PRA-2126-0061 Supporting Statement

Department of Transportation

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Supporting Statement Part, A

Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

OMB Control No. 2126-0061

SUMMARY

• This is an ICR renewal without change to the burden estimate.

• No information collection instruments are being submitted at this time.

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Executive Order 12862 “Setting Customer Service Standards” (58 FR 48257), updated in Executive Order 13571 (76 FR 24339), directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers’ needs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) seeks to obtain Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for renewal of the generic clearance Information Collection Request (ICR), OMB Control No. 2126-0061, currently due to expire August 31, 2021, to collect feedback on our service delivery.

Surveys to be considered under this generic clearance will only include those surveys that are designed to improve customer service or collect feedback about a service provided. The results of the customer surveys will help FMCSA managers plan and implement program improvements and other customer satisfaction initiatives. Focus groups included under the generic clearance will assess customer satisfaction with a direct service, will be of limited size or scope, and/or will be designed to inform a customer satisfaction survey FMCSA was considering. Surveys that have the potential to influence policy will not be considered under this generic clearance.

The types of surveys to be included in this clearance include various types of customer surveys, listening sessions, and focus groups. Program offices will submit a generic information collection that shall include all relevant information, including a statement of need, intended use of information, description of respondents, information collection procedures, expected response rates, justification for incentives, and estimated burden.

2. How, By Whom, and for What Purpose Is the Information Used

This collection of information is necessary to enable FMCSA to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with the agency’s programs. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and expectations; provide an early warning of issues with service; or focus attention on areas where communication, training, or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between FMCSA and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.

3. Extent of Automated Information Collection

FMCSA will collect information electronically and/or use online collaboration tools to reduce burden when practicable.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

No similar data are gathered or maintained by FMCSA or are available from other sources known to the agency.

5. Efforts to Minimize the Burden on Small Businesses

Small business or other small entities may be involved in these efforts, but FMCSA will minimize the burden on them of information collections approved under this clearance by sampling, asking for readily available information, and using short, easy-to-complete information collection instruments.

6. Impact of Less Frequent Collection of Information

Without these types of feedback on a regular basis as appropriate, FMCSA will not have timely information to adjust its services to meet customer needs.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8:

FMCSA published the 60-day Federal Register on December 30, 2020 (85 FR 86643) requesting public comments on the proposed renewal of this information collection. FMCSA received zero comments.

9. Payment or Gifts to Respondents

FMCSA will not provide payment or other forms of remuneration to respondents of its Customer Service Satisfaction Survey, Listening Sessions/Stakeholder Feedback Forums, Focus Group, and Strategic Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The information requested is not of a confidential nature. Consequently, no assurance of confidentiality need be given.

11. Justification for Collection of Sensitive Information

No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Burden Hours for Information Requested

A variety of instruments and platforms will be used to collect information from respondents. The estimated annual burden hours requested is 1,758 hours and is based on the estimated number of collections we expect to conduct over the requested period for this clearance.

FMCSA will conduct four collections annually: 1) Customer Service Satisfaction Survey; 2) Listening Sessions/Stakeholder Feedback Forums; 3) Focus Groups; and 4) Strategic Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey. FMCSA expects 5,000 respondents to spend approximately 10 minutes each completing the Customer Service Satisfaction Survey, resulting in an annual burden of 833 hours (5,000 respondents × 10 minutes per response = 833 hours). We expect 100 respondents to spend no more than 2 hours each on Listening Sessions/Stakeholder Feedback Forums, resulting in an annual burden of 200 hours (100 respondents × 2 hours per response = 200 hours). We expect 300 respondents to participate in Focus Groups lasting no more than 2 hours, resulting in an annual burden of 600 hours (300 respondents × 2 hours per response = 600 hours). Finally, we expect 500 respondents to spend approximately 15 minutes each responding to the Strategic Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey, resulting in an annual burden of 125 hours (500 respondents × 15 minutes per response = 125 hours). These four collections are broken out as IC-1, IC-2, IC-3, and IC-4, as shown in table 1.

We estimate the total annual salary cost for this collection to be $67,156. To arrive at this figure, we first assume the average hourly employer cost for employee compensation as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $38.20, ¹ is representative of those responding to the information collections. We multiply this figure by the estimated burden hours of each of the information collections (i.e. for Customer Service Satisfaction Survey, $38.20 per hour × 833 hours = $31,821). We then summed the burden hour costs for the four information collections, which results in an annual cost of $67,156.

