Notice2022-08586
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 22, 2022
Issuing agencies
National Science Foundation
Abstract
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has submitted the following information collection requirement to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This is the second notice for public comment; the first was published in the Federal Register and no comments were received. NSF is forwarding the proposed renewal submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance simultaneously with the publication of this second notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 78 (Friday, April 22, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 78 (Friday, April 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24201-24203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08586]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request.
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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has submitted the
following information collection requirement to OMB for review and
clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This is the second
notice for public comment; the first was published in the Federal
Register and no comments were received. NSF is forwarding the proposed
renewal submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
clearance simultaneously with the publication of this second notice.
DATES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAmain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAmain</a>. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports
Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue,
Alexandria, VA 22314, or send email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#94e7e4f8fdf9e4e0fbd4fae7f2baf3fbe2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7102011d181c01051e311f02175f161e07">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals
who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the
Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is
accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (including
federal holidays). Comments regarding this information collection are
best assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of
this notification. Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by
calling 703-292-7556.
NSF may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless
the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control
number, and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to
the collection of information that such persons are not required to
respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently
valid OMB control number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Program Monitoring Data Collections for
National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs.
OMB Number: 3145-NEW.
Expiration Date of Approval: Not applicable.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an
information collection for post-award output and outcome monitoring
system.
Abstract: The NSF SBIR/STTR programs focus on transforming
scientific discovery into products and services with commercial
potential and/or societal benefit. Unlike fundamental
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or basic research activities that focus on scientific and engineering
discovery itself, the NSF SBIR/STTR programs support the creation of
opportunities to move fundamental science and engineering out of the
lab and into the market at scale, through startups and small businesses
representing deep technology ventures. Here, deep technologies refer to
technologies based on discoveries in fundamental science and
engineering. The NSF SBIR/STTR programs are designed to provide non-
dilutive funding (financing that does not involve equity, debt, or
other elements of the business ownership structure) at the earliest
stages of technology research and development.
The NSF SBIR/STTR programs are Congressionally mandated. By
investing federal research and development funds into startups and
small businesses, NSF hopes to stimulate the creation of novel
products, services, and solutions in the private sector, strengthen the
role of small business in meeting federal research and development
needs, increase the commercial application of federally supported
research results, build a strong national economy, and increase and
develop the US workforce, especially by fostering and encouraging
participation of socially and economically disadvantaged and women-
owned small businesses.
Both the NSF SBIR and NSF STTR programs have two phases: Phase I
and Phase II. Phase I is a 6-12 month experimental or theoretical
investigation that allows the awardees to determine the scientific,
technical, and commercial merit of the idea or concept. Phase II
further develops the proposed concept, building on the feasibility of
the project undertaken in Phase I, with a goal of working toward the
commercial launch of the new product, process, or service being
developed.
The NSF SBIR/STTR programs request the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) approval of this clearance that will allow the programs to
improve the rigor of our surveys for evaluations and program
monitoring, as well as to initiate new data collections to monitor the
immediate, intermediate, and long-term outcomes of our investments by
periodically surveying the startup businesses and their founders/co-
founders involved in the businesses. The clearance will allow the SBIR/
STTR programs to rigorously develop, test, and implement survey
instruments and methodologies.
The primary objective of this clearance is to allow the NSF SBIR/
STTR programs to collect characteristics, output, and outcome
information from the startup companies funded by the programs. This
collection will enable the evaluation of the impacts of our investments
in technology translation and innovation over time. The second, related
objective is to improve our questionnaires and/or data collection
procedures through pilot tests and other survey methods used in these
activities. Under this clearance a variety of surveys could be pre-
tested, modified, and used.
Following standard OMB requirements, NSF will submit to OMB an
individual request for each survey project we undertake under this
clearance. NSF will request OMB approval in advance and provide OMB
with a copy of the questionnaire and materials describing the project.
Data collected will be used for planning, management, evaluation,
and audit purposes. Summaries of output and outcome monitoring data are
used to respond to queries from Congress, the Small Business
Administration (SBA), the public, NSF's external merit reviewers who
serve as advisors, including Committees of Visitors (COVs), NSF's
Office of the Inspector General, and other pertinent stakeholders.
These data are needed for effective administration, program monitoring,
evaluation, outreach/marketing roadmaps, and for strategic reviews and
measuring attainment of NSF's program and strategic goals, as
identified by the President's Accountable Government Initiative, the
Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010,
Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, and NSF's Strategic Plan.
All questions asked in the data collection are questions that are
NOT included in the annual, final or outcomes reports, and the
intention is to ask the grantees even beyond the period of performance
on voluntary basis in order to capture impacts of the research that
occur during and beyond the life of the award.
Grantees will be invited to submit information on a periodic basis
to support the management of the NSF SBIR/STTR investment portfolio.
Once the survey tool for a specific program is tested, grantees will be
invited to submit these indicators to NSF via data collection methods
that include, but are not limited to, online surveys, interviews, focus
groups, phone interviews, etc. These indicators are both quantitative
and descriptive and may include, for example, the characteristics of
project personnel, sources of funding and support, knowledge transfer
and technology translation activities, patents, licenses, publications,
descriptions of significant advances, and other outcomes of the funded
efforts.
Use of the Information: The data collected will be used for NSF
internal and external reports, historical data, program level studies
and evaluations, and for securing future funding for the maintenance
and growth of the NSF SBIR/STTR programs. Evaluation designs could make
use of metadata associated with the award and other characteristics to
identify a comparison group to evaluate the impact of the program
funding and other interesting research questions.
Estimate of Public Burden
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Annual number
Collection title Number of respondents of responses/ Annual hour
respondent burden
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NSF SBIR/STTR Program Monitoring............. 400 startups per year........... 1 100
1,200 Founders (up to 3 entries 1 200
per startup).
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Total.................................... ................................ ............... 300
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For life-of-award monitoring, the data collection burden to
awardees will be limited to no more than 30 minutes of the respondents'
time in each instance.
Respondents: The respondents are either Principal Investigators
(PIs) of the startup businesses that the NSF SBIR/STTR Programs
awarded, founders, co-founders, and/or key personnel of the startup
businesses. In the case of Business Survey, only one response
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from each startup/small business is anticipated.
Estimates of Annualized Cost to Respondents for the Hour Burdens:
The overall annualized cost to the respondents is estimated to be
$26,400. The following table shows the annualized estimate of costs to
PI/Founders/Business Partners respondents, who are generally university
assistant professors. This estimated hourly rate is based on a report
from the American Association of University Professors, ``Annual Report
on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2020-21,'' Academe, March-
April 2021, Survey Report Table 1. According to this report, the
average salary of an assistant professor across all types of doctoral-
granting institutions (public, private-independent, religiously
affiliated) was $91,408. When divided by the number of standard annual
work hours (2,080), this calculates to approximately $44 per hour.
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Total burden Average Estimated
Respondent type hours hourly rate annual cost
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PIs, Founders, Business Partners................................ 300 $44 $13,200
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Estimated Number of Responses per Report: Data collection for the
collections involves all awardees in the programs involved.
Dated: April 18, 2022.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2022-08586 Filed 4-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
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