SUPPORTING STATEMENT OUTLINE - Final Revision 2010

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1. JUSTIFICATION:

The justification for gathering data from Federal contractor personnel on 1) their knowledge and acceptance of the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) and 2) the effectiveness of the Organizational Change Management (OCM) activities for the United States Air Force Logistics Transformation Office (HQ USAF/A4IT) follows:

1. Need for the Information Collection: Order No. FA8770-06-F-8009 between the 554

ELSG/PMO and Computer Science Corporation (CSC) places CSC on contract as the system integrator (SI) for the Air Force (AF)-wide implementation of ECSS, the largest enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation – computer systems conversion. The ERP will implement the biggest change, in AF Logistics history, and will encompass policies, processes and procedures affecting some 250,000 primary, secondary, and casual users. Hundreds of legacy computer systems will be replaced by ECSS. This will impact active duty military, civil servants, Air National Guard (ANG), Air Force Reserve (AFR), and all contractors that use, provide information to, or use information from any of the current logistics computer systems. If they are to succeed, changes of this magnitude require rigorous change management which involves careful attention to all user needs.

2. Use of Information: The contract requires leveraging commercial best practices by

implementing an OCM strategy to facilitate the transition to ECSS. One of the six work streams that will implement the OCM strategy is Readiness & Measurement (R&M). It is their task to monitor and evaluate the change and to assure that ECSS managers and end users have the information they need to keep implementation on track. Several methods will be used to sense the readiness of the workforce (are they knowledgeable, have they been trained, do they accept the new system) and impacts of all OCM activities (have all potential users been trained, is the infrastructure in-place, are new job roles defined, have new policies and procedures been published). One of the methods of measuring these activities, required by the contract, is to perform a survey that focuses on the knowledge and acceptance of the new system by all potential users. Because the AF outsources so much of its logistics activity, contractor personnel constitute a large and important segment of the user base.

1. The measurement of OCM activities is scheduled to be conducted on a quarterly

basis. Only employees of the Logistics Readiness Squadron at each AF base will be required to take this survey. This includes active duty, ANG, AFR, civil service personnel, and in some cases contractor personnel. The target audience is located at Headquarters Air Force and Major Command (MAJCOM) Headquarters, to include the AFR and ANG.

2. The measurement of knowledge and acceptance of ECSS (readiness for

implementation) is scheduled to be conducted four times – April 2008 to a sample of AF personnel (the April 2008 distribution did not include contractors and thus did not require OMB approval); and then 18, 12 and 6 months prior to implementing the new system at each Air Force base, again on a sample of the population to include contractors, between May 2010 and December 2013. While the plan is to begin the survey in May 2010, no contractors will be surveyed at that time. The soonest contractors would be surveyed is October 2010.

3. Use of Information Technology: The survey does not collect any personal information,

has been assigned a survey control number (SCN) by the Air Force Manpower Agency (AFMA) and is accomplished electronically in order to minimize respondent burden.

4. Non-duplication: This contract is implementing logistics systems, policies, and

procedures never before used by the Air Force; therefore, there is no information already available which can be used or modified for use, that would specifically address the implementation of these changes.

5. Burden on Small Business: Respondents may be small businesses or other small entities.

This survey will be conducted on the internet and takes only about 10 minutes to complete. Survey populations (manpower resources) are determined using the Air Force unit manpower authorization document for Active Duty, ANG AFR, civil servants and MAJCOM estimates of contractor personnel.

6. Less Frequent Collection: Consequences of less frequent collections would be: 1) lack

of correlation between data collection concerning readiness for implementation and actual implementation which would void any attempt to implement corrective actions; current timetables provide for targeted communications and education for six months, followed by a survey to measure their effectiveness 2) the Air Force would fail to fulfill its contractual timetable/obligation to provide feedback to CSC as to the success or failure of implementation team’s efforts.

