Justification

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2010-0042)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Acquisition 360 “Rate the Agency” Survey

PURPOSE:

To ensure that agencies can continually consider and improve their performance in early vendor engagement efforts and internal acquisition practices, they need robust, timely, and specific feedback from key stakeholders. To that end, OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy has directed all Chief Financial Officers (“CFO”) Act agencies to conduct a survey of our industry partners in order to obtain the feedback which can be used to strengthen their acquisition function from pre-award activities up to, and including, contract award and debriefings.

The “Rate the Agency” survey will focus on the extent to which our industry partners are satisfied with the communications which occurred during the pre-award process, the clarity of the requirements and the solicitation process, and the robustness of the debriefing process. The survey will be web-based and potential respondents will be provided with a link to the survey.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The respondents will be all companies who submitted responses to a limited number of solicitations for complex information technology services issued, or to be issued, by the Environmental Protection Agency’s contracting offices.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

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: Douglas L. Baptist, Office of Administration and Resources Management/Office of Acquisition Management

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

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [X] 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
Individuals or Households	50	10 min	8.3 hr
Totals			8.3 hr

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?

Notification of the opportunity to complete the survey will be provided to firms that have taken part in the conduct of the solicitation of complex information technology services. However, the survey will be conducted for the lesser of 50 solicitations or 5% of those solicitations which fall within the universe. A review of solicitations meeting this criteria indicates that approximately three (3) such surveys will be conducted by OARM/OAM.

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 make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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