Supporting Statement for Satisfaction Surveys for SBIR/STTR Pre-submission Process (for Proposers and Reviewers)

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3145-0215)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Satisfaction Surveys for SBIR/STTR Pre-submission Process (for Proposers and Reviewers)

PURPOSE:

In FY 2019, the Industrial Innovation & Partnerships (IIP) of the Engineering Directorate (ENG) made one significant change to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposal submission process. Before the change, small businesses who wish to apply for the grant could submit their full proposals to NSF twice per year. Under the new system, a Project Pitch requirement was introduced. The newly added Project Pitch requires a small business to outline the technical innovation, commercialization potential, and broader impact of its project before submitting a full proposal to NSF. Only the proposers with Project Pitch that are suitable/appropriate to the objectives of the SBIR/STTR program are invited to submit a full proposal. The goals of this new process are (i) to provide specific feedback to potential applicants regarding whether or not their proposed project is a good fit for the program prior to initiating the full proposal submission process, and (ii) to allow greater agility and flexibility in receiving and evaluating full proposals, ensuring that (potential) applicants do not expend time or resources in the development of full proposals where the proposal goals are clearly not appropriate given the NSF SBIR/STTR program objectives.

This request is to conduct on-line surveys of proposers and reviewers to measure satisfaction with the workload and other aspects of the new process. Data collected in the surveys will be used to help IIP evaluate the new pre-proposal submission process, and ultimately, help NSF to improve its service to the communities of small businesses and reviewers.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Two groups of respondents will be surveyed: Proposers and Reviewers.

Proposers to be surveyed: All proposers submitting a Project Pitch (the new pre-proposal requirement to the NSF SBIR/STTR grant application). Reviewers to be surveyed: Panel reviewers and Ad hoc reviewers for full SBIR/STTR Phase I proposals. Since the new SBIR/STTR application process starts in Q1 of FY 2019, the survey subjects will include only participants occurring in FY 2019 and onward.

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: Suzanne H. Plimpton, NSF Reports Clearance Officer_______________________

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? [ ] 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
Private Sector - Proposers	2000	0.17 hours	340 hours
Private Sector - Reviewers	600	0.17 hours	102 hours
Totals			442 hours

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?

FASTLANE and Salesforce data will be used to obtain the full list of proposers and reviewers. The Proposer Satisfaction Survey will send out to all the proposers who submitted a Project Pitch, likewise, the Reviewer Satisfaction Survey will send out to all the reviewers who were invited to review full proposals for the SBIR/STTR Program. Since the surveys are conducted prior to the proposal invitation outcomes, the expected response rate for the proposers is about 70 %. Similarly, the expected response rate for the reviewers is about 70 %. The number of respondents included in the burden table above has factored in these assumptions, which is a 30 % loss of sample for proposers, and for reviewers due to non-response. The burden for each category is estimated based on FY 2018 data.

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.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

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