CommentCounts is a collaborative web-based tool designed to support the intensive process of organizing and integrating public comments and responses into final rules, programs, and documents in a transparent, verifiable, and thorough manner. With almost two decades of service to Federal agencies, Abt Associates' highly-experienced comment management team is dedicated to delivering comprehensive support for significant volumes of comments within challenging timelines.

The Challenge
Your agency’s goal is to meet the Administrative Procedures Act’s requirements and ensure that any final action is supported by the public record, delivered on time, and able to withstand scrutiny. Meanwhile, with the ease of electronic submittal, agencies face mounting pressure to collect and respond legally, technically and consistently to the ever increasing number of comments.

CommentCounts Contains

Comment documents from all sources (including transcripts from hearing and meetings) in their original file format.

Categorized text of the comments organized by issue topic.

De-duplicated and grouped comment submissions to avoid redundancy

Functions to respond to a single comment or many similar comments with one response

Links between the comments and associated responses.

Robust comment and response search and report functions.

Data visualization to help track comment processing and response development.

Integrated communication tools for team collaboration.

CommentCounts Benefits

Easy-to-use, secure website portal with 24/7 access

Rigorous analysis and quality control checks

Efficiently manage staff and workflow

Readily customizable for individual needs

Training, Users Guide, and technical support throughout the project

No rental or purchases fees when Abt supports your work

Already have a comment management tool?
For more information on how CommentCounts can support your work and for a demonstration of our CommentCounts tool, please contact:
Frank Divita, Abt Associates
Frank_Divita@abtassoc.com
301.347.5860

Current and Recent Clients

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Multiple Offices within EPA rely on CommentCounts to help streamline their comment and response process. From standards for vehicles to protections for farm workers, Abt managed over 1.5 million comments for EPA in 2015 alone.
The Bureau of Land Management
The recent release of the Bureau’s Methane Venting and Flaring proposal was anticipated to generate over one million public comments. CommentCounts and Abt’s comment management team was ready to meet the challenge. Although the number of comments did not reach one million, many significant comments were received. Abt worked within the Bureau’s tight deadline by coding and entering all comments into CommentCounts within three weeks of the close of the comment period.
The Federal Highway Administration
The objective of FHWA’s MAP-21 performance- and outcome-based program is for States to invest resources in projects that collectively make progress toward national goals. Abt is supporting the public comment, summary, and response effort for three National MAP-21-related rulemakings.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abt recently supported the public comments and responses on NOAA’s Deepwater Horizon Restoration Plan. We imported the comments and draft responses from an external spreadsheet into CommentCounts for verifying completeness, generating reports, and team collaboration.