U.S. Department of the Treasury
Office of the Procurement Executive
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
OMB CONTROL NUMBER 1505-0081
Solicitation of Proposal Information for Award of Public Contracts
JUSTIFICATION
Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.
Treasury Bureaus and the Office of the Procurement Executive collect the information when inviting firms to submit proposals for public contracts for supplies and services. The information collection is necessary for compliance with the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (41 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (48 CFR Chapter 1) and applicable acquisition regulations. Note: the FAR is too voluminous to include all of the Parts that govern pre-award procedures. The complete FAR can be viewed on the internet at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/.
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 information requested is used by the Government’s contracting officer and other acquisition personnel, including technical and legal staffs, to determine adequacy of technical and management approach, experience, responsibility, and expertise of the firms submitting offers. This is done to determine which firm’s offer is in the Government’s best interest. Selection of the firm results in contract award. If this information were not collected, the Government would not be able to make sound decisions in awarding contracts.
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. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.
Many sources of the requested information utilize automated word processing systems, databases, spreadsheets, and other commercial software to facilitate preparation of material to be submitted. It is commonplace within many of Treasury’s Bureaus for submissions to be electronic.
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.
Treasury Bureaus are encouraged to consolidate their own respective similar transactions for internal administrative economies (which would benefit suppliers of the information as well). In addition, options and indefinite delivery contracts are used to avoid the need for successive repetitive contracts. The Department supports and encourages strategic sourcing of products/services required by multiple Bureaus.
If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities describe any methods used to minimize burden.
Information collection may or may not involve small business contractors, depending on the particular transaction. The burden applied to small businesses is the minimum, consistent with the goals of an efficient and effective proposal evaluation and award process.
Describe the consequences 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.
Less frequent incidence of collecting such information as offerors’ management approach, technical approach, experience statements, and resumes indicating level of expertise would negatively affect the quality of products and services Treasury receives from contractors. Potentially, contracts would be awarded to firms without sufficient experience and expertise, thereby placing the Department’s operations in jeopardy. Defective and inadequate contractor deliverables would adversely affect Treasury’s mission requirements in all areas.
Explain any special circumstances
There are no special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in any manner indicated.
Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.
A notice was published in the Federal Register on October 29, 2021 (86 FR 60108), soliciting public comment on this information collection and no comments were received. This information collection contains no periodic or repetitive reporting requirements. Respondents are those contractors who choose to respond to solicitations and requests for proposals. Content of contractor responses is defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.
No payments or gifts are made to respondents, other than contract payments made in accordance with contract terms and conditions.
Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
Disclosure/non-disclosure of information is handled in accordance with Federal Acquisition and agency regulations as well as the Freedom of Information Act.
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. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.
Questions of a personal or private nature are not included in contractor proposals.
Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.
Estimated burden hours:
Number of Respondents 20,946
Frequency of Response Various, depending on proposal type and proposal
requirements. Average burden estimate is 10.48 hours
per submission.
Total Burden 217,812 Hours
Total Labor Cost1: $11,256,524
This estimate is based on a look back at the past three years of contract award information. Treasury continues to encourage Bureaus to implement programs that use less paper-oriented methods in contracting practices, such as the use of oral proposals and automated systems for contract solicitations. There is ongoing use of FedBizOpps for posting of contracting opportunities, and of other electronic tools, such as Bureau-specific procurement web sites among the larger Bureaus, and of other electronic systems to facilitate better communications with industry and decreased burdens for both the acquisition and vendor communities.
Issuance of solicitations over the internet or electronic systems, as allowed by FAR 15.203(c), increased use of oral presentations in lieu of written proposals, as allowed by FAR 15.102, and increased use of combined contract action notices/requests for proposals, as allowed by FAR 12.603, are in practice as well.
Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in Items 12 and 14).
There are no non-labor costs associated with this collection.
Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.
Such costs could not be estimated, as the size and complexity of each agency acquisition is dependent upon the circumstances of the particular acquisition, the level of technical expertise involved, the grade levels of the acquisition team (depending on complexity), legal staff, etc.
Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.
There is decrease of 2,835 respondents due to a change in the number of proposals estimated to be submitted to Treasury based on current data. However, the estimated burden for each contract has been increased to 10.4 hours (from 9 hours previously), resulting in an increase of 3,783 hours in the estimated total annual burden.
For collection 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.
There is no planned publication of information for statistical use.
If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.
Treasury is seeking approval not to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, since most Bureau procurement offices have automated procurement systems that automatically print the number.
Explain each exception to the certification statement.
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
The collection does not employ statistical methods.
1 Labor costs are difficult to estimate, as the size and complexity of each contract award varies, requiring varying levels of technical, administrative, and program staffing in support of information collection. This estimate is based on the 2020 median pay for a Technical Writer ($35.89/hour) increased by 44% to account for benefits and other employment costs, which results in a fully-loaded hourly wage of $51.68.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-12-30 |