SUPPORTING STATEMENT – PART A
(Policy Pulse Survey – 0704-AAJX)
1. Need for the Information Collection
This information collection requirement, called the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy (OSD-P) Pulse Survey, is necessary to obtain and record responses from contractor personnel employed within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and its components. The survey is used to assess the progress of the current human capital strategy and to capture emerging human capital and training issues per instructions of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. The current OSD-P Pulse Survey does not include the contractor personnel population; the purpose of this submission is to clear the Pulse Survey for contractor personnel participation. Primary authority to conduct this survey is the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136, November 24, 2003, 117 STAT. 1641), Congress established a requirement for agencies to conduct an annual survey of their employees to assess employee satisfaction as well as leadership and management practices that contribute to agency performance. Specifically, section 1128 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Act) requires each agency to conduct an annual survey of its employees. As required by the Act, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued final regulations implementing mandatory employee surveys on, August 24, 2006, as subpart C, Employee Surveys, of 5 CFR part 250, Personnel Management in Agencies. The final regulations, which are effective as of January 1, 2007, prescribe survey questions that must appear on each agency's employee survey.
2. Use of the Information
The Leadership and Organizational Development Office (LOD) administers the Pulse Survey to OSD-Policy employees exclusively via an anonymous, web-based questionnaire. The survey is available to the entire OSD-Policy workforce, including civilians, military, detailees, and contractors. This OMB clearance will focus on the contractors, since they are members of the public. OSD-P employee participation will provide insight into OSD-P organizational culture and climate, and identify areas of improvement for human capital initiatives.
This questionnaire is hosted on the intranet SharePoint site used by OSD-P and is only accessible to OSD-P employees. Employees are notified by a senior leadership e-mail when the survey is accessible. Each respondent is asked 27 questions covering training, leadership behavior, professional development, and working environment. The responses are anonymous. The only identifying information supplied by the respondents is their affiliation: what office they belong to and what category of employee they are (e.g. GS civilian, military, detailee, contractors, etc.).
The response period is open for two weeks during which a reminder email is drafted by LOD and distributed to OSD-P employees via email by senior leadership. The survey is completed by clicking the submit button on the webpage. OSD-Policy leadership may decide to extend the survey period to gain more responses, but the survey period will never exceed three weeks. Once the survey period closes, LOD will draft a thank you email for senior leadership to send to the workforce thanking them for their inputs and participation.
At the end of the response period, the responses and raw data are exported from the web-based questionnaire by the Policy SharePoint administrators. Only LOD staff and Policy SharePoint administrators have the security permissions to access this data. The SharePoint administrators synthesize the survey responses into one excel spreadsheet, and then send the data to the LOD office. The LOD office conducts a statistical analysis of the responses and generates a report document. The report describes the responses to all 27 questions and assesses progress against the current OSD-P human capital strategy. The responses are analyzed and synthesized by LOD staff into a formal report delivered to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD-P) and the leaders of each component of OSD-P down three levels (Assistant Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Director). This report informs the leadership teams of the impact the current human capital strategy is having on the workforce. Once this step is complete, LOD will draft emails to send to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense front offices regarding results and follow up actions.
The report also compares the results to the latest Federal Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This comparison gives leadership finer resolution on the overall health of OSD-P as compared with the broader federal government. The report is then used by OSD-P leadership to modify or reinforce existing human capital programs (e.g. training) or enact new programs in response to gaps identified in the report. This is in line with the intent of the human capital strategy to be responsive to OSD-P employee.
3. Use of Information Technology
100% of responses for the Pulse Survey are collected electronically via a web-based questionnaire.
4. Non-duplication
There is no known collection that focuses on OSD-P components down to the directorate level. The closest instrument is the FEVS, however, it is a statistical sampling of the entire Office of the Secretary of Defense. The Pulse Survey is a census of the OSD-P population and has statistical measures and resolution not achievable through the FEVS. Thus, the FEVS is not an effective tool for assessing the progress of the OSD-P human capital strategy.
There is no known burden on small businesses. Those contract personnel in OSD-P employed by a small business would not require any special consideration in order to comply with this collection.
