G415: StART Registration and Surveys Submission Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: )

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: G415: Stakeholder Application Readiness Training (StART) Registration and Surveys

PURPOSE: To obtain feedback from pro se applicants regarding their experience in participating in the StART training course and how they are applying what they learned. Information collected from the participants will assist the USPTO agency wide, as well as improve educational resources and training offerings for pro se applicants to successfully submit a nonprovisional application, as well as identify areas needed for improvement for the pro se application process.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Respondents are individuals who registered for the StART course to learn about successfully submitting a nonprovisional application to the USPTO.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Interest Form

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Business Unit Certification: Robert Hodge - OPSE _

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

PAT-TM-19, Dissemination Events and Registrations

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent - Individuals or Households	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Interest Form	300	5 minutes	24 hours
End of Training Survey	55	5 minutes	4 hours
StART Participant 30-Day Survey	55	5 Minutes	4 hours
StART Participant 90-Day Interview	55	20 Minutes	18 hours
Totals	415		50 hours

The USPTO estimates that 100% of the interest forms, end-of-training, and 30-day surveys will be conducted online. The 90-day interviews will be conducted via telephone.

FEDERAL COST:

StART Interest Form

The USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-13 step 6, 5 hours to consolidate all registration and forms, determine course eligibility, and select course participants for the 5 courses per year

The hourly rate for a GS-13, step 6, is currently $65.94 according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) 2024 wage chart, including locality pay for the Washington, DC area.  When 30% (19.78) is added to account for a fully loaded hourly rate (benefits and overhead), the rate per hour for a GS-13, step 6, is $85.72. 

The estimated annual cost to the federal government is the hourly rate of $85.72 per hour * 5 hours = $429.

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End of Training Survey

The USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-14 step 7, 10 hours for summary, data analysis, and reporting for the 5 courses per year.

The hourly rate for a GS-14, step 7, is currently $80.15 according to OPM’s 2024 wage chart, including locality pay for the Washington, DC area.  When 30% ($24.05) is added to account for a fully loaded hourly rate (benefits and overhead), the rate per hour for a GS-14, step 7, is $104.20. 

The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is the combined average hourly rate of $104.20 per hour * 10 = $1,042.

StART 30- and 90-Day Surveys

The USPTO estimates that it takes 10 hours for summary, data analysis, and reporting for the 30-day survey responses per year, and additional 5 hours for summary, data analysis and reporting for the 90-day interview responses per year. This makes a total of 15 hours per year.

As above, the average hourly rate is that for a GS-14 step 7, with benefits included, is $104.20.

The estimated annual cost to the federal government is the hourly rate of $104.20 per hour * 15 = $1,563.

The total estimated annual cost to the federal government for the StART registration form and course survey is $3,034 ($429 + 1,042 + $1,563).

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

USPTO’s Office of Stakeholder Assistance provides support for independent inventors. While assisting inventors via phone and email, the Office will use direct marketing to gauge interest in participating in StART if that inventor has not yet filed a patent application. Those who wish to participate will be provided the registration form via email. Future forms will reside on the USPTO website 90 days prior to a confirmed course date. It is estimated that 150 inventors per year will fill out and submit the registration form. Registration will close two weeks prior to the course start date.

From the registration list, applicants can be accepted if they meet the following criteria:

• Completed IP Awareness Survey 

• Created written description and drawing of the invention 

• Established Customer Number 

• Created a MyUSPTO.gov Account

• Pro se applicants

Due to the personalized nature of the course, including considerable one-on-one assistance, only 11 applicants will be accepted per course. Five courses will be offered per year, thus we estimate around 55 total attendees per year. Every participant will be sent the end of course survey via email once they have completed the course. Also due to the personalized nature of the course, we estimate around a 70% response rate, higher than the typical external response rate at USPTO. This should result in around 40 survey responses per year.

All survey participants are those who registered and participated in the StART course. All participants will be sent a survey immediately after the end of their training. The 30-day survey and the 90-day interview are designed to gauge the StART course’s impact on participants’ ability to effectively file patent applications. The time delay between the course and the survey and interview is necessary to give the participants time to initiate the patent application filing process. The 30-day follow-up survey will be sent via email to the participants’ email address on file. The 90-day interview will be conducted via telephone with each participant based on the telephone numbers on file. Interview respondents will be contacted between 90 and 180 days after the completion of the course.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X] Yes [] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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