SUPPORTING STATEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP EXPANDED SERVICES
CENTER INFORMATION AND REPORTING SYSTEM
OMB CONTROL NO. 0693-XXXX
This is a request for Office of Management and Budget approval of a new information collection.
Sponsored by the National institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a national network of locally-based manufacturing extension Competitive Award Recipients working with small manufacturers to assist in improving their productivity, profitability, and enhance their economic competitiveness. The information collected will provide the MEP with information regarding MEP Competitive Award Recipients’ performance regarding the delivery of technology and business solutions to U.S.-based manufacturers.
The collected information will assist in determining the performance of the MEP Competitive Award Recipients at both local and national levels, will provide information critical to monitoring and reporting on MEP programmatic performance, and will assist management in policy decisions. Responses to the collection of information are mandatory per the regulations governing the operation of the MEP Program (15 CFR parts 290, 291, 292, and H.R. 1274 – section 2). The information collected will include Competitive Award Recipient inputs and activities including services delivered, clients served, Competitive Award Recipient staff, quarterly expenses and revenues, partners and affiliates, strategic plan, operating plans, and client success stories.
NIST MEP provides funding to the Competitive Award Recipient through Cooperative Agreements. To ensure that Cooperative Agreements recipients are effectively disseminating modern technical and business solutions to small and medium-sized manufacturers in the United States, MEP will collect and analyze information from the MEP Competitive Award Recipients. MEP is mandated to collect this information by the regulations governing the operation of the MEP program (15 CFR 290, 291, and 292) and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA, 5 CFR 1320).
NIST MEP collects information from Competitive Award Recipients on a quarterly basis.
This information is used for the following purposes:
Program Accountability
Analysis and Research
Reports to Stakeholders
Continuous Improvement
Knowledge Sharing
Identification of Distinctive Practices
To support these needs, the “NIST MEP Management Information Reporting Procedures,” provides explicit instructions on how to complete applicable procedures.
Competitive Award Recipient Information
Competitive Award Recipient Information will provide NIST MEP with general information such as addresses of the Competitive Award Recipient and Competitive Award Recipient locations, Competitive Award Recipient contacts and representatives, phone numbers, fax numbers, mailing addresses and e-mail addresses. This information will be used by MEP as a Competitive Award Recipient Contact List and as a vehicle to enhance communication among Competitive Award Recipient through the use of mailing lists and working groups.
Client Information File (CIF) and Project Information File (PIF)
The MEP Client Information Files (CIF) and Project Information Files (PIF) will contain performance and market research data relative to each activity performed by the respondent Competitive Award Recipients during the reporting cycle. The CIF and PIF data will be analyzed and benchmarked to provide the organization with performance information needed to support continued investment in Competitive Award Recipients, and to identify areas of strength and weakness. The client and project files will also provide MEP with data regarding the markets being served by the Competitive Award Recipients, and the system. This type of data will be used to support MEP product and service selection.
Progress Data Sheet
The Progress Data Sheet (PDS) will be used by NIST MEP to generate standard sets of reports that will be used for Competitive Award Recipient reviews. The reviews will monitor the Competitive Award Recipients’ performances compared to the operating plans, goals and objectives. The PDS will collect information on Competitive Award Recipient operations that include accounting data, number of employees, and activity levels for the quarter.
Progress Narrative Sheet
The Progress Narrative Sheet (PNS) will be a narrative-based submission. The PNS will provide NIST MEP qualitative information on the following:
Highlights of activities/services provided by the Competitive Award Recipient but not reported elsewhere (MEP refers to these activities as non-substantive activities)
New services or service delivery strategies
Updates on services/activities that were initiated or completed in conjunction with another organization through formal agreements (MEP refers to theses organizations as partners)
Discussion of Competitive Award Recipient’s Marketing Plan as part of overall Operating Plan
Dissemination of lessons learned and tools developed through the MEP system
Information and discussion of the Competitive Award Recipient’s market which includes:
Descriptions of promotional and marketing activities initiated by the Competitive Award Recipient that include metrics such as number of print ads, direct mailings, etc. The Competitive Award Recipient should also describe the associated service/events with the promotional and marketing activities.
Description of Competitive Award Recipients’ customized marketing materials with an emphasis on the use of materials provided by NIST MEP
Discussion of Operating Plan (other than the Marketing Plan)
The PNS will inform NIST MEP of progress achieved towards specific items contained in the Competitive Award Recipient’s operating plan. The PNS will serve as a diagnostic tool in monitoring the Competitive Award Recipient rather than measuring actual performance.
Partner and Affiliates Entries
MEP will use the Partner and Affiliates Entries to identify successful market distribution models and disseminate this information to the other Competitive Award Recipient. The Partner and Affiliates Entries are intended to provide the Competitive Award Recipient an easy-to-use and readily available mechanism to catalogue organizations (other than the regional Competitive Award Recipients).
