PRA-2126-0042.SS.PartA.AWS. 021716 .Use

Department of Transportation

Office of the Chief Information Officer

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Information Technology Services Survey Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment (formerly COMPASS Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment)

INTRODUCTION

This is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval for the extension of the OMB Control Number 2126-0042,“Information Technology Services Survey Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment (formerly COMPASS Portal Customer Satisfaction Assessment),” information collection request (ICR), which expired on May 31, 2016. FMCSA also requests approval of a minor adjustment of its estimate of the total burden hours for this ICR due to changes in the number of annual responses.

Part A. Justification.

1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary.

The FMCSA, a modal administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), currently operates numerous, free-standing Information Technology (IT) systems, which supply critical safety data to Federal, State, and industry customers. Ongoing costs, operational challenges, data quality and organizational issues inherent to managing a suite of stand-alone systems have become burdensome. As such, FMCSA made a strategic decision to launch a modernization initiative called COMPASS to integrate its IT with its business processes while consolidating its systems and databases. It was estimated that the COMPASS program, from initiation to completion, would involve dedicated and related expenditures over $100,000,000.

In early 2007, FMCSA’s COMPASS program launched a series of releases for a new FMCSA Portal to its Federal, State and industry customers. Over the coming years, more than 15 releases are planned. These releases will use portal technology to fuse and provide numerous services and functions via a single user interface and provide tailored services that seek to meet the needs of specific constituencies within our customer universe.

The Information Technology Services program will entail considerable overall expenditure of Federal Government dollars over the years and fundamentally impact the nature of the relationship between the Agency and its Federal, State, and industry customers. Consequently, the Agency contends that regular and ongoing assessment of customer satisfaction will be vital to determine the extent to which the released functionality:

• meets customer needs and expectations;

• helps formulate approaches to correct any problems or issues that emerge;

• gauges the extent to which the introduction of these new functionalities is impacting the Agency’s reputation with its customers; and

• protects the Federal Government’s considerable investment.

Section 207 of the E-Government Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899, 2916 (December 17, 2002) (codified as 44 U.S.C. § 3501 note).

(see Attachment A) requires Federal agencies to improve the methods by which government information, including information on the Internet, is organized, preserved, and made accessible to the public. To meet this goal, FMCSA plans to provide a survey on the FMCSA Portal, allowing users to assess its functionality. This includes the capability for Federal, State, and industry users to access the Agency’s existing safety IT systems with a single set of credentials and have easy access to safety data about the companies that do business with FMCSA. The Information Technology Services program will also focus on improving the accuracy of data to help ensure information, such as carrier name and address, and that it is valid and reliable. The Form MCSA-5845, “Information Technology Services Survey Portal Assessment,” will be used to conduct regular and ongoing assessments of customer satisfaction with the Portal to determine the extent to which it meets the users’ needs and expectations.

This information collection supports the Department of Transportation’s strategic goal of safety.

2. How, by whom, and for what purpose is the information used.

The primary purposes of this assessment are to:

• determine the extent to which the FMCSA Portal functionality continues to meet the needs of Agency customers;

• identify and prioritize additional modifications; and

• determine the extent that the FMCSA Portal has impacted FMCSA’s relationships with its main customer groups.

The assessment will address:

• overall customer satisfaction;

• customer satisfaction against specific items;

• performance of systems integrator against agreed objectives;

• desired adjustments and modifications to systems;

• demonstrated value of investment to FMCSA and DOT;

• items about the FMCSA Portal that customers like best; and

• customer ideas for making the FMCSA Portal better.

The information collected will be primarily for the internal use of the Agency and the Information Technology Services program; however, we may wish to disseminate some results to Federal, State and Industry customers on a selective basis (See attached Portal Primary Screen). FMCSA will retain control over the information and will safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with FMCSA standards. (Also, see Question 10 of this Supporting Statement.) The present information collection request (ICR) is designed to collect data that meet all applicable information quality guidelines (see, attached Survey Results as of 09/06/11).

3. Extent of automated information collection.

The sole means for collecting information will be via an electronic questionnaire available to survey responders via the FMCSA Portal. FMCSA anticipates that 100 percent of the responses will be submitted electronically.

4. Efforts to identify duplication.

As the Information Technology Services program is a new FMCSA-wide initiative, we do not anticipate that this ongoing assessment via the proposed survey will entail any duplication whatsoever of existing information collection activities. No duplication efforts have occurred since OMB’s original certification of the agency’s ICR concerning OMB Control Number 2126-0042.

5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses.

Participation in this assessment is voluntary, and the questionnaire has been designed to yield sufficient value without an undue burden placed on participants. Survey questions are opinion-based rather than data-based, with all but two questions to be responded to by using a simple Likert-type scale between 1 and 5. A “1” (one) designates a “poor” rating whereas a “5” (five) designates an “excellent” rating.

6. Impact of less frequent collection of information.

As the FMCSA Portal continues to integrate and make available new services through a number of releases over the next few years, an approach that gives users a brief survey periodically remains the most effective way to assess acceptance of new functionalities while being able to determine customer satisfaction with the agency’s new services as they are released. Given the expense being incurred on the overall Information Technology Services program, the ability to make adjustments quickly could have an impact on the portal’s overall acceptance or rejection over time.

