Paperwork Reduction Act |
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The Supporting Statement |
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Introduction:
This is a request for OMB clearance for a new information collection entitled; Compendium of State Performance Management Practices and Methodologies for Setting a National Safety Performance Target.
Part A. Justification.
1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary:
In 1993, Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results Act to get the federal government to focus federal programs on performance.1 Since that time government agencies have been working toward achieving that goal. Later, the President signed the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, which reaffirmed and more fully described the need for a performance management framework in the federal government. 2 The Department of Transportation, specifically the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Safety, is undertaking this project in an effort to more fully achieve the performance management requirements of the federal government.
Furthermore, the need to prepare for and transition to administering a consistent transportation performance management framework for State and National highway safety programs is supported by the US-DOT, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and many other highway safety stakeholders. At the Federal level the need for a transportation performance management framework has also been identified in the President of the United State’s FY 2012 Budget Proposal and supports a federal stewardship role in assuring that state and local governments use national resources efficiently.
Safety performance will necessarily require a consistent performance based management framework for the highway safety industry. Transportation Performance Management is being developed as a strategic approach that uses system information to make investment and policy decisions to achieve national performance goals.
This information collection is necessary to prepare for the implementation of a national performance target for fatalities and to offer technical assistance and guidance to States in developing their methodologies for setting fatality targets. FHWA is seeking feedback from its customers on additional FHWA services needed - or how they can be improved - to assist agencies in target setting and information on how States, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and local agencies currently set targets. To develop strategies for improvement and to collect this feedback on current experiences, FHWA is proposes to conduct a survey to solicit information from its customers to understand and improve methods to assist in fatality target-setting practice. Information collected from the survey will only be used internally as background and supporting information for an overall research project on target setting methodologies.
As such, this information collection is part of a larger project to document the methodologies currently used by the States to develop highway safety performance measures and targets, to develop tools and technical assistance to assist States in setting targets in the future, and to develop a methodology to set a national target for reduction in highway fatalities. The research project includes a literature review of current guidance and practices, a technical report on performance management and target setting in comparable non-highway safety environments, identification of methodologies to establish promising practices and finally, alternative methodologies for setting a national highway safety performance target.
The information collection and the associated larger project herein described support the Safety Goal in the US-DOT Strategic Plan. The information collected will be used to improve safety on the nation’s roadways. The strategic plan’s safety goal “[encourages] our domestic and international partners, our stakeholders and the public to redouble their efforts to reduce transportation-related fatalities and injuries.”3
2. How, by whom, and for what purpose is the information used:
This information collection will be used by the FHWA to complete a larger project to document the methodologies currently used by the States and other roadway owners to develop highway safety performance measures and targets, to develop tools and technical assistance to assist States in setting targets in the future, and to develop a methodology to set a national target for reduction in highway fatalities. The research project includes a literature review of current guidance and practices, a technical report on performance management and target setting in comparable non-highway safety environments, identification of methodologies to establish promising practices and finally, alternative methodologies for setting a national highway safety performance target.
The project is necessary to achieve the Performance Management strategies required in the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010
The purpose of this information collection is to provide an evaluation of how baseline information is used in individual States, MPOs, local and tribal agencies to select, set and evaluate performance based highway safety measures and how they affect the overall State’s highway safety programs. Based on this evaluation, a compendium of the States’, select MPOs’, the District of Columbia’s, local transportation agencies’ performance management practices will be developed. The compendium will be a resource that States may use in developing definitions, protocols, reporting criteria, data collection and analysis systems for highway safety performance measures and targets. The compendium will also include an analysis of how States and MPOs are modifying their performance management techniques to track and achieve success against established measures and targets. Based on this information, alternative methodologies for setting a National safety performance target will be developed.
Through this information collection, FHWA is also seeking feedback from its customers on additional FHWA services needed - or how they can be improved - to assist agencies in target setting and information on how States, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and local agencies currently set targets. To develop strategies for improvement and to collect this feedback on current experiences, FHWA is proposes to conduct a survey to solicit information from its customers to understand and improve methods to assist in fatality target-setting practices. Information collected from the survey will only be used internally as background and supporting information for an overall research project on target setting methodologies.
