The Administrative Conference seeks proposals for projects that would comprehensively study the following topics:  Paperwork Reduction Act (Download the PRA RFP) This project would study the Paperwork Reduction Act and recommend potential improvements. The study should address the following topics (using empirical methods where appropriate):
  • What are the costs and benefits of agency compliance with the PRA?
  • Could the PRA’s useful purposes be served in a more targeted and efficient manner?
  • How well does the PRA interact with new technologies?
  • Does it require any updating to account for social media and other web-based agency activities?Should the PRA apply to voluntary collections of information?
  • Should it apply to collection of information from special government employees?
  • Are there any other ways in which the PRA should be improved?
Review of Regulatory Analysis Requirements (Download the Regulatory Analysis RFP) The project would study regulatory analysis requirements and recommend potential improvements. While the Conference is not contemplating recommending that any of the required analyses be eliminated, it desires to study how the goals of the analysis requirements could be achieved more efficiently. The study should address the following topics (using empirical methods where appropriate):
  • The study should assess the costs and benefits of the required analyses.
  • The study should assess the accuracy of the required analyses, by examining a sample of such analyses retrospectively.
  • The study should assess whether or not the analysis requirements have caused an ossification of the rulemaking process.
  • The study should consider whether or not there is any duplication in the analysis requirements that could be eliminated or whether or not the requirements could otherwise be rationalized or streamlined while continuing to serve their valuable goals, and it should make an appropriate recommendation.
  • The study should consider whether or not there would be a benefit to gathering all of the various analysis requirements in one place, and it should make an appropriate recommendation.
Submission Deadlines: Close of business on August 18, 2011. Send proposals to Jonathan R. Siegel, ACUS Director of Research and Policy, at jsiegel@acus.gov.