Request for Approval

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0920-1050)

Instruction: This form should be completed by the primary contact person from the Program sponsoring the collection.

DETERMINE IF YOUR COLLECTION IS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS GENERIC CLEARANCE MECHANISM:

Instruction: Before completing and submitting this form, determine first if the proposed collection is consistent with the scope of the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism. To determine the appropriateness of using the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism, complete the checklist below.

If you select “yes” to all criteria in Column A, the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism can be used. If you select “yes” to any criterion in Column B, the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism cannot be used.

Column A	Column B
The information gathered will only be used internally to CDC. [X ] Yes [ ] No	Information gathered will be publicly released or published. [ ] Yes [ ] No
Data is qualitative in nature and not generalizable to people from whom data was not collected. [X ] Yes [ ] No	Employs quantitative study design (e.g. those that rely on probability design or experimental methods) [ ] Yes [ ] No
There are no sensitive questions within this collection (e.g. sexual orientation, gender identity). [ X] Yes [ ] No	Sensitive questions will be asked (e.g. sexual orientation, gender identity). [ ] Yes [ ] No
Collection does not raise issues of concern to any other Federal agencies. [ X ] Yes [ ] No	Other Federal agencies may have equities or concerns regarding this collection. [ ] Yes [ ] No
Data collection is focused on determining ways to improve delivery of services to customers of a current CDC program. [X ] Yes [ ] No	Data will be used to inform programmatic or budgetary decisions, for the purpose of program evaluation, for surveillance, for program needs assessment, or for research. [ ] Yes [ ] No
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. [X ] Yes [ ] No

Did you select “Yes” to all criteria in Column A?

If yes, the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism may be appropriate for your investigation. You may proceed with this form.

Did you select “Yes” to any criterion in Column B?

If yes, the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback generic clearance mechanism is NOT appropriate for your investigation. Stop completing this form now.

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: 2020 EIS Virtual Recruitment and Match Customer Service Survey

PURPOSE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seeks to obtain Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to collect feedback on the 2020 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) virtual recruitment and match process that occurred March 23, 2020 through May 15, 2020.

Every year the EIS program facilitates a process to match incoming EIS officers to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public health host sites. This process typically occurs at the EIS Conference, where EIS officers and host sites network during the four days of the conference and conduct formal interviews on day five of the conference. This year, however, the EIS Conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 emergency response. For that reason, the 2020 EIS recruitment and match process was 100% virtual.

CDC is requesting OMB approval to collect feedback on the EIS virtual recruitment and match process to a) improve the process for future similar circumstances and b) assess the viability of incorporating features of the virtual match into the regular, in-person match process. The EIS program intends to use the results of these data to improve the logistics, communication, and quality of the EIS match process for the future.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS

Respondents to the 2020 EIS Virtual Recruitment and Match Customer Service Survey (Attachment 1, Survey in MSWord and Attachment 2, Survey Screenshots) will be 2020 Incoming EIS officers and position recruiters (supervisors, current EISOs, others) that participated in the recruitment and match process. Position supervisors include local, state, and federal government employees. No personally identifiable information (PII) will be collected; however, if respondents provide PII, it will not be retained.

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 noncontroversial 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: Meagan Davis, MPH

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

The feedback survey will be web-based and includes a total of 28 questions (12 unique questions targeted to incoming EIS officers, 14 unique questions targeted to position recruiters, and 2 common questions). Respondents will take approximately 5 minutes to complete the survey through the web-based Survey Monkey. The estimate for burden (hours) is based on results from a pilot version of this survey that volunteer CDC employee participants completed. The average time it took for volunteers to complete the survey, including reading the instructions, was approximately 5 minutes.

We are seeking approval to collect feedback from approximately 135 individuals: 49 incoming EIS officers and 86 host site recruiters. We plan to deploy the survey after the final match results are announced on May 15, 2020. Given 135 respondents with a response time of 5 minutes each, the total response burden will be 11.25 hours. There will be no cost to the respondents other than their time to respond to the survey.

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals	135	5/60	11.25 hours
Totals			11.25 hours

FEDERAL COST

There are no equipment or overhead costs. The average annualized cost to the Federal Government to collect this information is $1,225.10. This estimate is based on the time required for one senior CDC scientist (GS-14) to supervise and one CDC ORISE Fellow (GS-9) to design the survey, develop the web-based survey, implement the survey, analyze the data, and develop recommendations for improving the 2020 EIS Virtual Recruitment and Match on the basis of survey results.

Staff or Contractor	Hours	Average Hourly Rate	Cost
Contractor (GS-9): Design survey, create web-based survey, analyze data and report results.	20	$26.71	$534.20
FTE (GS-13): Provide guidance on data analysis. Provide feedback on the final report.	15	$46.06	$690.90
Totals	35		$1,225.10

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

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

The 2020 EIS Virtual Recruitment and Match Customer Service Survey will be administered as a web-based survey. On Monday, May 18, 2020 following the completion of the all interviews, an invitation email (Attachment 3, Invitation Email) with a link to the survey will be sent to all incoming EIS officers and position recruiters that participated in the match process. Respondents will be given 2 weeks to respond to the survey. A reminder email (Attachment 4, Reminder Email) will be sent twice: one at the beginning of week 2 and one on the day that the survey closes. Respondents will have to complete the survey in one sitting. Respondents cannot return to edit or complete the survey and the survey does not track individual responses.

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [x] No

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