Fast-Track Qualitative Feedback

Sandhill Cranes flying at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

NPS/Patrick Myers

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) worked with agencies to create a fast-track process for information collections that focus on the awareness, understanding, attitudes, preferences, or experiences of customers or other stakeholders (e.g., delivery partners, co-regulators, or potential customers) relating to existing or future services, products or communication materials. The fast-track process allows agencies to submit such collections directly to OMB without posting a Federal Register notice.

What Falls Under Fast-Track Clearance?

Requirements for a Fast-Track Clearance include:

• Voluntary respondent participation
• No significant burden on respondents
• Reporting of results does not require extensive statistical analysis
• Public dissemination of results is not intended

Generally, the following collections fall under the fast-track process:

• focus groups;
• one-time or panel discussion groups;
• customer satisfaction qualitative surveys;
• post-transaction customer surveys;
• online surveys, comment cards, or complaint forms;
• moderated, un-moderated, in-person, and remote usability studies;

Examples of collections that do not* generally fall under the fast-track process are:

• surveys that require statistical rigor because they will be used for making significant policy or resource allocation decisions;
• collections whose results are intended to be published in peer-reviewed journals or similar outlets;
• collections that are intended for basic research and that do not directly benefit the agency’s service delivery.
• any information collection designed to gather visitor satisfaction data related to social science themes (i.e, beliefs, values, or perceptions) of services offered.

* For collections that do not fall under the fast-track process, please refer to the NPS Programmatic Clearance Process.


For further guidance:

Link to Digital.gov summary of the Fast Track Process

Fast Track PRA Submission Form