DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

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Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience: OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation” 
(OMB Control Number:0938-1382)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Facing Financial Shock Applicant Recruitment Survey (CMS-10900)

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 purpose of this survey is to screen potential participants for future research projects that may include:
    • Conversations where participants are invited to share their experiences applying for benefits
    • Observations of how these participants use prototypes designed to ease burden of income verification

The Facing Financial Shock initiative is a 2-year effort supporting the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience. Goals involve partnering with states and territories to reduce administrative burden for millions of individuals, families and state workers when accessing federally funded safety net programs. By implementing strategic improvements to underlying systems, data sources and front-end interfaces we can improve access and reduce burden during eligibility and enrollment in our nation’s largest federally funded safety net programs (Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF).


TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups, Surveys)	
[ ] Customer Feedback Survey 
[X] 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
[X] No
[ ] Not a survey

    2. 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

    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?) 

Members of the public who have applied for and/or receive Medicaid, SNAP, TANF and/or other benefits.

    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)

We will be conducting outreach through multiple methods such as in-person intercepts, agency partners (CMS or SNAP agency) sharing, or referrals from community-based organizations 


    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 the overall 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? 


Survey screener with 13 questions including participant background and questions regarding their application and work experience. Answers to questions will support other research activities including small group conversations or observations of how well interfaces work for participants.


    6. Please provide your question list.
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. 

Please see the attached instrument.

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.”)

We will be conducting this survey research ongoing for the next 12 month in support of ongoing design research evaluations.

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


BURDEN HOURS 

Category of Respondent 
No. of Respondents
Participation Time
Burden
Hours
Individuals or Households
1200
10 minutes
200 hours
Totals
1200
10 minutes
200 hours

FEDERAL COST:  
The below estimates are considering the 2024 GS Scale of a GS-13 @ $56.52/hr. 

We expect a total cost of $4,521.60 to support this participant recruitment screener. 

Cost Breakdown
    • Capital Cost: $0
We expect no capital costs due to code reuse and use of existing tools.
    • Operation Cost: $4521.60
80 hours of evaluation and analysis time (see time breakdown below) * $56.52/hour

Time breakdown 
    • 2 open-ended questions, each with an average response of 125 characters / 25-30 words. Total 500 characters, ~2 min reading time per response, 2400 min / 40 hours total
    • 11 closed-ended questions, analysis time estimated at 40 hours total






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 burden-hours 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: Mathias Rechtzigel___________________

Email address: [email protected]___________

All instruments used to collect information must include:
OMB Control No. 0982-1382
Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX
HELP SHEET
(OMB Control Number:0938-1382)

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.