Under this proposed information collection, FHWA intends to conduct an on line survey to collect customer feedback from representatives of each of the States’ and the District of Columbia’s Departments of Transportation, each of the State Governor’s Highway Safety Offices and fifteen (15) non-state highway transportation agencies, i.e. Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), municipalities, counties, or tribal/territorial agencies.
The specific proposed respondents are identified as the mangers for performance management and/or safety programs within each of the aforementioned government agencies. The respondent universe is estimate to be 150 persons. Each respondent will be identified through FHWAs current relationships with the described agencies and with assistance from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), and the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO).
3. Extent of automated information collection:
This information collection will be 100 percent electronic and no paper from the public will be required. FHWA has contracted a firm, Cambridge Systematics, to develop a customized web-based platform for the questionnaire. Each respondent will receive an email explaining the purpose of the information collection and a web link to the automated survey instrument. All responses will be inputted into the web-based questionnaire and returned to the FHWA through its contractor.
4. Efforts to identify duplication:
Similar or existing information for the purposes of this information collection does not exist. Transportation Performance Management is new to the highway safety discipline. The overall project described in Section 1 and 2 of this supporting statement included a brief literature review of available information on this subject. The review does indicate that the respondent universe is setting some targets, but there is not documentation of the methodologies used. As explained, a consistent framework for Transportation Performance Management is a necessity to achieve the results desired.
5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses:
There is no burden on small businesses
6. Impact of less frequent collection of information:
The information will be collected once (the survey will not be repeated).
7. Special circumstances:
There are no special circumstances associated with this information collection.
8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8:
The proposed information collection 60-day notices is published in the Federal Register as follows: Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 2, Page 320 / Wednesday, January 4, 2012 [Docket No. FHWA–2011–0134]. No comments were received during the 60-day period.
9. Payments or gifts to respondents:
Respondents will not receive gifts or remuneration to complete the questionnaire. The information collection is voluntary.
10. Assurance of confidentiality:
No assurance of confidentiality is associated with this information collection.
11. Justification for collection of sensitive information:
Sensitive information will not be collected through this information collection.
12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested:
Category of Respondent |
No. of Respondents |
Participation Time |
Burden |
State and local DOT, State Highway Safety Office (SHSO) and MPO representatives |
150 |
30 minutes |
75 hours |
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Totals |
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75 hours |
13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents:
The total burden for this information collection is approximately 75 hours. Information will be collected from the staff member responsible for the performance management and/or safety programs within the identified governmental agencies. In some circumstances, depending on the size of the governmental entity, multiple people are responsible for safety target setting, while in others a single person is responsible for this function. Based on a list of respondents responsible for these activities, the survey will be sent to approximately 150 respondents. It is estimated that the survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Assuming a mean hourly wage of $23.894, the total estimated cost for the burden hours of this information collection is $1,791.75.
14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government:
The cost to the Federal government for the overall target setting methodology project is $420,000, of which this information collection represents approximately 5%. Therefore, the estimated cost to the Federal government for this information collection is approximately $20,000.
15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments:
This is a new information collection.
16. Publication of results of data collection:
The information collection is not intended to be published for public consumption, but will be used as background information to improve the FHWA Highway Safety Program and assist the US-DOT in setting a safety performance targets for highway fatalities.
17. Approval for not displaying the expiration date of OMB approval:
Approval for not displaying the expiration date is not being requested.
18. Exceptions to certification statement:
No exceptions to the certification statement are being requested.
1 United States. Executive Office of the President Office of Management and Budget, The President’s Management Agenda,. Washington: 2002. <http://www.cio.gov/documents/mgmt.pdf>
2 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111–352—JAN. 4, 2011
< http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ352/pdf/PLAW-111publ352.pdf>
3 United States Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary. U.S. DOT Strategic Plan FY2010 – FY2015, Washington: 2010 < http://www.dot.gov/stratplan/dot_strategic_plan_10-15.pdf>
4 United States, Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2010 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 999200 - State Government (OES Designation0, 2010
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | keith williams |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-30 |