Supporting Statement

2017 SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Event Appearance Requests for the Secretary or Members of his Staff

OMB No. 0506 - New

Terms of Clearance:

A. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

We are requesting to create a web form that collects information on events that the public would like the Secretary to participate in. Information that will be collected is as follows: Organization, Address, Phone/Cell Number, First and last name of point of contact, Email Address, Type of event, Date of event, Event location, Secretary’s role, Number of attendees, Press open or closed.

2. Indicate how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

The information will be used to review, approve, delegate and regret events for the Secretary. The information will come from Public, businesses, not-for profit organizations; state, local or tribal governments. The information will be collected using a web form. The information will be collected on a daily basis. The information will be shared with internal folks only such as the Secretary’s Scheduling Team and Leadership Team.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also, describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

The collection of information will be collected 100% using an electronic web form; this will reduce the use of papers forms etc.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purpose described in item 2 above.

There is no similar information already being collected.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.

The information being collected will not affect or burden small businesses or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

If the collection is not conducted we would not be able to properly schedule events for the Secretary and therefore would not be able to inform the Secretary of incoming event request.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collecti­on to be con­ducted in a manner:

• requiring respondents to report informa­tion to the agency more often than quarterly;

• requiring respondents to prepare a writ­ten response to a collection of infor­ma­tion in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

• requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any docu­ment;

• requiring respondents to retain re­cords, other than health, medical, governm­ent contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

• in connection with a statisti­cal sur­vey, that is not de­signed to produce valid and reli­able results that can be general­ized to the uni­verse of study;

• requiring the use of a statis­tical data classi­fication that has not been re­vie­wed and approved by OMB;

• that includes a pledge of confiden­tiali­ty that is not supported by au­thority estab­lished in statute or regu­la­tion, that is not sup­ported by dis­closure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unneces­sarily impedes shar­ing of data with other agencies for com­patible confiden­tial use; or

• requiring respondents to submit propri­etary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demon­strate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permit­ted by law.

There will be no special circumstances required to collect the information.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting form, and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

A 60 day notice for comment was published in the federal register on April 11, 2017, volume number 68 and page number 17408. No comments were received on the notice.

8. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than reenumeration of contractors or grantees.

There are no plans to provide any payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

A SORN was published on April 11, 2014 (79 FR 13977), USDA/OES 2, Correspondence and Document Management System. The respondent’s information will be saved in a secure location that can only be accessed by the Secretary’s scheduling team.

10. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

No sensitive information will be collected.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should:

• Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.

The estimated number of respondents is 5,000. The estimated frequency of responses will be 2 per respondent which will take responses to 10,000. The per response time is 15 minutes for a total of 2,500 burden hours..

• Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.

The average cost would be $25 dollars an hour.

13. Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information, (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimates should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component annualized over its expected useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There are no capital/startup cost or operation and maintenance cost associated with this collection.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The annual cost to the Federal government would be $514, 800 per year. This information was based off an employee at a 13 step 5 level.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-1.

This is a new information collection.

16. For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

No information will be published to the public. The information collected will be distributed only to the Secretary’s scheduling and leadership team for review and recommendation.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

The expiration date will be displayed on the form.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act."

There are no exception to this certification.