27012 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 / Notices 

Janet E. Heinzen, 

Acting Chairman, Committee for the 

Implementation of Textile Agreements. 

[FR Doc. E9–13168 Filed 6–4–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2009–2011 

Company Organization Survey 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before August 4, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Diana Hynek, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 7845, 

14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at dHynek@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Cynthia M. WrennYorker, U.S. Census Bureau, Room 

8K319, Washington, DC 20233–6100 (or 

by e-mail at Cynthia.M.WrennYorker@census.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau conducts the 

annual Company Organization Survey 

(COS) to update and maintain a central, 

multipurpose Business Register (BR). In 

particular, the COS supplies critical 

information on the composition, 

organizational structure, and operating 

characteristics of multi-location 

companies. 

The BR serves two fundamental 

purposes: 

—First, and most important, it provides 

sampling populations and 

enumeration lists for the Census 

Bureau’s economic surveys and 

censuses, and it serves as an integral 

part of the statistical foundation 

underlying those programs. Essential 

for this purpose is the BR’s ability to 

identify all known United States 

business establishments and their 

parent companies. Further, the BR 

must accurately record basic business 

attributes needed to control sampling 

and enumeration. These attributes 

include industrial and geographic 

classifications, and name and address 

information. 

—Second, it provides establishment 

data that serve as the basis for the 

annual County Business Patterns 

(CBP) statistical series. The CBP 

reports present data on number of 

establishments, first quarter payroll, 

annual payroll, and mid-March 

employment summarized by industry 

and employment size class for the 

United States, the District of 

Columbia, Puerto Rico, counties, and 

county-equivalents. No other annual 

or more frequent series of industry 

statistics provides comparable detail, 

particularly for small geographic 

areas. 

II. Method of Collection 

The Census Bureau will conduct the 

2009–2011 COS in a similar manner as 

the 2008 COS. These collections will 

direct inquiries to approximately 43,000 

multi-establishment companies, which 

operate over 1.2 million establishments. 

This panel will be drawn from the BR 

universe of nearly 200,000 multiestablishment companies, which 

operate 1.6 million establishments. 

Additionally, the panel will include 

approximately 5,000 large singleestablishment companies that may have 

added locations during the year. 

The mailing list for the 2009–2011 

COS will include a certainty 

component, consisting of all multiestablishment companies with 250 or 

more employees, and those multiestablishment companies with 

administrative record values that 

indicate organizational changes. A noncertainty component will be drawn from 

the remaining multi-establishment 

companies based on employment size. 

The mailing list also will include 

entities that are most likely to have 

added establishments at other locations. 

The primary collection medium for 

the COS is a paper questionnaire; 

however, many enterprises will submit 

automated/electronic COS reports. For 

2009–2011, electronic reporting will be 

available to all COS respondents. 

Companies will receive and return 

responses by secure Internet 

transmission. Companies that cannot 

use the Internet will receive a CD–ROM 

containing their electronic data. All 

respondents will be allowed to mail the 

data via diskette or CD–ROM or submit 

their response data via the Internet. COS 

data is identical for all of the operating 

modes. 

The instrument will include inquiries 

on ownership or control by domestic or 

foreign parents, ownership of foreign 

affiliates, and leased employment. 

Further, the instrument will list an 

inventory of establishments belonging to 

the company and its subsidiaries, and 

request updates to these inventories, 

including additions, deletions, and 

changes to information on EIN, name 

and address, and industrial 

classification, end-of-year operating 

status, mid-March employment, first 

quarter payroll, and annual payroll. 

Additionally, the Census Bureau will 

ask certain questions in the 2009–2011 

COS in order to enhance content. We 

will include questions on leased 

employees working in the company, 

questions on research and development 

activities performed by the company, 

and questions on new or significantly 

improved methods of manufacturing, 

producing, delivering or distributing 

goods or services within the company. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0607–0444. 

Form Number: NC–99001 and NC– 

99007 (for single-location companies). 

Type of Review: Regular submission. 

Affected Public: Businesses and notfor-profit institutions. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

48,000 enterprises. 

Estimated Time per Response: 1.59 

hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 127,517. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost: 

$3,643,161. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 of U.S.C. 

Sections 182, 195, 224, and 225. 

IV. Request for Comments 

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 

(including hours and cost) of the 

proposed collection of information; (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 automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 


erowe on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 / Notices 27013 

included in the request for OMB 

approval of this information collection; 

they also will become a matter of public 

record. 

Dated: June 2, 2009. 

Glenna Mickelson, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. E9–13153 Filed 6–4–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2010–2012 

American Community Survey Methods 

Panel Testing 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before August 4, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Diana Hynek, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 7845, 

14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at dHynek@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Susan Schechter, U.S. 

