CS-13-390 Enrolled Retirment Plan Agent

Supporting Statement

Information Collection (ICR) Approval Request to Conduct Customer Satisfaction Research (OMB #1545-1432)

Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) Survey

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The IRS Return Preparer Office (RPO), Competency & Standards Division, provides oversight of the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE) for Enrolled Retirement Plan Agents (ERPA) in conjunction with TE/GE. The IRS currently has a contract with American Institute of Retirement Education, LLC. (AIRE) to develop the ERPA SEE. Contract number TIRNO-08-C-00035. The contract requires AIRE to offer test candidates an exit survey. Additionally, AIRE currently has a contract with Prometric, Inc. to administer the test and capture survey results. A voluntary customer satisfaction survey offered at the end of the ERPA SEE will serve several purposes: it will allow RPO, TE/GE, and AIRE to evaluate the candidate’s perception of the test content and difficulty level to improve the examination and resource material; the survey will allow IRS and AIRE to understand certain demographics of the testing population. No PII is collected.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The survey feedback will be used to measure the effectiveness of the examination and resource material and to make improvements as necessary. Certain demographic information will be used to understand the population of ERPAs (credentials, job description, and number of years in practice) in order to provide adequate test preparation materials and to plan for meaningful content at the annual ERPA conference and in periodic newsletters. No PII is collected.

3. Consideration Given to Information Technology

The survey will be electronically administered through Prometric’s testing system and will display upon the conclusion of the examination.

4. Duplication of Information

This is the only survey offered to ERPAs by the IRS.

5. Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

N/A

6. Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

If the survey is not offered, RPO, TE/GE, and AIRE will not be able to measure external customer satisfaction on the test content, quality of resource materials, usefulness of the ERPA website, and customer satisfaction with respect to Prometric’s test centers and staff performance.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances. The survey will be administered on a voluntary basis to examinees.

8. Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency

The survey questions were drafted by AIRE and approved by IRS.

9. Payment or Gift

N/A

10. Confidentiality

The survey will not contain tax return information, taxpayer information, or personally identifiable information of examinees. We will limit and control the amount of information we collect to those items that are necessary to evaluate the program and measure customer satisfaction. We will apply the fair information and record-keeping practices to ensure protection of all survey respondents to the extent allowed by law. The criterion for disclosure laid out in the Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the protection of information as well as its releases to authorized recipients.

11. Sensitive Nature

No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Burden of Information Collection

The ERPA customer satisfaction survey has been designed to minimize burden. The time that a respondent takes to complete the survey has been carefully considered and only the most important areas are being surveyed. The survey format is:

• 9 straight answer questions (choose one answer/response)

• 2 Multiple option questions (choose as many choices/responses that apply)

• 1 Feedback question (provide free-form comments; suggestions for improvement)

Up to 300 ERPA SEE candidates will be offered the survey per testing window. The next testing windows are July 24, 2013 through August 31, 2013 and January 2014 through February 2014 (six week period, exact dates to be determined). The average time to complete the survey is projected to be 3 minutes. Of the possible 600 respondents (300 per each testing window), we expect about 90% to participate in the survey, or 540.

540 x 3 minutes = 1620 total minutes or 27.0 hours

Type of Collection	Number of Respondents	Minutes Per Response	Total Hours
Survey completion	540	3 minutes	27
Total Burden			27

13. Costs to Respondents

Not Applicable.

14. Costs to Federal Government

None. It is a contractual requirement for AIRE to conduct the survey.

15. Reason for Change

Not applicable.

16. Tabulation of Results, Schedule, Analysis Plans

Upon completion of the computer-based ERPA SEE, examinees will be offered the survey on a voluntary basis. Candidates wishing to participate in the survey will click a radio button which will launch the survey. Prometric will capture the individual survey results through the end of the testing window then provide the data to AIRE. AIRE will then compile a summary report for IRS.

17. Display of OMB Approval Date

Not applicable

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.

19. Dates Collection of Information will Begin and End

Beginning July 24, 2013 and ending February 2014 (exact date to be determined) then annually with the proper approvals.

B. STATISTICAL METHODS

The primary purpose of these collections will be for internal management purposes. There are no plans to publish or otherwise release this information. The customer satisfaction survey questions are attached.

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

ERPA SEE examinees will be offered the survey upon completion of the examination.

2. Procedures for Collecting Information

Prometric is the vendor who administers the exam. Prometric will electronically capture survey results then forward it to AIRE. This data contains no Personally Identifiable Information. AIRE is the contractor who develops the exam. AIRE will consolidate the survey data into a summary report and submit the report to the IRS RPO Competency & Standards Division and TE/GE for analysis.

3. Methods to Maximize Response

We anticipate a high participation rate due to the fact that the ERPA population if relatively small and the ERPA credential is awarded only to a specialized group of individuals.

4. Testing of Procedures

Pretesting will be conducted by the vendor and approved by the IRS to ensure all requirements are met.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

For questions regarding the survey or statistical methodology, contact:

Lana Doolin

Program and Management Analyst, IRS RPO Competency & Standards Division

Lana.L.Doolin@irs.gov

913-722-7548

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