Health Resources and Services Administration
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
HRSA OFAM Grants Management Customer Service Survey

A.	Justification

1.	Circumstances of Information Collection

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) currently has approval under the generic clearance, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control No. 0915-0212, to conduct customer satisfaction surveys and focus groups.  This collection of information helps fulfill the requirements of:
a.	Executive Order 12862, “Setting Customer Service Standards,” which directs Agencies to continually reform their management practices and operations to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector.

This is a request for OMB approval of a qualitative voluntary customer satisfaction survey under HRSA’s generic clearance.  The Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) within HRSA plans to survey its grant recipients to understand better how they feel about HRSA’s grants processes, and to improve the way HRSA conducts business with them. 

The OFAM is a unique component within the HRSA organization, because its customers are the general public, health care providers, HRSA’s Bureaus/Offices, other governmental agencies and grantee organizations.   This survey serves as an integral part of OFAM’s customer service strategy for fiscal year 2012. 

Executive Order 12862 directs agencies that "provide significant services directly to the public" to "survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services".   

2.	Purpose and Use of the Information

The OFAM customer service survey focuses specifically on grants management.  The survey will be given to HRSA’s FY 2011 grantee population.   The survey focuses on 7 specific areas, which are directly related to the grants life cycle (e.g., Customer Service/Cooperation; Policies and Procedures; Pre-Award Phase; Award Phase; Reporting/Post-Award Administration; Technical Assistance; and Priorities for Improvement).  The information collected will assist OFAM in its efforts to gauge, understand and effectively respond to the needs and concerns of its customers, especially as they relate to the aforementioned seven focus areas.  The survey will also be used to establish a baseline of data regarding the 7 critical aspects of the grants life cycle process.  The survey results will provide OFAM with concrete indicators regarding the best areas in which to dedicate time, energy and resources to improve customer service.  Based on the survey findings, efforts for improvements will be concentrated chiefly on areas where customer dissatisfaction is identified as highest.

The survey information will continue to be used by OFAM to improve the efficiency, quality, and timeliness of its grants business processes, as well as to strengthen its partnership with its external customers.

3.	Use of Improved Information Technology

The use of improved information technology (IT) will be incorporated into OFAM’s process for survey dissemination and response collection. Through the use of Survey Monkey, “Platinum” membership, those surveyed will do so through an easy-to-use “web-based” survey tool.  The IT used for the survey will ensure full accessibility for participants and will be 508 compliant.  The IT used also allows OFAM to track the progress of the responses submitted, through a web-based tool called a “progress bar.”  The OFAM will also have the capability to disseminate the survey through multiple electronic venues such as, web-link, email, or even Twitter.  Should the OFAM wish to expand the number of those surveyed (at a later date), the IT used will allow the survey to be embedded on OFAM’s existing website.  The OFAM will be able to generate multiple “customized” reports, as well as share responses with HRSA senior leadership.

4.	Efforts to Avoid Duplication

Currently OFAM does not collect similar information from other sources such as that which will be gained from this survey.  Moreover, in an effort to avoid the appearance of “duplicating” any existing efforts related to customer service currently underway within HRSA, OFAM conducted an informal assessment.  The information yielded from that assessment indicated that there was not an existing effort which sought customer service feedback, which focused solely on grants management.  As such, the OFAM customer survey will focus exclusively on aspects of grants management.  Within the organizations identified to participate in survey, the target audience of responders will be individuals who hold positions as a Grant Administrator, Business Officer, or Project Director/Principal Investigators.  This perspective distinguishes OFAM’s customer service survey from other customer service survey activities within the Agency, which generally target customer service activities from a “programmatic” perspective. 

5.	Involvement of Small Entities

These surveys will not have a significant impact on small businesses or other small entities. 

6.	Consequences if Information Collected Less Frequently

In its capacity as the Agency’s centralized Grants Management Office, OFAM is responsible for awarding the entire portfolio of HRSA grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, and loan repayments.  Currently, OFAM does not have a formal mechanism in place to receive external customer feedback related to its grants management performance.  The ability to receive this information from external customers will provide OFAM with a repository of baseline information, which will be incorporated into the Office’s strategic efforts to improve grants management services and customer service overall.  The inability to capture this information diminishes the Office’s ability to improve customer service, its business performance, and its external perception of transparency.

7.	Consistency With the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)

These surveys will be implemented in a manner fully consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8.	Consultation Outside the Agency

In accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8(d), on April 24, 2009, a 30 day notice was published in the Federal Register for HRSA’s generic clearance, OMB Control No. 0915-0212 (Vol. 74, Page 18726).  No public comments were received.  

9.	 Remuneration of Respondents

Not Applicable. 

10.	Assurance of Confidentiality

To date other HRSA customer satisfaction surveys have not collected personally identifiable information from respondents and the OFAM customer service survey does not wish to break with that tradition.  The OFAM customer service survey does not collect personally identifiable information from respondents. Response aggregates will be adequate for OFAM to exact the information desired regarding customer service.  The survey is voluntary and will be administered through an independent third party mechanism Survey Monkey, which is web-based.  Survey participants will be identified by grantee “Type;” i.e.,   Types 1 (New grantee), 2 (Competing Continuation grantee) and Type 5 (Non-Competing Continuation grantee). The background data used for selecting participating grant recipients included the type of organization, title of respondent, number of competing applications submitted and funded, and number of non-competing continuations submitted.  	
11.	Questions of a Sensitive Nature

The surveys do not contain questions of a sensitive nature. 

12.	Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden

Respondents
The target audience of responders will be individuals who hold positions as a grantee’s Grant Administrator, Business Officer, or Project Director/Principal Investigators... The size of the organizations participating in the survey will be approximately 1,500 (New, Competing and Non-competing Continuation grantees).

Annual burden estimates

Type of Collection	Number  Surveyed 	Responses per Respondent	Total Responses	Hours per Respondent	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Hours Cost	
OFAM’s Grants Management Customer Survey Totals	3,000	1	1,500	06/60	150	$49.12		
							$7,368	

Initially the desire is to conduct one survey.  This is to assist OFAM in its efforts to establish a baseline for gauging existing customer service levels. The total number of grantees to be surveyed is expected to be 3,000, with an average response time of 5-7 minutes.  It is hoped that there will be a 50 percent (or higher) response rate, and an average response time of 6 minutes per respondent, the total burden hours is 150 hours. In addition, each respondent is expected to incur an average cost of $8.00. The costs to the agency and to the public are considered very low.  

Planned frequency of information collection

For the dissemination of this customer survey information will be collected once during fiscal year 2012.

13.	Estimates of Annualized Cost Burden to Respondents

The only associated cost to respondents is their time to provide the requested information.

14.	Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Government

Survey Monkey PLATINUM membership is $65 per month, but is billed $780 annually.

15.	Change in Burden

Not Applicable.  This will be included in the total burden currently approved by OMB under OMB Control No. 0915-0212.

16.	Plans for Analysis and Timetable of Key Activities

It is anticipated that approval of the survey will permit OFAM to disseminate the customer service survey prior to August 1, 2012. Those surveyed will be requested to submit their responses within 30 calendar days.  The window to accept responses will be closed after the second week of September 2012.  Through the use of the Survey Monkey analysis tools, a report will be generated for review by the Associate Administrator of OFAM and the OFAM senior leadership.  The analysis, findings and recommendations of the report, will be used to inform steps to improve OFAM’s customer service efforts during Fiscal Year 2013.
17.	Exemption for Display of Expiration Date

No exemption is being requested.  The expiration date will be displayed.

18.	Certifications

This information collection activity will comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.