An administration task force, led by the Office of Management and Budget, published a draft report on May 9 that makes recommendations to reduce reporting burdens on small business. Comments on the report -- which is mandated by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act (SBPRA), enacted a year ago -- are due by June 4. In the draft report, the task force addresses the following issues:

• Synchronized reporting. As required by SBPRA, the task force examined the issue of synchronized reporting (that is, setting a single time or date for reporting), but found that it is not desirable. "Some reporting occurs only at the time of an event, such as admission of a patient to a nursing home, or a chemical spill," the report states. "Timely submission of this information is critical to fulfill agency responsibilities." The task force further found that many small businesses prefer reporting that is spread out over time: "A requirement to provide all information required by the federal government on a single date has the potential of creating a greater workload burden for business..."
• Consolidated information collections. SBPRA also required the task force to examine consolidated reporting. Based on this effort, the task force is recommending that federal agencies "with similar regulatory authority" partner with each other, as well as state and local agencies, to identify similar reporting requirements and develop consolidated reporting systems. However, the task force also notes limitations of consolidation, including the "diversity of government activities," lack of harmonization across industries or statutes, and confidentiality and privacy considerations.
• Agency plans for burden reduction. The draft report recommends that each agency develop a plan that outlines specific steps to reduce reporting burdens on small business, and sets goals and timelines for achieving those steps. Agencies would be required to submit annual reports to OMB detailing any progress related to their plans.
• Single point of contact for small business. SBPRA requires that each agency establish a single point of contact for small businesses. The task force calls this "both feasible and desirable," adding that the contact (which could be a person or group of persons, according to the draft report) "should be able to provide information about regulatory reporting requirements enforced by the Agency, and technical assistance in fulfilling those requirements."
• Outreach to small business. The draft report advises that a new system should be designed for receiving public comment on new and existing information collections, with emphasis on the Internet. This should be coupled with improved outreach efforts to small business, including "the conduct of public meetings and announcements of public comment periods in industry publications, on all highly burdensome (defined as 1,000,000 burden hours) information collections expected to affect small businesses."
• OMB Guidelines on E-Government. The draft report recommends that OMB "require each agency to incorporate burden reduction as a goal of its E-Government initiative, and issue guidelines to aid Agencies in doing so." The task force points to the Business Compliance One Stop -- one of the president's 25 e-government initiatives -- "as a means for achieving the purpose of SBPRA," noting that it "is designed to ultimately provide small businesses a single point of entry for regulatory compliance information."
• List of information collections. SBPRA required the task force to examine the feasibility and benefits of publishing a list of information collections applicable to small business, organized by type of business or industrial sector. The draft report states that the team in charge of the Business Compliance One Stop is "designing an Internet portal with a sophisticated multi-criteria search capability" that would enable small businesses to "self-identify" requirements. This effort, which is being overseen by the Small Business Administration, contrasts with a system organized by business type -- or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code -- which the task force found lacking. "The list of potentially applicable requirements for a particular NAICS code would not be significantly shorter than the list of all existing information collection requirements," the draft report says. "Moreover, if a small business were listed under more than one NAICS code, the research to determine applicability would be even greater."
• Cost savings. As required by SBPRA, the task force examined cost savings associated with electronic submissions of information and interactive reporting systems, claiming extensive savings from such efforts. For example, the draft report states that the Business Compliance One Stop produces estimated annual cost savings of $56 million by facilitating compliance with regulations. The development of an Internet profiler that refers businesses to appropriate compliance assistance resources across five agencies produces estimated savings of $62 million. And a one-stop portal on federal and state requirements for the trucking industry will have estimated savings of $400 million (the administration has just completed the project plan).

In a year's time, the task force is required to make further recommendations "to improve the electronic dissemination of information collected under Federal requirements" and "recommend a plan for the development of an interactive Governmentwide system, available through the Internet," to facilitate compliance. The task force is co-chaired by John Graham, administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and Mark Foreman, who oversees the administration's E-Government Initiative. It also includes representatives from the EPA, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor (including OSHA), the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, and the Small Business Administration�s Office of Advocacy.