PRA-2126-0042.SS.Renewal 042309.ew.as.USE

Department of Transportation

Office of the Chief Information Officer

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

COMPASS Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this Supporting Statement is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval to revise the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) current information collection request (ICR) entitled, “COMPASS Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment” (OMB Control No.2126-0042). The IC is currently due to expire on August 31, 2009.

Part A. Justification.

1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary.

The FMCSA, a modal administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), currently operates numerous, free-standing Information Technology (IT) systems, which supply critical safety data to Federal, State, and industry customers. Ongoing costs, operational challenges, data quality and organizational issues inherent to managing a suite of stand-alone systems has become too great for FMCSA to bear. As such, FMCSA made a strategic decision to launch a modernization initiative called COMPASS to integrate its IT with its business processes while consolidating its systems and databases. It is estimated that the COMPASS program, from initiation to completion, will involve dedicated and related expenditures over $100,000,000.

In early 2007, FMCSA’s COMPASS program launched a series of releases for a new FMCSA Portal to its Federal, State and Industry customers. Over the coming years, more than 15 releases are planned. These releases will use portal technology to fuse and provide numerous services and functions via a single user interface and provide tailored services that seek to meet the needs of specific constituencies within our customer universe.

The COMPASS program will entail considerable overall expenditure of Federal Government dollars over the years and fundamentally impact the nature of the relationship between the Agency and its Federal, State, and Industry customers. Consequently, the Agency contends that regular and ongoing assessment of customer satisfaction will be vital to determine the extent to which the released functionality:

• Meets customer needs and expectations;

• Helps formulate approaches to correct any problems or issues that emerge;

• Gauges the extent to which the introduction of these new functionalities is impacting the Agency’s reputation with its customers; and

• Protects the Federal Government’s considerable investment in COMPASS as it continues to unfold.

Title II, section 207, of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899, 2916; December 17, 2002) (see Attachment A) requires Federal agencies to improve the methods by which government information, including information on the Internet, is organized, preserved, and made accessible to the public. To meet this goal, FMCSA plans to provide a survey on the FMCSA Portal, allowing users to assess its functionality. This includes the capability for Federal, State, and Industry users to access the Agency’s existing safety IT systems with a single set of credentials and have easy access to safety data about the companies that do business with FMCSA. The COMPASS program will also focus on improving the accuracy of data to help ensure information, such as carrier name and address, and that it is valid and reliable. The Form MCSA-5845, “FMCSA Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment,” will be used to conduct regular and ongoing assessments of customer satisfaction with the Portal to determine the extent to which it meets the users’ needs and expectations.

This information collection supports the Department of Transportation’s strategic goal of safety.

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

The primary purposes of this assessment are to:

• Determine the extent to which the FMCSA Portal functionality continues to meet the needs of Agency customers;

• Identify and prioritize additional modifications; and

• Determine the extent that the FMCSA Portal has impacted FMCSA’s relationships with its main customer groups.

The assessment will address:

• Overall customer satisfaction;

• Customer satisfaction against specific items;

• Performance of systems integrator against agreed objectives;

• Desired adjustments and modifications to systems;

• Demonstrated value of investment to FMCSA and DOT;

• Items about the FMCSA Portal that customers like best; and

• Customer ideas for making the FMCSA Portal better.

The information collected will be primarily for the internal use of the Agency and the COMPASS program; however, we may wish to disseminate some results to Federal, State and Industry customers on a selective basis. FMCSA will retain control over the information and will safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with FMCSA standards. Also, see Question 10 of this Supporting Statement. The information collection is designed to yield data that meet all applicable information quality guidelines.

3. Extent of automated information collection.

The sole means for collecting information will be via an electronic questionnaire embedded in the FMCSA Portal. FMCSA anticipates that 100 percent (100%) of the responses will be submitted electronically.

4. Efforts to identify duplication.

As the COMPASS program is a newer, FMCSA-wide initiative, we would not anticipate that this ongoing assessment via survey would entail any duplication whatsoever of existing information collection activities. No duplication efforts have occurred since OMB’ original certification of the agency’s ICR concerning OMB Control Number 2126-0042.

5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses.

Participation in this assessment is voluntary, and the questionnaire has been designed to yield sufficient value without an undue burden placed on participants. Survey questions are opinion-based rather than data-based, with all but two questions using a simple rating scale between 1 and 5. A “1” (one) designates a “poor” rating whereas a “5” (five) designates an “excellent” rating.

