Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps)
President’s Volunteer Service Award
OMB Control Number 3045-0086
Justification – Part A Supporting Statement
Overview of Information Collection:
This is a request for reinstatement of a previously approved information collection to allow AmeriCorps to collect information to identify recipients for the President’s Volunteer Service Awards. AmeriCorps discontinued the information collection briefly in early August 2023 in order to allow the full 60-day period for comments, which expired August 2, 2023. AmeriCorps now seeks to reinstate the collection and seeks approval to begin collecting information for the next round of awards.
Need & Method for the Information Collection.
The President’s Volunteer Service Awards are administered by CNCS per Executive Order 13285 and were established to recognize individuals, schools, and organizations that excel in efforts to support volunteer service and civic participation, especially with respect to students in primary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher learning. The information collected will be used to identify recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Awards.
The information is collected on three forms:
Form A: Certifying Organization Application – collects information on the organization and contact person for the organization, the organization’s focus areas, approximately how many volunteers the organization expects to recognize each year, and opt-in preferences for information the organization is interested in receiving.
Form B: Leadership Organization Application – collects information on the organization and contact person and leadership of the organization, the organization’s focus areas, a commitment to issue at least 1,000 President’s Volunteer Service Awards within a 12-month time period and promotion of the award, and opt-in preferences for information the organization is interested in receiving.
Form C: Volunteer Profile Application – collects information on the volunteer to be recognized and provides opt-in preferences for information the individual is interested in receiving.
Form D: Report Templates for Hours Tracked Externally – collects information for hours tracked externally for individual awards and for groups and families.
Form E: Award Order Form – collects information on individuals’ and groups’ volunteer service, the award packages requested, shipping and billing addresses, delivery options and payment information.
If this information were not collected, AmeriCorps would be unable to administer the President’s Volunteer Service Awards.
Use of the Information.
The information collected will be used to identify recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Awards. The information is collected electronically using a web-based system administered by contractor to AmeriCorps. No learning costs have been identified as the questions and means of entry are straightforward and no psychological costs to the collection have been identified as the purpose for the collection is to recognize positive achievements.
Use of Information Technology.
AmeriCorps elicits and accepts applicants’ responses to these questions electronically via eGrants, AmeriCorps’ secure online grants management system. If applicants are unable to apply or report on-line, they can use the attached forms and instructions to submit their application.
Non-duplication.
There are no other sources of information by which AmeriCorps can meet the purposes described in A2 (above).
Burden on Small Business.
This collection of information does not impact small businesses because they are not eligible to apply for the awards. There is no economic burden to any other small entities beyond the cost of staff time to complete the applications. This is minimized to the degree possible by only asking for the information absolutely necessary to assess an organization’s eligibility to apply and receive the awards.
Less Frequent Collection.
The President’s Volunteer Service Awards would have to be discontinued if the collection is not conducted. There is no workable solution to do conduct it less often, this information is required each award given to verify eligibility.
Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines.
There are no special circumstances that would require the collection of information in these ways.
Consultation and Public Comments.
The 60-day notice soliciting public comment on this information collection was published on June 2, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 36284). No comments were received in response to that notice and AmeriCorps also proactively reached out to a few grant recipients and received feedback that the time estimate of 20 minutes is accurate and the instructions and formatting are clear but made some general suggestions for reducing he forms and allowing batch submission of forms that AmeriCorps is taking into consideration; if AmeriCorps ultimately decides to make changes to the form as a result of this input, it will request a revision.
Gifts or Payment.
There are no payments or gifts to respondents.
Privacy & Confidentiality.
Responses to the information are disclosed as appropriate unless prohibited by law.
Sensitive Questions.
This information collection does not include any questions of a sensitive nature.
Burden Estimate.
Hour burden for the President’s Volunteer Service Awards Part A, B, C, D, and E.
We expect approximately 200,000 annual responses, at an average of 20 minutes per response, the total Hour Burden for these forms would be 66,666.
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Burden per Response:
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Annual Burden:
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The estimated respondent burdens and labor costs are shown in the following table.
Estimation of Respondent Burden |
|
Number of respondents |
200,000 |
Responses per respondent |
1 |
Number of responses |
200,000 |
Hours per response |
0.33 |
Total estimated hours (number of responses multiplied by hours per response) |
66,666 |
Cost per hour (hourly wage) |
$62.55 |
Annual public burden (estimated hours multiplied by cost per hour) |
$4,170,000 (rounded) |
Note: The cost per hour is based on the GS 13, step 5 salary of $45.91 (Salary Table 2023-GS, Effective January 2023), plus the 36.25% civilian personnel full fringe benefit rate from OMB memorandum M-08-13. The average cost per hour is $45.91 (average hourly rate) + $16.64 ($45.91 average hourly rate x 36.25% fringe) = $62.55/hour (rounded to the nearest penny).
Estimated nonrecurring costs.
No nonrecurring costs, such as capital or start-up costs or operation and maintenance costs, are associated with this information collection.
Estimated cost to the Government.
The estimated cost to the Government is shown in the following table to total $3,175.
Cost Category |
Pay Band |
Salary* |
% of Effort |
Costs |
Total Cost to Government |
Federal Oversight |
NY3 |
$95,000.00 |
0.50% |
|
$475.00 |
Federal Oversight |
NY4 |
$135,000.00 |
2.00% |
|
$2,700.00 |
Total |
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|
|
|
$3,175.00 |
Reasons for changes.
The program change due to agency discretion was a decision to pause collection of this information briefly in early August 2023 in order to allow the full 60-day period for comments, which expired August 2, 2023. AmeriCorps now seeks to reinstate the collection and seeks approval to begin collecting information for the next round of awards.
The cost burden change due to adjustment in agency estimate is because the previous submission did not include any cost estimate.
Publicizing Results.
No individually identifiable information will be published, only aggregate information may possibly be publicized.
OMB Not to Display Approval.
Not applicable.
Exceptions to "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions."
No exceptions are sought.
Surveys, Censuses, and Other Collections that Employ Statistical Methods.
Not applicable.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-18 |