Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement

0704-0368

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Need for the Information Collection

The David L. Boren National Security Education Act, Title VIII of Public Law 102-183, Sec. 802(b), as amended, directs the secretary of Defense to carry out a program to award undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, and grants to U.S. institutions of higher education. Funding for the Program is provided from the National Security Education Trust Fund established in the United States Treasury.

2. Use of the Information

The National Security Education Program Office administers the Program. Non-Government administrative agents under contract to the Program Office administer the scholarship and fellowships programs. Individuals, who receive scholarship and fellowship assistance, must enter into an agreement to work for the Federal Government in an agency with national security responsibility as identified by the National Security Education Program Office. This provision is mandated in the Act. The designated administrative agent will use information submitted by the award recipients, to monitor compliance with their service agreement. The recipients will have submitted an application for the award, and will sign a statement at the time of award acknowledging their service agreement. They are required to submit two reports annually to update their status towards fulfilling the service obligation. If this information is not collected neither the administrative agent nor the program director would be able to fulfill a provision, stipulated in the Act, requiring the service agreement.

3. Use of Information Technology

The collection instruments for these reports will be constructed so as to require minimal inputs on a pre-formatted sheet. The administrative agents to aggregate and correlate data where appropriate will use automated data processing. Individual respondents will be able to complete the forms required of them at home, at their leisure, and sign, scan, and email the forms. Approximately 20 percent of award recipients submit the forms electronically.

4. Non-duplication

All information to be collected will be unique as it relates to each individual served by the program. No duplication of information requirements can be identified. The information required will be generated as a result of awards made of the previsions of this program. The information is not available elsewhere.

5. Burden on Small Business

The collection of information does not have a significant impact on small businesses or other entities.

6. Less Frequent Collection

Awards under this program will be made to individuals for study at colleges and universities. All students who receive awards under this program will incur a federal service obligation. The recipient is required to submit on a semi-annual basis a Service Agreement Report (SAR), DD Form 2753, until the federal service obligation is fulfilled. The reports are necessary in order to insure compliance with the provisions of the service agreement. Less frequent reporting would result in a loss of continuity with affected recipients.

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

The 60-day Federal Register notice published March 9,2007 (72 FR 10715). No comments were received.

This data collection requirement has been discussed with numerous personnel from five Federal Departments and Agencies, administrators and academicians from over 1000 institutions of higher education, and personnel from several foundations that make similar awards for academic study. There has been continuing consultation between the National Security Education Program and these offices since the inception of the program in December 1991.

9. Gifts or Payment

No payments or gifts will be provided to respondents.

10. Confidentiality

A Privacy Act Statement is provided at the top of both forms.

The SSN is the unique identifier used to identify the individual internally and to the Department of Treasury. Without the SSN, there would not be a way to determine the correct individual's financial record.

11. Sensitive Questions

This collection of information does not contain questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Respondent Burden, and Labor Costs

Estimate of Respondent Burden:

For DD 2752:

Number of Respondents: 250

Frequency of Responses: 1

Total Annual Responses: 250

Burden Per Response: 10 minutes

Total Burden Hours: 41.7 hours

Average Cost Per Respondent: (GS-5 @ $13.22 hour) $1.32 (10 minutes)

Total Respondents Cost: $330.50

For DD 2753:

Number of Respondents: 1400

Frequency of Responses: 1

Total Annual Responses: 1400

Burden Per Response: 10 minutes

Total Burden Hours: 233

Average Cost Per Respondent: (GS-5 @ $13.22 hour) $1.32 (10 minutes)

Total Respondents Cost: $1,850.80

The administrative agent under contract to NSEP, not the respondents, provides the information on DD Form 2752. The administrative agent certifies the accuracy of the information on each form. This annual reporting is mandatory for award recipients. However, the only monetary cost to the respondent is the amount of postage required to mail in the two-page report.

13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs

There is no capital start-up cost associated with this information collection.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

The annualized cost to the Government of data collection related to the Service Agreement is estimated to be $2,514.88.

Reviewing time per response: 5 minutes

Estimated responses per year: 1650

Total annual review time: 137.5 hours

Average hourly wage of reviewer: $18.29

Total Government cost: $2,514.88

15. Reasons for Change in Burden

This is a revision of a previously approved collection. In renewing the OMB number for these two forms, the respondent numbers has gone up, while the time to respond on the form has gone down. The first form, DD 2752 will be filled out annually by roughly 250 people when they accept the award. The second form, DD 2753, is filled out annually by roughly 1400 people, as they are required to report until they fulfill their service requirement. The increase in number of respondents is due to a combination of factors. One, the NSEP office has taken over the service portion of the program and receives all the paperwork in house. Previously, paperwork would end up at the Administrative Agent or the NSEP office. Second, the process has become more efficient in tracking and receiving information from NSEP award recipients. Over the past few years, the program has grown, increasing the number of award recipients as well as increasing the number of those required to respond annually. The change in time to respond on the form reflects a more realistic average.

16. Publication of Results

Numerical information generated as a result of these semi-annual reports may be published as aggregate numbers. This information would be included in the annual report to the President and to the Congress on the conduct of this program, as required by Title VIII, Section 806 of Public Law 102-183, as amended: The David L. Boren National Security Education Act of 1991. This report is due annually at the time that the Presidents budget for the next fiscal year is submitted to Congress.

17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date

We do not seek approval not to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submission”

No exceptions to the certification statement are being sought.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

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