79512 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 189 / Monday, September 30, 2024 / Notices 

years. The results of the surveys are 

used to assess trends in R&D 

expenditures by industry sector, 

investigate productivity determinants, 

formulate science and tax policy, and 

compare individual company 

performance with industry averages. 

This survey is the Nation’s primary 

source for international comparative 

statistics on business R&D spending. 

BERD will continue to collect the 

following types of information: 

• R&D expense based on accepted 

accounting standards. 

• Worldwide R&D of domestic 

companies. 

• Business segment detail. 

• R&D related capital expenditures. 

• Detailed data about the R&D 

workforce. 

• R&D strategy and data on the 

potential impact of R&D on the market. 

Beginning in 2019, in an effort to 

reduce burden, BERD began rotating 

select content off the survey in 

alternating years. In 2019, questions 

related to intellectual property and 

technology transfer were removed from 

the survey. In 2020, questions related to 

detail of R&D performed by others, 

activities with academia, industries of 

business and specific federal agency 

funding R&D, and areas of application 

for R&D were removed and the 

intellectual property and technology 

transfer questions rotated back on. This 

cycle of rotating content has continued. 

In 2021, the Capital Expenditures 

section was revised to collect additional 

information on assets. Proposed at that 

time was to collect two consecutive 

years of data (for 2021 and 2022) and 

rotate select asset content off the survey 

in alternating years. So, in 2023, BERD 

would have had a subset of the asset 

content, and in 2024, all of the asset 

content would have been included on 

the survey. This proposed content 

rotation did not occur in 2023. 

However, the rotation will commence in 

2024. Resulting in a subset of the asset 

content collected in 2024 and all of the 

asset content collected in 2025 and so 

on, similar to the other rotating content. 

Census and NCSES will continue to 

explore content that could be collected 

less frequently than annual in an effort 

to continue to reduce respondent 

burden. 

Information from BERD will continue 

to support NCSES’ responsibility to 

collect information on Research and 

Development for overall support for 

Federal policy discussions, as required 

under the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act of 2010. 

Policy officials from many Federal 

agencies rely on these statistics for 

essential information. Businesses and 

trade organizations rely on BERD data to 

benchmark their industry’s performance 

against others. For example, total U.S. 

R&D expenditures statistics are used by 

the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) 

for incorporating R&D as fixed 

investment in updates to the National 

Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). 

Also, NCSES, BEA and the Census 

Bureau periodically seek to use BERD 

data to augment global R&D investment 

information that is obtained from BEA’s 

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and 

U.S. Direct Investment Abroad (USDIA) 

surveys. Further, the Census Bureau 

links data collected by BERD with other 

statistical files. At the Census Bureau, 

historical company-level R&D data are 

linked to a file that contains information 

on the outputs and inputs of companies’ 

manufacturing plants. Researchers can 

analyze the relationships between R&D 

funding and other economic variables 

by using micro-level data. 

Individuals and organizations access 

the survey statistics via the internet in 

annual InfoBriefs published by NCSES 

that announce the availability of 

statistics from each cycle of BERD and 

detailed statistical table reports that 

contain all the statistics NCSES 

produces from BERD. Information about 

the kinds of projects that rely on 

statistics from BERD is available from 

internal records of Census’ Center for 

Economic Studies. In addition, survey 

statistics are regularly cited in trade 

publications and many researchers use 

the survey statistics from these 

secondary sources without directly 

contacting NCSES or the Census Bureau. 

Some of the users of the survey statistics 

and the types of information they 

request are described below. 

Frequency: Annually. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: The survey is 

conducted under the authority of Title 

13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 

131, and 182; Title 42, United States 

Code, Sections 1861–76 (National 

Science Foundation Act of 1950, as 

amended); and Section 505 within the 

America COMPETES Reauthorization 

Act of 2010. 

