GenIC Submission - RECS 2026 Reviewer Recruitment

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for Reviewer Recruitment”

(OMB Control Number: 0970-0477)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Information Collection for Prospective Conference Peer Reviewer Opportunities

PURPOSE: This information collection is intended to provide information to the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) on interested peer reviewers for the Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) under the purview of the Division of Economic Independence (DivEI). Specifically, OPRE is interested in recruiting nonfederal experts with backgrounds in subject matters and research methodologies that relate to family self-sufficiency who can serve as qualified personnel for a conference proposal reviewing process.

The goal of the proposed information collection is to gather information about individuals interested in serving as conference peer reviewers for RECS in the current year (FY25). The form includes the following information fields: the respondent’s name, contact information, organizational and/or institutional affiliation(s), highest academic degree, applicable subject areas of expertise, experience with family self-sufficiency research, and experience with conference proposal review. This information will allow OPRE to identify peer reviewers with sufficient expertise in the relevant subject areas to identify proposals that enhance the quality and methodological rigor of RECS.

The data collected and reported by the contractor to ACF will be descriptive in nature and will be used for internal planning purposes. Form completion is voluntary.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Subject matter and methodological experts with expertise in topics relevant to DEI’s portfolio, including past OPRE grant reviewers, university researchers, research organization staff, and/or other networks identified by OPRE and contractor staff.

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.

Name and affiliation: Sarita Barton, OPRE

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

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals	70	10 minutes	11.7 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1,379. The estimated cost to the government is related to an existing contractor programming, testing, and distributing of the survey, administrative monitoring of the survey results, and analysis and reporting results internally to OPRE.

Hours for Programing, Testing, and Sending out the Survey
Labor Category	Rate	Estimated Number of Hours	Total Cost
Journeyman Manager	$205/hour	5	$1,025
Senior Manager	$236/hour	1.5	$354
Total			$1379

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of social media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

2