Table 1. Total Number of Respondents, Responses and Hourly Burden for 1 Year²

IC No.	Information Collection Instrument or Platform Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Hourly Burden per Response (minutes)	Total Hourly Burden (hours)
		(a)	(a × 1 = b)	(c)	((b * c)/60 minutes= d)
1C-1	Customer Service Satisfaction Survey	5,000	5,000	10	833
IC-2	Listening Sessions/ Stakeholder Feedback Forums	100	100	120	200
IC-3	Focus Group	300	300	120	600
IC-4	Strategic Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey	500	500	15	125
Total per Year		5,900	5,900	265	1,758

In summary, FMCA estimates the following:

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 5,900 respondents [5,000 customer satisfaction survey respondents + 100 listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums respondents + 300 focus group respondents + 500 strategic planning customer satisfaction survey respondents];

Estimated Annual Number of Responses: 5,900 responses [(5,000 customer satisfaction survey respondents × response per respondent) + (100 listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums respondents × 1 response per respondent) + (300 focus group respondents × 1 response per respondent) + (500 strategic planning customer satisfaction survey respondents × 1 response per respondent]; and

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,758 hours [833 hours for customer satisfaction surveys + 200 hours for listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums + 600 hours for focus groups + 125 hours for strategic planning customer satisfaction surveys].

Estimated Total Annual Burden Costs: $67,156 [(833 hours for customer satisfaction surveys ×$38.20) + (200 hours for listening sessions/stakeholder feedback forums ×$38.20) + 600 hours for focus groups × $38.20) + (125 hours for strategic planning customer satisfaction surveys × $38.20 =$67,156)].

13. Estimate of Total Annual Costs to Respondents

FMCSA does not separately account for capital, maintenance or record keeping costs within this ICR because these costs do not exceed FMCSA routine business practices.

14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government

The anticipated cost to the Federal Government is approximately $21,411 (as calculated and shown in table 3). FMCSA anticipates the processing of this information collection to be conducted by a General Schedule (GS) 12 and a GS-13 staff at FMCSA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. FMCSA also anticipates the GS-12 and GS-13 staff members would take a total of 325 burden hours, with 250 hours attributed to the GS-12 staff member and 75 hours attributed to the GS-13 staff member.

According to the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) wage data³, a GS-12 labor category has on average a hourly wage cost of $47.57, and a GS-13 has on average a hourly wage cost of $56.57.

In addition to wage costs, other costs such as benefits and overhead costs need to be factored into the hourly wage costs to arrive at a loaded compensation cost per hour. FMCSA multiplies the OPM hourly wage cost by a load factor of 1.28. The resulting loaded hourly compensation rate for a GS-12 and GS-13 is $60.89 and $72.41, respectively (see table 2). Table 3 shows the total burden cost for years 2021, 2022, and 2023, which has been adjusted for yearly inflation.

Table 2. Total Cost to the Federal Government for 1 Year

Labor Category	Total Cost per Hour (a)	Burden Hours (b)	Total Cost (c)
GS-12	$60.89	250	$15,223
GS-13	$72.41	75	$5,431
Total per Year	-	325	$20,654
Note: Total cost may not match due to rounding.

Table 3. Total Cost to the Federal Government for 3 Years

Year (a)	Total Burden Hours per Year (b)	Total Cost4 (c-1 × (1 + .0181% =c)
2020	-	$20,654
2021	325	$21,028
2022	325	$21,409
2023	325	$21,797
3- Year Total (2021 to 2023)	975	$64,234
3-Year average (2021 to 2023)	325	$21,411
Note: Annual average total cost value may not match due to rounding.

15. Explanation of Program Changes or Adjustments

The estimated annual burden is 1,758 hours, which is the same as the previous ICR renewal. The average total annual cost burden for the Federal Government for this ICR renewal is estimated at $21,411. The previous cost to the Federal Government in the previous ICR renewal was estimated at $28,027. The decrease in cost is due to the revision in the total cost of compensation load factor calculation applied to the GS-12 and GS-13 wage rates. The load factor calculation was revised to 1.28 to be consist with other ICRs.

The total burden cost to respondents for this ICR renewal is $67,156. The previous ICR renewal did not report a cost to respondents. However, FMCSA revises this and applies a cost burden calculations for the associated 1,758 burden hours. This results in an increase of $67,156 in burden costs.

16. Publication of Results of Data Collection

Findings will be used for general service improvement but are not for publication or other public release.

17. Approval for Not Displaying the Expiration Date of OMB Approval

We are requesting no exemption.

18. Exceptions to Certification Statement

There are no exceptions to the certification.

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation—June 2020, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf (accessed November 17, 2020).

2 Total number of respondents, responses and time duration by IC are based on the previous iteration of this ICR.

3 Office of Personnel Management, (2020). 2020 General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay Tables. Washington, Baltimore, Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA, Available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2020/general-schedule/ Averages based on GS-12 and GS-13 steps 1 through 10 rates. Accessed October 9, 2020.

4 Total Cost is adjusted for inflation. The value of .0181% is based on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Inflation Consumer Price. Retrieved from: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA . Retrieved on October 12, 2020. Note at the time of retrieval only 2019 inflation rate was available. As a result, the inflation rate of .0181 was used to estimate the cost for years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.