SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A
Recreation Area and Visitor Center Comment Cards – 0710-0019
Summary of Changes from Previously Approved Collection
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Need for the Information Collection
Section 4 of the Flood Control Act of 1944, as amended, authorized the Chief of Engineers “to construct, maintain, and operate Public Park and recreational facilities at water resources development projects under the control of the Secretary of the Army, and to permit the construction, maintenance, and operation of such facilities.” It provided for the projects to be open to the public for recreational purposes, and provide for access to and from areas along the shores in the public interest. Recreation as a project purpose was established under the Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-72), as amended. Section 2(a) specified benefits for recreation be included in the economic analysis of contemplated projects. The joint federal/non-Federal sharing of financial responsibilities for the development, enhancement and management of recreation and fish and wildlife resources was authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-662). By their nature, recreation services are provided for the public and the use of social science techniques and surveys is needed to monitor use and quality of services provided to the public.
In response to Executive Order 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards, issued on 11 September 1993, the Corps of Engineers initiated development of a comment card program for monitoring visitor satisfaction at Corps of Engineers lakes and projects. EO 12862 asks agencies to establish customer service standards and “survey customers to determine … their level of satisfaction with existing services.” This enterprise program allows for the uniform collection of customer feedback from visitors to USACE parks and visitor centers. In 2005, the program was expanded to obtain consistent information across water resources projects with public recreation areas requiring mandatory utilization by projects in a three-year cycle beginning in 2010. Variations in the mandatory years have occurred due to available funding and to reduce burden on the public.
The USACE Recreation Area and Visitor Center Comment Card program is managed and supported by the USACE Engineer Research Development Center and Institute for Water Resources at the direction of USACE HQ Natural Resource Management Program.
2. Use of the Information
Satisfaction surveys of Corps of Engineer (CE or Corps) recreation visitors have been collected since 1996. Since FY05, the survey instrument has contained questions concerning level of satisfaction with facilities, use of facilities, fee payment, previous visits and demographics.
The target audience for the comment card instrument is an individual representing a group or party visiting a USACE recreation area or visitor center. One method of distribution is in a rack, for example at a visitor center or kiosk, resulting in visitor-initiated response on an ad-hoc basis. The more common method is via a distribution plan developed for each participating project/lake through an online Survey Schedule Generator (Generator). Each schedule identifies the recreation areas/visitor centers and days where the comment card should be administered. This process provides a consistent approach for information collection nationally.
After receiving visitor consent, Corps staff gives hard-copy comment cards to selected visitors at the end of their visit based on the pre-determined survey schedule developed by the Generator. If they refuse to participate, the comment card is offered to a member of each subsequent party, until the card is accepted. Only one member of the party is selected to participate in the survey. Comment cards are not administered to individuals under 16 years old. The visitor is asked to complete the card immediately and return it directly to the Corps staff member. Detailed comment card administration procedures are provided for OMB’s review.
There are two distinct comment card instruments, one for recreation areas (camping and day use) and one for visitor centers. Both of these instruments are available in Spanish-language versions. The card is printed on regular paper and folded in half with Agency Disclosure facing up. The OMB control number and expiration is displayed above the Agency Disclosure and again on the survey instrument. Privacy Act Statement is not required since no sensitive information is requested. The card is handed to the individual with the disclosure facing them, the survey instrument is on the reverse side. When the instrument is returned, it is folded and the respondent is shown a thank you message.
Results of the comment card instruments are collected in a CE managed central database for institutional use in constructing visitor satisfaction performance results for the recreation business area. The data entry and analysis database is located on a CE maintained server and may only be accessed by personnel with appropriate credentials. The comment card archive database contains results since 2003. Results are summarized as frequency distributions at the Project, District, and Division levels. The use of frequency distribution has been determined to be the most effective and appropriate analysis method for the purposes of the instrument and methodology used to collect information. In addition, the results comprise a source of customer service performance data that is maintained for use by the USACE Natural Resource Management Program.
3. Use of Information Technology
This survey does not use electronic collection techniques. At this time, the USACE utilizes hard-copy face-to-face delivery and return of the instrument. The field inputs the public responses on these cards into a central database for institutional use.
Unreliable network access in remote locations, database/network security requirements, and lack of appropriate approved devices limits agency ability to utilize electronic data gathering for this instrument.
4. Non-duplication
The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another cleared source.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or entities.
