Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement For

Air Force Academy School Official’s Evaluation of Candidate

HQ USAFA/RRI

USAF Form 145

OMB 0701-0152

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Need for the Information Collection

USAFA Form 145 implements the provisions of 10 USC 9346. Information collection is necessary in order to provide verification by a candidate’s high school officer that all athletic and non-athletic extracurricular activities are indeed true. Without this information it would be difficult to accurately determine a candidate’s leadership abilities and physical stamina. Final USAF Academy selections could not be made if reviewing committees are not able to determine whether basic requirements have or have not been met. 10 USC 9346 is attached.

2. Use of Information

The information collected on this form is required by 10 USC and used by Air Force Academy officials to select appointees to the Academy. If the information on this form is not collected, the individual cannot be considered for admittance to the Air Force Academy.

3. Use of Technology

This form is completely web-based and stored on a 128 encryption website and server that is housed within the confines of the US Air Force Academy. No outside agencies have access to the data that is collected for each candidate.

4. Non-duplication

An internal study was conducted to review and eliminate redundancy on all candidate screening and selections processes.

5. Burden on Small Business

The collection of this information does not impact small businesses.

6. Less Frequent Collections

This is a one-time collection for each person who has been sent a candidate kit. If the information is not collected, final eligibility cannot be determined, and therefore, the student cannot be considered for an appointment to the Academy.

7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines

There are no special circumstances. The collection of information will be conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Consultation and Public Comments

A 60-day Federal Register notice was published June 15, 2007 (72 FR 33211). No comments were received.

The Directors of Admissions of the three service academies periodically meet to discuss the availability of data and report format for the information collected from high school students. In addition to the meetings, the Air Force Academy surveys the freshman class each year to gather input pertaining to form completion.

9. Gifts or Payments

No payments or gifts will be made to respondents.

10. Confidentiality

The information collected is handled, stored, and disposed of in accordance with existing Department of Defense procedures for safeguarding official information. We also certify that the Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular A-108, “Responsibilities for the Maintenance of Records about Individuals by Federal Agencies” are upheld. We are a military institution and all records for the Department of Defense are stored and tracked by Privacy Act information. The USAF Academy is also actively looking at using a Cadet Personal ID number as an alternative to their Social Security number information and is performing a cost analysis on changing all the data that is stored in the Cadet Management system and historical data. Currently, we must abide by the military regulations governing personnel, medical, and other records. If the military system changes, using PIDs for each member of the Armed Forces, then the USAF Academy and other military institutions will follow suit.

11. Sensitive Questions

No sensitive questions are asked in this collection of information.

12. Respondent Burden and its Costs

The annual hour burden for respondents is 3075 hours. This was derived by taking the number of candidates, 4100, and multiplying this number by an estimated one-half hour required by the high school official to complete a form, and an estimated fifteen minutes for a candidate to complete a form.

The annual cost to respondents is $37,269. This was derived by taking the number of candidates, 4100, and multiplying this figure by the one-half hour completion time at $10.50 (an average hourly rate for a high school official is $21.00), and fifteen minutes completion time by a candidate at $1.62 (Candidate average hourly rate is $6.50).

13. Cost of Respondent Burden

There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collected.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

The cost to the federal government is $57,815. This estimate was derived by applying a factor of $24.17 per hour times the 2392 hours estimated for processing and analyzing the information collected

15. Reasons for Change in Burden

The change is due to an increase in the number of national high school graduates eligible to apply to the Academy.

16. Collections of Information

Results will not be published for statistical purposes.

17. Expiration Date

The Air Force is not seeking an exception to display the expiration date of this information collection.

18. Certification Statement

No exceptions to the certification statement are being requested.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

Statistical methods are not employed for this collection of information.

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