigned to 

permit statistical comparisons, is the 

critical component here; data collection 

will be via the internet. Comparison of 

revised questionnaires (or invitations) 

against a control version, preferably, or 

against each other facilitates statistical 

evaluation of the performance of 

alternative versions of the questionnaire 

(or invitation or website). 

The number of versions tested and the 

number of cases per version will depend 

on the objectives of the test. We cannot 

specify with certainty a minimum panel 

size, although we would expect that no 

questionnaire versions would be 

administered to less than fifty 

respondents. 

Split sample tests that incorporate 

methodological questionnaire design 

experiments will have a larger 

maximum sample size (up to several 

hundred cases per panel) than other 

pretest methods. This will enable the 

detection of statistically significant 

differences and facilitate 

methodological experiments that can 

extend questionnaire design knowledge 

more generally for use in a variety of 

Census Bureau data collection 

instruments. 

Usability Interviews: This method 

involves getting respondent input to aid 

in the development of automated 

questionnaires and websites and 

associated materials. The objective is to 

identify problems that keep respondents 

from completing automated 

questionnaires accurately and efficiently 

with minimal burden, or that prevent 

respondents from successfully 

navigating websites and finding the 

information they seek. Remote usability 

testing may be conducted under this 

clearance, whereby a user would receive 

an invitation to use a website or survey, 

then answer targeted questions about 

that experience. 

Qualitative Interviews: This method 

involves one-on-one (or sometimes 

group) interviews in which the 

respondent is typically asked questions 

about survey content areas, survey 

questions or the survey process. A 

number of different techniques may be 

involved, including cognitive interviews 

and focus groups. The objective is to 

identify problems of ambiguity or 

misunderstanding, or other difficulties 

respondents may have answering survey 

questions in order to improve the 

information ultimately collected in large 

scale surveys and censuses. 

Data collection for this project is 

authorized under the authorizing 

legislation for the questionnaire being 

tested. This may be Title 13, Sections 

131, 141, 161, 181, 182, 193, and 301 for 

Census Bureau-sponsored surveys, and 

Title 13, Section 8(b), and Title 15 for 

surveys sponsored by other Federal 

agencies. We do not now know what 

other titles will be referenced, since we 

do not know what survey questionnaires 

will be pretested during the course of 

the clearance. 

Literature on and considerations 

about the use of internet samples for 

this type of work have been thoroughly 

covered by a Task Force commissioned 

by the American Association for Public 

Opinion Research and are well 

documented there (Baker, et al., 2013). 

The information collected in this 

program of developing and testing 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 199 / Tuesday, October 17, 2023 / Notices 71531 

questionnaires will be used by staff from 

the Census Bureau and sponsoring 

agencies to evaluate and improve the 

quality of the data in the surveys and 

censuses that are ultimately conducted. 

Because the questionnaires being tested 

under this clearance are still in the 

process of development, the data that 

result from these collections are not 

considered official statistics of the 

Census Bureau or other Federal 

agencies. Data will be included in 

research reports prepared for sponsors 

inside and outside of the Census 

Bureau. The results may also be 

prepared for presentations related to 

survey methodology at professional 

meetings or publications in professional 

journals. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0607–0978. 

Form Number(s): TBD. 

Type of Review: Regular submission, 

Request for an Extension, without 

Change, of a Currently Approved 

Collection. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

67,600. 

Estimated Time per Response: 15 

minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 16,900. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $0. (This is not the cost of 

respondents’ time, but the indirect costs 

respondents may incur for such things 

as purchases of specialized software or 

hardware needed to report, or 

expenditures for accounting or records 

maintenance services required 

specifically by the collection.) 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Data collection for 

this project is authorized under the 

authorizing legislation for the 

questionnaire being tested. This may be 

Title 13, Sections 131, 141, 161, 181, 

182, 193, and 301 for Census Bureausponsored surveys, and Title 13 and 15 

for surveys sponsored by other Federal 

agencies. We do not now know what 

other titles will be referenced, since we 

do not know what survey questionnaires 

will be pretested during the course of 

the clearance. 

IV. Request for Comments 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) 

Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 

accuracy of our estimate of the time and 

cost burden for this proposed collection, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) Minimize the 

reporting burden on those who are to 

respond, including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include, or 

summarize, each comment in our 

request to OMB to approve this ICR. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you may ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22896 Filed 10–16–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Economic Analysis 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Direct Investment Surveys: 

BE–15, Annual Survey of Foreign 

Direct Investment in the United States 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit the following information 

collection request to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and clearance in accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, on or after the date of publication 

of this notice. We invite the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

comment on proposed, and continuing 

information collections, which helps us 

assess the impact of our information 

collection requirements and minimize 

the public’s reporting burden. Public 

comments were previously requested 

via the Federal Register on 08/09/2023 

during a 60-day comment period. This 

notice allows for an additional 30 days 

for public comments. 

Agency: Bureau of Economic Analysis 

(BEA), Department of Commerce. 

Title: Annual Survey of Foreign Direct 

Investment in the United States. 

OMB Control Number: 0608–0034. 

Form Number: BE–15. 

Type of Request: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Number of Respondents: 6,550 

annually, of which approximately 3,350 

file A forms, 1,700 file B forms, 1,000 

file C forms, and 500 file Claim for 

Exemption forms. 

Average Hours per Response: 24.3 

hours per respondent (159,038 hours/ 

6,550 respondents) is the average but 

may vary considerably among 

respondents because of differences in 

company size and complexity. 

Burden Hours: 159,038 hours. Total 

annual burden is calculated by 

multiplying the estimated number of 

submissions of each form by the average 

hourly burden per form, which is 44.75 

hours for the A form, 3.75 hours for the 

B form, 2.25 hours for the C form, and 

1 hour for the Claim for Exemption 

form. 

Needs and Uses: The Annual Survey 

of Foreign Direct Investment in the 

United States (BE–15) obtains sample 

data on the financial structure and 

operations of foreign-owned U.S. 

business enterprises. The data are 

needed to provide reliable, useful, and 

timely measures of foreign direct 

investment in the United States to 

assess its impact on the U.S. economy. 

The sample data are used to derive 

universe estimates in non-benchmark 

years from similar data reported in the 

BE–12 benchmark survey, which is 

conducted every five years. The data 

collected include balance sheets; 

income statements; property, plant, and 

equipment; employment and employee 

compensation; merchandise trade; sales 

of goods and services; taxes; and 

research and development activity for 

the U.S. operations. In addition to these 

national data, several data items are 

collected by the state, including 

employment and property, plant, and 

equipment. 

Affected Public: Businesses or other 

for-profit organizations. 

Frequency: Annual. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: International 

Investment and Trade in Services 

Survey Act (Pub. L. 94–472, 22 U.S.C. 

3101–3108, as amended). 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. 

Follow the instructions to view the 

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/ 


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