ODEO Harassment Form Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: NASA Reporting Requirements Regarding Findings of Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Other Forms of Harassment, or Sexual Assault

TYPE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: New Information Collection

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

NASA awards federal financial assistance to many hundreds of U.S. institutions of higher education and other organizations. These recipients of NASA funds are responsible for fully investigating complaints under and for compliance with federal non- discrimination laws, regulations, and executive orders. The implementation of new reporting requirements is necessary to help ensure research environments to which NASA provides funding are free from sexual harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault.

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

The information collected is used to improve reporting of instances of harassment involving recipients of NASA federal financial assistance. These reporting requirements are intended, first, to better ensure that organizations funded by NASA clearly understand expectations and requirements relating to sexual harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault. NASA will use the information collected to better ensure that recipients of grants and cooperative agreements respond promptly and appropriately to instances of sexual harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault.

3. 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, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection.

The reports are submitted through secure, electronic methods; paper report submissions are not accepted. The electronic format is instrument fillable, may be saved on-line, and filed on-line through secure transmission. The ability to receive reports electronically assists in the efficiency of the stages of report processing by human subject matter analysts.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

There is no duplication as there are no other sources available to collect this information. NASA determined the need for grant recipients to report this information due to the need to more effectively address harassment in NASA-funded programs. The NASA role provides a unique avenue to obtain harassment information from grant recipients not available through other means.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of the OMB Form 83-I), describe the methods used to minimize burden.

There is minimal impact on small businesses or other small entities. Reports that are submitted are from grant recipients, normally universities, science centers, and research institutes, as well as some corporations and small businesses. However, there are few small businesses among NASA grant recipients. Such businesses are normally contractors, and not covered within the scope of this requirement.

6. 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 burden.

Any reduction in voluntary reporting would significantly reduce the availability of harassment information provided by grant recipients under this requirement. There is no other voluntary, confidential, non-punitive reporting option available to these grant recipients. Recipients are not required to file these reports with any frequency, rather the recipients report harassment findings at their home institutions when they occur.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner: -

All answers are “No”. There are no special circumstances. The collection of information is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. Provide the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register for the 60-day and 30-day FNRS, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.

60-day FRN: Federal Register Volume 86, Number 039, on 3/2/2021. No comments were received.

30-day FRN: Federal Register Volume 89, Number 091, on 5/13/2021.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grant recipients.

No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

The information in this collection is not subject to the Privacy Act] because it is retrieved based on NASA grant award number and not based on personally identifiable information (PII). The safeguards in place are that the information collected will be behind an electronic firewall.

11. 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.

Questions of a sensitive nature are included in this information collection regarding sexual harassment when the harassment being reported by the grant recipient institution is sexual in nature. NASA is only collecting this information to the extent that it can help the Agency to address sexual harassment that has been found to have occurred at a NASA-funded recipient institution and has been found by that recipient institution under its own policies and procedures to have been engaged in by a NASA-funded Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.

NASA has not yet received any reports of harassment findings from recipients under the new requirement. However these are informed estimates based on the amount of time it normally takes for recipients to provide similar information, for example, reports of complaints as filed pursuant to NASA Form 1206.

Category of Respondent	Number of Possible Respondents	Participation Time	Burden (hours)
Business or other for-profit	50	4	200
Not-for-profit institutions	500	4	2000

* Based on 2018 data

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information.
    
    

At 4 hours of labor per recipient and $50 per hour, the maximum estimated cost is $50/hour x 4 hours x 550 responses = $110,000.

However, based on a similarly situated agency’s (National Science Foundation) experience with the same requirement, NASA expects about 20 of its grant recipient institutions to file reports annually for a total cost of $4,000.

14. Cost to the Federal Government: Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government.

Costs to the Federal Government would include labor costs for responding to reports cited in Number 13 above. Labor costs can be estimated as follows:

Number of reports: 20

Federal employee hours spent per report: 20

Salary per hour: 80

Total Cost: 32000

15. Changes in Burden: Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I, if applicable.

Not applicable. The information collection is requesting OMB approval.

16. Publication of Results: For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

Not applicable. Results will not be published.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

NASA will display the expiration date on the electronic version of the forms within the required PRA Statement with the exception of the paper forms

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions," of OMB Form 83-I.

Not Applicable.

The proposed collection of information –

(a) is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of NASA, including that the information to be collected will have practical utility;

(b) is not unnecessarily duplicative of information that is reasonably accessible to the agency;

(c) reduces to the extent practicable and appropriate the burden on persons who shall provide information to or for the agency, including with respect to small entities, as defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601(6)), the use of such techniques as:

(1) establishing differing compliance or reporting requirements or timelines that take into account the resources available to those who are to respond;

(2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance and reporting requirements; or

(3) an exemption from coverage of the collection of information, or any part thereof;

(d) is written using plain, coherent, and unambiguous terminology and is understandable to those who are targeted to respond;

(e) indicates for each recordkeeping requirement the length of time persons are required to maintain the records specified;

(f) has been developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected, including the processing of the information in a manner which shall enhance, where appropriate, the utility of the information to agencies and the public;

(g) when applicable, uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology appropriate to the purpose for which the information is to be collected; and

(h) to the maximum extent practicable, uses appropriate information technology to reduce burden and improve data quality, agency efficiency and responsiveness to the public; and

(i) will display the required PRA statement with the active OMB control number, as validated on www.reginfo.gov

The NASA office conducting or sponsoring this information collection certifies compliance with all provisions listed above.

Name: David Chambers

Title: Equal Opportunity Specialist

Email address or Phone number: [email protected]

Date: 4/30/2021

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