Mtbps

Survey Planning and Design Document

Survey of the MTB program and MTBPS

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is implementing a survey to gather feedback to evaluate the level of user satisfaction with the USITC’s Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) Program and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Petition System (MTBPS). The MTB Program was initiated at the USITC, pursuant to the American Manufacturing Competiveness Act of 2016. The Act required the USITC establish a process to receive petitions and comments on temporary duty suspensions and reductions and provide certain determinations and recommendations on those petitions in preliminary and final reports for the House Committee on Ways & Means and Senate Committee on Finance. MTBPS is a web-based service that allowed users to file, search for, and access petitions, comments, and the USITC’s preliminary and final reports. The survey responses will be used to assess the effectiveness of the program and MTBPS during the 2016 petition cycle and inform any improvements and enhancements for the statutorily mandated 2019 petition cycle.

A. The Survey Population

This will be a voluntary, web-based survey. The survey population likely will include groups alerted to the survey through several means. The principal avenue will be through a news release directing interested parties and known MTB participants to the survey on the agency’s web page. The news release will appear on the agency’s web page and will be distributed via email to the agency’s pre-existing list of self-subscribing entities. There will also be a link to the survey posted on the MTBPS homepage.

B. Field Testing

The USITC conducted internal field testing of the survey. Representatives from the Commissioners’ Offices, Office of Operations, Office of Chief Information Officer, and the Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements provided comments with regard to the scope and clarity of questions, which were incorporated into the survey, as appropriate.

In addition, the survey was circulated amongst key stakeholders within the USITC to get feedback on the survey questions and format.

C. Reporting Burden and Projected Cost

The reporting burden is estimated to be:

Total number of survey respondents: (No.) Not to exceed 200

Frequency of response: (No.) 1

Average completion time per survey: (hours) 0.30

Total burden: (hours) 60 hours

Total cost: (dollars) $4,020 (60 hours X $67/per hour)

Note: The hourly cost estimate reflects the average USITC employee hourly cost.

1