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/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0607–0912. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22361 Filed 9–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–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; Current Population Survey 

(CPS) 2025 Field Test 

AGENCY: Census Bureau, 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 new 

information collection, Current 

Population Survey (CPS) 2025 Field 

Test, prior to the submission of the 

information collection request (ICR) to 

OMB for approval. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments regarding this proposed 

information collection must be received 

on or before November 29, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments by 

email to Kyra Linse, Survey Director, 

Current Population Surveys via the 

internet at dsd.cps@census.gov. Please 

reference Current Population Survey 

(CPS) 2025 Field Test in the subject line 

of your comments. You may also submit 

comments, identified by Docket Number 

USBC–2024–0023, 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 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 189 / Monday, September 30, 2024 / Notices 79513 

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 Kyra 

Linse, Survey Director, Current 

Population Surveys via the internet at 

dsd.cps@census.gov, or by phone at 

301–763–9280. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau plans to request 

clearance from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for the 

collection of information related to a 

field test of the Current Population 

Survey (CPS) in calendar year 2025. 

The CPS has been the source of 

official government statistics on 

employment and unemployment since 

1942. The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

(BLS) and the Census Bureau jointly 

sponsor the basic monthly survey. The 

Census Bureau also prepares and 

conducts all the field work. The CPS 

collects labor force information for the 

civilian noninstitutional population 

including employment status, number 

of hours worked, job search activities, 

earnings, duration of unemployment, 

and the industry and occupation 

classification of the job held the 

previous week. Data for the CPS are 

currently collected by Census field 

interviewers via in-person interviews or 

by telephone. 

The 2025 Field Test’s goal is to test 

the use of an internet self-response 

method to measure its success as a 

possible method of contact and 

interviewing with the goal of review 

accuracy, reporting, and 

representativeness. In addition, should 

it prove as a viable response method, 

the goal is to experiment with timing 

and contacts in order to refine 

procedures that best fit the needs of 

CPS. This is the first of two major field 

tests with the second in 2026, and an 

ultimate goal to phase in changes to the 

survey in 2027. 

II. Method of Collection 

The 2025 field test is planned for 

April 2025 until November 2025. The 

goal is to replicate the expected mode 

interaction of adding a self-response 

mode as close as possible to a 

production environment. The first 

interview will be conducted via 

computer-assisted person interview 

(CAPI) mode, and most cases will be 

followed up for three months with a mix 

of internet Self Response and CAPI 

follow-up based on the previous 

month’s interview results and data 

reported. All cases will be in sample for 

four months. In addition, some cases 

will be put on hold for two months and 

then interviewed again in order to 

replicate the break in a normal CPS in 

a shorter interval. In addition, we will 

conduct experiments such as question 

wording, contact methods, and timing of 

mode switching in order to measure the 

best method to encourage response by 

internet mode and the best wording for 

accurate self-response reporting. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0607–XXXX. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission, 

New Information Collection Request. 

Affected Public: Households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

50,000. 

Estimated Time per Response: 10 

minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 33,333 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $0. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 8(b), 

141, and 182. 

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. 2024–22369 Filed 9–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–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; Quarterly Survey of Public 

Pensions 

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 June 6, 2024, 

during a 60-day comment period. This 

notice allows for an additional 30 days 

for public comments. 

Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, 

Commerce. 

Title: Quarterly Survey of Public 

Pensions. 

OMB Control Number: 0607–0143. 

Form Number(s): F–10. 

Type of Request: Regular submission, 

Request for an Extension, without 

Change, of a Currently Approved 

Collection. 

Number of Respondents: 100. 

Average Hours per Response: 45 

minutes. 

Burden Hours: 300. 

Needs and Uses: The Quarterly 

Survey of Public Pensions provides a 

rich source of data on public retirement 

systems administered by state and local 

governments in the United States. Over 

4.6 trillion dollars in public pension 

assets in the financial markets are 

controlled by a small number of large 

retirement systems. The frame for the 

2012 Census of Governments identified 

3,992 public retirement systems 

administered by state and local 

governments. The 100 largest systems, 

as measured by the system assets, 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1