Supporting Statement for NSF/OIRM/HRM NSF Academy soliciting feedback from permanent employees, fellows, rotators, and other tem

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3145-0215)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: NSF/OIRM/HRM NSF Academy soliciting feedback from permanent employees, fellows, rotators, and other temporary federal employees for work done by the NSF Academy per Exec. Order 13932.

PURPOSE:

The Division of Human Resources Management (HRM) serves the National Science Foundation (NSF) by finding, developing, supporting, and retaining a talented and diverse workforce that helps keep NSF at the forefront of science. This role includes recruiting, assessing, selecting, onboarding, developing and retaining, and transitioning out all permanent employees, fellows, rotators, and other temporary federal employees. Because NSF regularly brings in outside scientists, engineers, and educators on temporary, rotational assignment to work with its staff of permanent federal employees to help decide which projects the agency will fund, rotators are a key customer in addition to permanent employees. NSF appoints rotators under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) mobility program or the Visiting Scientist, Engineer, and Educator (VSEE) program. During their appointments (up to 4 years), rotators are blended with permanent staff.

To ensure HRM is providing adequate customer experience, HRM regularly collects feedback from staff – employees, rotators, fellows, and other federal temporary employees – to assess the services provided by HRM. HRM uses this information internally to improve customer experience including improvements to services, courses, workshops, and programs.

These particular customer experience surveys are voluntary, and the surveys are designed to solicit information and feedback related to customers’ experience in a program led by the NSF Academy, which is the branch of HRM focused on providing learning and development opportunities for NSF’s workforce.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Because the mechanism will be voluntary, respondents will self-select. This surveys will be distributed to NSF staff who participate in the Academy’s Team Effectiveness Program.

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:__Suzanne H. Plimpton, NSF Reports Clearance Officer_______________________

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 [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] 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 (estimate 20% response rate)	300	5 minutes	25 hours
Totals			25 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is _$700________

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?

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.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

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

  

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