7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines: The collection of information is not inconsistent

with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Consultation and Public Comments:

1. Agency’s 60-day Federal Register notice published November 25, 2008 (73 FR 71626). No comments were received.

2. This requested data collection methodology is exactly the same one being used to

measure the effectiveness of change management activities on the Air Force personnel who will be affected by ECSS (Active Duty, ANG, AFR, and DoD Civil Service employees). Fourteen focus groups were held to review survey questions. Two meetings were held with all MAJCOMs involved to review the frequency of collection and clarify administration procedures and instructions. The AFMA was contacted to both explore current availability of required information (which was not found to be available) and to approve the survey questions and the methodology to administer it. The ECSS Readiness Survey is assigned AFMA SCN DAFA410-044. It expires 8 Feb 11 and will be resubmitted for continued use.

9. Gifts or Payment: There is no plan to provide payment or gifts to respondents; other than

remuneration of contractor or grantees.

10. Confidentiality: All responses are collected anonymously and cannot be traced to any

individual. No one in the Air Force will have access to individual survey responses. Completed surveys are sent directly to an independent analysis firm with only summary results (base level and MAJCOM) reported, as required by the ECSS contract. Additionally, the AFMA approval process requires the use of administrative procedures that guarantee anonymity.

11. Sensitive Questions: There are no questions of a sensitive nature. AFMA approval of the

surveys validates this as their review requires that “Questions must not be of a sensitive nature, objectionable, or in bad taste”. Nor would they allow misleading, “loaded” or “entrapping” questions or questions that would require an unreasonable amount of effort on the part of the respondent.

12. Respondent Burden, and its Labor Costs:

1. Estimation of Respondent Burden: The ECSS Readiness Survey was tested on

fourteen focus groups of active duty and civil service personnel to determine the amount of time needed to take the survey. The ECSS Readiness Survey takes approximately 10 minutes or .167 of an hour, 2767 contractor respondents per survey, conducted twice a year for a total of 924 hours. Total number of annual hours requested is 924 hours. Total annual responses are 2. Total number of annual respondents is 5534.

2. Labor Cost of Respondent Burden: Annualized cost to respondents for the ECSS

Readiness Survey: Survey completion time of 10 minutes per form (1 form) annually, 2767 respondents; GS-7 equivalent hourly wage = $17.67 X 2 per year X 10 minutes X 2767 respondents = $16,330.00 per year. Total annual labor cost of respondent burden = $16K. Contractor personnel who will be affected by ECSS are at about the same grades as the government users. Per hour contractor labor costs are not available to us, but those costs are approximately the same as the government per hour costs.

13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs: None.

14. Cost to the Federal Government: The cost for developing, administering, and analyzing

these information collections is included in the ECSS contract cost; government caused delays to the schedule established in the contract could drive additional costs.

15. Reasons for Change in Burden: This information collection was not included in the

FY09 DoD Information Collection Budget (ICB) because it is being administered under a contract. The ICB guidance required that AFPC administer the survey from start to finish in order to be included in the budget submission.

16. Publication of Results: Preliminary results are published one month after closing and the

final report within another 30 days. Reports will be distributed to ECSS Program staff and Site Transformation Leaders at each installation for further distribution as they see fit.

17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date: N/A

18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”: All provisions of

Item 19 of OMB Form 83-I are certified in regards to this collection of information.

2. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS:

This collection of information employs statistical methods and was administered to government employees in Apr-May 2008. The following information is provided:

1. Description of the Activity: Using a survey contractor, the AF ECSS Program will

conduct a survey of contractors performing logistics work for the AF. This same survey will also be administered to AF personnel (military and civilian) at the same time. The survey will be conducted at each of 170 AF installations world-wide on a rolling basis – 18, 12 and 6 months prior to the date at which the ECSS system will be fielded at that location. However, only 139 AF installations have a contractor workforce. Of those 139, only 79 have a contractor workforce of 50 or more, which is the cutoff for conducting the survey with contractors. Within each of the 79 AF installations with a sufficient number of contractor personnel, respondents will be selected based on the contract they work for and their level (manager or end-user). No firm information is available about the proportion of managers in the population, but experience tells us that 10% is a reasonable estimate.

