Supporting Statement A

Goal of the study: It is the goal of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) to conduct surveys to evaluate the nature and availability of commercial tick control services in select Lyme disease endemic areas of the Unites States.
Intended use of the resulting data: The data collection for which approval is sought will allow DVBD to use survey results to determine: the percentage of pest control firms that offer tick control services, which commercially available tick control technologies and strategies are currently being used by the pest control industry, the comparative frequency of use, and why other effective methods may not be used. This information will provide guidance to DVBD on the direction of future development of tick control technologies.
Methods to be used to collect: DVBD and partners will conduct surveys using self-administered surveys conducted via internet.
Subpopulation to be studied: The primary target population for these data collections is pest control firms that work in Pesticide Applicator Categories that permit tick control.
How data will be analyzed: This is a voluntary survey and responses of individual pest management control firms will be compiled generally and not on an individual basis. We will conduct overall descriptive statistical analyses for survey responses.

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) and other programs working on tick-borne diseases (TBDs) is requesting approval to for a generic information collection (gen-IC) to conduct surveys regarding pest control industry services against ticks that transmit pathogens that cause Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. The data collection for which approval is sought will allow DVBD to use survey results to guide future development of new tick control technologies.

TBDs are a substantial and growing public health problem in the United States. From 2009-2014, over 200,000 cases of TBDs were reported to CDC, including cases of anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia (CDC, 2010, 2013). Lyme disease leads in number of cases with over 33,000 confirmed and probable cases reported in 2014. In addition, several novel tick-borne pathogens have recently been found to cause human disease in the United States. Factors driving the emergence of TBDs are not well defined and current prevention methods have been insufficient to curb the increase in cases. Data is lacking on which and how often certain commercially available tick control measures are being offered by the pest control industry.

The primary target population for these data collections are businesses offering pest control services to residents in areas where blacklegged ticks transmit human disease agents. This survey will be conducted in two states with high (>15 confirmed Lyme disease cases per 100,000 population in 2015) incidence of Lyme disease: New York and Pennsylvania.

Information will be collected electronically and will focus on web-based surveys.

Data collection will be limited to management of the selected pest control firms in the high incidence states of New York and Pennsylvania.

Items of information to be collected include:

General information about the pest control firm (e.g. number of employees, geographical area serviced, whether or not the firm offers tick control services).
Tick control strategies used by the firm (e.g. sampling of properties for ticks, number of treatments/year, what tick stages targeted).
Specific tick control technologies/strategies offered by the firm and why they are used.
Administration (e.g. percentage of business dedicated to tick control, cost/various treatments offered).

Target pest control firms will be limited to those licensed in Pesticide Applicator Categories that permit tick control.

2. Purpose and Use of Information Collection

In 2010, the U.S. Congress allocated money specifically for study of Lyme disease and other TBDs. The information collected under this gen-IC will be used by DVBD and other CDC personnel, state and local public health practitioners, and academicians to inform current and future TBD prevention programs.

Many TBD prevention methods are currently available and promoted by public health practitioners, but their level of use and/or barriers to use are not well known. As cases of TBDs continue to rise, there is a great need to identify effective tick control strategies and methods currently being offered to homeowners by the pest control industry.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

Per the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA), Public Law 105-277, title XVII, information collection will be conducted using the most current modes of survey data collection, including web-based surveys and applications used on participants’ mobile devices (e.g., smart phones and tablets) or computers.

This information collection will be done completely online. Surveys will be administered electronically via Survey Monkey through respective websites of the Pennsylvania Pest Management Association (PAPMA) and/or the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association (PLNA) for Pennsylvania and the New York Pest Management Association (NYPMA) and/or the New York State Nursery and Landscape Association (NYSNLA) for New York. This survey is voluntary and respondents arrive at the survey page by their own choice by clicking on a provided link to the survey.

These electronic information collection techniques typically reduce burden because participants can submit responses at any time of day that is convenient for them rather than having to schedule phone interviews with project staff.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

There are no similar data available: that is, other institutions collecting information on human TBDs are not collecting this information as it relates to nature and availability of commercial tick control services used to reduce exposure to disease agents transmitted by blacklegged ticks. DVBD has verified through RegInfo.gov that there are no other federal collections that duplicate information included in this gen-IC request. One similar survey is underway in New Jersey (OMB Control Number 0920-1150) but the findings of that survey are not generalizable to other states with high incidence of Lyme disease.

5. Impact on Small Businesses and Other Small Entities

This survey does involve data collection from small businesses, namely, pest control companies since they are the primary target population. As many as 85% of the respondents will come from small businesses. We will ask the individual pest control firm to identify the appropriate staff members with whom to conduct the activities. Questions have been held to the absolute minimum required for the intended use of the information. Small businesses should not be adversely affected by the survey.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

This is a one-time information collection.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

This request fully complies with the regulation 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside Agencies

A. A 60-Day Federal Register Notice for the generic ICR was published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2016, Vol. 81, No. 110, pg. 36919. One non-substantive public comment was received. A standardized response was sent.

