Policy Overview

The collection of information from citizens, businesses or third parties (states, universities) enables government agencies to comply with federal regulations, execute their missions and provide essential services to the public. Whether the collection method is a direct request (application), a recordkeeping requirement that helps support regulatory enforcement or a third-party disclosure, the information collection is essential to the effective operation of government. Just as significantly, federal information collections levy significant burdens on the public in terms of the time required to provide the information and the associated cost of the citizen's or business's time.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), any set of questions or recordkeeping requirements imposed on ten or more persons, or questions which are used by federal agencies to collect information for statistical purposes must be approved in advance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Information Collection Request (ICR) process requires agencies to provide detailed justification and supporting explanations of how the information will be collected and why the information collection is essential to an agency's mission. Additionally, the Information Collection Request process links the collection of data to the governing federal rule or regulation, and provides an estimate of the burden imposed on the public. OMB then weighs the agency's business need for the information against the cost to citizens or businesses. Conservatively, the federal government has over 8,000 OMB-approved information collections. OMB estimates that the information collection burden to the public in FY 2003 was 8.2 billion hours and over $320 billion. It is important to note that small businesses and private citizens bear the brunt in terms of shouldering a disproportionate share of the information collection burden.

  Law:

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/
public_laws/acts.html#pra

Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA): http://www.cio.gov/archive/paperwork_elimination_act.html

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Policy Guidance

• Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA): http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/
  pra_memo111302.pdf
• Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA): http://http://www.whitehouse.gov/
  omb/fedreg/gpea2.html
• Information Collection Budget (ICB) 2004: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/

E-Government Act: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/about_leg.htm

http://www.ocio.usda.gov/infoc/pra_infoc.html