SUPPORTING STATEMENT
U.S. Department of Commerce
National Institute for Standards and Technology
NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
Information Management System (IMS)
OMB Control No. 0693--XXXX
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) houses the NCNR which is a National User Facility, chartered to serve the nation’s scientific community by providing unique experimental apparatus for scientific studies using neutron scattering. Since the demand for such measurements exceeds the available resources, NCNR designed an Information Management System (IMS) that implements a peer-reviewed proposal based system to allocate the instrumentation to the best scientific proposals, collect information from the selected external participants to enable their scientific visits to NIST/NCNR, and track the results of those visits. In order to fulfill these goals, IMS implements a complex business process involving the following steps:
Registration of NCNR facility users
Collection of scientific experiment proposals
Regularly scheduled peer review of said proposals
Merit-based award of available experimental resources
Experiment date scheduling for selected projects (instrument scheduling)
Collection and management of data required by the NCNR site access protocol
Managing the Health Physics training of arriving scientists
Coordination of personal data with the NIST Associates Information System (NAIS, SSP 100-03) for future NAIS account processing
Collection of data in support of related activities such as
NCNR Summer School for facility users
Tracking of the research results such as collected data, and subsequent publications
Numerous internal reporting functions used to evaluate and manage the NCNR activities.
2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.
The collection of information is organized around the timeline of the scientific proposal cycle, which usually includes two calls for proposals per year. Most data is submitted by NCNR applicants in support of these proposals, and in subsequent activities coordinating visits to perform selected experiments. The information collected by IMS is not designed to be disseminated publicly--it’s used to support the NCNR facility operations. Points of information collection will include:
Registration of NCNR facility users
NCNR/NSF Summer School Application
3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.
The information is collected via a web-based data input and computer database storage back end.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
The IMS system contains a database of information and reuses previously entered data, and avoids collecting data that is not strictly necessary for the NCNR User Facility process.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.
NCNR does not interact with small business entities.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.
The IMS collects only data that is required for the programmatic activities of NCNR, so any curtailment of collection would hamper the scientific research that is performed at NCNR.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
The information collections will be conducted in a manner consistent with OMB guidelines.
8. Provide information of the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.
A 60-day Federal Register Notice (FRN) soliciting public comments was published on Friday, April 20, 2018 (Vol. 83, No. 77, page 17532). No comments or suggestions for improvements were received.
A 30-day Federal Register Notice (FRN) soliciting comments was published on Monday, Jul 9, 2018 (Vol. 83, No. 131, page 31723). No comments or suggestions for improvement were received.
Outreach and effort for consultation outside of the agency primarily focused around the NCNR Facility Users’ community. NCNR is continuously engaged with this community; and the Facility Users advisory committee’s recommendations provide guidance for the development of the Information Management System (IMS).
9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.
There are no payments or gifts to respondents, other than those resulting from programmatic activity that follows afterwards.
10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
The data provided by respondents is held closely by NIST/NCNR, and any releases are done in the context of scientific research process that follows afterwards, e.g. involving publication of scientific results. Personal Identifiable Information (PII) will not be shared outside of NIST.
11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
The Information Management System (IMS) is not collecting such information.
12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
The estimated time per response is one (1) hour; estimated number of respondents is 2000.
The estimated burden is 2000 hours annually.
13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in
Question 12 above).
There is no cost to the respondent or record keepers.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
This information collection will involve several NIST employees that will devote a portion of their time, to plan, coordinate, administer, or monitor the overall types of individual information collections to be conducted. NIST estimates that it would involve an annual estimated total of 780 hours (15 hours per week) and an estimated cost of $87,000 per year (based on a loaded professional salary of $116 / hour).
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.
This is a new information collection.
16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.
There is no plan to publish the collected data.
17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.
The OMB number and expiration date will be displayed on the instrument.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.
There are no exceptions to this information collection.
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
(If this collection does not employ statistical methodology, state this information. Delete the following questions.)
Statistical methods are NOT employed by INS in any meaningful sense, apart from basic reporting used for internal management purposes.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | dyonder |
| Last Modified By | SYSTEM |
| File Modified | 2018-08-06 |
| File Created | 2018-08-06 |