7. Special circumstances.

There are no special circumstances related to this information collection.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.5(b).

On October 27, 2015, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register (80 FR 65847) (see Attachment B) with a 60-day comment period announcing its desire to seek OMB review and approval to renew this ICR. The agency received no comment in response to this 60-day notice.

On February 17, 2016, FMCSA published a second notice on this subject in the Federal Register (81 FR 8121) (see Attachment C) with a 30-day comment period that announced that this ICR would be sent to OMB for its review and approval.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents.

No gifts or other remuneration will be provided to respondents.

10. Assurance of confidentiality.

None. When analyzing the results of this survey, FMCSA’s intent is to focus on aggregate data rather than on individual users. No confidential information will be collected or used through the survey, and FMCSA will not collect or maintain personally identifiable information.

11. Justification for collection of sensitive information.

No questions of a sensitive nature, such as political behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private, will be included in this survey.

12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested.

It is expected that a single survey will take approximately 5 minutes or less to complete. No advanced preparation by respondents is required. Participants will be asked to complete the brief survey 4 times per year (every 90 days). Based upon the September 2011 quarterly survey, there were 14,130 industry users who have access to the FMCSA Portal, but only 273 of those users responded to the survey (a 1.9 percent response rate per quarter). In addition, there were 9,682 Federal and State government users, of which 575 responded to the survey (a 5.9 percent response rate per quarter). FMCSA anticipates that these numbers of responses and response rates will be similar in future surveys. Consequently, the Agency estimates that each quarterly survey will require 22.75 hours (273 respondents x 5 minutes / 60) from industry users and 48 hours (575 respondents x 5 minutes / 60) from Federal and State government users.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 283 burden hours [91 hours (22.75 hours x 4 times per year) + 192 hours (48 hours x 4 times per year) = 283 hours].

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 3,392 [1,092 annual industry respondents (273 respondents x 4 quarters) + 2,300 annual State government x respondents (575 respondents x 4 quarters) = 3,392].

Estimated Annual Number of Responses: 3,392 [1,092 annual industry responses (273 responses x 4 quarters) + 2,300 annual State government responses (575 responses x 4 quarters) = 3,392].

These estimates are based on previous implementation of the survey from September 2011 under the existing OMB Control Number 2126-0042. FMCSA has determined these estimates are still accurate with respect to the number of responses and response rates for future surveys. Annual costs to respondents are estimated from wages of motor carrier industry users and State government users. As mentioned previously, FMCSA estimates that each respondent will spend 5 minutes to complete the survey, which results in a total of 22.75 hours spent per quarter by industry users and 48 hours spent per quarter by State government users. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicate that the median hourly wage for workers in the trucking industry (the largest component of the motor carrier industry, along with the bus industry) is $19.48 per hour,¹ and for Transportation Inspectors in State government is $23.96 per hour.² To each of these wages, fringe benefit costs equal to 53.84 percent of wages³ and overhead costs equal to 12 percent of wages⁴ were added. This results in total hourly compensation of $33.56 for workers in the trucking industry and $41.28 for Transportation Inspectors in State government. Estimated annual costs to respondents are:

Motor Carrier Industry Users: $3,054 [22.75 hours x 4 quarters x $33.56 per hour = $3,054].

State Public Safety Users: $7,926 [48 hours x 4 quarters x $41.28 per hour = $7,926].

Estimated Annual Cost to Respondents: $10,980 [$3,054 for motor carrier industry users + $7,926 for State public safety users = $10,980].

13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents.

There are no costs to respondents beyond those associated with the burden of completing the survey (described in item 12 above).

14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government.

Tasks		Annual Cost
Analysis		$8,000
Preparation of reports		$8,000
Discussion of results		$1,600
Estimated Annual Cost to Federal Government:		$17,600

15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments.

The program adjustment increase of $882 [$10,980 proposed estimated wages and fringe benefits costs for industry and State employees - $10,098 currently approved estimated wages and fringe benefits costs for industry and State employees = $882]. This increase reflects the use of updated information from BLS on median wages and benefit estimates.

16. Publication of results of data collection.

The results of individual survey responses will be provided to FMCSA. Some results, summarized and analyzed, may be shared with customers as appropriate through the FMCSA Web site or through publications targeted at Federal, State or Industry users.

17. Approval for not displaying the expiration date of OMB approval.

No approval is being requested.

18. Exceptions to certification statement.

None.

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment Statistics,” May 2014. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_48-49.htm (accessed August 19, 2015). National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, Sectors 48 and 49 – Transportation and Warehousing.

2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment Statistics,” May 2014. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm (accessed August 19, 2015). National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 999200 – State Government (OES Designation), Transportation Inspectors 53-6051 (SOC Code number).

3 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” March 2015. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf (accessed August 19, 2015). As indicated in Table 2 of this report, for “transportation and material moving occupations,” 65 percent of total employee compensation is wages, and 35 percent is benefits. The ratio of benefits to wages is 35/65=53.84 percent.

4 Overhead is difficult to estimate, and few industrial-level estimates are available. The Agency relied on guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for evaluating and budgeting commercial services. OMB Circular A-76, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a076/a76_incl_tech_correction.html (accessed August 19, 2015).

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