Supporting Statement A for
NCI’s Center for Cancer Training Application Form for Graduate Student Recruitment Program (CCT NCI)
June, 28 2016
Name: Ofelia A. Olivero
Address: 9609 Medical Center Drive-MSC 9707-2W108
Telephone: 240-276-6890
Email: oliveroo@exchange.nih.gov
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Table of Contents
A. JUSTIFICATION
A.1 Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary
A.2. Purpose and Use of the Information COLLECTION
A.3 Use of Information Technology and Burden Reduction
A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information
A.5 Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities
A.6 Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently
A.7 Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5
A.8 Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside Agency
A.9 Explanation of Any Payment of Gift to Respondents
A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
A.11 Justification for Sensitive Questions
A.12 Estimates of Hour Burden Including Annualized Hourly Costs
A.13 Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record
keepers
A.14 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
A.15 Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments
A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule
A.17 Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate
A.18 Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
LIST of ATTACHMENTS
ATTACHMENT 1- ApPLICANT APPLICATION SCREEN SHOT
ATTACHMENT 2- rEFEREE fORM SCREENSHOT
ATTACHMENT 3- EmailS to applicant
ATTACHMENT 4- EMAILS TO REFEREE
ATTACHMENT 5- PIA
ATTACHMENT 6- PILOT SURVEY RESULTS-APPLICANTS
ATTACHMENT 7- PILOT SURVEY RESULTS-SURVEY REFEREES
ATTACHMENT 8- PRIVACY ACT MEMO
Justification
This is a new information collection requesting a 3-year approval. The Center for Cancer Training (CCT) is supporting NCI's goal of training cancer researchers for the 21st century. To support that goal, CCT created a Graduate Student Recruitment Program (GSRP) with the purpose of recruiting outstanding young scientists to postdoctoral positions at the NCI. The proposed information collection involves brief online applications completed by applicants to the full time and summer curriculum programs. This information is essential to the program to determine the eligibility and quality of potential selected individuals. Completing the application is voluntary, but in order to receive due consideration, the prospective trainee is encouraged to complete all relevant fields. The information is for internal use to make decisions about candidates invited to visit NCI and interview with scientist as potential postdoctoral trainees.
A.1 Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary
The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Training (CCT) supports NCI's goal of training cancer researchers for the 21st century. To support that goal, CCT implemented a Graduate Student Recruitment Program (GSRP) with the purpose of recruiting outstanding young scientists to postdoctoral positions at the NCI.
The legal authority granted to NIH to train future biomedical scientists comes from several sources. Title 42 of the U.S. Code, Sections 241 and 282(b)(13) authorizes the Director, NIH, to conduct and support research training for which fellowship support is not provided under Part 487 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (i.e., National Research Service Awards), and that is not residency training of physicians or other health professionals. Sections 405(b)(1)(C) of the PHS Act and 42 U.S.C. Sections 284(b)(1)(C)] and 285-287 grant this same authority to the Director of each of the Institutes/Centers at NIH.
The proposed information collection activity is necessary in order to determine the eligibility and quality of potential awardees for traineeships in this program. Identification of participants to matriculate into the program comes from applications and related forms hosted through the CCT Website. (See Attachment 1and 2)
Prospective trainees for admission must apply directly to the NCI using the application (Attachment 1), and may be asked to provide the following information to ensure eligibility: personal information, eligibility criteria, contact information, training program selection, scientific discipline interests, educational history, reference information, resume components, employment history, employment interests, dissertation research details, letters of recommendation. Applicants must also get a letter if reference. The letter is completed by the referee using the referee form (Attachment 2) Applicants chosen to participate come to the NIH as visitors with no formal appointment paperwork or financial support. The referee and applicants will be emailed correspondence notifying them of the status of the application and determination (Attachment 3-4).
The purpose of the proposed information collection activity is to assure that prospective trainees to the GSRP Program meet basic eligibility requirements; to assess their potential as future scientists; to determine where mutual research interests exist; and to make decisions regarding which applicants will be eligible and invited to attend the Program. In order to receive due consideration, the prospective trainee must complete all required fields.
