Generic Clearance Form

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1910-5160)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Acquisition 360 internal and external surveys on DOE acquisition process (second and third iterations)

PURPOSE:

This is an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initiative to assess and improve the acquisition process of all Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies by enhancing how agencies receive and use industry and internal feedback to strengthen their acquisition function from pre-award activities up to, and including, contract award and debriefings. For the initial iteration, at a minimum agencies were required to implement external and internal surveys for the lesser of 50 or 5% of new awards for complex information technology (IT) development, systems, or services by the end of Fiscal Year 2015.

The second iteration will use the same survey questions as the first effort. However, the scope will be broadened to a minimum of 65 new procurements for each agency. Agencies are free to determine where to focus their surveys, but should ensure that at least 15 IT awards are surveyed, and each award must exceed $150,000. All surveys for the second iteration must be completed by June 1, 2017.

On April 22, 2015, OMB approved DOE’s information collection request for the first iteration under the Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery, 1910-5160, Acquisition 360 Surveys on DOE Acquisition Process. Due to an insufficient number of burden hours remaining under the current approval, a new information collection request is being submitted to cover the second and third iterations of Acquisition 360.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

• Vendors who submitted a proposal to DOE for IT or other awards exceeding $150,000

• DOE program office staff who worked with a procurement office on an IT or other award exceeding $150,000

• DOE procurement office staff who worked on an IT award or other award exceeding $150,000

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: Sharon D. Archer

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

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION:

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

BURDEN HOURS (2^nd & 3^rd ITERATIONS COMBINED)

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Private Sector (Vendors)	520	10 min.	5,200 min.
Federal Government (Program Office Staff)	130	10 min.	1,300 min.
Federal Government (Procurement Office Staff)	130	10 min.	1,300 min.
Totals	780	10 min.	7,800 min. (130 hrs.)

For each award selected for survey implementation, OMB requires DOE to ask all vendors who submitted a proposal to complete a survey. If the surveys are applied to 65 awards made this year (second iteration of Acquisition 360), and 65 awards made next year (third iteration), 520 vendors are likely to be asked to complete a survey¹. The program office and procurement office also must be asked to complete a survey for each of the 130 awards (65 awards per year X 2 years). The survey results will be collected, summarized, and reported to OMB’s Office of Procurement Policy (OFPP) via OMB’s open internet based survey tool at https://www.acquisition.gov/360.

The average time to complete each survey is approximately 10 minutes (.17 hour). The estimated time to compile the summary survey results and report the data to appropriate DOE leadership is 16 hours (8 hours per year X 2 years).

A vendor representative would typically be paid $79/hour², for a total estimated annual cost burden (non-federal respondents) of $3,492 ($79/hour X .17 hour X 260 annual responses). The total estimated cost burden (non-federal respondents) for the second and third iterations combined is $6,984 ($79/hour X .17 hour X 520 annual responses).

The DOE program office staff member would typically be a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) who is a General Schedule (GS) Grade 13, Step 5, with an average salary of $49/hour³. The procurement office staff member would typically be a Contracting Officer (CO) Grade 14, Step 5, with an average salary of $58/hour³. The policy office staff member would typically be a Procurement Analyst at DOE headquarters (DC) who is a GS Grade 15, Step 5, with a salary of $70/hour.

The annual cost to the Federal Government (2^nd iteration only) is summarized below:

$49 (average COR at GS-13/5) X .17 hour X 65 (annual responses) = $541

$58 (average CO at GS-14/5) X .17 hour X 65 (annual responses) = $641

$70 (HQ Proc Analyst at GS 15/5) X 8 hours = $560

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1,742.

Multiply X 2 Iterations

The total estimated cost to the Federal government (2^nd & 3^rd iterations combined) is $3,484.

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?

[x] Yes [ ] No

2. 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 Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG) maintains a record of DOE awards exceeding $150,000. Respondents will be selected at DOE’s discretion from that universe.

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

[ ] 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.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

1 The average number of offers received per new DOE award made during the first 3 quarters of FY 2016 is 4. 4 times 65 awards equals 260 estimated vendors to survey this year (the second iteration of Acquisition 360). DOE is doubling the estimate to 520 vendors to cover next year’s third iteration, thereby eliminating the administrative costs of processing an additional request for approval at that time. By the end of the third iteration, Acquisition 360 is expected to be institutionalized in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) so that agencies will no longer be required to obtain their own information collection approval.

2 $79/hour is the vendor rate used to support last year’s Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1910-5160), ICR Reference No. 201406-1910-005, approved by OMB on 04/22/2015.

3 $49/hour and $58/hour are the average of the rates at DOE’s five largest procurement offices: Chicago Service Center (IL), Golden Field Office (CO), National Energy Technology Laboratory (WV), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Headquarters (DC), and NNSA CPD (NM). See https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2016/general-schedule/ for rates at each locality effective January 2016.

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