SAM.gov Unique Entity ID Survey

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3090-0297)

Req-17

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: User Survey for Use of Unique Entity ID without intent to acquire a federal award (“UEI-Only Survey”).

PURPOSE: A key part of the Integrated Award Environment’s (IAE’s) mission is to reduce burden for users of our systems, minimizing barriers for doing business with the federal government. We will be collecting information to help us understand how to best streamline federal award processes for our users, how to best lead them through federal award processes, and how to best provide support (help, training, etc.) for them. Our goal is to improve efficiency, reliability, and effectiveness of IAE systems for our users.

The primary purpose of this survey is to solicit information from customers who have come to SAM.gov to get a Unique Entity ID (UEI). We intend to use the survey results to gain an understanding of the user community and improve communications about when a UEI or registration is required.

Understanding the needs of this audience is critical to IAE’s mission and supports the commitment to reducing the federal cost of widespread change by listening to users and helping them adopt system and process changes more quickly.

We do not currently collect information in SAM.gov identifying entities’ reasons for getting a UEI, the type of entity they are, or whether they achieved their purpose with getting a UEI, unless the entity is registered, which this specific population is not.

Additionally, because entities with only a UEI are not required to make updates to their entities, it is unlikely that many of them will return to SAM.gov where we can collect this information, necessitating an external survey to better understand the needs of this population.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Of all entities that have a Unique Entity ID or registration in SAM.gov, this survey targets a specific subset.

The population group is all Entity Administrators of existing SAM.gov entities that have gotten a UEI since April 2022 but have not registered. This is a total of 100,000 users, including non-federal domestic and international users who are subawardees, others who do not have a federal award, and awardees who can get a prime award with only a UEI. We plan to sample only 25,000 of this population for this survey.

Our sampling plan is on page 3.

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: Nancy Goode (703) 864-2266

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, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ X] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [X] 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
(1) Private Sector*	25,000	5 min	2,083 hours
(2) State, Local, or Tribal Governments*
Totals	25,000	5 min	2,083 hours

*Demographics do not exist in the system to separate by type of user.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $32,259. This is expected to be a one-time survey.

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? [X ] Yes [ ] 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?

Sampling Plan

Population (N)=100,000; Sample Size (n)=25,000

Sampling Discussion:

• We intend to conduct a systematic random sampling, ordering UEIs by date acquired and alphabetizing to avoid duplicates (reduce sampling error) then selecting recipients using a random number generator, as advised by GSA’s Office of Customer Experience (OCE).

Recommended Sample Size:

• 2,344 responses would generate a 1% margin of error at 95% confidence, requiring us to send 23,440 total surveys for an estimated expected 10% return rate. OCE recommends sending to 25,000 recipients to build in additional opportunities to attract the needed responses.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media (Qualtrics)

[ ] 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. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

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 per row.

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

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time (in minutes) 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 Respondents and the Participation Time then 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.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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