These 56 generic
civil works project planning questionnaires in the broad categories
of flood damage, navigation, environment, customer satisfaction,
public participation, operations, recreation planning, and
recreation resource management are approved for three years,
subject to the following conditions: 1) Wording changes to the
specific questions to more accurately reflect the context of the
survey are permitted. 2)Subsets or combinations of questions from
one or more approved questionnaire, as applicable to the area and
problem being evaluated, are permitted. 3)Each questionnaire must
display the OMB control number (0710-0001) and expiration date
(March 31, 2002), and must inform respondents that an agency may
not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to,
a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid
OMB control number. For surveys conducted orally, this information
must also be provided. 4) Each questionnaire must be submitted to
OMB for final approval prior to use. OMB will complete this
approval step within 10 business days. Each questionnaire should be
accompanied by a brief supporting statement describing the purpose
of the survey, where and when it is to be conducted, the population
to be surveyed, the sample size, the sampling methodology, and
references to the approved generic questionnaires and question
numbers. OMB will approve all questionnaires that are consistent
with the generic questionnaires in this ICR and these terms of
clearance. 5)Corps Headquarters will send a memo to all District
Offices informing them of the conditions for use of these
questionnaires. 6)Corps Headquarters will provide a copy to OMB of
the annual reports submitted by the Divisions each November
summarizing their use of these questionnaires. When interpreting
the results of surveys, care should be taken in extrapolating those
results from the sample to a larger population. This should be done
only to the extent that a statistically valid representative sample
has been surveyed. This is particularly relevant for customer
satisfaction surveys, which are generally designed to identify
potential problems and provide qualitative guidance on ways to
improve customer service, rather than to provide quantitative
statistics for use in program evaluation. OMB understands that the
Corps is currently developing and refining models for use in
estimating potential flood control benefits, and that once
opertional, such models may reduce the need to survey potential
flood victims directly. OMB believes this aproach may both reduce
respondent burden and yield better damage estimates, and encourages
the Corps to move forward with it expeditiously.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
03/31/2002
03/31/2002
03/31/1999
112,400
0
6,400
15,923
0
3,700
0
0
0
The Corps of Engineers uses public
surveys for collecting primary data for planning, program
evaluation, and basic research to improve formulation and design
projects and the management of their operations. Respondents are
typically flooding victims, other floodplain residents, and
business managers, shippers of waterborne commodities, waterway
operators, local officials who work with the Corps of Engineers on
planning and managing water resource projects and services, and
individual users of Corps recreation areas.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Corps of Engineers Civil Works Questionnaires, Generic Clearance