SSA External Reviewers

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSIONS

 

A. Justification

A1. Need for Information Collection

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) awards grants to states, institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, Indian tribes, and U.S. Territories to operate AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs. This information collection comprises the questions that individuals complete in order to apply to be external/peer reviewers for CNCS grant application reviews. The engagement of external/peer reviewers is permitted, and, at times, required by statute, and this information collection is necessary for the execution of that authority.

A2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used.

Individuals respond to the questions included in these instructions in order to become external/peer reviewers for CNCS application reviews that use a blended review model. CNCS reviews the submitted information to assess qualifications of the individuals to select external review participants.

 

 A3. Minimize Burden: Use of Improved Technology to Reduce Burden

CNCS will be accepting applicants’ response to these questions electronically via eGrants the CNCS secure online grants management system.

A4. Non-Duplication

There are no other sources of information by which CNCS can meet the purposes described in A2 (above).

 

A5. Minimizing for economic burden for small businesses or other small entities.

This collection of information is relevant to individuals who want to serve as external peer reviewers of grant application competitions. The burden to individuals is minimized to the degree possible by only asking for the information necessary to assess respondents’ qualifications to serve in this capacity.

A6. Consequences of the collection if not conducted, conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

 

CNCS will be unable to administer grant competitions with peer reviewers, which is a requirement for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Senior Corps competition and a best practice for the Day of Service competition and other competitions that use external peer reviewers. 42 U.S.C. §§ 5001, 12585, and 12651d.

A7. Special circumstances that would cause information collection to be collected in a manner requiring respondents to report more often than quarterly; report in fewer than 30 days after receipt of the request; submit more than an original and two copies; retain records for more than three years; and other ways specified in the Instructions focused on statistical methods, confidentially, and proprietary trade secrets.

There are no special circumstances that would require the collection of information in these ways.

A8. Provide copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the Agency’s notice. Summarize comments received and actions taken in response to comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

The 60 day Notice soliciting comments was published on Thursday, August 15, 2019 on page 41707. No comments were received.

 

 A9. Payment to Respondents

Individuals who are selected to serve as peer reviewers and who perform duties in this role receive an honorarium between $100-$1000 depending on the time commitment for the peer review role they perform.

  

A10. Assurance of Confidentiality and its basis in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

CNCS does not provide assurance of confidentiality; instead, respondents are informed that their information is entered into our secure electronic grants management system, eGrants.

A11. Sensitive Questions

 

The information collection includes the social security numbers and banking information of respondents who have been selected to serve as peer reviewers. This information is collected for the sole purpose of processing honoraria payments and is managed in the secure CNCS online grants management system. The information collection requires and the instrument includes the following Privacy Statement: CNCS is required by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, (5 U.S.C. 552a) to tell you what personal information we collect and how it will be used. Authorities: Your personal information is requested pursuant to the National Service Trust Act of 1993 (42 USC 66 and 129). Purposes: It will be used to process honoraria associated with the external review. Routine Uses: Routine uses of this information may include processing honoraria. This request is required for external reviewers to receive honoraria for reviewing CNCS applications.

 

A12. Hour burden of the collection

We expect approximately 500 respondents to use these instructions to apply to become external/peer reviewers for grant application reviews. The frequency of response will not be greater than annually and should not exceed 30 minutes of effort per respondent. The total burden hours is estimated as 250 hours.

 

A13. Cost burden to the respondent

There is no cost to the respondent.

 

A14. Cost to Government

The cost to the Government corresponds to the staff and 80 hours of contractor time required to review the information submitted by respondents. The total costs for staff and contractor time is $5,370.40 per year.

Cost	Pay Band	Salary*	% of Effort related to review of peer reviewer applications	Fringe if applicable	Total Cost to Government
Federal Oversight			Negligible		Negligible
					0
					0
					0
Contractor Cost		$67.13/hour	3.5 % (80 hrs)		$5,370.40
Total					$5,370.40

A15. Reasons for program changes or adjustments in burden or cost.

The burden has been adjusted lower because the current pool of external reviewers is large enough to allow CNCS to reduce outreach for new external reviewers. The reduction in outreach will reduce the number of respondents who submit applications.

 

 A16. Publication of results

A list of individuals who are selected to serve as peer reviewers and who perform this role in an application review are published on the CNCS website for the purpose of transparency in federal grantmaking. Respondents who are selected to serve as external peer reviewers provide written consent that they understand and agree to make their name public.

 

A17. Explain the reason for seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

Not applicable.

 

 A18. Exceptions to the certification statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement in the submitted ROCIS form.