Form 454 USDA RD RCD Grant RBS Survey

USDA Rural Development RBS Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire

USDA Rural Development – (RBS)

Business and Cooperative Programs

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2011

FINAL VERSION

Introduction

Thank you in advance for taking the time to provide us with your feedback. USDA Rural Development’s mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for all rural Americans. Gathering your feedback helps to ensure that we are delivering on our mission to you and to all of Rural America. This survey asks about your experiences with the Business and Cooperative Programs and with the Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program.

This survey is being administered by CFI Group, an independent third-party research group. This brief survey asks about your satisfaction with our products and services as well as ways that we can improve our service to you. Your answers will remain anonymous and will be combined with those from other respondents for research and evaluation purposes only.

This survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes and is authorized by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Control No. 1090-0007.

Application Process – Grantee Questions

Think about the notice that is published on the Federal Register to alert applicants of the 45-day application period for the grant.

Please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the following:

1. Timeliness of notification

2. Notice using clear language and being easy to understand

Think about the application process for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant; please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the process on the following:

3. Ease of submitting application (and supporting paperwork)

4. Responsiveness/communication regarding the status of your application

Decision Process – Grantee Questions

Think about the decision process for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant; please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the process on the following:

5. Timeliness of decision/notification

6. Clarity of reason for decision/explanation of ranking system

Staff - Grantee Questions

7. Have you had contact with STATE AND LOCAL staff in the past year?

1. Yes (CONTINUE)

2. No (SKIP TO Q13)

3. Don’t Know (SKIP TO Q13)

Thinking about the customer service that you received from the staff, please rate them on the following using a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent.” If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

8. Courtesy and professionalism

9. Ability to answer your questions

10. Knowledge of grant program

11. Timeliness in responding to your question or request and providing follow up

12. Responsiveness in administering/servicing grant

13. Have you had contact with the NATIONALOFFICE staff in the past year?

1. Yes (CONTINUE)

2. No (SKIP TO Q17)

3. Don’t Know (SKIP TO Q17)

Thinking about the customer service that you received from the National Office staff, please rate them on the following using a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent.” If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Courtesy and professionalism

12. Ability to answer your questions

13. Timeliness in responding to your question or request and providing follow up

Information/Communications – Grantee Questions

Thinking about the information that you receive or access concerning the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program from USDA Rural Development, please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the information on the following. If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Ease of accessing information

12. Clarity and ease of understanding information

13. Usefulness of information

Reimbursement– Grantee Questions

Thinking about the reimbursement process for your Rural Cooperative Development Grant please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the following. If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Ease of filling out paperwork/reporting

12. Timeliness of reimbursement

11. Were you able to spend all of the funds within the year?

1. Yes (SKIP TO Q24)

2. No (ASK Q23)

3. Don’t Know (SKIP TO Q24)

11. Why were you not able to spend all of the funds? (OPEN END)

Application Process – State/Local Office Questions

Think about the application process for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant; please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the national office on the following:

11. Support from national office in producing application documents

12. Communication from national office regarding grantees’ application status

Decision Process – State/Local Office Questions

Think about the decision process for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant; please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the national office on the following:

11. Timeliness of decision/notification from national office

12. Clarity of reason for decision/explanation of ranking system

13. Support from national office in producing notification documents

National Staff – State/Local Office Questions

11. Have you had contact with the NATIONALOFFICE staff in the past year?

1. Yes (CONTINUE)

2. No (SKIP TO Q33)

3. Don’t Know (SKIP TO Q33)

Thinking about the customer service that you received from the National Office staff, please rate them on the following using a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent.” If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Courtesy and professionalism

12. Ability to answer your questions

13. Timeliness in responding to your question or request and providing follow up

Information/Communications – State/Local Office Questions

Thinking about the information that you receive or access concerning the Rural Cooperative Development Grant from the national office, please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the information on the following. If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Ease of accessing information

12. Usefulness of information in administering/servicing the grant

Reimbursement – State/Local Questions

Thinking about the reimbursement process for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program please use a scale from “1” to “10” where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent” to rate the following. If a particular question does not apply please select N/A.

11. Ease of managing paperwork/reporting

12. Support from national office regarding reimbursement issues

ACSI – State/Local Office and Grantee Questions

11. Overall, how satisfied are you with the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program from USDA Rural Development? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very dissatisfied and 10 is very satisfied.

11. How well does the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program from USDA Rural Development meet your expectations? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means falls short of expectations and 10 means exceeds expectations.

11. How does the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program from USDA Rural Development compare to the ideal program or organization that promotes economic opportunity and improvement of the quality of life for in rural Americans? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means not very close to the ideal and 10 means very close to the ideal.

Outcomes– Grantee Questions

11. Using a 10-point scale where “1” means “Not very likely” and “10” means “Very likely”, please rate the how likely are you to recommend the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program from the USDA Rural Development to others, if you were asked?

11. Do you plan to apply to the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program again in the future?

1. Yes (SKIP TO Q43)

2. No (CONTINUE TO Q42)

3. Don’t Know (SKIP TO Q43)

11. (Why would you choose not to apply again in the future?

11. Which of the following does your organization serve? (Select all that apply.)

1. Minorities

2. Socially disadvantaged

3. Renewable energy organizations

4. Local food organizations

Open End–Grantee Questions

11. Please share any other comments that you have about the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program.

12. How does the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program help you impact your community? (Open end)

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FINAL 2011 QUESTIONNAIRE