Supporting Statement Part A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

GENERIC CLEARANCE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS

This is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval for a renewal of a currently approved information collection entitled, “Generic Clearance Customer Satisfaction Surveys.” This is the Maritime Administration generic clearance, which is due to expire on March 31, 2020.

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers’ needs, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) seeks to obtain OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect feedback on our service delivery.

Surveys to be considered under this generic will only include those surveys that improve a customer service or collect feedback about a service provided. The results of the customer surveys will help the Maritime Administration (MARAD) managers plan and implement program improvements and other customer satisfaction initiatives. Focus groups that will be considered under the generic clearance will assess customer satisfaction with a direct service, be of limited size or scope, and/or will be designed to inform a customer satisfaction survey MARAD was considering. Surveys that have the potential to influence policy will not be considered under this generic clearance.

The types of surveys to be included in this clearance include various types of customer surveys, listening sessions and focus groups. Program offices will submit a generic information collection that shall include all relevant information, including a statement of need, intended use of information, description of respondents, information collection procedures, expected response rates, justification for incentives and estimated burden.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

This collection of information is necessary to enable MARAD to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders (merchant marine academy alumni, ship owners and/or managers, etc.) will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with the agency’s programs. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between MARAD and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.

3. Consideration Given to Information Technology

If appropriate, MARAD will collect information electronically and/or use online collaboration tools to reduce burden.

4. Duplication of Information

No similar data are gathered or maintained by MARAD or are available from other sources known to the agency.

5. Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

Small business or other small entities may be involved in these efforts but MARAD will minimize the burden on them of information collections approved under this clearance by sampling, asking for readily available information, and using short, easy-to-complete information collection instruments.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

Without these types of feedback, MARAD will not have timely information to adjust its services to meet customer needs.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances. The information collected will be voluntary and will not be used for statistical purposes.

8. Consultations with Persons Outside of MARAD

The Maritime Administration published a 60-day notice for public comments in the Federal Register on October 22, 2019 (FR 56532, Vol. 84, No. 204) indicating comments should be submitted on or before December 23, 2019, 2016. No public comments were received. In addition, a 30-day notice for comments was published in the Federal Register on February 20, 2020, (9936 FR, Vol. 85, No. 34). No comments were received.

9. Payment or Gift

MARAD will not provide payment or other forms of remuneration to respondents of its various forms of collecting feedback.

10. Confidentiality

The information requested is not of a confidential nature. Consequently, no assurance of confidentiality need be given.

11. Sensitive Nature

No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Burden of Information Collection

A variety of instruments and platforms will be used to collect information from respondents. The burden hours requested for three years is 5274 (1758 annually) are based on the estimated number of collections we expect to conduct over the requested period for this clearance.

Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
Type of Collection and number of Collections	Estimated No. of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondents	Total of Responses	Frequency per Response	Estimated minutes per Response	Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours
Customer Service Satisfaction Survey (10)	5000 (500 per Survey)	1	5000	Annually	10	833
Listening Sessions/ Stakeholder Feedback Forums (2)	200 (100 Respondents per Session)	1	200	Annually	120	400
Focus Group (2)	200 (100 Participants per Group)	1	200	Annually	120	400
Strategic Planning Online Surveys	500 Respondentsper Survey	1	500	Annually	15	125
Annual Total	5900	1	5900			1758
3-Year Total	17,700		17,700			5274

13. Costs to Respondents

No costs are anticipated.

14. Costs to Federal Government

The estimated cost to the Federal Government is $24,983.00 annually. These costs are comprised of: support staff, overhead, printing, and any other expense that is necessary to collect the information approved under this generic clearance.

Staff	Hourly Wage	Time (h)	Cost
GS-14 step 10	$75.57	250	$18,892.50
Benefits (times 1.4)	$105.80	250	$26,449.50

Hourly wage was taken from the 2020 Wage table: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2020/DCB_h.pdf

15. Reason for Change

There were no reported changes.

16. Tabulation of Results, Schedule, Analysis Plans

Feedback collected under this generic clearance will provides useful information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. Findings will be used for general service improvement, but are not for publication or other public release.

17. Display of OMB Approval Date

We are requesting no exemption.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the certification.