CS-24-563 SPEC Partner Customer Satisfaction Survey Supporting Statement

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1545-1432)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

W&I Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) Partner

Web Customer Satisfaction Survey

PURPOSE:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses a balanced measurement system consisting of business results, taxpayer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. The use of these balanced organizational performance measures is mandated by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA) of 1998. In addition, Executive Order 12862 requires all government agencies to survey their taxpayers and to incorporate taxpayer experience data in process improvement efforts.

The Stakeholder Partnerships, Education, and Communication (SPEC) organization in the Wage

& Investment (W&I) Division fosters voluntary compliance by making W&I taxpayers aware of

their federal tax responsibilities and assisting them to prepare timely and accurate returns. SPEC

builds and maintains partnerships with key stakeholders, seeking to create and share value by

informing, educating, and communicating with shared customers. SPEC services W&I taxpayers

through education, tax preparation and asset building.

This survey allows SPEC to measure the impact of these Partner relationships and our education and outreach efforts more effectively, SPEC has embraced the IRS balanced measurement system consisting of business results, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. This survey also allows Spec to support IRS Strategic Goal I - (Service) Deliver high quality and

timely service to reduce taxpayer burden and encourage voluntary compliance. This project is a critical element in obtaining the data needed to measure the satisfaction of our Partners.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

What is a SPEC Partner? A partner is any intermediary (individual, organization, or coalition of organizations) that shares SPEC goals and provides resources to facilitate or deliver one or more components of the SPEC business model involving income tax return preparation, educational outreach and financial education, and asset building information offered to taxpayers. A partner generally has an ongoing relationship with SPEC and helps to deliver programs and services to taxpayers. A partner typically contributes quantitative business results or supports those entities that contribute quantitative business results to SPEC activities. Quantitative business results include income tax returns prepared (through traditional VITA/TCE sites, facilitated self-assistance or alternatives such as virtual VITA/TCE remote sites), outreach events, Financial Education & Asset Building (FEAB) products or FEAB outreach to targeted taxpayers. An intermediary, who provides funding for SPEC supported sites, programs, or partners, may also be considered a partner. National and regional partners are larger organizations with a presence in more than one state or SPEC Territory. These partners are supported by the Headquarters National Partnerships group.

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: ___Chance Davis___________________

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

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

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

Gifts or Payments:

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

BURDEN HOURS:

We estimate it will take 2 minutes each to read the pre-notification e-mail and the invitation email, and 1 minute for each of the five reminder e-mails. The survey is expected to take approximately 15 minutes to complete. There are several skip patterns in the survey which limit the questions a respondent sees to only those applicable to their situation.

For participants, total participation time is 15 minutes. This reflects the time needed to complete the survey. The expected response rate for this survey is 30%. The time burden for participants is 630 (30% of total sample) x 15 = 9,450 minutes or 158 burden hours.

The burden time to read the pre-notification email, the invitation email, and the five reminders is 2,100 (total sample) x (2 emails x 2 minutes/email + 5 emails x 1 minute per email) = 18,900 minutes or 315 burden hours.

The total burden hours for the survey is (158 + 315) = 473 burden hours

Category of Respondent	Number of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Customers Responding to the Survey	630	15 minutes	158 hours
All Customers	2,100	9 minutes	315 hours
Total Burden			473 hours

Estimated Response Rate: 30%

Total Burden Estimate: 473 hours

FEDERAL COST:

The estimated cost of this survey (with the contractor) is $26,183.47.

STATISTICAL METHOD:

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 sampling frame consists of a census of all W&I local partners. The partner lists will be provided by the IRS. The contractor will be responsible for preparing the partner lists and conducting data analysis. The contractor will be responsible for hosting and administering the web survey.

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 – Microsoft TEAMS or ZOOM for sharing visuals.

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

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

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

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.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

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: Provide answers to the questions.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

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.

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.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g., for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

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