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Justification -
Supporting Statement
Necessity of Information Collection
The National
Endowment for the Arts enriches our nation and its diverse cultural
heritage by supporting works of artistic excellence, advancing
learning in the arts, and strengthening the arts in communities
throughout the country.
With the advice of
the National Council on the Arts and advisory panels, the Chairman
establishes eligibility requirements and criteria for the review of
applications for funding. Section 959 ( c ) of the Endowment’s
enabling legislation, as amended, directs the Chairman to utilize
advisory panels to review applications and to make recommendations to
the National Council on the Arts, which in turn makes recommendations
to the Chairman.
The legislation
requires the Chairman “(1) to ensure that all panels are
composed, to the extent practicable, of individuals reflecting a wide
geographic, ethnic, and minority representation as well as to (2)
ensure that all panels include representation of lay individuals who
are knowledgeable about the arts… ” These panels are
considered to be committees under the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA), which also requires that committees be balance geographically
and ethnically. In addition, the membership of each panel must
change substantially from year to year and each individual is
ineligible to serve on a panel for more than three consecutive years.
To assist with efforts to meet these
legislated mandates regarding representation on advisory panels, the
Endowment has established an Automated Panel Bank System (APBS), a
computer database of names, addresses, areas of expertise and other
basic information on individuals who are qualified to serve as
panelists for the Arts Endowment.
The Panelist Profile
Form, for which clearance is requested, is used to gather basic
information from qualified individuals recommended by the arts
community; arts organizations; Members of Congress; the general
public; local, state and regional arts organizations; Endowment
staff, and others.
Needs and
Uses of Information
Information provided on this Panelist Profile Form has been used to
create the Automated Panel Bank System (APBS), a computer database of
names, addresses, areas of expertise and other basic information on
individuals who are qualified to serve as panelists for the Arts
Endowment. This system is used by Endowment staff in the selection
and approval of panelists to ensure that the legislative mandates
cited above are fulfilled. Resumes are kept on file to supplement
the information contained in the database. In addition to providing
a more detailed picture of an individual’s suitability for a
particular panel, the resume also provides specifics about the
individual’s affiliations that are helpful in avoiding possible
conflicts of interest with the applications to be reviewed.
Uses of
Information Technology
The use of information technology has been a prime consideration in
the design of this form. It is designed to provide general expertise
and background information through inclusion of numerical codes that
are entered into the database. It is hoped that in the future we
will have the capability of linking the resumes, which are currently
available electronically, to the individual records in our database.
The information currently is manually entered into the database,
although we hope to be able to transfer information electronically in
the future. The form is available electronically, via e-mail. In
2008, approximately 90% of the forms received were in electronic form
– sent and received via e-mail, and we now plan to move
exclusively to the electronic version of this form. We also
anticipate the possibility, through the shared use of the National
Endowment for the Humanities’ system, that in the future
individuals will be able to enter and submit this information online
themselves.
Efforts to
Identify Duplication
This
form is accompanied by a resume that provides details about an
individual’s experience, which the automated system is not
equipped to do at this time.
Minimizing
the Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities
Not Applicable
Consequences
of Not Conducting Data Collection
Information
collected through the use of the Panelist Profile Form is necessary
to fulfill the Endowment’s obligation to ensure that the panels
adhere to the requirements of FACA and the Endowment’s
legislation to provide review panels that are geographically and
ethnically diverse. The database also allows us to ensure that, in
accordance with our Congressional mandate, no panelist serves for
more than three consecutive years. In addition, through our data
collection activities we widen the pool of potential panelists who
demonstrate diverse ethnic and artistic backgrounds. If the
Endowment abandoned it data collection efforts, the Endowment’s
ability to fulfill Congress’ mandates would be severely
hampered. Any failure to do periodic updates will result in stale
and inaccurate information in the database.
Special
Circumstances
An
individual who wants to be considered for inclusion in the APBS will
complete this form once. In order to keep information current,
periodic updates will be requested. Additionally, as individuals
serve on panels, they are requested to review the information
currently on file, and to update the information as necessary. This
is to ensure that the records are kept as accurate as possible.
Public
Comment and Consultation Outside the Agency
The
collection is conducted consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR
1320.6. A notice in the Federal Register was published on Tuesday,
March 8, 2006 (Vol. 71, No. 49, pg. 13169), to solicit comments on
the approval of the Panelist Profile Form. (A copy of this notice is
attached.) No comments were received.
Payment
to Respondents
Not Applicable
Assurance
of Confidentiality
Assurance
of confidentiality is provided under the terms of the Privacy Act of
1974.
Questions
of a Sensitive Nature
No
questions of a sensitive nature are included on this form.
Estimated
Hour Burden of Respondents
The
estimated burden to respondents for this collection is explained in
table A-1 below:
A-1 Estimated
Response Burden of Data Collection Activities Based on FY 08 Figures
Hour Burden to
Respondents
Number
of Forms in FY 2008
|
x
|
Time to
Complete Form
|
=
|
Total FY 2008
(Annual) Hour Burden to Respondents
|
250
|
x
|
6%
of an hour or 10 minutes
|
=
|
41.7
hours
|
Annualized Cost
There
is no cost to the respondent other than that of their time (10
minutes) to respond.
Cost
Burden to Respondent
Collection
of this information will be done electronically.
Cost
to the Federal Government
All
Panelist Profile Forms are reviewed and created by employees of the
Federal Government, therefore no additional cost is incurred to the
government in terms of contracting. With elimination of the paper
form, no mailing costs will be incurred.
Explanation
of Changes
Although
the form itself is not being changed, we will no longer be requesting
responders to provide social security numbers and the accompanying
instructions have been changed accordingly. .
Statistics
Not
applicable. We do not plan to publish data.
Seeking
Approval to Not Display OMB Expiration date
Not
applicable. We are not seeking this approval.
Exception
to the Certificate Statement
Not
applicable. There are no exceptions to the certification statements.
File Type | application/msword |
File Title | Justification - Supporting Statement |
Author | JLM |
Last Modified By | Kathy Plowitz-Worden |
File Modified | 2009-05-02 |
File Created | 2009-05-02 |