Supporting Statement B.9.10.12.lettered

Supporting Statement B

1. OSC’s annual survey, which results are published in our Annual Report to Congress, consists of complainants and whistleblowers whose cases are closed during the previous fiscal year. The total number of surveys mailed out for FY 2011 was 2,454 mailed. 342 surveys were returned, comprising 14% of the total.

Total number of surveys mailed	Number returned	Percentage	Fiscal Year
2,454	342	14%	2011
2,114	321	15%	2010

2. The main reason we survey the entire group of closed cases. The first reason is that we are required to conduct the survey by statute. Section 13 of Pub. L. 103-424 provided that: "(a) In General. - The Office of Special Counsel shall, after consulting with the Office of Policy and Evaluation of the Merit Systems Protection Board, conduct an annual survey of all individuals who contact the Office of Special Counsel for assistance. The survey shall - "(1) determine if the individual seeking assistance was fully apprised of their rights; "(2) determine whether the individual was successful either at the Office of Special Counsel or the Merit Systems Protection Board; and "(3) determine if the individual, whether successful or not, was satisfied with the treatment received from the Office of Special Counsel. "(b) Report. - The results of the survey conducted under subsection (a) shall be published in the annual report of the Office of Special Counsel."

3. The individuals completing the survey have the option of including remarks in an open field at the bottom of the form. It is these comments which give us additional insight into ways the agency can improve our customer service. As such, using a sampling method would exclude potentially useful information from being received.

4. Ever since we have been able to measure the response rate, it has consistently been between 14 and 16% of those contacted.

2003	15%
2004	16%
2005	16%
2006	15%
2007	15%
2008	15%
2009	16%
2010	15%
2011	14%

5. The percentage of respondents per unit closely matches the percentage of cases closed by that unit for the fiscal year.

Case Type	% of cases closed	% of respondents to Survey
Prohibited Personnel Practice	79%	83%
Hatch Act	20%	13%
USERRA	1%	3%

6. The survey was changed from a paper survey to an electronic one, this has made its submission less of a time burden on the individuals contacted. The survey is tested each year to ascertain that the flow of questions is logical and consistent with the nature of the closed cases.

7. Requirements have been written and submitted to IT for a new “test” survey to be developed that will be generated at one or more key points in the handling of our cases while they are in open status. We expect the results to show greater customer satisfaction than those whose cases have been closed.

8. Since the randomly generated number has no meaning in itself, it is not necessary to hide the number, since it can only be used once.

9. Miscellaneous: Surveys mailed to individuals for whom OSC handled their cases, but who are not federal employees, are identified in the survey as seen on screen #4, page 7. These can be either individuals who opened a Hatch Act complaint with us, and could be State employees rather than Federal; another class of person who could have a case with us is an applicant for employment who was never actually hired. MSBP means Merit Systems Promotion Board. A requirement to number the survey questions has been sent to our IT unit. In 2011, 55% of PPP respondents included comments along with their survey responses.

10. Since almost 100 of cases closed, in which an individual complainant did not receive the result that they wanted from OSC, as asked in the survey, these cases lack legal merit, and are closed before they even get to the PPP unit. Nevertheless, everyone with a closed PPP case is given the opportunity to answer the survey, since it is required by statute. The field of the survey allowing for comments gives ample time for the complainant to describe why they feel their case had merit. This could not be answered by a multiple choice question.

11. Testing, analysis, publication, and all other considerations of the survey other than its coding by IT, please contact Ed Snyder at esnyder@osc.gov. 202-254-3600.