National Endowment for the Arts; Notice of Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

National Endowment for the Arts; Notice of Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request

SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (``Endowment'') has

requested

[[Page 67919]]

that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a series of new

collections of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The

purpose of the information collections, which will be conducted through

surveys and focus groups over a three year-period, is to help the

Endowment assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which it serves

its customers, and to design actions to address areas identified for

improvement.

DATES: All comments must be submitted to OMB by January 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: All written comments should be addressed to: Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for

the National Endowment for the Arts, 725 17th Street, NW, Room 10235,

Washington, DC 20503. The request for approval will be available for

public inspection at the National Endowment for the Arts, room 628,

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506, between the hours

of 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Jones, Management Analyst,

Office of the Director of Administration, National Endowment for the

Arts, room 628, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506,

202/682-5408 (202/682-5496 for TTY and TDD). (These are not toll-free

numbers.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

establishes policies and procedures for controlling the paperwork

burdens imposed by Federal agencies on the public. The Act vests OMB

with regulatory responsibility over these burdens, and OMB has

promulgated rules on the clearance of collections of information by the

Federal agencies.

Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service Standards,''

states that the Federal Government must be customer-driven to carry out

the principles of the National Performance Review. It directs all

executive departments and agencies providing significant services

directly to the public to provide those services in a manner that seeks

to meet the customer service standards established in the executive

order.

The Endowment intends to establish a mechanism through which it can

explore issues of mutual concern, i.e., the kind and quality of desired

services, with its major outside customers, including nonprofit arts

organizations; artists; State, local, and special jurisdictional arts

agencies; and arts service organizations.

Areas of concern to the Endowment and its customers will change

over time, and it is important the Endowment be able to evaluate

customer concerns quickly. Accordingly, the Endowment requests OMB to

grant ``generic'' approval, for a three-year period, of focus groups

and surveys of the Endowment's outside customer groups. Participation

in the focus groups and surveys will be voluntary.

The Endowment published a notice of intention to request OMB

approval of these collections in the Federal Register September 17,

1997. No comments were received in response to the notice.

This voluntary collection of information will put a slight burden

on an extremely small percentage of the public. The Endowment expects

to distribute survey questionnaires to approximately 600 persons during

the first year of the three-year period, representing a total burden of

about 150 hours. The Endowment also expects to conduct focus groups

involving a total of 10 persons in a given year, with a total annual

burden of about 90 hours, including travel time. (A small portion of

this time may be allocated to participants' completion of short written

questionnaires at focus group meetings.)

Issued in Washington, DC, December 23, 1997.

Laurence M. Baden,

Director of Administration, National Endowment for the Arts.

[FR Doc. 97-33894 Filed 12-29-97; 8:45 am]

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