6. Less Frequent Collection
Use of these comment cards is planned on a three-year cycle, with one of the three years designated for use of the scheduled approach, to support recreation performance measurement and benchmarking goals. Review of past collection data has already resulted in reduced comment card contacts scheduled through the Generator. The 3-year cycle (year 1 scheduled approach, years 2-3 optional) was implemented to balance agency goals with burden reduction. During the optional years, Projects/Lakes use the comment card at their discretion to provide desired voluntary feedback from recreation users. This decreases the overall annual sampling effort while continuing to separately report customer satisfaction results for visitors to Corps parks and visitor centers.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection of information does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the collection published on Monday, May 23, 2022. The 60-Day FRN citation is 87 FR 31219.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period.
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Friday, September 23, 2022. The 30-Day FRN citation is 87 FR 58075.
Part B: CONSULTATION
Consultation with the National Park Service’s Information Collections Coordinator was made in 2016. Consultation also occurred since 2015 with Michigan State University’s Director, Usability and Accessibility Center, Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media. These contacts resulted in no significant changes, verifying the appropriateness of instrument delivery method and question content.
9. Gifts or Payment
No payments or gifts are being offered to respondents as an incentive to participate in the collection.
10. Confidentiality
A Privacy Act Statement is not required for this collection because we are not requesting individuals to furnish personal information for a system of records.
A System of Record Notice (SORN) is not required for this collection because records are not retrievable by PII.
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is not required for this collection because PII is not being collected electronically.
Paper survey forms are collected from respondents in person and entered into the comment card database within 30 days of collection. Once information has been entered into the database, verified, and records are no longer needed for back-up, the individual completed survey forms are destroyed. The database provides summarized information at the recreation area level is maintained 6 years with option to extend retention based on business use.
11. Sensitive Questions
Basic demographic information is collected from respondents. The information in this section is used primarily to have a snapshot of the communities USACE recreation programs serve. USACE understands the importance of equal access to diverse and underserved communities, especially in light of President Biden’s emphasis on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. This data helps USACE understand the communities that are served by recreation area, as well as the distance traveled to access a particular location for public recreation by gathering zip code data. Layering this information with regional demographic data can help the agency gauge how recreation areas are accessed and where deeper assessment may be needed to determine barriers to access.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
Part A: ESTIMATION OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Recreation Areas, Day Use/Campgrounds, English & Spanish]
Number of Respondents: 39,185
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 39,185
Response Time: 5 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 3,265 hours
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Visitor Centers, English & Spanish]
Number of Respondents: 5,815
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 5,815
Response Time: 5 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 485 hours
Total Submission Burden (Summation or average based on collection)
Total Number of Respondents: 45,000
Total Number of Annual Responses: 45,000
Total Respondent Burden Hours: 3,750 hours
Part B: LABOR COST OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Recreation Areas, Day Use/Campgrounds, English & Spanish]
Number of Total Annual Responses: 39,185
Response Time: 5 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $27.07
Labor Burden per Response: $2.26
Total Labor Burden: $88,394.83
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Visitor Centers, English & Spanish]
Number of Total Annual Responses: 5,815
Response Time: 5 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $27.07
Labor Burden per Response: $2.26
Total Labor Burden: $13,117.67
The Respondent hourly wage was determined by using the [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates] ([https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#19-0000])
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
Part A: LABOR COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Recreation Areas, Day Use/Campgrounds, English & Spanish]
Number of Total Annual Responses: 39,185
Processing Time per Response: 3 minutes
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $19.61
Cost to Process Each Response: $0.98
Total Cost to Process Responses: $38,421
Collection Instrument(s)
[Comment Card - Visitor Centers, English & Spanish]
Number of Total Annual Responses: 5,815
Processing Time per Response: 3 minutes
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $19.61
Cost to Process Each Response: $0.98
Total Cost to Process Responses: $5,702
Overall Labor Burden to the Federal Government
Total Number of Annual Responses: 45,000
Total Labor Burden: $44,123
The federal government hourly wage was determined by using the [2022 Rest of the US wage for a GS-5 Step-5] ([https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2022/RUS_h.pdf])
Part B: OPERATIONAL AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
Cost Categories
Equipment: $0
Printing: $0
Postage: $2,500
Software Purchases: $0
Licensing Costs: $0
Other: $0
Total Operational and Maintenance Cost: $2,500
Part C: TOTAL COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $44,123
Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $2,500
Total Cost to the Federal Government: $46,623
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
The increase in respondent and Federal government burden estimates are a result of normal increases in estimated hourly wages. To change in the amount of time to complete or process the survey.
16. Publication of Results
The results of this information collection will not be published.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kaitlin Chiarelli |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-09-26 |