Mini SSA

Mini Supporting Statement A

NCI’s Center for Cancer Training (CCT) Application Form for Graduate Student Recruitment Program (GSRP) (NCI)

Sub-study under,

“Generic Clearance for Application Information for

Fellowship, Internships, Training Programs, and Specialty Positions

(National Cancer Institute)”

OMB No. 0925-0761

Expiration Date: 07/31/2022

Date: November 14, 2019

Name: Ofelia A. Olivero

Address: 9609 Medical Center Drive-MSC 9707-2W120

Telephone: 240-276-6890

Email: oliveroo@exchange.nih.gov

List of attachments

Attachment 1- Applicant application screenshot

Attachment 2- Reference form screenshot

Attachment 3- Emails to applicant and referee

Attachment 4- PIA

Attachment 5- Privacy Act Memo

Mini Supporting Statement A

A.1 Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Training (CCT) supports NCI's goal of training cancer researchers for the 21st century. To support that goal, CCT implemented a Graduate Student Recruitment Program (GSRP) with the purpose of recruiting outstanding young scientists to postdoctoral positions at the NCI. The legal authority granted to NIH to train future biomedical scientists comes from several sources.  Title 42 of the U.S. Code, Sections 241 and 282(b) (13) authorizes the Director, NIH, to conduct and support research training for which fellowship support is not provided under Part 487 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (i.e., National Research Service Awards), and that is not residency training of physicians or other health professionals.  Sections 405(b)(1)(C) of the PHS Act and 42 U.S.C. Sections 284(b)(1)(C)] and 285-287 grant this same authority to the Director of each of the Institutes/Centers at NIH. 

A.2 Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The proposed information collection activity is necessary in order to determine the eligibility and quality of potential awardees for traineeships in this program. Identification of participants to matriculate into the program comes from applications and related forms hosted through the CCT Website. (See Attachments 1 and 2)

Prospective trainees for admission must apply directly to the NCI using the application (Attachment 1) and may be asked to provide the following information to ensure eligibility: personal information, eligibility criteria, contact information, training program selection, scientific discipline interests, educational history, reference information, resume components, employment interests, dissertation research details, letters of recommendation. Applicants must also get 3 letters of reference. The letter is completed by the referee using the referee form (Attachment 2). Applicants chosen to participate come to the NIH as visitors with no formal appointment paperwork or financial support. The referee and applicants will be emailed correspondence notifying them of the status of the application and determination (Attachments 3 and 4).

The purpose of the proposed information collection activity is to assure that prospective trainees to the GSRP Program meet basic eligibility requirements; to assess their potential as future scientists; to determine where mutual research interests exist; and to make decisions regarding which applicants will be eligible and invited to attend the Program. In order to receive due consideration, the prospective trainee must complete all required fields.

The CCT applications utilize many of the following information fields:

• Personal information (name, date of birth,);

• Eligibility information (citizenship);

• Contact information (mailing, e-mail, phone for current, home and school address);

• Scientific discipline interests (research interests, medical entity/disease);

• Educational history (university, academic major, attendance dates, degree awarded/anticipated);

• Reference information (name, contact information);

• Resume components (cover letter, research experience, publications, presentations, awards / honors, extracurricular activities, personal statement / research proposal);

• Dissertation research information; sensitive information (gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, disability);

The CCT staff and NCI investigators have access to applications for the program based on their scientific interests. Access to the information contained in each application is restricted by a login password that will be regulated and monitored by the CCT staff. Attendee selections are made by a review panel. Three reviewers will read and score the individual application. The scores will be normalized for objective comparison and combined to reach an average score for each applicant. Then, all average scores will be compared to select the best attendees. Individuals considered potential applicants will be reached by email messaging with information about the website for the GSRP and some brief explanation and deadlines (Attachments 3 and 4).

It is expected that 100 students will apply and approximately 25 students will be selected to attend. (For example: Students complete the applications (Attachment 1) and their references will submit a Letter of Recommendation (Attachment 2) for the students. Students are required to have 3 Letters of Recommendation from different individuals submitted per application.

A.3 Use of Information Technology and Burden Reduction

The CCT application is web based and accessible through the CCT website https://nci-gsrp.cancer.gov. Features of the online application include the following elements:

Applicant Emails (Attachment 3)

• Email to applicant when application is submitted

• Email to applicant when letter of reference is submitted but not all required letters have been received

• Email to applicant once all required letters of reference have been received

• Email to applicant reminding that application has not yet been submitted

• Email to applicant reminding that reference letters are pending

• Email to applicant when Status set to Incomplete

• Email to applicant when Status set to Ineligible

• Email to applicant when Status set to Withdrawn

• Email to applicant when Status set to Pending Confirmation

• Email to applicant when Status set to Wait Listed

• Email to applicant when Status set to Retracted

• Email to applicant when Status set to Accepted

• Email to applicant when Status set to Rejected

• Email to applicant reminding to confirm that they will attend conference

• Email to applicant about available projects

In addition, prospective trainees are able to review Web pages hosting Application Directions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) prior to submitting an application for admission consideration. The details posted within the Web pages ensure adequate time to carefully complete and submit a well-organized application. The estimated time to complete an application is approximately 30-minutes.

