Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0560-028

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0560-0286)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: FSA Customer Satisfaction Survey

PURPOSE: The FSA Customer Satisfaction Survey gathers information from customers regarding the level of satisfaction with their most recent service provided by FSA. The opportunity to complete the survey is offered to every customer after every visit – through a link to the web-based survey on the bottom of the Customer Summary (i.e. Receipt for Service). (For example, much like the survey link at the bottom of a store or restaurant receipt.) Information collected from the survey allows FSA to improve the quality and effectiveness of service in general and for customers seeking specific service related to the nature of their agricultural interest.

The survey was initially created for the Bridges to Opportunity pilot project in 2014 under OMB control number 0503-0021. The project expanded to a nationwide service in early 2017. As a result of the pilot, a more broad-based customer satisfaction survey is needed to gain a more complete understanding of the customer service that is being provided to FSA customers. FSA worked with survey experts in NASS to refocus and enhance the scope of the survey by addressing customer service satisfaction for all FSA programs and services in detail. The focus has not changed; it is still to gather customer satisfaction information, however, the scope now asks about the full range of FSA services.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Potential respondents include all FSA customers who receive a Customer Summary after their visit or contact with FSA. Customers receive the Customer Summary by email, U.S. mail, or in person at the end of their office visit or contact with FSA; the customer chooses if they want to receive the Customer Summary and how they prefer to receive it. The survey may be completed anonymously either online or by hardcopy. Customers who receive the Customer Summary by email receive a hyperlink to the online survey in the email message that delivers the Customer Summary. Customers who receive the Customer Summary in person or by U.S. mail may complete a hardcopy of the survey and mail it to the FSA National Office. It is the expectation that the hardcopy is provided to the customer when they receive the Customer Summary in hardcopy form in person or by mail. Customers pay the postage to mail the hardcopy survey. As a result, a lower response rate to the hardcopy survey is expected, and estimated at 0.5 percent of the number of hardcopy Customer Summaries issued.

Pilot phase data indicates a 9 percent response rate to the survey online, based on 32,074 customers who received their Customer Summary by email in a six-month timeframe, nationwide. During the same timeframe 636,009 customer interactions occurred in which a Customer Summary was offered to the customer; however, of those interactions only 87,255 customers, or 13.7 percent, elected to receive a Customer Summary. Because the issuance of Customer Summaries and the opportunity to complete a customer satisfaction survey is new to customers, the agency expects the numbers of customers electing to receive a Customer Summary and have the opportunity to complete the survey will increase in the coming years. As shown in the table below, the agency expects the number of respondents will be approximately 50,500 annually, based on an anticipated 2 million customer interactions per year and an estimated 1 million Customer Summaries per year. As shown in the table, we estimate that approximately half of all FSA customers will want to receive a Customer Summary and of those that receive the Customer Summary, approximately half will request to receive it by e-mail. Out of those customers that receive the e-mail, we estimate that 10 percent will click on the link at the bottom of the Customer Summary e-mail and take the customer satisfaction survey. These estimates are higher that the experience of the pilot, but seem reasonable as annual estimates for the survey for the next 3 years.

Estimated Burden Calculation Based on Pilot Experience
	Total Customer Interactions	Opted to Receive Customer Summary		Received Customer Summary		Completed Survey		Burden
								minutes	hours
		%	#	%	#	%	#	5
Pilot (actual)	636,009	13.7	87,255	36.76	32,704	9	1,061
Expanded Survey Estimates
Email	2,000,000	50	1,000,000	50	500,000	10.0	50,000	250,000	4,166.67
Hardcopy	2,000,000	50	1,000,000	50	500,000	0.1	500	2,500	41.67
Totals:								255,000	4,208.34

The majority of respondents will be local farmers and ranchers, most of which are regular customers and program participants with FSA; this will comprise approximately 80 percent of all respondents. Additional respondents will include new customers, agricultural stakeholders (organizations, businesses, etc.), and the general public; this will comprise approximately 20 percent of all respondents.

The FSA National Office Outreach staff regularly reviews the results of the survey to identify customer service issues and concerns. Periodic updates on customer service performance are provided to agency leadership. Whenever possible, specific issues are addressed and directed to the appropriate staff for resolution.

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: Glenn Schafer, Program Management Specialist, FSA Outreach Staff

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, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No50,

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) 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
(1) Individuals or Households	40,250	5 minutes	3,374.67 hours
(2) Private Sector	10,250	5 minutes	833.33 hours
Totals	50,500		4,208 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is: $0. The survey has already been developed under the pilot. The evaluation of the information is considered a normal part of the work of the outreach staff to identify ways to improve customer service.

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? [ ] Yes [X] 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.

Respondents will be comprised of all customers who choose to complete the survey. The opportunity to complete the survey will be offered to all customers after every request for service from FSA. As described above, after providing service to the customer, the FSA employee will offer the Customer Summary; the customer may request to receive the Customer Summary by e-mail. The e-mail will include the link and offer for the voluntary customer satisfaction survey.

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

[X] 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.

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