The CCT applications utilize many of the following information fields:
Personal information (name, date of birth, fluencies);
Eligibility information (citizenship, certification questions, previous or current affiliation with NIH, trainee status);
Contact information (mailing, e-mail, phone for current, permanent and future address);
Training program selection;
Scientific discipline interests (research interests, medical entity/disease);
Educational history (university, academic major, attendance dates, degree awarded/anticipated);
Employment history and interests (type of employment, organization, department, address, title);
Reference information (name, contact information, waive access);
Resume components (cover letter, research experience, publications, presentations, awards / honors, extracurricular activities, personal statement / research proposal);
Dissertation research information; sensitive information (gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, disability);
The CCT staff and NCI investigators have access to applications for the program based on their scientific interests. Access to the information contained in each application is restricted by a login password that will be regulated and monitored by the CCT staff. Attendee selections are made by a review panel. Three reviewers will read and score the individual application. The scores will be normalized for objective comparison and combined to reach an average score for each applicant. Then, all average scores will be compared to select the best attendees. Individuals considered potential applicants will be reached by email messaging with information about the website for the GSRP and some brief explanation and deadlines. (Attachment 3-4).
It is expected that 100 students will apply and approximately 25 students will be selected to attend. (For example: Students complete the applications (Attachment 1) and their reference will submit a Letter of Recommendation (Attachment 2) for the students. Students are required to have 3 Letters of Recommendation from different individuals submitted per application.
A pilot of the application, (OMB #0925-0046, Expiration 5/31/2016) was completed and the feedback obtained from this data collection (Attachment 6), informed us that the application, anticipated time for completion, process and questions were understood and well received by the applicants.
Moreover, the pilot survey for those submitting a letter of reference also provided positive feedback. (Attachment 7). Based on their responses, we added emails to provide status of the application process for both the student applicant and the referee. (Attachment 3 and 4).
The CCT application is web based and accessible through the CCT website http://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training. Features of the online application include the following elements:
Applicant Emails (Attachment 3)
Email to applicant when application is submitted
Email to applicant when letter of reference is submitted but not all required letters have been received
Email to applicant once all required letters of reference have been received
Email to applicant reminding that application has not yet been submitted
Email to applicant reminding that reference letters are pending
Email to applicant when Status set to Incomplete
Email to applicant when Status set to Ineligible
Email to applicant when Status set to Withdrawn
Email to applicant when Status set to Pending Confirmation
Email to applicant when Status set to Wait Listed
Email to applicant when Status set to Retracted
Email to applicant when Status set to Accepted
Email to applicant when Status set to Rejected
In addition, prospective trainees are able to review Web pages hosting Application Directions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) prior to submitting an application for admission consideration. The details posted within the Web pages ensure adequate time to carefully complete and submit a well-organized application. The estimated time to complete an application is approximately 60-minutes.
CCT's online system reduces the burden on every applicant by streamlining the application process and improves agency efficiency and responsiveness to the public.
The individuals submitting reference letters will be informed of the status of their submission by receiving the following E-mail messages (Attachment 4)
Referee Emails (Attachment 4)
Email to referee when a letter of reference is requested
Email to referee when a letter of reference is submitted
Email to referee when a letter of reference is withdrawn
Email to referee reminding that letter of reference is pending
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) has been approved. (Attachment 5)
The information collected in this information collection is unique to this program and not collected anywhere else.
No Small Businesses or other small entities will be affected by this information collection.
This is a one-time information collection.
This information collection is consistent with these guidelines. Individuals that submit an application to CCT do so voluntarily.
The 60-Day Federal Register notice soliciting comments was published on Monday, August 2, 2016 p. 50713 (81 FR 50713). No comments were received.
No outside agency has been consulted.
No incentives (neither payments nor gifts) will be distributed to individuals.
