BE-29 Supporting Statement B 2021 FINAL

Supporting Statement
U.S. Department of Commerce
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Annual Survey of Foreign Ocean Carriers’
Expenses in the United States (Form BE-29)
OMB Control No. 0608-0012
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any
sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities
(e.g. establishments, State and local governmental units, households, or persons) in the
universe and the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe
as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response
rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection had been conducted previously, include
the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.
The potential respondent universe for the BE-29 survey is all U.S. agents of foreign ocean
carriers that handled 40 or more foreign ocean carrier port calls during the calendar year, or had
total covered expenses (as detailed in A.2.) of $250,00 or more during the calendar year, for all
foreign ocean vessels handled by the U.S. agent.
BE-29 Universe, Sample, and Response Rate
Number of U.S.
ocean carriers
engaging in covered
transactions
Universe
80

Percent of U.S.
ocean carriers
engaging in covered
transactions
100%

Sample

70

88%

Nonsample
Report exemption claim or
voluntary data

0
10

0%
12%

80%

80%

Response rate

BEA intends to mail a notification letter to approximately 80 U.S. agents per year informing the
companies of the requirement to file the survey and providing links to eFile, BEA’s electronic
filing system. To ensure a high response rate to the survey, two rounds of delinquency notices
will also be mailed, approximately a month apart, after the due date for the previous letter has
passed, for companies who have failed to report. BEA staff will also call required U.S. agents to
remind them of the requirement to comply with the survey and offer filing assistance to those
who may need it.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection, including: the statistical methodology for
stratification and sample selection; the estimation procedure; the degree of accuracy
needed for the purpose described in the justification; any unusual problems requiring
specialized sampling procedures; and any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data
collection cycles to reduce burden.
The BE-29 survey will be administered to U.S. agents of foreign ocean carriers that handled
foreign ocean carrier port calls and met the survey requirements mentioned in B.1. above. BEA
expects most of the potential respondents to file the survey on a timely basis. BEA will estimate
data for respondents that do not report their data in a timely manner, including those that fall
below the reporting threshold. Estimates will be based on prior reports and growth in the value of
transactions from a matched sample of respondents. BEA will allocate the estimated data by
country and by type of transaction based on the distribution of reported transactions for inclusion
in the published totals. Thus, estimates will cover the entire universe of transactions. No unusual
problems have been identified that would require the use of specialized sampling procedures.
The list of respondents will be derived from public and private sources, including business
directories and establishment lists.
3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of nonresponse. The accuracy and reliability of the information collected must be shown to be
adequate for the intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification
must be provided for any collection that will not yield "reliable" data that can be
generalized to the universe studied.
Any company specifically contacted by BEA must respond by filing a completed form BE-29 or
a valid exemption claim. Non-respondents will be contacted by BEA staff through delinquency
notices and phone calls and, in the event of continued nonresponse, will be referred to the Office
of General Counsel for further action. BEA expects that at the time of the final revised estimates,
reports will be received from nearly all companies required to report. To facilitate response, a
notice will be sent to each company, in January of the year, notifying the company of the
requirement to file the survey and providing links to eFile, BEA’s electronic filing system, and a
PDF version of the survey.
The data collected on the BE-29 survey are needed to measure U.S. trade in transport services
and to analyze the impact of U.S. trade on the U.S. and foreign economies. The data are used to
support U.S. trade policy initiatives, including trade negotiations, and to compile the U.S.
international transactions and the national income and product accounts. The response rates
described in B.1., together with the estimation procedures described in B.2., provide information
of sufficient accuracy and reliability for the intended purpose.
4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Tests are encouraged as
effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve
utility. Tests must be approved if they call for answers to identical questions from 10 or
more respondents. A proposed test or set of tests may be submitted for approval separately
or in combination with the main collection of information.

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No tests were conducted. Recent efforts to seek feedback from data users and survey
respondents are described in A.8.
5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on the statistical
aspects of the design, and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other
person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.
The survey is designed and conducted within BEA by the Balance of Payments Division. For
further information, contact Christopher Stein via email at christopher.stein@bea.gov or by
phone at 301-278-9189. The survey proposal was reviewed and approved by BEA’s Source Data
Improvement and Evaluation Program (SDIEP). The SDIEP coordinator is Tiffany Burrell,
tiffany.burrell@bea.gov, 301-278-9618.

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