Improving Federal Information Collections

Americans spend billions of hours each year providing information to federal agencies by filling out information collections (forms, surveys, or questionnaires). The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) sets requirements for these federal information collections, among other things.

• The act put processes in place aimed at minimizing the burden and maximizing the utility of federal information collections. However, these processes have not always been effective, and the estimated burden of these information collections on the public continues to rise.

  Highlights of GAO-05-424 (PDF)

• As amended in 1995, the act required OMB to set specific goals through 2001 for reducing burden from the 1995 level, but these goals were not met. To meet them, federal agencies would have had to decrease burden from an estimated 7 billion hours in fiscal year 1995 to about 4.6 billion hours in fiscal year 2001. Instead, the federal paperwork estimate increased to 7.6 billion hours in that year.

  Highlights of GAO-02-598T (PDF)

• Most recently, OMB reported that the governmentwide PRA burden was 9.64 billion hours in fiscal year 2007.
• The act set up an approval process for information collections to help ensure that the government maximizes its utility and minimizes the burden they impose on the public. However, in 2005, GAO's work showed that this approval process was not always effective.

  Highlights of GAO-05-424 (PDF)

• Under this process, federal agencies are required to justify their collections, certify they meet the act's standards (see table below), and then submit them to OMB for approval.
• OMB is required to review all agency information collections to determine whether they are necessary and useful, as well as impose the minimum burden on the public.
• However, information collections were certified by agencies and approved by OMB even though support was missing or partial. (For example, the support did not show that the collection was the least burdensome necessary.)

  Highlights of GAO-05-424 (PDF)

• A contributing factor was weaknesses in OMB's instructions and guidance.

Standards for Information Collections Set by the Paperwork Reduction Act

Source: Paperwork Reduction Act, Pub. L. 104-13, 109 Stat. 173-4, sec. 3506(c)(3).

OMB has taken steps to address the information collection approval process:

• It developed automated systems to manage the submission and approval of information collection requests.
• In 2006, it posted additional guidance on information collections involving statistical surveys.
• However, this guidance does not cover all information collections.

Further, with regard to federally funded surveys, there are additional opportunities to avoid duplication:

• To meet PRA requirements, officials implementing such surveys must avoid unnecessary duplication with existing information sources. Yet, GAO found that although major federal household surveys included content that was necessary, some was duplicative and overlapping, a result of incremental efforts over the last six decades to address information gaps as needs changed. Given the importance of federally funded surveys to the quality of statistical information, and the ever-increasing demand for more and better information within limited resources, it is essential to maximize the surveys' utility. GAO concluded, therefore, that there is a need to undertake a comprehensive re-evaluation of the long-standing portfolio of major federal household surveys.

  Highlights of GAO-07-62 (PDF)

• Two major changes in the portfolio of major federal household surveys are upcoming. The American Community Survey (ACS) is intended to replace the long-form decennial census in 2010, and efforts are also under way to redesign the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). These events provide an opportunity to reassess the design and content of the entire portfolio.

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

• OMB could take more advantage of the opportunity provided by the PRA's approval and certification requirements to encourage agencies to increase their scrutiny of information collections and potentially reduce burden, as GAO recommended. OMB has not yet developed guidance aimed at all information collections that
• emphasizes the importance of the PRA's requirements,
• clarifies the kinds of support and evidence needed, and
• is available to all agency personnel.

  Highlights of GAO-05-424 (PDF)

• OMB should lead the development of a new vision of how the major federal household surveys can best fit together. The rollout of the ACS and the SIPP provide an opportunity to go beyond individual survey redesign efforts to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the portfolio of major household surveys that have developed over six decades. A comprehensive approach could help reduce costs in an environment of constrained resources and help prioritize information needs in light of current and emerging demands.

^ Back to topKey Reports

Paperwork Reduction Act

Paperwork Reduction Act

Paperwork Reduction Act

Federal Information Collection

Office of Management and Budget, Information Collection Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008,

(Washington, D.C.: October 2008).

OMB The Information Collection Budget (PDF, 175) (Note: this link goes to a publication on the OMB web site.)

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