CCT's online system reduces the burden on every applicant by streamlining the application process and improves agency efficiency and responsiveness to the public.

The individuals submitting reference letters will be informed of the status of their submission by receiving the following E-mail messages (Attachment 3)

Referee Emails (Attachment 3)

• Email to referee when a letter of reference is requested

• Email to referee when a letter of reference is submitted

• Email to referee when a letter of reference is withdrawn

• Email to referee reminding that letter of reference is pending

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) has been approved. (Attachment 4)

A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

The information collected in this information collection is unique to this program and not collected anywhere else.

A.5 Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

No Small Businesses or other small entities will be affected by this information collection.

A.6 Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

The information will be voluntarily collected once per year.

A.7 Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

This information collection is consistent with these guidelines. Individuals that submit an application to CCT do so voluntarily.

A.8 Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside Agency

N/A

A.9 Explanation of Any Payment of Gift to Respondents

No incentives (neither payments nor gifts) will be distributed to individuals.

A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

All information will be kept private to the extent allowable by law. Information collected is available only to CCT personnel directly involved in handling applications. Additionally, principal investigators of the NCI will be able to have access to the applications. These individuals are assigned login credentials, including "strong" passwords that conform to standards used by the NIH Center for Information Technology, and the online tools these individuals use to access applicant data are restricted to CCT-approved users. Applicants receive login credentials. Also, references are provided a unique URL where they can upload the requested letter of reference.

The Privacy Act is applicable as determined by the NIH Privacy Officer in the Privacy Act Memo (Attachment 7). The applicable System of Record Notice (SORN) is NIH Privacy Act SORN 09-25-0014; “Clinical Research: Student Records.”

A.11 Justification for Sensitive Questions

The CCT application does not contain sensitive questions. These applications do collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including: name, contact information, and education.

In addition, the application does include several questions that are optional, i.e., not required for submission or admission consideration including race/ethnicity, gender, and full birth date. These questions are answered voluntarily and used for demographical purposes only, to determine if a program achieves equitable access. Only the CCT staff and reviewers from the NCI will have access to this information. Federal regulations for the protection of human subjects do not apply to this activity.

The Privacy Act does apply based on the Privacy Act Memo. (Attachment 5) The applicable SORN is 09-25-0158: Administration: Records of Applicants and Awardees of the NIH Intramural Research Training Awards Program, HHS/NIH/OD/OIR/OE.

A.12 Estimated Annualized Burden Hours and Cost to Respondents

It is anticipated that 100 students will apply, and it will take approximately 30 minutes to complete the application form. It is also anticipated that 300 professors will complete the Reference Letter Recommendations, and it will take approximately 25 minutes to complete each reference letter. The total estimated annualized burden is 175 hours. (Table A.12-1).

Table A12-1. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Form	Type of Respondents	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Per Response (in hours)	Total Annual Burden Hours
CCT Application	Student Applicants	100	1	30/60	50
Reference Recommendation Letters	Professors	300	1	25/60	125
Total			400		175

A.12-2 Annualized Cost to respondent

The annualized Cost to the Respondents is estimated at $6,482.75 (see Table A.12-2).

Table A12-2. Annualized Cost to Respondents

Type of Respondents	Total Annual Burden Hours	Hourly Respondent Wage Rate*	Respondent Cost
Student Applicants	50	$18.13	$906.50
Reference Recommendation Letters	125	$44.61	$5,576.25
Totals	175		$6,482.75

* Cost estimate are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s site, mean annual wage occupation title “Graduate teaching assistant”, occupation code 25-1191 and occupation title Life Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, occupation code 25-1040 on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#25-0000.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251191.htm. Graduate students do not have an hourly rate listed with the Bureau of Labor Statistics; therefore, we used the, The Reference Recommendation Letters would be completed by professors. The wage rate used to calculate this cost is from the

A.13 Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There are no capital costs, operating costs, or maintenance costs to report.

A.14 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The annualized cost to the Federal Government is estimated to be $82,617.60 (Table A.14-1).

A.14-1 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

Cost Descriptions	Grade/Step	Salary**	% of Effort	Fringe (if applicable)	Total Cost to Gov’t
Federal Oversight
Project Officer	14/10	$152,352	5%		$7,617.60
Contractor Cost					$75,000.00
Travel
Other Costs
TOTAL					$82,617.60

**The Salary in the table above is cited from https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/19Tables/html/DCB.aspx

A.15 Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

N/A

A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

There are no plans to publish the results of the application. Nor will statistical analysis be done on the information collected.

The information collected in the CCT application will not be published for the general public but will be used for annual program assessments.

The CCT Program has specific application opening and closing dates as well as admission procedures. The following list gives a general overview of the admission process:

1. Collection of applications

2. Investigators review applications for invitations to interview

3. Investigators rank applicants for admission offers

4. Admission offers sent to select interviewed applicants

5. Rejection letters sent to all other applicants

6. Accepted students attend conference

Table A16-1. Project Time Schedule: Application Opening and Closing Dates
Program	Application Opening Date	Application Closing Date	Program Date
GSRP	December	January	May
Reference Recommendation Letters	December	January	February

A.17 Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

The OMB expiration date will be displayed

A.18 Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.

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