Template - OAG Survey

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0960-0788)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: OAG Contractor Survey

PURPOSE:

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG) regularly assesses the effectiveness of its acquisition operations. One important aspect is the quality and professionalism of OAG dealings with the business community. SSA uses the Contractor Survey to solicit feedback from the contractor community regarding acquisition operations. This includes vendor perceptions of the current Federal acquisition environment, the overall effectiveness of SSA’s acquisition operations, and suggestions to improve service to the business community.

Goals and Objectives:

We are seeking feedback to determine:

• Vendor satisfaction with acquisition office communications;

• Vendor satisfaction with the integrity, fairness and openness of the acquisition process;

• Vendor perceptions regarding the quality of acquisition work products;

• Vendor perceptions regarding the overall effectiveness of the acquisition process; and,

• Opportunities for improving the acquisition process.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: We will mail the survey to contractors who received acquisition awards (e.g. contracts, task orders, and purchase orders) from SSA during fiscal year 2012.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus 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.

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: Faye Lipsky, Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes, [ X] No Respondents will not be paid for their participation.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time (minutes)	Burden (hours)
Contractors	350	15	88
Totals	350	15	88

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal Government is $227.50 (postage of $.65 X 350 mailings)

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?

[ X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan). If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The participant selection criterion for this research is as follows:

• The survey sample includes only those contractors listed in OAG’s automated procurement database;

• The survey sample includes only contractors receiving acquisition awards during fiscal year 2012. This includes contracts, delivery orders, task orders, and open market purchase orders valued at $100K or greater.

• We will mail the vendor contact associated with each contract award.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ X ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain - Survey Sheet/Questionnaire

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X ] No

How will we conduct the survey?

SSA will mail the surveys to the vendor contact person listed for the awarded contract.

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

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