2015-11-12_Supporting Statement B_FINAL

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.

1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection methods to be used.

Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, State and local government units, households, or persons in the universe covered by the collection and in the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample.

DOE currently believes that the total number of unduplicated responses it will receive is 1,300 or less. This value represents the number of online scorecards expected to be submitted to DOE under the voluntary EV Scorecard program and the voluntary Clean Fleets Partnership program. The total number of completed online scorecards represents the expected number of participating communities, which is based on the number of existing Clean Cities Coalitions (roughly 90, presently), and includes others communities as well that might potentially participate, to ensure all Clean Cities coordinators and leaders of other communities are able to access the PEV Scorecard. The total number of completed Partnership submittals represents the expected number of participating partner fleets. Together this value is 1300.

DOE does not plan presently to solicit responses from more than these Coalitions and Partnership fleets. DOE does not plan to shut down the survey once the total number of surveys and Partner submittals, not to exceed 1300, are submitted.  If DOE encounters a situation in which redundant scorecards are completed (multiple cards for the same community), DOE will request the communities work together to identify a single representative. DOE does not expect to shut down this information collection at the end of three years, but rather hopes to continue the program as its relevance is expected to continue to be viable as communities continue to grow their PEV readiness. Further DOE expects the Partnership program to generate useful, productive, and applicable results and so does not expect to shut down the collection of information under this particular program.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:

Statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection, estimation procedure, Degree of accuracy needed for the purpose describe in the justification, unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures, and any use of periodic data collection cycles to reduce burden.

For the EV Scorecard effort, DOE issues a solicitation letter/email to Clean Cities Coordinator contacts. This is a discrete universe of entities (i.e., a broadcast email will not be sent, but rather solicitation will be made of a defined and limited audience, each member of which will be solicited, rather than a sampling of the universe of entities). Once respondents are identified, each is asked to access the online collection instrument and undertake steps to complete the multiple choice questions.

For the Clean Fleets Partnership effort, on a voluntary basis, respondents, who DOE plans to continue to be large, private-sector fleets that own or have contractual control over at least 50 percent of their vehicles and have vehicles operating in multiple States, supply the information voluntarily via a template spreadsheet and phone or in-person interview. Clean Cities Coordinators and Clean Cities staff from DOE Headquarters and national laboratories identify and submit to DOE candidate partners (potential respondents), and DOE determines whether candidate partners are appropriate (e.g., is the fleet sufficiently large) and then reaches out to these candidate partners through each candidate’s point of contact. If the candidate partner agrees to become a Partner, a phone interview is scheduled.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non-response.

The accuracy and reliability of information collected must be shown to be adequate for intended uses. For collections base on sampling, a special justification must be provided for any collection that will not yield “reliable” data that can be generalized to the universe studied.

The DOE Clean Cities Program has extensive experience related to outreach and specific working relationships with Clean Cities Coalitions through the Clean Cities Coordinators associated with each Coalition. DOE is confident that through this well-established network it will continue to obtain the participation necessary to ensure strong and viable programs. For the EV Scorecard initiative, if it becomes necessary to enhance participation, DOE will issue additional email solicitations, hold one of its monthly webinars for Coordinators specifically focused on the scorecard initiative, and otherwise promote the initiative through its regular communications with Coordinators, including the annual Coordinator meetings. Moreover, because participation in the initiative is voluntary, there is no specific harm if a community or Coalition does not participate. For the Clean Fleets Partnership effort, DOE is confident in the ability of Clean Cities Coordinators and DOE staff to encourage the targeted fleets to join this initiative. As with the scorecard initiative, because participation in the initiative is voluntary, there is no specific harm if a community or Coalition does not participate.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken.

Testing is encouraged as an effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. Tests must be approved if the call for answers to identical questions from 10 or more respondents.

A proposed test or set of test may be submitted for approval separately or in combination with the main collection of information.

For the EV Scorecard initiative, each multiple-choice answer to each question has been assigned a value between 0 and 1 (0 being generally assigned only to "I don't know" answers—we want to incentivize knowing the answer, even if it's not an ideal "excellent" answer—and 1 being assigned to best practices). Each question was then assigned a weighting of 1, 2, or 3 (representing importance of the answer as somewhat important, very important, or critical, respectively). All values were generated by a focus group at NREL and then vetted through reviews with DOE, other national laboratories, Rocky Mountain Institute (expert in PEVs and PEV infrastructure), and EV specialist contractors (e.g., ICF and Energetics). The overall score (and similarly the topic scores) are generated by multiplying each answer score by the question weighting, and summing the results.

DOE does not compare scores between specific communities. No one city or region has been identified as the standard for PEV readiness. The scorecard questions were gathered to represent the issues DOE, NREL, and the various stakeholders contacted for review of the scorecard have found most common. Many of the questions have specific case studies associated with them that do identify what some other communities and/or businesses have done, but the subject is not identified as a benchmark. Participants/respondents are able to compare their own scores from year to year, and thereby obtain a fuller understanding of the area’s progress in the context of PEV readiness.

DOE provides a numberless rating to each city. This scoring system is described above.

For the Clean Fleets Partnership effort, there is no specific test involved. Rather, DOE candidate partners (potential respondents) are identified by Clean Cities Coordinators, DOE Clean Cities staff, and national laboratory personnel involved with Clean Cities, and DOE determines whether candidate partners are appropriate (e.g., is the fleet sufficiently large) and then reaches out to these candidate partners through each candidate’s point of contact.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s) or other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.

Self-explanatory.

For the EV Scorecard initiative, the design of the collection instrument and materials, as well as the design of the database that will sort the information was undertaken by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the guidance of Mike Simpson, Vehicle Systems Engineer, Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems. (303) 275-3209; mike.simpson@nrel.gov. NREL is responsible for collecting and/or analyzing the information for DOE.

For the Clean Fleets Partnership effort, the design of the collection instrument and materials, as well as the design of the database that will sort the information was undertaken by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the guidance of Andrew Hudgins, Project Leader, Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems. 303-275-4382; Andrew.hudgins@nrel.gov. NREL is responsible for collecting and/or analyzing the information for DOE.