2434ss12 My Air Justification

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2010-0042)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Survey for soliciting feedback from participants in the My Air, My Health challenge

PURPOSE: EPA and HHS have issued a challenge, under America COMPETES Act, in which participants and participant teams are designing integrated systems of air quality sensors and physiological sensors. The Challenge will award prizes for the best designs. The ultimate goal of this and our other sensor design programs is the creation of powerful, affordable, and portable sensors that connect health care to the whole environment, improving diagnosis, treatment, and prevention at all levels. The purpose of this survey is to determine the adequacy of the resources and information that we have provided to the solvers, and whether additional resources would be helpful to them in creating the best possible solutions. In particular, to optimize the time and resources of potential solvers, we would like their input on what information and resources they would find most helpful at an upcoming workshop for challenge finalists.

The current Administration has made the use of challenges and prizes, such as this one, a priority:

President Obama directed OMB to issue an Open Government Directive (January 2009) prompting Federal agencies to take specific actions toward greater transparency, participation, and collaboration. The Directive specifically calls upon executive agencies to use innovative methods—including prizes and challenges—to obtain ideas from, and to increase collaboration with, the private sector, non-profit and academic communities.

OMB issued “Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government” in March 2010, which urges agencies to implement the Administration’s September 2009 Strategy for American Innovation by using challenges with awards for winning solutions.

The America COMPETES Act, signed by the President in January 2011, provided new authorization.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) manages a highly visible website (challenge.gov) that promotes and showcases challenges across the Federal government.

The My Air, My Health challenge is the first issued by EPA under the America COMPETES Act.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Respondents are those who have signed up as solvers for the My Air, My Health challenge contest. Each respondent has opened an on-line account on the challenge website, expressing their interest in learning about (and potentially providing a submission for) the challenge. Opening these accounts gives them access to the full challenge instructions, a “project room” on the website, and the ability to send us queries as they work to complete the challenge.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:______Denice Shaw__________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ NA] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals or households	418	15 minutes	104.5 hrs
Totals

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $0

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The survey link will be posted to the on-line “project room” opened by each solver. Solvers will be informed of the purpose of the survey and that responses are voluntary. There are currently 418 open project rooms, so that is the maximum number of respondents; we expect a response rate that will provide a reasonably representative sample of the full population.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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