A-11 Fast-Track Clearance Request_Under40Trust

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for Improving Customer
Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)” (OMB Control
Number: 2900-0876)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Under 40 Trust Project
PURPOSE: In support of Executive Order 14058: Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service
Delivery To Rebuild Trust in Government, the Veteran Experience Office is conducting Human-Centered
Design (HCD) research to better understand why Veteran’s Trust Scores in a particular generational cohort
(Gen Z and Millennials) is significantly lower than other cohorts/age ranges. VA also wants to understand
why 40-50% of transitioning service members choose not to engage with VA. This will allow VA to
identify:
1. How Veterans feel about the VA prior to engaging and what factors into trust i.e. past military
experience or other interactions with VA staff
2. Do Veterans really need to trust VA prior to engaging with the system
3. What aspects of trust are important to this under 40 cohort
4. Understand how Veterans want to receive information and what information they would like to
receive
5. How trust compares to a net promotor score and if there is any correlation to satisfaction and trust

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: The target population is any Veteran under the age of 40 using the
following to identify the customer base:
•
•

Recently Separated Veterans (RSVs): random sampling from VA/DoD’s VADIR database based
on date of separation
Currently enrolled/engaged Veterans using the VA: a random sampling from participants who
have completed a VSignals survey over the last 3-5 years who have opted in to be contacted in the
future, extracts from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse, which houses the operational records of
VHA, and Veterans who have filed a claim in the last two years provided by VBA leadership.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software
[ ] Focus Group

[X] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Small Discussion Group
[ ] Other:

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.
1

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.
4. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained.
5. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management
purposes.
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.
7. All or a subset of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements on
performance.gov. Additionally, summaries of the data may be released to the public in communications
to Congress, the media and other releases disseminated by VEO, consistent with the Information Quality
Act.
•

Name: Joy Fealy-Kalar, Customer Experience Strategist, Veterans Experience Office, VA,
(910) 536-0240

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:
Personally Identifiable Information:
1. Will this survey use individualized links, through which VA can identify particular respondents even
if they do not provide their name or other personally identifiable information on the survey?
[ ] Yes [X ] No
2. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No
3. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of
1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No [N/A]
4. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No [N/A]
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 currently engaged in VA Services
Individuals not currently engaged
Totals

No. of
Respondents
1000
1000
2000

Participation
Time
5 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes

Burden
84 hours
84 hours
168 hours

*Q
4Please answer the following questions.
1. Are you conducting a focus group, a survey that does not employ random sampling, user testing
or any data collection method that does not employ statistical methods?
[X ] Yes No [ ]
If Yes, please answer questions 1a-1c, 2 and 3.
2

If No, please answer or attach supporting documentation that answers questions 2-8.
a. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and
how you will select them.
Identification:
Recently Separated Veterans (RSVs): random sampling from VA/DoD’s VADIR database based
on date of separation
• Currently enrolled/engaged Veterans using the VA: a random sampling from participants who
have completed a VSignals survey over the last 3-5 years who have opted in to be contacted in the
future, extracts from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse, which houses the operational records of
VHA, and Veterans who have filed a claim in the last two years provided by VBA leadership.
•

Outreach to potential participants will be conducted by email:
“VA would like to ask your consideration in completing a short voluntary questionnaire for
our Veteran Experience Team to understand your level of trust in VA and what potential
impacts are related to your engagement and experience with VA programs, benefits and
services.
All participation is voluntary.
Selection:
A quantitative analysis on available VA customer data revealed that:
• Generational cohorts held a significant correlation with engagement with VA trust surveys
completion with Gen Z and Millennials ranking the lowest (3-6%) vs (18%)
• VBA’s prediction model estimates 40-60% of servicemembers never engage with VA which
makes it difficult to address Veteran suicide. The majority of suicide cases are Veterans
who have never engaged.
• When looking at overall satisfaction in SHEP scores at the VISN and facility level, the trust
scores do not correlate in a meaningful way
With that in-mind, customer selection will be based on representative individual and demographic
diversity, branch-of-military-service diversity, and cross referencing the aforementioned databases
to ensure that we are able to reach Veterans who are both engaged and not engaged with VA at this
time.
A survey will be offered to Veterans through
b. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media (web-based conferencing)
[ ] Telephone
[ ] In-person
[ ] Mail
3

[ X ] Other- E-mail-based surveys
c. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X ] No
2. Please provide an estimated annual cost to the Federal government to conduct this data collection: N/A
3. Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request. This
includes questionnaires, interviewer manuals (if using interviewers or facilitators), all response options
for questions that require respondents to select a response from a group of options, invitations given to
potential respondents, instructions for completing the data collection or additional follow-up requests for
the data collection.

4. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other
respondent selection methods to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, State and
local government units, households, or persons) in the universe covered by the collection and in the
corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe as a whole and for each of the
strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the
collection had been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last
collection.
•

Not applicable

5. Describe the procedures for the collection of information, including:
a. Statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection.
b. Estimation procedure.
c. Degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification.
d. Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures.
e. Any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.
•

Not applicable.

6. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of nonresponse. The accuracy and
reliability of information collected must be shown to be adequate for intended uses. For collections
based on sampling, a special justification must be provided for any collection that will not yield
"reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.
•

Not applicable.

7. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Testing is encouraged as an effective
means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. Tests must be
approved if they call for answers to identical questions from 10 or more respondents. A proposed test or
set of tests may be submitted for approval separately or in combination with the main collection of
information.
•

Not applicable.
4

8. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and
the name of the agency unit, contractors, grantees, or other person(s) who will actually collect or
analyze the information for the agency.
Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran Experience Office
• Joy Fealy-Kalar, Customer Experience Strategist, Veterans Experience Office, VA,
(910) 536-0240- Project Manager
• Evan Albert, Director of Measurement and Data Analytics, Veterans Experience Office, VA,
(202) 875-9478
• Yao Djilan, Data Science Statistician, Veterans Experience Office, VA, (206) 240-1304

5