G417 Pre-Application Assessment Program Registration &Survey Submission Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0651-0080 )

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: G417: Pre-Application Assessment Pilot Program Registration and Survey 2024

PURPOSE: To obtain feedback from pro se applicants regarding their experience in participating in the Pre-Application Assessment Pilot Program training course. Information collected from the participants will assist the USPTO agency wide, as well as improve educational resources and training offerings for pro se applicants to successfully assess their invention through public patent search tools.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Respondents are individuals who registered for the Pre-Application Assessment Pilot Program course to assess their invention using patent public search tools.

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 [ X] Other: Interest Form

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.

Business Unit Certification: Robert Hodge - OPSE_

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

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

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

PAT-TM-19: Dissemination Events and Registrations

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 Individuals & Households	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden (hrs)
Interest Form	600	5 minutes	48
End of Training Survey	60	10 minutes	10
Totals	660	- - -	58 Hours

The USPTO estimates that 100% of the surveys will be conducted online.

FEDERAL COST:

The USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-14 step 8, 6 hours for summary, data analysis, and reporting for the 2 courses this fiscal year.

The hourly rate for a GS-14, step 8, is currently $82.38 according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) 2024 wage chart, including locality pay for the Washington, DC area.  When 30% ($24.71) is added to account for a fully loaded hourly rate (benefits and overhead), the rate per hour for a GS-14, step 8, is $107.09. 

The total estimated annual cost to the Federal government for the Pre-application Assessment Pilot Program end of course survey is the combined average hourly rate of $107.09 per hour * 6 = $643.

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?

USPTO’s Office of Stakeholder Experience (OPSE) provides support for independent inventors.

Due to the personalized nature of the course, including considerable one-on-one assistance, only 20 applicants will be accepted per course. Three courses will be offered through the end of the fiscal year, thus we anticipate 60 total attendees. Potential respondents for the Interest Form and/or the survey will be based on the users who visit the pre-application assessment program website.¹

Every participant will be sent the end of course survey via email once they have completed the course. Also due to the personalized nature of the course, we estimate around a 70% response rate, higher than the typical external response rate at USPTO. This should result in around 42 survey responses this year.

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.

1 https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-establishes-new-pre-application-assessment-program-help-american.

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