Request for Approval

DI-4014 (Rev. 07/2024)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control No. 1090-0012
Expires 02/28/2027

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience:
OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation”
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Semi-Structured Interviews with Applicants and Permittees to Unders

PURPOSE OF COLLECTION:
What are you hoping to learn / improve? How do you plan to use what you learn? Are there artifacts (user
personas, journey maps, digital roadmaps, summary of customer insights to inform service
improvements, performance dashboards) the data from this collection will feed?

The ePermits Social Science team is interested in conducting semi-structured interviews with external system
users (applicants and permittees) to gain a deeper understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of the
system. The data will be used to develop personas for the different system users and journey maps for the
various applications. Insights will inform future system improvements and give the Service a stronger
understanding for the needs of applicants and permittees. The results from the semi-structured interviews will
complement other data collection methods, such as the ePermits Customer Satisfaction Survey, and create a
more robust, grounded vision for a better ePermits system.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)
Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups, Surveys)
Customer Feedback Survey
Usability Testing of Products or Services
ACTIVITY DETAILS
1. If this is a survey, will the results of this survey be reported to Touchpoints as part of quarterly reporting
obligations specified in OMB Circular A-11 Section 280?
Yes
No
Not a survey
2. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
Web-based or other forms of Social Media
Telephone
In-person
Mail
Other, Explain
3. Who will you collect the information from?
Explain who will be interviewed and why the group is appropriate for the Federal program / service to connect
with. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and if only a
sample will be solicited for feedback, how you will select them(e.g., anyone who provided an email address to
a call center rep, a representative sample of Veterans who received outpatient services in May 2019, do you
have a list of customers to reach out to (e.g., a CRM database that has the contact information, intercept
interviews at a particular field office?)

The semi-structured interviews will be conducted with applicants and permittees across the 87 different
application types in the ePermits platform. We estimate approximately 30 different personas within these
applications such as biomedical companies, pet owners, zoos, energy companies, and Tribal members.
However, there may be many more personas that we are unaware of and these interviews will help shed light
into this. The customer insights are critical for understanding the ePermits platform as they experience the
front-end of the system. Participants will be identified based on emergent sampling from either the ePermits
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Customer Satisfaction Survey, snowball sampling, or by recommendation. These respondents may be
individuals (e.g., a person applying for a permit to move their exotic pet across international borders) or

DI-4014 (Rev. 07/2024)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control No. 1090-0012
Expires 02/28/2027

4. How will you ask a respondent to provide this information?
(e.g., after an application is submitted online, the final screen will present the opportunity to provide feedback
by presenting a link to a feedback form / an actual feedback form)

Respondents will be invited via email to interview virtually through Teams. A phone call may be acceptable
depending on the applicants access to the internet or technological abilities - maintaining the ability to accept
phone calls is important for inclusivity.

5. What will the activity look like?
Describe the information collection activity – e.g. what happens when a person agrees to participate? Will
facilitators or interviewers be used? What’s the format of the interview/focus group? If a survey, describe
theoverall survey layout/length/other details? If User Testing, what actions will you observe / how will you have
respondents interact with a product you need feedback on?

When a person agrees to participate, we will follow up with additional information about the structure/logistics
of the interview and share an invite for the Teams meeting. The respondent will be met by at least one agency
social scientist and one subject matter expert. During the call, the respondent will be asked for consent to
record, so that we can later develop a transcript to better capture the insights from the conversation. The
interview itself will be semi-structured so that it can be tailored to the flow of the conversation and address the
diverse needs of applicants/permittees, while also providing some baseline for comparison. The focus of the
questions
be about
customer
provide
your their
list. experience applying for or accessing their permits from the US Fish and
question
6. Please will
Wildlife
Service.
Paste here the questions or prompts presented to participants in your activity. If you have an interview /
facilitator guide, that can be attached to the submission and referenced here.

See attached interview guide. The interview guide was piloted across different applicant types, including an
individual and three businesses (total of 4 interviews). The pilot interviews demonstrated the guide's
effectiveness.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.
7. When will the activity happen?
Describe the time frame or number of events that will occur (e.g., We will conduct focus groups on May 13,14,15,
We plan to conduct customer intercept interviews over the course of the Summer at the field offices identified in
response to #2 based on scheduling logistics concluding by Sept. 10th, or “This survey will remain on our website
in alignment with the timing of the overall clearance.”)

The interviews will be conducted in alignment with the timing of the overall clearance. They will be based on
emergent sampling to allow for an exploratory approach to understanding the customer experience of
ePermits.
8.
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants?
Yes
No
If Yes, describe:

BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent

ePermits users
Totals

No. of
Respondents
75

75

Participation
Time
1 hour

1 hour

Burden
Hours
75

75
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DI-4014 (Rev. 07/2024)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control No. 1090-0012
Expires 02/28/2027

CERTIFICATION:
I certify the following to be true:
1. The collections are voluntary;
2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours or burdenhours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
3. The collections are non-controversial;
4. Any 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 near future;
5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
6. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management
purposes
7. The agency will follow the procedures specified in OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 for the required quarterly
reporting to OMB of trust data and experience driver data from surveys.
8. Outside of the quarterly reporting mentioned in the bullet immediately above, if the agency intends to
release journey maps, user personas, reports, or other data-related summaries stemming from this
collection, the agency must include appropriate caveats around those summaries, noting that conclusions
should not be generalized beyond the sample, considering the sample size and response rates. The
agency must submit the data summary itself (e.g., the report) and the caveat language mentioned above to
OMB before it releases them outside the agency. OMB will engage in a passback process with the agency.
Name and email address of person who developed this survey/focus group/interview:
Name:

LEVI NOVEY

Digitally signed by LEVI NOVEY
Date: 2024.08.28 15:21:15 -04'00'

Email address: [email protected]
All instruments used to collect information must include:
OMB Control No. 1090-0012
Expiration Date: 02/28/2027

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DI-4014 (Rev. 07/2024)
U.S. Department of the Interior

HELP SHEET

OMB Control No. 1090-0012
Expires 02/28/2027

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the
request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)
PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of
a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the
generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.
CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be
returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.
Personally Identifiable Information: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they
should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.
BURDEN HOURS:
Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following
categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or Tribal governments; or (4)
Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.
No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.
Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate
(e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)
Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time
and divide by 60.

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