Census Bureau, American Community 

Survey Office, Washington, DC 20233, 

by FAX to (301) 763–8620 or e-mail at 

susan.schechter.bortner@census.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

Given the rapid demographic changes 

experienced in recent years and the 

strong expectation that such changes 

will continue and accelerate, the oncea-decade data collection approach of a 

census is no longer acceptable as a 

source for the housing and socioeconomic data collected on the census 

long form. To meet the needs and 

expectations of the country, the Census 

Bureau developed the American 

Community Survey (ACS). This survey 

collects detailed socioeconomic data 

every month and provides tabulations of 

these data on a yearly basis. The ACS 

allows the Census Bureau to provide 

more timely and relevant housing and 

socio-economic data while also 

reducing operational risks in the census 

by eliminating the long form historically 

given to one in every six addresses. 

Full implementation of the ACS 

includes an annual sample of 

approximately three million residential 

addresses a year in the 50 States and the 

District of Columbia, and another 36,000 

addresses in Puerto Rico. A sample this 

large allows for annual production and 

release of single-year estimates for areas 

with a population of 65,000 or more. 

Lower levels of geography require 

aggregates of three and five years’ worth 

of data in order to produce estimates of 

comparable quality to the census long 

form. An ongoing data collection effort 

with an annual sample of this 

magnitude requires that the ACS 

continue research, testing and 

evaluations aimed at improving overall 

ACS data quality, achieving survey cost 

efficiencies, and developing and 

improving ACS questionnaire content 

and related data collection materials. 

The ACS Methods Panel during the 

2010–2012 period may include testing 

methods for increasing survey and 

operational efficiencies; alternative 

methods or procedures may be 

developed and evaluated that could 

potentially reduce the overall survey 

cost, lessen respondent burden, and 

improve response rates. At this time, 

specific plans are in place to propose 

three methods panel tests: a content 

reinterview study, 2010 ACS Content 

Test, and an Internet Test. Since the 

ACS Methods Panel is designed to 

address emerging issues, we may 

conduct additional testing as needed. 

Testing would focus on methods for 

reducing data collection costs or testing 

new questions that have an urgent need 

to be included on the ACS. 

During the decennial census year, a 

content reinterview study (CRS) was 

conducted in conjunction with the long 

form, which the ACS now replaces. The 

decennial CRS was an evaluation of the 

quality of the data collected in the 

census, focusing on response bias and 

simple response variance (reliability). 

The Census Bureau proposes to design 

and implement a continuous CRS to 

look at the current ACS production 

questions on an ongoing basis. This will 

allow for the identification of problems 

with reliability. Results from the CRS 

will provide data users with concrete 

data quality measures (such as 

reliability or bias measures) for each 

ACS item. 

The ACS CRS will allow the Census 

Bureau to continuously monitor the data 

quality of the ACS and identify 

questions that are currently unreliable 

or that may become unreliable due to 

changes in the survey climate (e.g., 

changes in policy that change the 

definition of what the ACS is trying to 

measure). The results from the CRS, 

generated on a yearly basis, would 

identify which questions require 

modifications and future testing via a 

content test, thus providing a more 

scientific approach to determining the 

need for content testing of current ACS 

items. The CRS will be conducted by 

telephone only with a small sample of 

cases that responded during production. 

Second, in response to Federal 

agencies’ requests for new and revised 

ACS questions, the Census Bureau plans 

to conduct the 2010 ACS Content Test. 

Changes to the current ACS content and 

the addition of new content were 

identified through the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

Interagency Committee for the ACS and 

through recent or anticipated legislative 

action. The primary objective of the 

ACS 2010 Content Test is to test 

whether changes to question wording, 

response categories, and redefinition of 

underlying constructs improve the 

quality of data collected. The Census 

Bureau proposes to evaluate changes to 

the questions by comparing the revised 

questions to the current ACS questions, 

or for new questions, to compare the 

performance of question versions to 

each other as well as to other wellknown sources of such information. The 

proposed topics for content testing are 

new questions to measure computer and 

Internet access and usage, as well as 

parental place of birth and revisions to 

veteran’s identification and period of 

service, cash public assistance, wages 

income and property income, and the 

Food Stamps program name. 

A third test, the ACS Internet Test, is 

planned to determine the best methods 

for informing sample households about 

an ACS Internet response option and 

encouraging them to respond. By 

offering an Internet response option in 

the ACS, the Census Bureau is taking 

further steps to comply with the e-gov 

initiative and potentially reduce data 

collection costs. The objectives of the 

Internet Test include: potential 

improvement in self-response rates; 

potential cost savings if we can change 

the distribution of responses by mode 

(i.e., obtain more responses by Internet); 

and potential improvement in data 

quality including a potential reduction 

in item nonresponse. 


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