Supporting Statement (2008).2

Supporting Statement

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

This is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval for a renewal of a currently approved information collection entitled, “Customer Satisfaction Surveys.” This is the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) generic clearance, which is due to expire on April 28, 2008. The FHWA plans to seek continued renewals of this clearance in future years.

1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary:

Executive Order 12862, dated September 11, 1993, “Setting Customer Service Standards,” requires that Federal agencies provide the highest quality service to our customers by identifying them and determining what they think about our services and products. The responses to the surveys will be voluntary and will not involve information that is required by regulations. In addition, planning for future customer surveys will provide the FHWA management an invaluable tool to assure that there is agency-wide quality control and a consistent approach for all of the customer surveys that are to be conducted.

This information collection supports the President’s Management Agenda to make the agency more citizen centered and the DOT’s Strategic Goal of Organizational Excellence by surveying our customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and the level of satisfaction with existing services.

2. How, by whom, and for what purpose is the information used:

The surveys will provide the FHWA a means to gather feedback and data directly from our customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and expect, as well as their satisfaction with FHWA’s existing services. The FHWA will use the information to assist in evaluating service delivery and processes.

Survey abstracts and description of respondents are included as Attachment A. FHWA will submit specific survey instruments for approval prior to conducting them. The attached list reflects the maximum number of activities that the FHWA plans to undertake. A change in our focus in a specific area may occur as resource constraints suggest deletion or substitution of any listed item. If the FHWA decides to substitute or add a new activity that falls under the umbrella of this generic approval, we will notify OMB. In such an event, the FHWA will provide OMB a copy of the new survey instrument, a description of the activity, and the number of burden hours involved.

3. Extent of automated information collection:

The Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) requires that agencies provide for the option of electronic submission of information and the use of electronic signatures, when practicable. The FHWA plans to provide an electronic means for responses for the majority of the surveys. We estimate that about 90- percent of the surveys will either be web-enabled, or utilize e-mail, telephone, or face-to-face interviews for responses.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication:

The identification of all planned agency-wide customer satisfaction surveys will serve to avoid duplication. Several of the surveys included in this request have current OMB approval as separate information collections. The FHWA intends to cancel those individual approvals after they are covered by this generic clearance. Customer satisfaction information for the areas to be surveyed does not exist elsewhere.

5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses:

Some small businesses or small entities may be asked to evaluate their satisfaction with specific FHWA services. Their participation will be voluntary and burdens minimized by soliciting the least amount of information needed to appropriately evaluate FHWA’s performance in the specific areas.

6. Impact of less frequent collection of information:

The frequency of the listed surveys varies; however, each survey will only be conducted as often as necessary (no more than once annually) in order to provide the FHWA continual information to improve the level of services to our customers. Less frequent surveys would violate the intent of Executive Order 12862.

7. Special circumstances:

There are no special circumstances involved in this information collection.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8:

The FHWA published a 60-day Federal Register notice regarding this renewal for an existing information collection on August 6, 2004 (69 FR 47978, Attachment B). No comments were received by the FHWA.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents:

There are no gifts or payments to any of the respondents.

10. Assurance of confidentiality:

Steps will be taken to assure anonymity of respondents for relevant surveys. In addition, individuals and organizations contacted will be assured of confidentiality of their replies.

11. Justification for collection of sensitive information:

The information to be collected is not sensitive in nature.

12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested:

The FHWA estimates a total annual burden of 19,987 hours for 173,549 respondents for all of the planned surveys. Attachment C provides a breakdown of this estimate.

13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents:

There are no costs to the respondents for any of the surveys.

14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government:

The estimated contractor cost is about $2,2 05,500 for all surveys covered under this generic clearance. Attachment C provides a breakdown of this estimate. Some of the collections will be conducted by FHWA personnel, making an exact formula for cost of each collection difficult to compute. In addition, resources may not be available to support all of these activities each year.

15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments:

This program change is a result of the FHWA’s intra-agency expansion of program initiatives. The number of anticipated surveys and the number of respondents has increased, and therefore the total number of burden hours has increased.

16. Publication of results of data collection:

The results of these surveys will be disseminated to key policy and management personnel and other stakeholders. An average response rate of 50 to 70- percent is expected. Any results that are published would be in accordance with Executive Order 12862 to let our customers know how well the FHWA is performing relative to its customer service standards.

17. Approval for not displaying expiration date of OMB approval:

For any recurring surveys, FHWA requests that the expiration date not be displayed. It would not be cost effective for widespread forms in large quantities to be destroyed every 3 years. No such approval is requested for one-time surveys or for the web-enabled instruments.

18. Exceptions to certification statement:

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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