One of NIST MEP’s objectives is to help Competitive Award Recipients continually improve the delivery of services to smaller U.S. manufacturers. The Partner and Affiliates Entries will be a tool that NIST MEP and the Competitive Award Recipients will study to identify which Competitive Award Recipients have the most effective and efficient organizations. The organizational structure of Competitive Award Recipients varies by region, by state, and by market and the form of organizational structure may include a formalized agreement or may simply be a working relationship that developed over time. The existence of a formal agreement determines if the organization is a partner or the absence there of indicates the organization is an affiliate. NIST MEP will use this information to inform DOC, NIST, Competitive Award Recipients, and Congress about whom is in the MEP program. At NIST, the information is reported to the Director's Office, the Program Office, Legislative Affairs, and through the NIST public website, the general public. MEP informs both NIST and the DOC because they both use the information to evaluate the program. The Partner and Affiliates Entries will also be a general resource for providing information about the Competitive Award Recipients.
Staff
The Staff listing will provide the Competitive Award Recipient an easy-to-use and readily available mechanism for reporting on its active workforce. The Staff listing will be a compilation of Competitive Award Recipient personnel that includes headcount and demographic information. The Staff listing will assist NIST MEP in tracking Competitive Award Recipient employee turnover. This information can be used to gauge the effects of the Competitive Award Recipients operating plans and assist in the reviews and budgeting process.
Anyone devoted to the Competitive Award Recipient, either through cash or in-kind payments, as delineated in the Competitive Award Recipient’s current Operating Plan, will be considered part of the Competitive Award Recipient’s staff and should be reported. Workers, indirectly paid through a subcontract, to work for the Competitive Award Recipient for a set amount of time per year or for a set amount of money per year, will be included as well. The Staff listing will initially be submitted when the Competitive Award Recipients register for access to the MEP Web site. NIST MEP will use the staffing and demographic information contained in the Staff listing for reports to DOC, NIST, NIST MEP, Competitive Award Recipients, and Congress and as a general resource for providing information about personnel at the Competitive Award Recipients. At NIST, the information is reported to the Director's Office, the Program Office, Legislative Affairs, and through the NIST public website, the general public. MEP
informs both NIST and DOC because they use the information to evaluate the program.
Contacts
Competitive Award Recipient Contacts information is collections of Competitive Award Recipient staff designated by the Competitive Award Recipient to represent the Competitive Award Recipient at working group meetings, special topic meetings and events. This information will provide NIST MEP with general information such as addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses for Competitive Award Recipient representatives. This information will be used by MEP to communicate with Competitive Award Recipients through the use of mailing lists and working groups.
State Funding Partners
The State Funding Partners entries are intended to provide the Competitive Award Recipient a readily available mechanism for reporting on its relationships with State and Local Government Officials. State Funding Partners are the primary funding decision officials for the program within the state or local government for the Competitive Award Recipient.
Strategic Plan
Annually, each Competitive Award Recipient will submit a copy of its Strategic Plan. The Competitive Award Recipient will also provide the effective dates of the plan. This information will be used by Account Managers in their day-to-day role as the consultant to the Competitive Award Recipient.
NIST MEP Competitive Award Recipient Reporting system will make maximum use of computer technology to minimize the response burden. Competitive Award Recipients will submit collections in electronic files (i.e., Excel files) and where possible, use the World Wide Web (Web) to submit the required information through the Internet with specially developed software. Security controls will ensure that Competitive Award Recipients can only access their own data. The information will not be organized, searched, and/or retrieved using personally identifiable information.
Collections made via electronic files will facilitate respondents’ data entry; ensuring correct and complete data collections while reducing the need for edit follow-ups. One of the key features of the Web-based NIST MEP Management Information Reporting system is the thorough editing of all submitted data for completeness, validity, and consistency. This editing is performed as the data are entered. The possibility of invalid data and all questionable or incomplete entries are called to respondents’ attention before they are entered into the system.
Collections made via electronic files will utilize such user-friendly features as automated tabulation; data entry using custom controls such as pick lists, option menus, and check boxes; and data verification with error messages for easy on-line correction. In addition, a built-in reporting system allows NIST MEP to monitor the progress of the collection as well as to generate special reports on key items.
All Competitive Award Recipients have access to the Web. As a result, all reports are currently being submitted via the Web. Competitive Award Recipients that lack access to the Web will be provided an appropriate electronic and/or paper version of the data collection instrument.
Due to the unique partnership relationship between MEP and the Competitive Award Recipients, comparable data are not collected from these local Competitive Award Recipients. Consultation with other offices within the Department of Commerce have been used to gather background information about topics and about previously used approaches to increase knowledge base for the local Competitive Award Recipients. As a result, the information to be collected through this system will not duplicate any existing collection efforts.
Eligible institutions under the MEP program include state, and local governments, school districts, libraries, museums, universities, public organizations, nonprofit community-base organizations, and other nonprofit entities. We do not anticipate any of the respondents will be considered a small business or other small entity as defined in the Instructions For Requesting OMB Review Under The Paperwork Reduction Act.