A response rate of 50% is expected. As this is an anonymous survey, no individual follow-up is possible. This is a typical response rate for anonymous surveys of AF personnel. A response rate of 44% was received from the most recent AF-wide ECSS survey conducted in April-May 2008 and this was considered satisfactory to the AF. Subsequent surveys will be conducted closer to actual fielding of the ECSS system and will be conducted on a more local basis, resulting in a somewhat higher expected response rate. The 50% response rate means the 5534 contractor individuals will be asked to complete the survey, resulting in 2767 completing it.

2. Procedures for the Collection of Information:

1. Statistical methodologies for stratification and sample selection: The contractor

population is divided by 2 factors: location (AF installation) and contract. At each of the 79 AF installations an AF Survey Coordinator will be appointed. The Survey Coordinator will be responsible to distribute the survey invitation with instructions to each Contract Manager (the lead contractor employee). The instructions provided to the Survey Coordinator (and transmitted to the Contract Manager) will request all individuals in a squadron take the survey. The Contract Manager will then distribute the survey. Only the Contract Manager will know who has been asked to complete the survey. The individual survey request will provide a website to which the respondent can log in using the provided password. The password will be the same for everyone at that AF installation. Instructions for completing the survey will be on the website.

2. Estimation procedures: N/A

3. Degree of accuracy needed for the Purpose discussed in the justification: N/A since we are surveying the population of each selected squadron.

4. Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures: The

procedure is unusual in that it does not rely on systematic selection from a list of the total population. The procedure described in (a) above is being used because we cannot obtain a list of contractor personnel since that information is, in many cases, considered proprietary to the contractors. Although there is no central repository of information about contractors at each AF installation, we have obtained approximate numbers of personnel for each contract at each installation from the MAJCOMs. We estimate that 10% of those numbers represent managers for the contracting organization, 90% of them representing the end-user population.

5. Use of periodic or cyclical data collections to reduce respondent burden:

Surveys will be conducted at 6 month intervals at each installation, 18, 12, and 6 months prior to the ECSS go-live date at each installation. All contractors, in the selected organizations, will be asked to take the survey each time it’s administered.

3. Maximization of Response Rates, Non-response, and Reliability: Response rates

will be maximized by endorsements and publicity. The survey will be sent with a cover letter from the Director of the ECSS Logistics Transformation Office that refers to one or more letters from AF senior leaders. We will ask the Survey Coordinator to seek a letter of endorsement from the Wing Commander of the host unit for that installation. In addition, we will seek to have the survey and its importance publicized in AF publications both at the national and local level. Because the survey is anonymous, there will only be minimal demographic data to work with to determine non-response. For each installation, we will know the number of contractors at each job status level (manager or end-user) who responded. During the period of time that the survey website is open, we will periodically provide the Survey Coordinator with the response information that we have, and he/she will pass this on to the Contract Managers with the request to remind their personnel to complete the survey. The demographic data collected in the survey should be sufficient to determine if the data actually collected can be generalized to the population.

4. Tests of Procedures: Fourteen focus groups of government personnel were used to

refine the collection instrument utility. Two meetings were held with all MAJCOMs to finalize procedures to be used for survey administration. Additionally, questions and procedures were reviewed after the Apr-May 2008 administration to validate consistency and effectiveness.

5. Statistical Consultation and Information Analysis:

1. Provide names and telephone number of individual(s) consulted on statistical

aspects of the design.

• Mitchell Fleischer, Ph.D., NewVectors Division of TechTeam Government Solutions, Ann Arbor, MI, (734) 223-7450

• Jonathan Morell, Ph.D., NewVectors Division of TechTeam Government Solutions, Ann Arbor, MI, (734) 302-4668

2. Provide name and organization of person(s) who will actually collect and analyze the collected information.

• Mitchell Fleischer, Ph.D., NewVectors Division of TechTeam Government Solutions, Ann Arbor, MI, (734) 223-7450