Request for Approval Under the Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback

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

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Generic Clearance for the Collection of Information on Customer Service and Agency Services

PURPOSE:

Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. To ensure that programs, policies, and practices are effective and to meet needs of our clients, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) would like to collect information from its clients—individuals who are or have recently been under supervision by the agency.

Over the years, CSOSA has endeavored to analyze the impact of supervision services and treatment programs on offenders under supervision. While these evaluations have been beneficial in ensuring supervision is implemented consistent to best practices, they have not always incorporated offenders’ perspectives. Information collection from this stakeholder population will help the agency achieve its mission: to increase public safety and prevent crime by reducing recidivism. Surveys, comment cards, and focus groups with the offender population (CSOSA’s customers), as well as CSOSA stakeholders and CSOSA staff will serve as the primary method for the collection of qualitative feedback to help direct attention to areas where service delivery can be improved. By qualitative feedback we mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

There will be multiple categories of respondents:

1. Individuals currently or recently under court-ordered supervision by CSOSA. CSOSA is responsible for performing the offender supervision function for D.C. Code offenders,

2. CSOSA stakeholders including members of the community (e.g., DC residents who attend CSOSA community justice advisory network meetings) and criminal justice system (e.g., judges, parole commissioners, etc.) and,

3. CSOSA employees.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [] 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: David Huffer, Ph.D.

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

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 [ ] No

For small discussion groups only, we will provide public transportation tokens to cover the costs of traveling to and from the sites where the focus groups will be conducted. Currently, CSOSA provides tokens for unemployed offenders who are unable to afford the cost to commute to/from office and program visits.

BURDEN HOURS

We expect to administer a variety of surveys and focus groups annually. Each will have a different anticipated reporting burden.

Collection Type	Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Customer Satisfaction Survey	Individuals	800	5 minutes	40 hours
Customer Comment Card	Individuals	500	5 minutes	25 hours
Small discussion Groups	Individuals	40	10 minutes	4 hours
	Totals	1,340	20 minutes	69

FEDERAL COST:

Total estimated federal cost including staff time for the development, collection, data entry and analysis associated with each collection type as well as incentives for the small discussion groups is $19,160.

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 (Small discussion groups) [] No (Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Comment Cards)

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?

Yes, CSOSA’s case management system, SMART, will be used to identify the universe of potential individuals to invite to the small discussion groups. After accounting for eligibility criteria for a particular discussion group (e.g., offenders with community service requirements), respondents will be randomly selected.

For the customer satisfaction surveys and comment cards, respondents will be invited to participate when they show up for supervision or treatment appointments or when they meet with agency staff for another purpose (e.g., meetings in the community). Therefore, no, there is no customer list for the customer satisfaction surveys and comment cards.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[] In-person

[] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [] Yes [ ] No

3