SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
Grant
Request Automated Submissions Program (GRASP) – DS-573, DS-574,
DS-575, DS-576, DS-577
OMB Number 1405-0036
The Office of Overseas Schools of the Department of State (A/OPR/OS) is responsible for determining that adequate educational opportunities exist at Foreign Service Posts for dependents of U.S. Government personnel stationed abroad, and for assisting American-sponsored overseas schools to demonstrate U.S. educational philosophy and practice. With a professional staff of six Regional Education Officers to carry out these objectives at more than 230 Foreign Service Posts and involving some 198 overseas schools, it is essential that current comprehensive information regarding the schools be available so that A/OPR/OS can advise the Department of State and other foreign affairs agencies, parents and students, and the private sector regarding overseas schooling and judge the need for and utility of various types of assistance to overseas schools.
The legal requirements that authorize the function of A/OPR/OS and thereby authorize the collection of information are the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (as amended), and the Mutual Educational and Cultural Affairs Act of 1961 (as amended), and the Department of State Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as amended by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, PL 96-465.
Availability of adequate educational opportunities for dependents of Government personnel is essential to the task of recruiting, placing, and retaining of Foreign Service personnel at overseas posts. The information gathered enables the Office of Overseas Schools to advise the Department and other foreign affairs agencies regarding current and constantly-changing conditions, and enables A/OPR/OS to make judgments regarding assistance to schools for the improvement of educational opportunities. Without such information it would not be possible for the U.S. Government to recruit, place, and retain personnel at overseas posts.
Information is collected via electronic media. Currently all 192 schools submitting requests for assistance, do so via GRASP software. The software was recently placed on Google Drive to make accessibility easier for respondents. Once accessed, the GRASP software is downloaded, the GRASP software installs the GRASP program. The GRASP program has the ability to “roll over” static data and only update changed data, which has resulted in a lessening of the burden on respondents.
No other agency gathers information from these schools. Information gathered by A/OPR/OS is used by all Federal foreign affairs agencies. The information is not available from any other source and requires updating on an annual basis.
Methods used to minimize burden for small entities are the same as those described in paragraph 3 above.
As noted above, current information is necessary for A/OPR/OS to be knowledgeable about schools and school programs. GRASP provides basic information about the school, its enrollment, staff, program, and budget, which is necessary for appraisal of each school seeking assistance to determine the extent of assistance required and whether the criteria governing assistance are met. The task could not be fulfilled if data were collected less frequently than annually.
No special circumstances exist.
On February 12, 2018, the Department of State, Overseas Schools, solicited public comments by publishing a 60-day request for comment in the Federal Register. 83 F.R. 6080. Three comments were received, and didn’t require responses because the comments were not related to the information collection.
No payment is made to respondents other than grants awarded based on data contained in submission.
There are no assurances of confidentiality given.
The form solicits information of a commercial nature and does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.
Currently there are 192 respondents, the frequency of response is annual, the time burden is 90 minutes, and the annual hour burden is 288 hours (192 x 90). The burden estimate is based on informal consultation with several respondents. The burden estimate for the DS-573 is 15 minutes, the DS-574 is 25 minutes, the DS-575 is 25 minutes and the DS-576 is 30 minutes. The estimated average hourly wage for a school business manager (Other Office and Administrative Support workers) is $16.31, multiplied by 1.4 = $22.83 (loaded/weighted wage calculator), multiplied by annual burden hours (288), gives a monetized hour cost burden of $6,575.04.
There is no monetary burden on the respondent.
The estimated burden to the Federal Government is $6,734.00
The Federal Government estimate is based on the number of responses (192) and the average hourly processing time (15 minutes for Post and 30 minutes for Office of Overseas Schools for a total of 45 minutes) = 144 minutes, times the average hourly salaries for post and the Office of Overseas schools.
Post:
Average hourly processing time (.15 hour) x 192 = 48 hours.
Hourly salary of an FS-04/5 Administrative Officer ($38.68) x 48 = $1,857 rounded.
Office of Overseas Schools:
Average hourly processing time (30 minutes) x 192 = 96.
Hourly salary of a GS-12/10 Program Analyst ($50.80) x 96 = $4,877 rounded.
Total = $1,857 + 4,877 = $6,734.00 rounded.
This collection represents a decrease in the number of respondents as there were fewer schools requesting a grant.
Information gathered by this collection is not published.
The Department will display the OMB expiration date.
There is no exception to the OMB Statement
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR |
| Author | USDOS |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-21 |