USAID Implementing Partner Survey: Operating in the COVID-19 Environment V2
Supporting Statement
PART A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
Implementing Partners (IPs) for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are vital to delivering development assistance and humanitarian aid around the world and COVID-19 has affected their ability to implement programs. In order to protect the health and safety of our global workforce—including our IPs—and support partner countries in their response to COVID-19, the Agency must gain an understanding about how partners can continue to operate in the current environment and implement life-saving interventions and work to mitigate secondary impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.
The USAID Implementing Partner Survey is an ongoing effort to help USAID's COVID-19 Task Force obtain quantitative data by region of our programs and the challenges being faced by our implementing partners since the COVID-19 pandemic began. With this information, USAID will identify opportunities to target support and guidance for implementing partners during COVID-19.
The survey will be sent by email to implementing partners around the world. Participation in the survey is anonymous and optional. Names of organizations and email addresses of respondents will not be collected.
The analysis of the survey will be shared with Agency Leadership in Washington and relevant regional data will be shared with Mission Directors. Survey results will be used to determine how USAID provides guidance, communication, and support for continuity of operations, when possible, in the current operating environment.
Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
The survey will be conducted through Google Forms and responses will be collected through this application.
The form will be available for public printing. However, results will need to be submitted through the form to maintain the anonymity of submissions and to ensure timely analysis of data.
An overview of results will be presented to relevant IP stakeholder and stakeholder groups. Results will not be displayed on the internet as this may deter participants from responding to the survey.
Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in item 2 above.
This is the second survey from USAID to collect written information from implementing partners regarding the operating environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comments have been collected through various sources in the Agency but the Agency is interested in having quantitative data to accompany qualitative data to ensure diverse stakeholder interests are being represented.
If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.
The survey should not negatively impact small businesses or other small entities. Most questions are multiple choice. From start to finish the survey should only take 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of regions in which the partner implements USAID-funded activities.
Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing the burden.
If the survey is not conducted, it would be difficult to identify across implementing partners what challenges they are experiencing implementing USAID activities since COVID-19 began. With this data, USAID can learn where issues are occurring geographically and make suggestions for improvement or guidance to support partners in this operating environment. Awareness of challenges also better positions the Agency to protect the safety, health, and security of our global workforce and stay up to date on the circumstances our Implementing Partners are facing —in order to ensure that we can continue our life-saving mission across the world, and support partner countries in their response to COVID-19 and the secondary impacts of COVID-19. No decision has been made on how frequently this survey will be conducted due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 duration.
Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner.
None are applicable for this survey.
If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, USAID is seeking emergency approval of the information collection, thus the proposed information collection request has not been published in the Federal Register for comment.
Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.
Not applicable.
Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
The survey will be confidential. Email address, company name, and personally identifiable information are not required and will not be captured during the survey.
Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
Not applicable.
Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.
We anticipate 4,000 responses to the survey, which will be conducted once in a span of 2 months. The survey should take between 15-30 minutes depending on the number of programs and countries a responded works with USAID. Most questions have multiple choice responses.
Respondent activity |
No. of respondents |
No. responses / respondent |
Total responses |
Avg. burden / resp. (hours) |
Total burden hours |
USAID Partner Survey: Operating in the COVID-19 Environment |
4000 |
1 |
4000 |
0.5 |
2000 |
Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection of information.
There is no annual cost burden to respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection of this information.
14. Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal Government.
There is no annualized cost to the Federal Government with this survey. There will be no cost beyond the normal and existing labor costs for staff.
Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported on the burden worksheet.
No changes have been made to the burden worksheet.
For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.
Not applicable as an overview of results will be presented to relevant IP stakeholders, rather than published.
Also, will the results of the collection be made available on your organization’s Web site? If not, why not?
Results will not be displayed on the internet as this may deter participants from responding to the survey.
If you are seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.
Not applicable as this is an electronic survey.
Explain each exception to the topics of the certification statement identified in Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
There are no exceptions.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-03-10 |