MBDA Business Centers Ranking Survey Submission Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number 0690-0030)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Rank Your Recommendations: A Survey of Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Centers

PURPOSE: This survey will be conducted to obtain MBDA Business Center management (Operators and Program Directors) to select and rank a series of recommendations submitted during the 2012 MBDA National Training Conference, which was held in Memphis, Tennessee August 8-10, 2012.

MBDA has a national network of 40 business centers that operate under cooperative agreement with the Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. These centers work directly with minority-owned businesses to facilitate contracts and financing; and offer a full range of business support services and expertise. Until this month, they worked directly with five regional offices, which are no longer in operation, and regional employees have been reassigned to Headquarters.

Responsiveness and communication will be the key to a smooth transition and our continued success. Having received over 50 recommendations during the National Training Conference; it is essential that we accurately prioritize these recommendations so that we can proceed with implementation as soon as possible.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

While the recommendations were made by attendees of the 2012 MBDA National Training Conference, we will be sending the survey to ALL Business Center management. This will give those who were not able to attend an opportunity to participate and result in a more valid assessment of their needs overall.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [x] Other: Ranking Survey

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Patricia A. Tomczyszyn

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [x] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [x] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Private Sector	80	10 minutes	13
Totals	80		13 Hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $300.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [ X] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

All Business Center operators and project directors will be invited to participate.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[x] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [x] No

Please submit all instruments, instructions, correspondences (emails, letters, etc.) to respondents, and scripts as separate documents along with this request document.

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