Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

FOR

NAVAL ACADEMY CANDIDATE APPLICATION FORMS

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Need for Information Collection. This information requirement is needed by officials to determine the eligibility, competitive standing, scholastic and leadership potential of candidates for an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Without the data collections, information on scholastic qualification would not be available. Prior academic performance has been found to be an excellent predictor of success and without this information it would seriously impact our ability to recruit qualified candidates. An analysis of the information collected is made by the Admissions Board during the “rolling admissions” process in order to gauge the qualifications of individual candidates. All candidates are automatically considered for other naval preparatory programs. OMB previously approved this collection under number 0703-0036. Legal authority for usage is from Title 10 U.S.C. Chapter 603, Section 6958.

2. Description and practical utility of the information collection activity.

Description: The data supplied by the candidate and high school officials is used by the Naval Academy to assess qualifications of candidates for appointment as a midshipman. The information collection activity under review consists of the process candidates follow in submitting a completed application. All forms have been combined into one booklet with one OMB number, which is also included on the USNA Preliminary Application form. The application includes information on the prediction of scholastic and leadership potential, career motivation, personal background, voluntary selection of majors, military performance, and physical aptitude. The application is completed by the respondent and analyzed during the admissions cycle by the Admissions Board.

Practical Utility: The review of the completed application begins in late August and continues through late June on a first completed review basis. Letters of assurance, conditional offers and fully qualified offers are made on a rolling basis during the cycle based on the whole person evaluation.

3. Minimize Burden. In order to minimize the burden on the respondent the Naval Academy has designed the forms in a manner that enables candidates to complete one form/section of the application file at a time online. There is consideration being given to combining the preliminary application with the NROTC preliminary application therefore reducing the burden of doing two separate preliminary applications.

4. Non-Duplication. The information requested is not available to the Naval Academy from any other source. A study of applications made to the other service academies indicated that less than 4% of the applications are common to two or more academies.

5. Minimizing of Burden for Small Businesses. This collection of information does not impact small businesses or other small entities.

6. Consideration of Alternatives. There is no alternative method of collecting the requested data. Use of these forms is the only accurate and specific method to determine an applicant’s qualifications.

7. There are no special circumstances for this collection. Collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. The notice was published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2007(72 FR 3806). No comments were received. Periodic discussions are held among Academy staff, other service academies, and respondents regarding the data collected and no complaints have been received about the application.

9. No payment of gift will be provided to respondents.

10. Confidentiality. Compliance is made with the Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular A-10810. Social Security Numbers are collected for identification and tracking purposes in accordance with EO 9397. The Social Security Numbers that are provided by candidates on their applications are handled, stored, and disposed of in accordance with existing Department of Defense procedures for safeguarding information held for official use only. The Social Security Numbers are not reported or published.

The information requested for a candidate’s file is a subject that is discussed annually at the Service Academies Superintendent’s Conference. These discussions indicate that the Naval Academy is collecting the necessary and proper information for a candidate file.

11. Sensitive Questions. No information of a sensitive nature is required beyond that of ethic group (which is optional). The information concerning ethnic group is required for statistical analysis only.

12. Estimates of Burden. The total respondent burden was derived by trial for an individual respondent. It is estimated that 14,000 candidates submit the requested information to the Naval Academy each year.

Number of respondents: 14,000

Frequency: On occasion

Response time: 4 hours

Number of responses per respondent: 1

Annual burden: 56,000 (one response per respondent)

This estimate is calculated through experience. The individual burden on applicants will not vary widely.

The average cost burden for each respondent will be approximately $100. Costs were calculated as burden hours (4) x labor rate/hr. ($25).

14,000 x 100 = 1,400,000

13. There will be no additional cost burden to respondents.

14. Costs to the Government. The total dollar costs to the Naval Academy to process, analyze, and maintain the requested information is $87,500. This estimate is made by multiplying the hours necessary to handle a form by a labor rate. Approximately 500 direct hours are requested to handle the forms which comprise a completed file for a total of 3500 hours. A composite labor rate of $25 per hour (including 25% overhead) is used to calculate the total cost of $87,500.

15. This is a revision of a previously approved collection. There was an increase in respondents. Four forms were removed from the collection and two were added.

Removed: T325, 1110/17, 1110/18, and 1110/22. Added: 1110/91 and 1110/92.

16. The results of this information collection will not be published.

17. Approval is not sought for avoiding display of the expiration date for OMB approval.

18. There will be no exception to the certificate statement identified in Item 19; “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions,” of OMB Form 83I.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

The information collection activity does not employ statistical methods or techniques.

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