Proposed Collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office for Equal Opportunity, Office of the Secretary, DOI.

ACTION: Notice

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995, the Office for Equal Opportunity announces the

proposed public information collection and seeks public comments on the

provisions thereof.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by May 17,

1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations on the proposed

information collection should be sent to the Office for Equal

Opportunity, Attn: Michael Dole, Department of the Interior, 1849 C St

NW., Washington, DC 20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on this

proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and

associated collection instrument, please write to the above address, or

call Michael Dole, (202) 208-5183. The collection instrument is also

available on the internet at: http://www.doi.gov/diversity/doc/

di__1935.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOI is below parity with the relevant

Civilian Labor Force representation for many of our mission critical

occupations, and has developed a 5 year Strategic Plan to improve

representation and be more responsive to the changing demographics of

the country. The only way to determine if there are barriers in the

recruitment and selection process is to track the groups that apply and

the groups at each stage of the selection process. There is no other

objective way to make these determinations, and no source of this

information other than directly from applicants.

The information is not provided to selecting officials and plays no

part in the selection of individuals. Instead, it is used in summary

form to determine trends over many selections within a given occupation

or organizational area. The information is treated in a very

confidential manner. No information from this form is entered into the

Personnel File of the individual selected, and the records of those not

selected are destroyed after the conclusion of the selection process.

The format of the questions on ethnicity and race are compliant

with the new OMB requirements, and are

[[Page 13434]]

identical to those which will be used in the year 2000 census. This

form is a simplification and update of a similar applicant background

survey used by DOI for many years. In light of this long term routine

use and the need to quickly move to the new format, OMB has granted a 6

month emergency approval of the form to allow its use during the period

for public comment.

Comments are invited on : (a) whether the proposed collection of

information is necessary for the proper performance of the agency,

including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the

accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed

information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and

clarity of the information to be collected: and (d) ways to minimize

the burden of the information collection on respondents, including

through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of

information technology.

Title, Associated Form, and OMB Number: Applicant Background

Survey, DI form 1935; OMB Control No.: 1091-0001.

Needs and Uses: This form is used to obtain source of recruitment,

ethnicity, race, and disability data on job applicants to determine if

the recruitment is effectively reaching all aspects of the relevant

labor pool and to determine if there are proportionate acceptance rates

at various stages of the recruitment process. Response is optional. The

information is used for evaluating recruitment only, and plays no part

in the selection of who is hired.

Affected Public: Applicants for DOI jobs.

Annual Burden Hours: 9,960.

Number of Respondents: 120,000.

Responses Per Respondent: 1.

Average Burden Per Response: no more than 5 minutes.

Frequency: 1 per application.

Dated: March 8, 1999.

Michael Dole,

Affirmative Employment Program Administrator, Department of the

Interior.

[FR Doc. 99-6612 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45am]

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