6. Impact of less frequent collection of information.

As the FMCSA Portal continues to integrate and make available new services through a number of releases over the next few years, an approach that gives users a brief survey periodically remains the most effective way to assess acceptance of new functionalities while being able to determine customer satisfaction with the agency’s new services as they are released. Given the expense being spent on COMPASS overall, the ability to make adjustments quickly could have an impact on the portal’s overall acceptance or rejection over time.

7. Special circumstances.

There are no special circumstances related to this information collection.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8.

On January 29, 2009, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register (74 FR 5207) (see Attachment B) with a 60-day comment period announcing its desire to seek OMB review and approval to renew this ICR. No comments were received in response to this 60-day notice. On May 4, 2009, FMCSA published a second notice on this subject in the Federal Register (74 FR 20522 (see Attachment C) with a 30-day comment period that announced that this ICR would be sent to OMB for its review and approval.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents.

No gifts or other remuneration will be provided to respondents.

10. Assurance of confidentiality.

When analyzing the results of this survey, FMCSA’s intent is to focus on aggregate data rather than on individual users. No confidential information will be collected or used through the survey, and FMCSA will not collect or maintain personally identifiable information.

11. Justification for collection of sensitive information.

No questions of a sensitive nature, such as political behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private, will be included in this survey.

12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested.

It is expected that a single survey will take approximately 5 minutes or less to complete. No advance preparation by respondents is required. Participants will be asked to complete the brief survey 4 times per year (every 90 days), and with 140,000 current Industry system users (with an estimated 70% response rate), and 2,691 Federal and State government users (with an estimated 90%) response rate), we anticipate this exercise will consume a total of 32,667 hours from Industry users and 807 hours from Federal and State government users.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 33,474 burden hours [32,667 hours (5 minutes to complete survey x 4 times per year = 20 minutes/60 minutes x 140,000 annual industry respondents x .70 (70%) response rate) + 807 hours (5 minutes to complete survey x 4 times per year = 20 minutes/60 minutes x 2,691 State government users x .90 (90%) response rate) = 33,474 hours].

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 100,422 [98,000 (140,000 industry users x .70 (70%) response rate) + 2,422 (2,691 State government users x .90 (90%) response rate) = 100,422].

Estimated Annual Number of Responses: 100,422 [98,000 (140,000 industry users x .70 (70%) response rate) + 2,422 (2,691 State government users x .90 (90%) response rate) = 100,422].

Our estimates, which are conservative, are based on previous implementation of the survey, most recently in January 2009 under existing OMB Control No.2126-0042.

13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents.

FMCSA estimates that each respondent will take 20 minutes annually to complete the survey [5 minutes to complete survey x 4 times annually = 20 minutes]. Based on the average hourly wage rate for workers in the trucking industry (the largest component of the motor carrier industry, along with the bus industry) of $17 per hour, and for employees in “State justice, public order, and safety roles” at $21.50 per hour, estimated annual costs to respondents are:

Motor Carrier Industry Users: $555,333 [140,000 users x 20 minutes/60 minutes annually at .70 (70%) response rate x $17.00 per hour = $555,333.27 or $555,333].

State Public Safety Users: $17,357 [2,691 users x 20 minutes/60 minutes annually at .90 (90%) response rate x $21.50 per hour = $17,356.95 or $17,357].

Estimated Annual Cost to Respondents: $572,690 [$555,333 for motor carrier industry users + $17,357 for State public safety users = $572,690].

14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government.

Tasks		Annual Cost
Development of survey design and approach		$2,600
Analysis		$8,300
Preparation of reports		$3,900
Discussion of results		$3,600
Estimated Annual Cost to Federal Government:		$18,400

15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments.

The revision results in a program change increase of 8,368 annual burden hours [33,474 proposed annual burden hours – 25,106 currently approved annual burden hours = 8,368 and a $143,172 increase in annual cost to respondents [$572,690 proposed annual cost to respondents - $429,518 currently-approved annual cost to respondents = $143,172]. These increases are due to the respondents being required to complete the survey four times per year instead of three, and the time to complete the survey being changed from 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

16. Publication of results of data collection.

The results of individual survey responses will be provided to FMCSA. Some results, summarized and analyzed, may be shared with customers as appropriate through the FMCSA Web site or through publications targeted at Federal, State or Industry users.

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

No approval is being requested.

18. Exceptions to certification statement.

None.

Attachments.

1. Title II, section 207, of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899, 2916; December 17, 2002).

B. A sixty-day Federal Register notice, (at 74 FR 5207), January 29, 2009.

C. A thirty-day Federal Register notice (at 74 FR 20522) May 4, 2009.

D. The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, as amended by Public Law 104-231, 110 Stat. 3048, October 2, 1996.

Form

MCSA 5845. “FMCSA Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment.”

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