1140-0091 Supporting Statement (2015)

Department of Justice

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Information Collection Requirement

1140-0091

Supporting Statement

National Response Team Customer Satisfaction Survey

A. Justification

1. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 required that each Government agency maximize resources, establish clear focus, set priorities, develop more realistic goals or more innovative measurements, and permit the allocation and use of available resources for specific priorities. The purpose of performance measures is to capture data that permits the accurate assessment of program activities. The National Response Team (NRT) survey is used to support a Bureau performance measure and to assess strengths and weaknesses of a major program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

2. ATF’s arson and explosives NRT provides explosives and fire investigative resources and expertise on those incidents and investigations that are beyond the resources, capabilities, and/or expertise of other Federal, State, and local agencies and/or ATF field divisions. The NRT provides an immediate and sustained nationwide response capability to such situations with the most qualified ATF personnel available. NRT members work side-by-side with the members of other agencies in often intense circumstances.

Because efficiency, proficiency, and inter-agency cooperation are essential components to NRT operations, ATF seeks every opportunity to identify and resolve obstacles to them. To that end, ATF has been administering surveys to departments that request NRT assistance, upon completion of the assistance rendered. The information captured by the surveys is used to support a Bureau performance measure and to ensure that the services provided by the NRT continue to be relevant and of the highest caliber.

3. ATF had originally been sending the surveys by mail, but the return was often low and unpredictable. In order to improve the response rate and reduce both costs to the Government and burden to the respondent, ATF developed an electronic delivery method. The surveys are now sent electronically to a knowledgeable member of the department that requested NRT assistance, using survey software designed for this purpose. A preliminary e-mail is sent informing the department that the survey will soon be arriving and informing the recipient that either he/she or another knowledgeable member in the department may complete the survey. The department is asked to return the survey within two weeks. At that time, if the department has not responded, the survey software will generate a reminder e-mail. The response to the electronic surveys has been excellent.

4. There is no duplication of this data collection.

5. The information collected will be used to determine NRT performance and operational performance needs, and will not impact small businesses or other small entities.

6. The NRT Program was the subject of a Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Audit issued in January 2011. In Recommendation 5 of that report, the OIG recommended that ATF, “Place a greater emphasis on the State and local agency satisfaction surveys, establish a process for following up with non-respondents, and share with NRT members the feedback received through the surveys.” The issuance of electronic surveys is in the corrective action plan for this audit. If the collection is not approved, ATF will be unable to meet the requirements of the corrective action plan and will also be unable to collect data to support a Bureau performance measure that is tied to the NRT.

7. There are no special circumstances and the information will be collected in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. A 60-day and 30-day Federal Register notice was published in order to solicit comments from the public. No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is associated with this survey.

10. Confidentiality is not assured; however, only the names of departments are required in the surveys. Respondents are told they may ask any knowledgeable member to complete the survey, and the name of the person is optional.

11. No questions of a sensitive nature are asked in the survey.

12. The total number of respondents is estimated at 20 each year, depending upon the number of NRT activations. Each respondent will complete one survey, with an average completion time of 15 minutes. The total annual burden is approximately 5 hours. This survey will be administered to each respondent once. It is feasible that departments which request NRT assistance on multiple occasions could, over time, voluntarily complete multiple surveys; however, this collection effort is not redundant because each survey will provide answers unique to a particular instance (NRT callout).

13. There is no cost to the respondent.

14. The cost to the Federal government is negligible. ATF purchased the software a number of years ago, and it is used by multiple offices for a variety of purposes.

15. The adjustment to the number of respondents decreased from 500 to 20 due to ATF only using one survey to obtain feedback regarding the NRT. The previous submission had several different surveys to obtain feedback for multiple program areas; those surveys are no longer needed. The total time burden has decreased from 125 hours to 5 hours due to the reduction in number of respondents.

16. ATF does not plan to publish survey results. However, results of this collection may be used to support policy decisions or for informational purposes.

17. ATF does not request approval to not display the expiration date of OMB approval for this collection.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods: This data collection will not use statistical methods, nor is the data being gathered for statistical purposes.

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