2120-0699 2018 Supporting Statement A V.2 06 27 18

Supporting Statement A

AVIATOR Customer Satisfaction Survey

2120-0699

1. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection.

AVIATOR is the FAA’s job application system. It supports Human Resources in creating vacancy announcements, collecting applications. Each time an applicant applies, the system provides the applicant a link to voluntarily complete a survey regarding his/her experience in using AVIATOR in applying to FAA job announcements. The survey results are reviewed each week during a meeting with the AVIATOR programmers and system owners. The results are used to make enhancements to the system to improve/enhance AVIATOR application process. This survey will also be used to distinguish between application dissatisfaction with the OPM USAJOBS portion of the application and dissatisfaction with the FAA’s AVIATOR tool as applying for a job is a two-part process involving two separate-but-integrated systems. The results are not made available to the public over the internet. The form is not available for public printing off the internet. The URL is only available to applicants that have submitted an application to an FAA vacancy announcement.

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) Section 2(b)(3) requires agencies to “improve Federal program effectiveness and public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction”. In addition, as stated in the White House “Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies” regarding Executive Order No. 12862, “the actions the order prescribes, such as surveying customers, surveying employees, and benchmarking, shall be continuing agency activities”. The purpose of these actions will remain as indicated in Executive Order No. 12862 – continuing to survey customers to obtain benchmarking and feedback to, in turn, ensure quality service and products.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s, Office of Human Resource Management has as one of its strategic goals to “Make decisions based on reliable data to improve our overall performance and customer satisfaction”. The only way we’re going to know if we’re making improvement is to survey our customers and get their feedback. This collection supports the DOT strategic goal of Organizational Excellence.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

AVIATOR is the FAA’s job application system. It supports Human Resources in creating vacancy announcements, collecting applications. Each time an applicant applies, the system provides the applicant a link to voluntarily complete a survey regarding his/her experience in using AVIATOR in applying to FAA job announcements. The survey results are reviewed each week during a meeting with the AVIATOR programmers and system owners. The results are used to make enhancements to the system to improve/enhance AVIATOR application process. Results are not shared with the general public.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

In compliance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA), all of our data collection will be 100% electronic using an online form provided to the applicant each time he/she applies to an FAA vacancy announcement through the Automated Vacancy Information Access Tool for Online Referral (AVIATOR) via a URL link. This survey is designed to identify potential problems with FAA's automated staffing solution (AVIATOR), as well as to evaluate customer satisfaction with the on-line application process. This survey will also be used to distinguish between application dissatisfaction with the OPM USAJOBS portion of the application and dissatisfaction with the FAA’s AVIATOR tool as applying for a job is a two-part process involving two separate-but-integrated systems. The results are not made available to the public over the internet. The form is not available for public printing off the internet. The URL is only available to applicants that have submitted an application to an FAA vacancy announcement.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

This survey is designed to identify potential problems with FAA's automated staffing solution (AVIATOR), as well as to evaluate customer satisfaction with the on-line application process. This survey will also be used to distinguish between application dissatisfaction with the OPM USAJOBS portion of the application and dissatisfaction with the FAA’s AVIATOR tool as applying for a job is a two-part process involving two separate-but-integrated systems. AHR polled the human resource offices that use the tool and verified they are not surveying applicants regarding AVIATOR at any time in the application process. In addition, AHR verified with USAJOBS that they do not provide a survey to applicants regarding the integration with FAA’s on-line application system. The information is not gathered by any other collection.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

There is no impact burden on small business or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Applicants will be given the opportunity to complete a survey each time they apply for a vacancy announcement. If we are not able to initiate our survey, we will not be able to determine customer satisfaction with our system. It will be difficult, if not impossible to improve our overall performance and customer satisfaction. In addition, we will not be able to determine which portion of the application process is causing dissatisfaction – USAJOBS or AVIATOR or both. The survey should be presented to the applicant each time he/she applies since each time an applicant applies could expose the applicant to a different application process based on custom programming for various series and proficiency types. Therefore, it should be presented to the applicant each time he/she applies.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines.

There are no special circumstances.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.

Published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2018, vol. 83, no. 62, page 13808. No comments were received in response to the 60-day notice in the Federal Register.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

No payment or gifts will be provided to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

The information to be collected by the FAA will not be of a sensitive nature and will not contain any business propriety and/or trade information. Therefore it will not require assurances of confidentiality.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

No questions of a sensitive or private nature are asked.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information including the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden and how the burden was estimated.

198,211 applicants (from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017) had the opportunity to complete a survey. We estimate that it takes 3 minutes to complete one survey for a total of 9,911 hours if all applicants choose to complete the survey.  Our data indicates that 1% of applicants (1645 total) completed surveys during this timeframe, resulting in an estimate of 82 hours annually.

13. Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in Items 12 and 14).

There are no material costs for the respondents.

14. Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification.

The survey is in place and will require no start-up costs. No additional capital investment is needed to continue with the survey collection.

Annualized cost includes data analysis to determine customer satisfaction and requirements development, if problems are identified.  Estimated cost is based upon 1 Government FTE (at the FV-H, or equivalent rate of approximately $30.15 per hour), times 108 hours per year.  Estimate - $3,256 per year.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

The decrease in burden from 7 minutes to 3 minutes is due to improvements to how the questions were presented to the respondents.  For example, the prior survey used more text boxes that required the respondent to type out a phrase or a sentence, whereas the current method uses more radio buttons which present choices for the respondent to choose from.  Additionally, in general, technology has improved on personal computers, such as bandwidth and faster computer processors. 

The previous burden and respondent figures were based on estimates. This submission has been updated based on actuals from 2017.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

There will be no publication of data.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

No request to not display expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions," of OMB Form 83-I.

There are no exceptions.