Small Business Administration FAST Interviews

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3245-0398)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Small Business Administration FAST Interviews

PURPOSE:

The Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program is a competitive grants program that strengthens the technological competitiveness and commercialization success of small businesses that seek or have received awards from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Interviews are a useful and efficient research tool for obtaining insights about the existing program and ways to improve the program. These interviews will collect opinions, experiences, and recommendations from a variety of stakeholders across the FAST program to identify best practices and resource gaps and improve service delivery to all FAST stakeholders.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

1. FAST Award Recipients

2. Non-recipients of FAST Awards

3. SBIR/STTR Awardees

4. Unsuccessful SBIR/STTR Applicants

5. Interested and eligible small businesses that did not apply to SBIR/STTR

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X ] Other: Interviews

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:________________________________________________

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, 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

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
FAST Grantee Recipients	10	60 minutes each	10 hours
FAST Non-recipients	10	60 minutes each	10 hours
SBIR/STTR Awardees	10	60 minutes each	10 hours
Unsuccessful SBIR/STTR Applicants	10	60 minutes each	10 hours
SBIR/STTR Non-Applicants	10	60 minutes each	10 hours
Totals	50	60 minutes each	50 hrs

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $10,164 which is attributed to the contractor that will be leading the discussions.

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

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?

Response:

Interviews will be conducted on behalf of the U.S. Small Business Administration by contractor Summit Consulting. Organizational participants (FAST grantees and FAST non-grantees) will be recruited for the interview by SBA’s FAST program office who have extensive knowledge of the organizations and their likelihood to participate and add value to the interviews. Potential small business participants (groups 3, 4, and 5 below), will be provided by the organizational participants. While the FAST grants to go organizations, the goal of the program is to assist current and potential SBIR/STTR applicants and awardees. FAST program service delivery improvement must include the perspectives of these small businesses.

Using a purposive sampling method, SBA will work with the contractor to develop a categorized, prioritized list of prospective research participants, with the expectation of 10 to show from each respondent group.

Stakeholder Group	Sampling Methodology
Group 1. FAST Grantee Recipients	Over the last five years, there have been a total of 104 unique award recipients, of which ten organizations were Small Business Development Technology Centers and the remaining 94 were not. The SBA will identify award recipients with a high likelihood of cooperation and basis for valuable insights. If additional candidates are needed following SBA FAST program staff input, the contractor will randomly select from the historical list of FAST award recipients. In selecting FAST award recipients, the team will work with FAST staff to ensure a balanced mix of repeat and first-time award recipients and appropriate geographic distribution.
Group 2. FAST Non-recipients	The team will select organizations that have unsuccessfully applied to FAST Funding Opportunity Announcements in the last two to three years. This list maybe supplemented by eligible but non-applicant organizations drawn from SBA staff referrals, email lists used to announce of other Program Opportunity Notices, or other recommended industry and/or association lists.
Group 3. SBIR/STTR Awardees	The team will ask each organization from the first two stakeholder groups to provide a list of their clients that submitted successful SBIR/STTR applications in the last one to two years and indicate which clients would be best to interview. If such lists are not available, we will ask organizations for a list of any such companies with a high likelihood of cooperation and basis for valuable insights.
Group 4. Unsuccessful SBIR/STTR Applicants	The team will ask each organization from the first two stakeholder groups to provide a list of their clients that made unsuccessful SBIR/STTR applications in the last one to two years and indicate which clients would be best to interview. If such lists are not available, we will ask organizations for a list of any such companies with a high likelihood of cooperation and basis for valuable insights.
Group 5. SBIR/STTR Non-Applicants	The team will ask each organization from the first two stakeholder groups for any companies eligible for SBIR/STTR funding but chose not to apply for such funding. If such lists are not available, we will ask organizations for a list of any such companies with a high likelihood of cooperation and basis for valuable insights.

The SBA, through its contractor, will contact the selected candidates in groups 1 and 2 (FAST awardees and non-awardees) by email to elicit their participation. As part of the introductory letter, we will also request their assistance with providing information about their clients (SBIR/STTR applicants, awardees, and non-applicants), as a basis to help us select businesses to include in Groups 3, 4, and 5.

If candidates do not respond to up to three attempts to contact them, we will select additional candidates using the same criteria described above. Once individuals are recruited, the team will schedule the interview. Prior to the interview, we will share the appropriate discussion guide with the participants.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Attachments:

• Email Invitation

• Discussion Guide

4