Removal of the “Sunset Provisions” (H.R.1274), have made NIST MEP a long-term investor in regional economies with a need to establish the Competitive Award Recipient Reporting system. The data collected will help NIST MEP monitor and evaluate the Competitive Award Recipients' participation in the program and to provide Congress with quantitative information that it requires from government-supported programs. These requirements are clearly stated in the MEP program legislation and the GPRA. Some of these data will be collected on a quarterly basis and will enable NIST MEP to identify Competitive Award Recipients in need of immediate assistance. Less frequent collection of data would result in the unacceptable situation of making significant policy decisions on the basis of obsolete and potentially misleading information. It might also delay the provision of assistance to the Competitive Award Recipients.
If the information is not collected, NIST MEP staff will be unable to monitor Competitive Award Recipients’ performance and ensure that the MEP program is meeting the goal of “strengthening the global competitiveness of smaller U.S. manufacturers.” Additionally, national stakeholders, including Congress and Federal agencies use the information to make annual funding decisions regarding the MEP national appropriation. These stakeholders need information on which to base their decisions. Information demonstrating compelling evidence of program effectiveness is a critical component of that decision. The NIST MEP reporting and survey systems are designed to collect this information so that it can be made available to stakeholders. Finally, MEP would be unable to fully comply with the GPRA mandate that all Federal agencies evaluate their programs’ outcomes.
All data will be collected in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5CFR 1320.6.
As required by 5CFR 1320.8(d), MEP’s notice soliciting comments on the information was published in the Federal Register on September 10, 2010 (Vol. 75, No. 175, pg. 55303).
The development of the data collections and Management Information Reporting system is the result of extensive collaboration between NIST MEP and the Competitive Award Recipients. NIST MEP received input regarding data availability and frequency of the collection from its Evaluation Working Group, consisting of members of academia, consultants, and representatives of the Competitive Award Recipients. This group provided their professional opinions and expertise in developing the survey questions and protocol. Consultants continue to meet periodically and communicate electronically in a continuing effort to maximize response rates and ensure high levels of data quality.
Potential information collections are discussed/reviewed by the National Advisory Board, which meets three times per year. In addition, Competitive Award Recipient representatives will be able to comment on the collection process at the annual MEP National Conference and through meetings with user groups and information technology development specialists. The conference offers the opportunity for attendees to view presentations, receive the procedures in a bound format to take back to the Competitive Award Recipients. Competitive Award Recipient staff has an opportunity to review and discuss the materials among themselves before suggesting changes/revisions to NIST MEP.
Not applicable.
The confidentiality of all responses will be maintained to the extent permitted by law. No confidentiality for information submitted is promised or provided.
To protect the Competitive Award Recipients’ privacy, only composite data or graphical representations will be included in the public reporting of the collection’s findings. A statement to this effect will be presented to the Competitive Award Recipients prior to their submission of information.
Not applicable, the types of questions asked are not likely to be considered sensitive. Questions focus on institutional or organizational information rather than on individuals.
Summary of Hour Burden
Number of Respondents (Competitive Award Recipients) 60
Burden per Respondent 20 Hours (Quarterly)
Total Annual Burden Hours 4,800
Annualized Cost to Respondents: $50/hour
Annualized Cost per Respondents $4,000
Total Annual Labor Cost to Respondents $240,000
The information to be collected is information that the respondents must develop pursuant to their normal budget and strategy planning. The need for collecting this information was also outlined in the initial Request for Proposals. What a Competitive Award Recipient needs to prepare is minimal beyond what a Competitive Award Recipient is expected to do in their normal course of operations. Therefore, the costs to respondents will be minimal and the only expenses will be those required to review this information for consistency with NIST MEP Competitive Award Recipient Reporting System Procedures to enter this information into the appropriate collection form, and submit it to NIST MEP.
Not applicable.
The organization already has in place the necessary computing infrastructure, web development and database tools to support this effort, as well as, trained staffs that are familiar with developing and maintaining web based financial and knowledge sharing systems for MEP.
The total annualized cost to the federal government for developing, analyzing, and maintaining the NIST MEP Management Information Reporting System should not increase significantly as a result of this effort. As previously stated, a number of complementary activities already exist within the organization that will support the collection, management, and dissemination of the data from the respondent Competitive Award Recipients. Following the initial investment of labor to create the forms and supporting databases to collect and store the information, as well as, develop the supporting documentation and training, the annual costs should be absorbed by the organization through realignment of roles, responsibilities, and priorities.
However, it is anticipated that the NIST MEP Management Information Reporting System will require 2 people, 4 tasks per year, 40 hours per task at a rate of $100 per hour for an estimated total of $32,000 for work performed by MEP staff for the NIST MEP Management Information Reporting System.
This is a new information collection.
The data will be collected indefinitely for internal review purposes and to monitor the Competitive Award Recipients, as well as for reporting to Congress. Reports dealing with the characteristics and performance of the Competitive Award Recipients will include trends, benchmarks, statistical tables and charts generated from the database. Information will be presented in the following methods:
Reports to Congress
Promotional/marketing brochures
Competitive Award Recipient Reports
Internal Reports
Presentations to MEP stakeholders
Competitive Award Recipient Reviews
Not applicable, the collection will display the expiration date for OMB approval.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | McMahon, Deirdre |
| Last Modified By | gbanks |
| File Modified | 2010-12-02 |
| File Created | 2010-11-16 |