6. Less Frequent Collection
This collection would be administered at the same time as the one for government employees. Any collection on a different schedule, more or less frequently, for contract personnel would degrade the statistical significance of their responses when compared with government employee information.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection is conducted consistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d) (2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
This collection was published in the 82 FR 38899 on August 16, 2017 for the 60-day notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. The 60-Day comment period ended on October 16, 2017. No comments were received.
Part B: CONSULTATION
The survey was informed by input from: Washington Headquarters Service Survey Methodologist; literature review of industry instruments, including from organizations like Gallup; and reviewed by staff statisticians at the Defense Manpower Data Center. We have also solicited public comments through the 60-Day Federal Register Notice for this collection.
There are no gifts or payments not otherwise covered under remuneration of contractors.
10. Confidentiality
There are no PAS, SORN, or PIA requirements for this collection, because personally identifiable information is not collected.
The Records Schedule for this collection is 202-25.2.: “Records that relate to the internal management and operational aspects of civilian personnel administration, such as records on the control of positions, determinations, and justifications of personnel authorizations and requirements, controls to ensure that authorizations are not exceeded, and reporting records covering civilian personnel strength not covered under other items in this section. Disposition: Destroy when 5 years old.”
11. Sensitive Questions
There are no sensitive questions in this collection.
12. Respondent Burden, and its Labor Costs
a. Estimation of Respondent Burden
The burden was compiled based on historical data and estimates of contractor labor costs. The Pulse Survey has been administered nine times to OSD-P employees, excluding contractor personnel. Using the historical level of effort to conduct past surveys as baseline, we then added estimates for contractor personnel and the additional labor required to process the contractor responses (assuming 100% of all contract personnel responded to the voluntary survey). Note: all costs and hours estimates in section 12 are for contractors only.
1. Policy Pulse Survey
a. Number of Respondents: 153
b. Number of Responses per Respondent: 2
c. Number of Total Annual Responses: 306
d. Response Time: 0.25 hours
e. Respondent Burden Hours: 76.5 hours
2. Total Submission Burden
a. Total Number of Respondents: 153
b. Total Number of Annual Responses: 306
c. Total Respondent Burden Hours: 76.5 hours
b. Labor Cost of Respondent Burden
1. Policy Pulse Survey
a. Number of Total Annual Responses: 306
b. Response Time: 0.25 hours
c. Respondent Hourly Wage: $33.30
d. Labor Burden per Response: $8.33
e. Total Labor Burden: $2,548.98
2. Overall Labor Burden
a. Total Number of Annual Responses: 306
b. Total Labor Burden: $2,548.98
The Respondent hourly wage was determined by using the Department of Labor Wage Website (http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/index.htm) and based on average DoD contractor salary of $69,218, as reported in 2017.
13. Respondent Costs Other than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
a. Total capital and start-up costs annualized over the expected useful life of the item: $0
b. Total operation and maintenance costs: $0
14. Cost to the Federal Government
a. Labor Cost to the Federal
Government
1. Policy Pulse Survey – LOD Staff
a. Number of Total Annual Responses: 306
b. Processing Time per Response: 0.25 hours
c. Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $33.30
d. Cost to Process Each Response: $8.33
e. Total Cost to Process Responses: $2548.98
2. Policy Pulse Survey – System Administrators
a. Number of Total Annual Responses: 306
b. Processing Time per Response: 0.25 hours
c. Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $33.30
d. Cost to Process Each Response: $8.33
e. Total Cost to Process Responses: $2548.98
3. Overall Labor Burden to Federal Government
a. Total Number of Annual Responses: 306
b. Total Labor Burden: $5097.96
The Respondent hourly wage was determined by using the Department of Labor Wage Website (http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/index.htm) and based on average DoD contractor salary of $69,218, as reported in 2017.
b. Operational and Maintenance Costs
Equipment: $0
Printing: $0
Postage: $0
Software Purchases: $0
Licensing Costs: $0
Other: $0
g. Total: $0
1. Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $0
2. Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $5097.96
3. Total Cost to the Federal Government: $5097.96
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
This is a new collection with a new associated burden.
16. Publication of Results
The results of the survey will not be published.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions"
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Supporting Statement A |
| Author | Patricia Toppings |
| Last Modified By | SYSTEM |
| File Modified | 2017-12-01 |
| File Created | 2017-12-01 |