All information will be kept private to the extent allowable by law. Information collected is available only to CCT personnel directly involved in handling applications. Additionally, principal investigators of the NCI will be able to have access to the applications. These individuals are assigned login credentials, including "strong" passwords that conform to standards used by the NIH Center for Information Technology, and the online tools these individuals use to access applicant data are restricted to CCT-approved users. Applicants receive login credentials. Also, references submit their letters of recommendation via a password-protected website.
The CCT application does not contain sensitive questions. These applications do collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including: name, contact information, education, and employment history.
The Privacy Act does apply based on the Privacy Act Memo. (Attachment 8) The applicable SORN is 09-25-0158: Administration: Records of Applicants and Awardees of the NIH Intramural Research Training Awards Program, HHS/NIH/OD/OIR/OE.
The annualized burden hours are 225 hours. It is anticipated that 100 students will apply and it will take approximately 1 hour to complete the application form. Based on that information, the annual hour burden for student applicants will be 100 hours.
It is anticipated that 300 people will submit letters of reference (3 letters per applicant). Each person will send the letter only once. It will take approximately 125 hours to complete the letter of recommendation.
Table A12-1. Estimates of Hour Burden
Type of Respondent |
Form |
Estimated Number of Respondents |
Estimated Number of Responses Annually Per Respondent |
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours |
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours |
Student Applicants |
CCT Application |
100 |
1 |
1 |
100 |
Professors |
Reference Recommendation Letters |
300 |
1 |
25/60 |
125 |
Total |
|
400 |
400 |
|
225 |
The annualized Cost to Respondents is $8,452.75. The hourly wage rates were taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s site, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251191.htm. Graduate students do not have an hourly rate listed with the Bureau of Labor Statistics; therefore, we used the occupation title “Graduate teaching assistant”, occupation code 25-1191, mean annual wage $32,970. The Reference Recommendation Letters would be completed by professors. The wage rate used to calculate this cost is from the occupation title Professors, occupation code 25-1040 on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#25-0000.
Table A12-2. Annualized Cost to Respondents
Type of Respondents |
Annual Burden Hour to Respondents |
Hourly Wage Rate |
Respondent Cost |
Student Applicants |
100 |
$12.29 |
$1,229 |
Reference Recommendation Letters |
125 |
$57.79 |
$7,223.75 |
Totals |
225 |
|
$8,452.75 |
There are no capital costs, operating costs, or maintenance costs to report.
The annualized cost to the Federal Government for the proposed data collection effort is estimated to be approximately $99,520.
Staff |
Grade/Step |
Salary |
% of Effort |
Fringe (if applicable) |
Total Cost to Gov’t |
Federal Oversight |
|
|
|
|
7,077 |
Project Officer |
14/10 |
141,55 |
5 |
|
7,077 |
Contractor Cost |
|
|
|
|
92,443 |
System setup |
|
|
|
|
68,820 |
Operation |
|
|
|
|
23,623 |
TOTAL |
|
|
|
|
99,520 |
This is a new collection of information.
There are no plans to publish the results of the application. Nor will statistical analysis be done on the information collected.
The information collected in the CCT application will not be published for the general public but will be used for annual program assessments.
.
The CCT Program has specific application opening and closing dates as well as admission procedures. The following list gives a general overview of the admission process:
Collection of applications
Investigators review applications for invitations to interview
Investigators rank applicants for admission offers
Admission offers sent to select interviewed applicants
Rejection letters sent to all other applicants
Accepted students attend conference
Table A16-1. Project Time Schedule: Application Opening and Closing Dates
Program |
Application Opening Date |
Application Closing Date |
Program Date |
GSRP |
January |
March |
April |
Reference Recommendation Letters |
February |
May |
N/A |
The OMB expiration date will be displayed
There are no exceptions to the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Supporting Statement 'A' Preparation - 04/05/2011 |
| Subject | Supporting Statement 'A' Preparation - 04/05/2011 |
| Author | OD/USER |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-20 |