Americans spend billions of hours each year providing information to federal agencies by filling out information collections forms, surveys, or questionnaires. A major aim of the Paperwork Reduction Act PRA is to balance the burden of these collections with their public benefit. Under the act, agencies' Chief Information Officers CIO are responsible for reviewing information collections before they are submitted to the Office of Management and Budget OMB for approval. As part of this review, CIOs must certify that the collections meet 10 standards set forth in the act. GAO was asked to assess, among other things, this review and certification process, including agencies' efforts to consult with the public. To do this, GAO reviewed a governmentwide sample of collections, reviewed processes and collections at four agencies that account for a large proportion of burden, and performed case studies of 12 approved collections.