OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has issued a memo to help agencies get the authority they need to carry out voluntary, low-burden and uncontroversial information collection requests, a process typically requiring a public comment period.
OMB said generic ICRs are a useful way for agencies to meet the obligations of the Paperwork Reduction Act while eliminating unnecessary burdens and delays to collect information through means such as methodological testing, contests, customer satisfaction surveys, focus group studies, and website satisfaction surveys.
Because a generic ICR foregoes a public comment period, it does not permit the public to examine the details of each individual collection and the agency’s supporting statement should describe certain activities thoroughly such as collection method and how the information will be used, the guidance states.
It said agencies should include sufficient information in the supporting statements they submit – and any other material presented for public comment and submitted to OMB as part of the request for approval – to allow OMB to determine whether “the collection of information by the agency is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility,” in order to approve the generic ICR.
Once approved by OMB, a generic ICR becomes a generic clearance that may remain in place for up to the PRA’s maximum approval period of three years
