Supporting Statement A

2020 August Grantee Survey on COVID-19 Response Efforts

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 - 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

July 2020

Submitted By:

Administration for Native Americans

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4^th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building

330 C Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

A1. Necessity for the Data Collection

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval for the 2020 August Grantee Survey on COVID-19 Response Efforts regarding grantee experiences with COVID-19. ANA wants to learn how its grantees are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. ANA will use information collected to better serve grantees through emergency situations such as the COVID-19 global pandemic.

This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531):

• Delivery of targeted assistance and workflows related to program implementation or the development or refinement of program and grantee processes, and the development and refinement of recordkeeping and communication systems.

• Planning for provision of programmatic or evaluation-related training or technical assistance (T/TA).

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection

There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures

Overview of Purpose and Approach

ANA wants to learn how its 174 grantees are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have been handling business operations. The proposed survey (see Instrument 1: August 2020 ANA Grantee Survey) will be distributed via Survey Monkey through ANA’s regularly scheduled monthly email correspondence, Strengthening Our Circle as part of the Top Updates (see Appendix A: Survey Announcement Email). ANA will use information collected to better serve grantees through emergency situations such as the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Research Questions

1. What is your project’s current staffing situation?

2. Approximately, what percent of your staff are currently working in-person on-site?

3. What adjustments have you had to make to or difficulties you encountered in managing your project or grant activities due to COVID-19?

4. What are your major challenges/needs in continuing your project, service delivery, telecommunications, infrastructure, health care, and/or remote working?

5. Are there any specific resources, strategies, remote delivery of services, or innovations that your project has found helpful in navigating the COVID-19 crisis?

Study Design

The survey will be open for three weeks. In-house evaluators who contributed to this information collection will compile and analyze the results to inform ANA leadership on how to best respond to the needs of grantees during possible crises in the future.

Universe of Data Collection Efforts

The survey will only be distributed to current ANA grantees.

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden

ANA will use Survey Monkey to collect responses.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

ACF does not have the specific information that will be collected through this formative research. We will not ask any questions that can be answered through our existing sources of grantee data.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

Most of ANA’s grantees are small organizations and will be asked to voluntarily respond to this survey.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

This is a one-time survey.

A7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.

A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation

Federal Register Notice and Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of the overarching generic clearance for formative information collection. This notice was published on October 11, 2017, Volume 82, Number 195, page 47212, and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. During the notice and comment period, no substantive comments were received.

Consultation with Experts Outside of the Study

ANA has its own in-house evaluators who developed this information collection and will analyze the results internally.

A9. Incentives for Respondents

No incentives for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.

A11. Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.

A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden

The survey is mainly multiple choice and 5 questions in total. As such, Survey Monkey estimated the time for respondent completion as 2 minutes.

Total Burden Requested Under this Information Collection

Instrument	Total/Annual Number of Respondents	Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Annual Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Cost
ANA’s 2020 August Mini-Survey	174	1	2 minutes	5.8 hours	$22.16	$128.53
Estimated Annual Burden Total:				5.8 hours		$128.53

Total Annual Cost

The total annual cost for grantees is $128.53. This was calculated using wage data found here: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There are no additional costs to respondents.

A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost to the federal government for this information collection is $94. This total includes 2 hours of tabulating and analyzing survey responses at $47/hr = $94.

A15. Change in Burden

This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).

A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication

Contingent upon OMB approval, ANA plans to send this survey out in early August 2020 and tabulate responses before September 2020. ANA intends to use this information for planning purposes and does not intend to publish findings.

A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date

All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

Attachments

Instrument 1: August 2020 ANA Grantee Survey

Appendix A: Survey Announcement Email

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