Supporting Statement 0702-0111

SUPPORTING STATEMENT 0702-0111

Army ROTC Referral Information

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. The Army ROTC Program produces approximately 75 percent of the newly commissioned officers for the U.S. Army. Army ROTC must have the ability to attract quality men and women who will pursue college degrees. Currently, there are 13 Recruiting Teams (Goldminers) located in various places across the United States aiding in this cause. Their mission is to refer quality high school students to colleges and universities offering Army ROTC. Approximately 16,300 prospects are referred annually from Goldminers to Professors of Military Science (PMS) located at over 273 host colleges and universities across the United States. Chapter 103 of Title 10, United States Code, provides the legal authority for implementing the program and collecting the required information.

2. Goldminers, two officer personnel, will collect ROTC referral information at a high school campus and document it using a dedicated automation system designed to store and retrieve personnel data. The ROTC Form 155-R is no longer used for this purpose. The purpose of the information is to provide prospect referral data to a Professor of Military Science to contact individuals who have expressed an interest in Army ROTC. If Goldminers did not collect referral information, we would suffer a negative impact on the recruiting effort and subsequent commissioning of new officers for the U.S. Army.

3. Improved information technology is used to the maximum extent possible. Prospects will be able to access our web site to gain additional information about Army ROTC thus enhancing our ability to recruit. Prospects can also use 1-800-USA-ROTC to add their names to our centralized database. In addition, the Professors of Military Science send prospect information electronically that goes into a national database.

4. No similar information is available elsewhere. Verification of activities, academic progression, and authentication by school officials is necessary to ensure accuracy of information not available elsewhere.

5. Collection of this information does not have a significant impact on small businesses.

6. If the academic, educational, and extracurricular background of potential applicants were not collected, a more burdensome academic examination would be required to screen highly qualified prospective applicants. Failure to collect this information would severely constrain the Army’s capability of selecting highly qualified officer candidates.

7. There are no special circumstances that require this collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. The 60-day information collection notice was published in the Federal Register on August 27, 2007 (72 FR 48997). No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift will be provided to the respondents.

10. This information collection will fully comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 and Office of Management and Budget requirements for maintenance of records. The SSN is collected under the authority of EO 9397 for identity/tracking purposes. Army Privacy Act System of Records Notice A0145-1 TRADOC applies.

11. No questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, or religious beliefs will be asked.

12. Estimates of Response Burden and Annual Cost to the Respondent

Number of respondents: 16,300

Responses per respondent: 1

Number of annual responses: 16,300

Response time: 15 minutes

Annual response burden: 4,075 hours

Based on a salary equivalent of a GS Grade 8, Step 1 of $16.84 per hour ($4.21 for 15 minutes) times 4,075 hours: $17,156. However, this is necessarily an estimate due to the vast differences in student employment activities.

13. Other than the costs associated with the burden discussed above, there are no additional capital, start-up, or operational and maintenance costs (O&M) imposed on the respondents.

14. Annual cost to the Government for the processing of the applications is estimated at $380,408:

Processing and Administration: $319,238

Development of Application: $545

IT Support and Equipment: $20,625

Printing and Mail Support: $40,000

15. This is a revision of a previously approved collection.

16. There are no plans to publish the information collected.

17. Approval not to display an expiration date is not being sought.

18. No exceptions to the certification statement are being sought.

B. COLLETIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

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