Cover Memo_TTC_2-3-11

DATE: December 22, 2010

TO: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Seleda Perryman, DHHS Report Clearance Officer

Mikia Currie, NIH Program Analyst, Project Clearance Branch, OPERA

Vivian Horovitch-Kelley, NCI OMB Project Clearance Liaison, OMAA

FROM: John D. Hewes, Ph.D., Technology Transfer Specialist, Technology Transfer Center, National Cancer Institute

SUBJ: Generic Submission of Technology Transfer Center (TTC) External Customer Satisfaction Surveys (NCI)

This is a new generic submission of the “Technology Transfer Center External Customer Satisfaction Surveys (NCI)” for OMB review for three years.

The purpose of this survey is to:

• Obtain information on the satisfaction of Technology Transfer Center’s (TTC) external customers with TTC customer services;

• Collect information of preferred and expected communications channels of TTC’s external customers; and

• Assess the strategic direction of companies engaging in collaborations and alliances with the NIH.

The needs of external technology transfer customers and stakeholders have never been assessed systematically. Input from these groups is essential for defining workflow process improvements for services provided by the NCI TTC to the research community. The results will be used to strengthen the operations of the NCI TTC, including the Competitive Service Center. Specifically, new data on customer needs will be used to assess progress relative to existing process goals, revise them as necessary, and establish new goals and priorities for meeting customer needs.

This study will collect new information from external TTC customers via web-based surveys administered several times over three years. The survey population will include 4,000 managers, executives, and directors from for-profit companies and non-profit organizations that conduct research and development in biomedical applications.

This questionnaire adheres to The Public Health Service Act, Section 413 (42 USC 285a-2).which authorizes the Director of the National Cancer Institute in carrying out the National Cancer Program to “encourage and coordinate cancer research by industrial concerns where such concerns evidence a particular capability for such research…”