Justification

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2010-0042)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Evaluation of Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution (ECCR) Services and Training at EPA

PURPOSE:

EPA’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center (CPRC) is requesting approval to collect customer feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of services provided to participants involved in the agency’s environmental collaboration and conflict resolution (ECCR) processes and to individuals who receive training provided by the CPRC.

In order to work continuously to ensure that EPA’s programs are effective and meet its customers’ needs, the EPA obtained OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect qualitative feedback on its service delivery.  As discussed in the Supporting Statement for the approved “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control No. 2010-0042), qualitative feedback means 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. Qualitative feedback is necessary to enable the Agency to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with the Agency’s programs.  This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. 

Consistent with the Generic Clearance, EPA’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center (CPRC) is requesting approval to collect customer feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of services provided to participants involved in the agency’s environmental collaboration and conflict resolution (ECCR) processes and to individuals who receive training provided by the CPRC. ECCR is third-party assisted collaborative problem solving and conflict resolution in the context of environmental, public lands, or natural resources issues or conflicts, including matters related to energy, transportation, and water and land management.  EPA utilizes ECCR as an alternative or as a complement to formal decision-making processes, such as agency decision making and litigation. The intent of ECCR is to offer a cost-effective process to prevent and resolve disputes; this customer feedback collection is designed to generate information to assess the effectiveness of ECCR services and training and whether they are achieving their intended goals vis-à-vis the CPRC’s customers. The feedback CPRC requests approval to collect is qualitative insofar as it is not statistical, but rather consists of questions about customer satisfaction, customer’s perceived benefit from using CPRC’s services, and issues or problems CPRC’s customers experienced.

Also consistent with the Generic Clearance, information gathered will be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the agency. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions, and the collections are voluntary, low-burden, and non-controversial.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Respondents under this ICR are the individuals who have participated in an ECCR activity, such as facilitation, mediation, and consensus building. The types of ECCR activities about which the CPRC is seeking customer feedback include agreement-seeking cases, facilitated dialogues, long-term facilitated group processes, and facilitated meetings. The CPRC is also collecting feedback from participants in ECCR training.

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: William Hall 202-564-0214

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 Annual Responses	Burden per Response (Minutes)	Total Annual Burden (Hours)
Agreement Seeking Case Lead in an Administrative Proceeding	6	32	3.2
Agreement Seeking Case Lead in an Agency Decision	6	32	3.2
Agreement Seeking Case Lead in a Judicial Proceeding	6	32	3.2
Agreement Seeking Case Participant in an Administrative Proceeding	12	24	4.8
Agreement Seeking Case Participant in an Agency Decision	12	24	4.8
Agreement Seeking Case Participant in a Judicial Proceeding	12	24	4.8
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Leads in an Administrative Proceeding	4	25	1.67
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Leads in an Agency Decision	5	25	2.08
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Leads in a Judicial Proceeding	4	25	1.67
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Participants in an Administrative Proceeding	9	19	2.85
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Participants in an Agency Decision	9	19	2.85
Agreement Seeking Follow-up for Case Participants in a Judicial Proceeding	9	19	2.85
Facilitated Dialogue Participant	105	13	22.75
Long Term Group Facilitation Participant	250	13	54.17
Meeting Facilitation	1050	3	52.5
Training Evaluation	50	8	6.67
Totals	1549	337 minutes	174.05

*Each category of respondents corresponds to one of the 16 surveys attached to this approval request.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $100,215.

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?

The surveys will be provided to all participants in ECCR processes and ECCR-related training. Thus, there will be no statistical sampling.

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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