FPAC A-11 Generic Template

Request for Approval under the “Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)”

(OMB Control Number: 0503-XXXX)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: FPAC Producer Customer Experience Survey

PURPOSE:

This proposed information collection activity is intended to measure the customer experience and develop long-term indicators for the high-impact programs from the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area, which includes the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). This information collection will provide the means to efficiently gather customer feedback from a sample of stakeholders in agreement with the seven domains to measure the customer experience established in Section 280.7:

Overall: (1)Satisfaction, (2) Confidence/Trust

Service: (3) Quality

Process: (4) Ease/Simplicity,(5)Efficiency/Speed, (6)Equity/Transparency,

People: (7) Employee Helpfulness

The results will be used to improve the delivery of FPAC programs and services, and allow USDA High Impact Service Providers to share the results to contribute to the government-wide data posted to www.performance.gov to increase transparency and accountability of our programs to the customers we serve.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)

[ X ] Customer Research

[ X ] Customer Feedback Survey (if selecting this option, include survey instrument tool with this submission, and identify how if at all it deviates from the standard A-11 questions + two free response questions. Your desk officer will need to work with you to determine if non-A-11 questions are ok to report on publicly)

[ ] User Testing of Services and Digital Products

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY

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

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ X ] In-person

[ X ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

For Customer Research and User Testing Services:

After our Customer Feedback Survey is complete, follow-up focus groups and interviews will be conducted with appropriate representative producers and service center staff to collect additional details about any pain points identified as needing improvement. Respondents will be randomly selected from eligible groups based on the geographical area, type of operation, program participation experience and demographics to provide additional details about their experience. Areas or topics will be identified prior to these interviews through analysis of the Customer Feedback Survey which will help to identify areas of focus through regression analyses.

Interviews will be planned and scheduled through Headquarters and will occur in field Service Centers. Questions will be developed by the interview team and reviewed by leadership prior to interviews. The Interview team will include an interviewer and at least one facilitator/note taker who will travel to the appropriate Service Centers, conduct the interview and collect response information from both producers and staff for analysis. These results will be used to plan and prioritize improvements.

For Customer Feedback Survey:

The Customer Survey Target Population are all farmers that have utilized at least one FSA farmer program within the previous two years. FSA compiles and maintains this information (~1.5 million entities). NRCS programs and services also require reporting through the same FSA system. Farmers were categorized into nine groups for this survey from which seven strata were created:

Strata Descriptions:

1 Female and Minority

2 Male and Minority

3 Female and NonMinority

4 Male and NonMinority

5 Unknown Gender and Minority or Female and Unknown Minority

6 Unknown Gender and Unknown Race

7 Unknown Gender and NonMinority or Male and Unknown Minority

The population strata and sample sizes were derived using a 95% confidence level, 50% proportion rate and 30% response rate parameters for each state-strata combination. The margin of error parameters ranged from ten percent to 25%: lowest for female minority stratum and highest for unknown gender and non-minority category or “Male and Unknown Race” (Table 3). A systematic sample was selected after explicitly sorting on state and strata and implicitly by county and minority type. The final combination total sample size includes 28,235 randomly selected farmers.

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collections are voluntary;

2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;

3. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;

4. Any 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 near future;

5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;

6. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management purposes

7. Upon agreement between OMB and the agency all or a subset of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer journey maps.

8. Additional release of data will be coordinated with OMB.

Name Laurie Snow

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Farmer/Producer	28,235	7 minutes	3,294
Interviews	100	60 minutes	100
Totals	28,335		3,394

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

All instruments used to collect information must include:

OMB Control No. 0503-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If applicable, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

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