SUPPORTING STATEMENT PART A
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Astronaut’s System for Tracking and Requesting Appearances (ASTRA)
TYPE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: New information collection
A. JUSTIFICATION
Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
NASA Astronaut Appearance Office (AAO) located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas is responsible for vetting, processing, and coordinating logistics for Official NASA Astronaut Appearances. In order to accommodate, authorize and coordinate requests for appearances, the creation of an information collection about members of the general public or individuals representing organizations that make requests to the Agency for an Official Appearance will be created. This collection of information about the details of the request and a valid point-of-contact (POC) for the request, enables authorization, scheduling and logistical communications regarding NASA astronaut appearances. Typically, appearances are made to high schools and universities, community organizations, businesses and associations, or military organizations.
Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used.
This information will be used by the NASA AAO and Legal and HR personnel in the vetting, coordinating, scheduling and authorization processes to work with requestors to facilitate the appearance logistics.
Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection.
The purpose of the ASTRA application is to enable electronic requests to be submitted to the Agency in order to execute the processes for Official Appearances. Requestors will be directed from the publicly-facing Website (on nasa.gov namespace) to create a NASA Guest account in order to make a request in ASTRA. Requests in ASTRA are via web-form, and stored in the ASTRA request database where they begin the request processing lifecycle.
Describe efforts to identify duplication.
As each request for an Astronaut is unique, there should not be any duplication of information contained within the ASTRA information collection. NASA’s AAO uses this information to contact and coordinate logistical details of the appearance with the requesting POC. Details about the requested event are subject to the AAO’s Records Retention policy, and will be maintained for a defined period.
If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of the OMB Form 83-I), describe the methods used to minimize burden.
The ASTRA information collection does not present any impact on small businesses.
Describe the consequence to federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.
The consequences to NASA to not collection information about requests for Astronaut appearances can lead to a number of additional burdens. First, not collecting information about the appearance, or details about requestor would prevent the Agency from performing any validation of requests for legitimacy, or prevent any appearances from being conducted. This would negatively impact the Agency, as the Astronaut Corps represents the “Face of the Agency” to the general public. Simply by not allowing the electronic collection and storage of the request information using current technologies would revert processes back to paper-based systems, resulting in increased time and effort by the Agency to support appearances.
Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in an exceptional manner:
There are no known circumstances which would require the Agency to conduct the collection in an exceptional manner. Each request for an appearance from the public is unique.
Provide the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register for the 60-day and 30-day FNRS, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.
60-day FRN: Federal Register Volume 87, Number 45, on 3/8/2022. No comments were received.
30-day FRN: Federal Register Volume 87, Number 132, on 7/12/2022.
Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.
There are no provisions granted to requestors, other than being granted the requested appearance from an Astronaut at the event requested.
Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
Requestors are each required to register as a NASA Guest user in order to gain access to the request form. The application security embedded in its design only allows the registered user to see their own request information/details, thereby ensuring the confidentiality of their information and request.
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.
Questions of a sensitive nature are not found in this information collection.
Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.
The AAO receives approximately 1,000 requests for Astronaut appearances annually. They estimate that the request form will take approximately 20 minutes to fill out in its entirety.
RESPONDENT CATEGORY |
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS |
ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME |
ANNUAL BURDEN |
Individual |
1000 |
20 minutes |
333 hours |
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
1000 |
20 minutes |
333 hours |
Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information.
Assuming a wage of $30/hr, the AAO estimates that the annual burden to respondents to create an Official Astronaut Appearance request in the system is approximately $10 per individual and $9,990 in total.
Cost to the Federal Government: Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government.
There are 3 appearance types: In-person, Virtual, and Recorded Greetings. The number of hours to complete each appearance type varies based on its complexity. In-person appearances require more hours to complete than Virtual and Recorded Greetings, with international in-person requests requiring additional time due to additional steps required in the approval process. The sum of all appearance types was calculated based on average hours to complete 1 appearance. This number was then multiplied by the average number of appearances completed each month to yield the number of hours/years to process the requests. The total hours per year was then multiplied by average hourly salary wage of AAO support staff for each appearance type.
Appearance Type Hrs to Complete 1 App Avg/month Hours/year Costs/Year
Virtual 11.5 hrs 32 4416 110,400
In-person 14.0 hrs 30 5040 126,000
Recorded Greeting 10.0 hrs 14 1680 42,000
Total: 35.5 hrs 76 11,136 ~280K
Changes in Burden: Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I, if applicable.
There are no changes based on this being the initial information collection request.
Publication of Results: For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.
Information regarding specific Astronaut appearances, nor the contact information about the event requested are not published by NASA.
If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.
The ASTRA team plans to display the information collection expiration date as part of the acknowledgement from users prior to accessing the request form.
Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions," of OMB Form 83-I.
The NASA information collection sponsor must address the certification below and enter their name and position title. The NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer must concur on any exceptions requested by the information collection sponsor, or the package will not be forwarded to OMB.
The proposed collection of information –
(a) is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of NASA, including that the information to be collected will have practical utility;
(b) is not unnecessarily duplicative of information that is reasonably accessible to the agency;
(c) reduces to the extent practicable and appropriate the burden on persons who shall provide information to or for the agency, including with respect to small entities, as defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601(6)), the use of such techniques as:
(1) establishing differing compliance or reporting requirements or timelines that take into account the resources available to those who are to respond;
(2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance and reporting requirements; or
(3) an exemption from coverage of the collection of information, or any part thereof;
(d) is written using plain, coherent, and unambiguous terminology and is understandable to those who are targeted to respond;
(e) indicates for each recordkeeping requirement the length of time persons are required to maintain the records specified;
(f) has been developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected, including the processing of the information in a manner which shall enhance, where appropriate, the utility of the information to agencies and the public;
(g) when applicable, uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology appropriate to the purpose for which the information is to be collected; and
(h) to the maximum extent practicable, uses appropriate information technology to reduce burden and improve data quality, agency efficiency and responsiveness to the public; and
(i) will display the required PRA statement with the active OMB control number, as validated on www.reginfo.gov
The NASA office conducting or sponsoring this information collection certifies compliance with all provisions listed above.
Name: John McBrine
Title: Astronaut Appearances and Outreach Manager
Email address or Phone number: john.mcbrine-1@nasa.gov
Date: 5/26/2022
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | TEMPLATE/GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING THE SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | IMB, ERO |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-07-14 |