B. The following agencies and organizations outside of CDC have been consulted on the need for data collection with the audiences, and for the purposes, described in this gen-IC:

Yale School of Public Health

Jim Meek (2014-2016)

Associate Director of Yale Emerging Infections Program

203.764.4364, [email protected]

Sara Niesobecki (2014-2016)

TickNET Program Coordinator

203.764.7247, [email protected]

U.S. Department of Defense

Ellen Stromdahl (2014-2016)

Entomologist, U.S. Army Public Health Command

410.436.5421, [email protected]

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

Participation in the proposed survey will not require the use of incentives.

10. Protection of the Privacy and Confidentiality of Information Provided by Respondents

NCEZID’s Information Systems Security Officer reviewed this submission and determined that the Privacy Act does apply. The applicable Privacy Act System of Records Notice is 09-20-0136, Epidemiologic Studies and Surveillance of Disease Problems.

All DVBD staff receive appropriate annual privacy and confidentiality training.

Electronic data will be kept on the project-specific network on a secure server, which is accessible only to users granted rights by the project director and in a secure location with restricted physical access to staff working on the project only.

Participation in formative research information collection activities is strictly voluntary and does not involve collection of data about human subjects.

Information in Identifiable Form

This is a voluntary survey and responses of individual pest management control firms will be kept private and on file with CDC/DVBD. All survey responses and survey summaries will be de-linked from identifiers and disposed of once data is accepted and finalized. Responses to questions are compiled generally over all respondents and not on an individual basis.

The final survey question asks for permission to contact a respondent if we determine that additional clarification or follow-up questions are appropriate. Survey questions typically list 4-5 choices. In some instances, we provide the respondent the ability to choose “other” if the appropriate response is not listed. Because a respondent can write in his own answers, it may become necessary to contact the respondent for clarification of response/s. Respondents can answer “yes” or “no”. If “yes,” then respondent will provide the method and information for how he prefers to be contacted.

The identifiable information includes 1 or more of the following:

Name
Phone Number
Address
Email

11. Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Justification for Sensitive Questions

NCEZID’s Human Subjects Advisor has reviewed the proposed information collection and determined it was not research (Attachment 2). The attached determination was initially done for the very similar survey underway in New Jersey. It was determined by NCEZID’s human subjects advisor that an additional determination was unnecessary.

No sensitive questions are included in this information collection request.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden hours and costs:

We aim to enroll 400 - 850 participants per state for this survey. The survey will be conducted once and may take < 1 minutes (if the firm does not offer tick control services) and a maximum of 20 minutes to be completed. The average burden per response is estimated at 10 minutes.

The estimates of annualized burden hours are based on knowledge of similar studies. The maximum estimated number of annualized burden hours is 284. There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Table

Type of Respondent

Form Name

Number

Respondents

Number of

Responses per

Respondent

Average Burden per Response

(in hours)

Total

Burden

Hours

Pest Control Firms

PCO Survey (Attachment 1)

1700

10/60

284

Total

284

Estimated Annualized Burden Costs to Respondents.

The average annual cost burden cost is estimated to be $4,390.64. The hourly wage estimate is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2015 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm) for Pest Control Workers.

Type of Respondent	Form Name	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Costs
Pest Control Firms	PCO Survey (Attachment 1)	284	$15.46	$4,390.64
Total				$4,390.64

13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record keepers

There are no costs to respondents other than their time to participate.

14. Annualized Costs to the Federal Government

Governmental Costs are broken down in the following table.

		Total ($)
Federal Government Personnel Costs	CDC Data Manager (GS-9, 1.0 FTE)	$45,000
Subtotal, Federal Direct Costs		$45,000
Contract	Contracts for implementation or information management	$50,000
Total Annualized Cost to Government		$95,000

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This is a new information collection request, therefore program changes and adjustments do not apply at this time.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

An estimated project time schedule for this gen-IC is outlined below.

A.16 - 1 Project Time Schedule
Activity	Time Schedule
Survey administered	1-2 weeks after OMB approval of Gen-IC
Data cleaning and validation	3-6 months after OMB approval of Gen-IC
Analyses	7-12 months after OMB approval of Gen-IC

A.16 - 1 Project Time Schedule

Activity

Time Schedule

Survey administered

1-2 weeks after OMB approval of Gen-IC

Data cleaning and validation

3-6 months after OMB approval of Gen-IC

Analyses

7-12 months after OMB approval of Gen-IC

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

The OMB Expiration Date will be displayed.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the certification.

Attachments

PCO Survey (NY and PA versions)
Non-research determination

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Author	Dolan, Marc C. (CDC/OID/NCEZID)
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2021-01-21