First Responder Communities of Practice
(OMB No. 1640-NEW)
A. Justification
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate First Responder Communities of Practice (FRCoP) program is responsible for providing a collaborative environment for the first responder community to share information, best practices, and lessons learned. Section 313 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (PL 107-296) established this requirement.
The FRCoP web based tool will be collecting profile information from first responders and select authorized non-first responder users to facilitate networking and formation of online communities. All users will be required to authenticate prior to entering the site. In addition, the tool will provide members the capability to create wikis, discussion threads, blogs, documents, etc., allowing them to enter and upload content in accordance with the site’s Rules of Behavior. Members will also be able to participate in threaded discussions and comment on other member’s content.
FRCoP is solely a web-based tool and thus will only employ web-based technology to collect information from users to both reduce the burden and increase the efficiency of connecting an otherwise widespread and disparate group.
Currently, there is no other entity identified which serves the same level of professional networking and collaboration among First Responders providing a similar function or stores similar data. If an entity is identified in the future, FRCoP will work with the identified collection agent to leverage a cooperative partnership.
It has not been determined that the collection of this data impacts small business or any small entities. The FRCoP web-based tool is a voluntary program and thus does not impose any mandatory burden on any entity.
No consequences have been identified. The collection of information from first responders is voluntary. There is no established increment or frequency for collecting information
No special circumstances have been identified. The collection of information from first responders is voluntary. Data shared via the tool is simply for networking and collaboration.
By notice in the Federal Register on December 28, 2009 (74 FR 68631), DHS S&T notified the public that it was requesting comments on this information collection for a 60-day period. DHS S&T then by notice in the Federal Register on April 1, 2010 (75 FR 16491), notified the public during a 30-day public comment period. DHS S&T did not receive any comments on the information collection.
DHS S&T consulted with First Responders regarding requiring participants to register at the site and the related collection of registration information. The FRs are very much in favor of requiring users to register so that everyone knows who they are talking to.
The Communities of Practice system is unique and while there may be other similar systems, there are none focused on connecting First Responders using a professional Web_2.0 social networking platform and providing them the collaboration tools in a secure environment.
9. DHS S&T does not provide payments or gifts to respondents in exchange for a benefit sought.
10. A Privacy Threshold Analysis and a Privacy Impact Assessment have been conducted for this collection.
11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature in this information collection.
12. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours and Costs
Form Name |
User Registration Form |
No. of Respondents |
5000 |
No. of Responses per Respondent |
1 |
Avg. Burden per Response (in hours) |
.50 (30 minutes) |
Total Annual Burden (in hours) |
2500 |
Average Hourly Wage Rate |
$50 |
Total Annual Respondent Cost |
125,000 |
Annual Reporting Burden and Respondent Cost: The total estimated ICR Public Burden in hours is 2500. This figure was derived by summing the total annual burden hours from all forms. The total annual number of respondents is 5000. This figure was derived by summing the number of respondents to each form.
The estimated annual public cost is $125,000. This figure was derived by summing the estimated annual respondent costs for all forms.
13. There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collection.
14. Government Cost
Estimate annual cost to the federal government in relation to this information collection is $335,000. This cost includes staffing costs for senior level directors, computer programmers, system administrators and mid level technical/engineers. Costs also include the data center hosting charges for servers and software to support collecting, retaining, and storing the collected information.
Public Cost
The total estimated annual public reporting cost is $125,000. This figure was derived by summing the estimated annual respondent costs for all forms.
15. This is a new information collection.
16. DHS S&T does not intend to employ the use of statistics or the publication thereof for this information collection.
17. DHS S&T will display the expiration date of OMB approval for this information collection.
18. DHS S&T does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.
B. Collection of Information Employment Statistical Methods
Not Applicable.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | Azadeh Izadi |
| Last Modified By | jeffery.harris |
| File Modified | 2010-07-07 |
| File Created | 2009-09-14 |