Survey Letter

January 31, 2011

Ms. Christine Kymn
Department of Energy Desk Officer
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, DC 20503

Dear Ms. Kymn:

SUBJECT: DOE-887(91), “USE OF GENERIC CLEARANCE FOR THE OFFICE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY WEBSITE CUSTOMER SURVEY”

The Building Energy Codes Program (BECP), a sub-program of the Building Technologies Program of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) within the Department of Energy (DOE), plans to use the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved generic clearance DOE-887, "DOE Customer Surveys" (OMB No. 1901-0302, expiring December 31, 2012) to evaluate opinions of BECP Web users for a Web usability study. As agreed to under DOE-887, "DOE Customer Surveys" clearance, we will anticipate your approval within two weeks. However, without your approval, we will not conduct this survey. We will provide OMB with the results of this data collection when we submit the annual report of surveys conducted under the generic clearance.

We have developed the attached targeted survey in response to Executive Order 12862, "Setting Customer Service Standards." The purpose of the survey is to help us better understand:

• Who is coming to the BECP Web site: their role and distribution throughout the building industry

• What content or information visitors typically seek/the purpose for the Web site visits

• How well the current Web site meets the needs of our target audiences

• How satisfied visitors are in their overall experience with the Web site

Information gathered from this survey will help BECP improve the usability of the Web site by making it easier for our audiences to accomplish their activities. The survey respondents will consist of BECP mailing list subscribers and visitors to the Building Energy Codes Web site. The survey itself will be developed using Survey Gizmo. We will place the survey link in a consistent and visible location throughout the BECP Web site for a period of two to six weeks, and will send mailing list subscribers an email message notifying them of the survey with a link that will take them directly to the survey should they choose to participate. We estimate that between 100-300 visitors/subscribers will provide responses. The survey will be closed no later than six weeks from the start date or when responses total 300; whichever occurs first. The attached survey contains ten questions and should take approximately five minutes to answer, for a total burden of 25 hours (assuming 300 respondents).

Participation in this survey is voluntary, and data collected will be kept confidential. No self-identification information will be collected, with the exception of a voluntary question at the end. All results will be presented in aggregate form. Subsequent analysis of the data collected will limit any divulgence of individual responses.

Shannon Osborn of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is the point of contact for questions regarding this survey (509-375-3853). Other questions should be directed to Rosemarie Bartlett at 509-375-6606.

Sincerely,

/s/ 2/1/2011

Stephanie Brown

Director

Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration

Energy Information Administration

Enclosure

cc: Debbie Stroud, EERE
Jeremy Williams, EERE

bcc: Diana Shankle

Rosemarie Bartlett

Shannon Osborn

File/LB