Supporting Statement for PRA Submission_RTAC.V2

AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and

Budget for Review and Approval; Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

AGENCY: U.S. Agency for International Development

ACTION: Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reducation Act Submission

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. In summer 2018, USAID’s Global Development Lab awarded the Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) Contract to NORC, at the University of Chicago. The principal goal of RTAC is to establish, maintain, and utilize a diverse network of university-based research experts who can be available to apply to fill USAID’s needs on an on-demand basis. The RTAC research network is required to demonstrate regional, technical, and demographic diversity and has targeted participation goals for female researchers, researchers from minority serving institutions (MSIs), and researchers from developing countries. The “RTAC Partner Pool Application” portal, to be available on the RTAC website (www.rtachesnorg) is necessary because it provides a tool to enable interested parties to “apply” to be included in the RTAC Partner Pool. This pool is a pool of researchers that USAID can than call on to apply for consideration as subcontractors to complete unique project requirements for research over the next four years.)

2. RTAC and USAID will use the information provided from the form (which collects information on geographic expertise, technical expertise, and university affiliation) to source incoming research requirements from USAID operating units.

3. The form will be housed on an electronic database accessible via the RTAC website. To “apply” to be included in the RTAC Partner Pool, interested parties will click on a website button that will be visible in the top corner of the www.rtachesn.org website. Via the website button they will be invited to complete the identified application questions so that they can apply to be included in the RTAC Partner Pool. This approach was selected to reduce burden on respondents and program managers.

4. There is no similarly available dataset in existence, to our knowledge.

5. N/A. Respondents will be individuals.

6. If the collection is not conducted, the Federally supported RTAC program cannot not be effective. The purpose of the program is to provide readily accessible access to diverse university-based geographic and technical experts to USAID to support key development programming. Without the ability to collect information on Partner Pool members’ areas of expertise we would be unable to fulfill the program’s mission.

7. The portal will be available online 24/7 so interested parties could submit information at any time. However, they only need to submit the application ONE time, so there is not a need for a recurring submission of data for any one respondent.

8. The proposed information collection was published in the Federal Register on 03/15/2019 under Document #2019-04772. No responses were received.

Consultation around the proposed questions occurred both within USAID as well as amongst the RTAC consortia partners to ensure the questions were reasonable and appropriate and not unduly burdensome.

9. N/A. No payment or gift will be made available to resondents.

10. Before submitting their application via the online portal, all respondents will be asked to select a box with an appropriate consent form. The draft consent form states, “Please review your information and submit your application when finished. By submitting this application you consent to having the information you submitted here shared with the Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). General institutional affiliation and sector/regional expertise of the RTAC Partner Pool members will also be made available on the RTAC website.” Accordingly, a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) has been completed for this project and was finalized and signed by USAID’s Privacy Office (M/CIO/IA) on April 24, 2019.

11. N/A, there are no sensitive questions included.

12. Estimate of Burden:

    1. Estimated 50 respondents per month x 12 months = 600 annual respondents

    2. Estimated time to complete the form per respondent = 10 minutes (maximum)

    3. Total number of annual minutes for form completion =

       1. 600 respondents x 10 minutes = 6000 minutes

    4. Estimated annual hour burden = 6000 minutes/60 minutes per hour = 100 hours

    5. Estimated hourly rate for typical respondents = $37 (based on Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly rate for postsecondary instructors)

    6. Total estimate of annualized cost for all respondents = 100 hours x $37/hour = $3,700.

13. There is no annual cost burden to respondents beyond what is noted above.

    1. The capital equipment cost to establish the portal (to collect the information) is estimated to be:

       1. Application System Design: $7,000

    2. The anticipated operation and maintenance costs of the portal are anticipated to include:

       1. Application System Maintenance: $3,000

       2. G&A: $4,591

       3. Customer Relationship Manager: $3,126

       4. Computer and Network Services: $2,931

TOTAL annual anticipated: $13,648

14. The anticipated annual cost to the Government is:

    1. Application System Maintenance: $3,000

    2. G&A: $4,591

    3. Customer Relationship Manager: $3,126

    4. Computer and Network Services: $2,931

TOTAL annual anticipated: $13,648

15. N/A. New collection.

16. N/A.

17. N/A.

18. N/A.

2. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

N/A.