Final SS___5-14

3

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Department of State Application for Employment OMB Number 1405-0139
DS-1950

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. The Department of State Application for Employment has been the primary form used by individuals to apply for certain excepted Foreign Service Specialist and Generalist jobs at the Department of State. Section 1104 of title 5, United States Code, authorizes OPM to delegate the authority to collect necessary employment information to other agencies, including the Department of State. With respect to Foreign Service Specialist applicants, authority is given under 22 U.S.C. Section 3926 and 3941.

2. The information is collected by the Bureau of Human Resources and is used in determining the eligibility, salary, and qualifications of applicants for the Department’s Foreign Service Specialist and Generalist positions, under merit principles. Upon selection, the information on the form will be used to establish basic personnel records.

3. USAJOBS hiring software allows for the electronic submission of responses through an online application. Subsequent electronic processing steps automate the loading of application data into State’s HR database and reduces evaluation workload for Department of State personnel. It is estimated that 25,000 applicants will use the USAJOBS online application option. The processing of this high volume of submitted applications is expedited by using the USAJOBS automated online application.

4. The Department of State’s Application for Employment paper version (DS-1950) serves as a vehicle to gather some of the unique information required to apply for the Department’s Foreign Service Specialist and Generalist positions. We have since been working on transitioning all of our programs through USAJobs.gov but are extending this form as a backup to our online application process. The Pickering and Rangel fellowships are the last programs transitioning their 60 selected annual Fellows hiring processes online, and we estimate no more than 60 total number of respondents and approximately 60 respondents to utilize the DS-1950 physical form annually. Due to the uniqueness of each respondent’s experiences, the information to be collected is not available elsewhere.

5. This collection of information involves no small businesses or other small entities.

6. This information cannot be collected less frequently, as it is used to determine the eligibility, salary, and qualifications of applicants. Information is submitted on a voluntary basis by individuals who are interested in working in certain jobs within the Department of State.

7. No such special circumstances exist.

8. The department published a 60-Day notice for public comments in the Federal Register volume 79, No. 8, on page 2239-2240 (January 13, 2014). No comments were received.

9. Gifts or payments are not provided to respondents.

10. All applications submitted to the Department of State are maintained in confidential files, subject to review only by personnel lists and investigators, and by managers who are considering the individuals for appointment to specific positions. The forms are destroyed according to approved records disposition schedules if the applicants’ files become inactive. If an applicant is appointed to a Federal position in the Department of State, the Department of State Application for Employment becomes part of the employee’s Official Personnel Folder. The forms contain Privacy Act statements that comply with and contain information required by Section 552a of Title 5, of the United States Code.

11. Not applicable. This form does not request information of a sensitive nature.

12. About 25,000 applicants for excepted service employment with the Department of State will each complete one electronic application per year through USAJobs.gov. Due to the Pickering and Rangel fellowships being the last programs transitioning their 60 selected annual Fellows hiring processes online, we expect only approximately 60 respondents to utilize the DS-1950 paper form annually. The DS-1950 has an estimated burden of 30 minutes per application. Burden estimates were obtained by comparison with similar OMB-approved forms. Therefore, the estimated total annual hour burden is 30 hours. A decrease of 2,970 hours since last collection, due to the transitioning of several vacancies to the USAJOBS online application.

Estimated Total Annual Time Burden on and Estimated Cost to Respondents:

The 60 respondents selected are undergraduate and graduate students whom join the Pickering and Rangel fellowships throughout the United States, therefore an estimated national average minimum wage was calculated within the total annual burden provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of $7.25 per hour (http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012.htm). The specific “Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2012” data is located at http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012.pdf. Hence, for the 60 respondents who may fill out the DS-1950 form, the total annual time burden is 30 hours, and estimated cost to respondents is $304.50 (See table 1 below).

Table 1:  Estimated Total Annual Burden on and Estimated Cost to Respondents

(a) Description of the Collection Activity	(b) Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents (Hours)	(c)* Estimated Average Minimum Wage per Hour	(d) Loaded/Weighted Wage Calculator	(e) Estimated Cost to Respondents
Application for Employment paper version (DS-1950)	30 hours	$7.25	1.4	$304.50
Totals	30 hours	---		$304.50

13. There is no cost burden to the applicant for this form.

14. It is estimated that the annualized cost to the Federal Government is confined to the salary and benefits associated with the time spent by Department officials responsible for the administrative oversight and management of this information collection. In the past, the application processing staff consisted of 3 employees with an average grade level of GS-12. The salary cost for the staff processing the application was approximately $30,616, based upon 1 hour of dedicated processing time each work day. In addition, since the database established for processing the DS-1950 on October 1, 2004, with final costs of the software (including installation, license fee, and support) used for processing this collection of $1,319,879, there has been no recurring operational and software costs. Therefore, due to the Department of State fully utilizing USAJobs hiring software when gathering all essential information required from applicants seeking a Foreign Service Specialist and Generalist positions, there are no annual costs to the Federal government.

15. Transitioning several vacancies to the USAJOBS online application has resulted in a decrease of burden hours from 3,000 to 30. This represents a program adjustment.

16. This information is not used for public reports or publication.

17. The expiration date will be displayed.

18. No exceptions are requested to the certification statement.

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.