1103-0018 Supporting Statement_082410

Supporting Statement

Department of Justice Procurement Blanket Clearance

OMB No. 1103-0018

A. Justification

1. Necessity of Information Collection

The Department of Justice is requesting continued approval of the collection entitled DOJ Procurement Blanket Clearance under 5 CFR Part 1320, for use of solicitation packages which include standard and optional forms, certifications, and representations routinely used in the conduct of its procurement operations.

2. Needs and Uses

The affected public consists of commercial organizations and individuals who voluntarily submit offers and bids to provide supplies and services required by the government. All work statements and pricing data are required to evaluate the contractor’s bid or proposal. All Contractors not submitting the data or certifications required by the solicitations are determined to be non-responsive and are ineligible for contract awards.

3. Efforts to Minimize Burden

As the government-wide effort to develop standards for further use of electronic submissions of data regarding Federal procurement progresses, the Department of Justice will implement these procedures into the procurement function. The Department is increasingly using the government credit card for small dollar purchases which do not require the use of solicitation packages or formal contracts to be awarded. We are now placing notices of our contracting opportunities on the government-wide electronic posting site FedBizOpps. Respondents are currently using this site to locate government requirements and download the solicitations for which they want to compete.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The Department’s contracting officers must use the forms and certifications located in Chapter 52 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), which have already been approved by OMB. We have not duplicated any of the FAR requirements at the Department or Component level.

5. Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

Our solicitation packages have no special impact on small businesses. Non-profit organizations, individuals, educational institutions, and small and large businesses all respond to the same solicitation requirements in competing for contract awards.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collections

The only way to have less frequent collections would be to reduce the number of solicitations which would mean we could not fulfill our mission requirements with contractor support. Reducing the number of competitors receiving the solicitations would not be consistent with the Federal requirements to seek maximum competition through full and open competition methods.

7. Special Circumstances Influencing Collections

The special circumstances contained in item 7 of the supporting statement instructions are not applicable to this information collection.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320

Attached is the 60 day notice which was published in the Federal Register June 2, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 105, page 30858 to solicit public comments in accordance with PRA requirements. The 30-day notice followed approximately August 2, 2010.

9. Payment or Gift to Claimants

No payment or gift was provided to any respondents other than payments to the contractor receiving the contractor award.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

Strict requirements regarding the confidentiality of respondent information is covered in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Subpart 3.1, Safeguards. This coverage includes standards of conduct for Federal employees and procurement integrity requirements for non-disclosure, protection and marking of contractor bid or proposal information and source selection information.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions in this information collection.

12. Estimate of Burden Hours

Respondents prepare technical proposals and cost proposals that describe their means of best fulfilling the requirement at their most reasonable cost. Complex procurements such as major computer systems require many more burden hours than simple procurements of off-the-shelf commercial items. These estimates show the average hours for all types of solicitations.

Annual reporting burden.

a.. number of respondents 5,996

b. number of responses per each respondent 1

c. total annual responses 5,996

d. hours per response 20 hours

e. total annual reporting burden 119,920 hours

Respondent costs.

Average 20 hours x $33.92 = $678.40

5,996 respondents

x 607

$4,067,686.40 annual cost to all respondents

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collection. Preparing technical and cost proposals are routine functions and are a normal cost of doing business for commercial companies.

14. Estimated Annualized Cost to Federal Government

Contracting officers spend an average of 6 hours putting a solicitation package together.

Each package is different based on the commodity, type of contract anticipated, and dollar value.

Estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government:

average 6 hours x $33.92 = $203.52 per solicitation

(GS 11 step 5) x 672 solicitations

$136,765.44 annual cost to the government

15. Reasons for Program Changes

No significant program changes.

The only changes are in the cost calculations which raised the GS 11, step 5 hourly wage from $30.35 to the current $33.92 wage.

16. Plans for Publication

There will be no publication of information based on this collection. Respondent cost and some technical data is proprietary data and may not be publicly disclosed. Individual contract award information such as the total amount of the contract award and the contractor’s identity is required to be published in FedBizOpps.

17. Expiration Date Approval

OMB approved the exception to displaying the expiration date for DOJ on July 8, 2004.

18. Exception to Certification Statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in item 19, OMB

Form 83-1.

B. Statistical Methods

We will not be employing statistical methods in this information collection.

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