2021-03924. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled `National Syringe Services Program (SSP) Evaluation', which proposes to: (1) Assess and monitor SSP operational characteristics and services, client characteristics and drug use patterns, client satisfaction, funding resources, community relations, and key operational and programmatic successes and challenges and (2) support timely analysis and dissemination of national program evaluation survey findings.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before April 26, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2021-0012 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

National Syringe Services Program (SSP) Evaluation—New—National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

The primary purpose of the National Syringe Services Program (SSP) Evaluation is to strengthen and improve the capacity of SSPs to conduct regular monitoring and evaluation to ensure that comprehensive prevention services are provided to meet the needs of people who inject drugs (PWID) and reduce infectious disease and other harms related to intravenous drug use (IDU). The project will invite the participation of all SSPs that are listed in a publicly available directory of all known SSPs in the United States maintained by the North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN; https://nasen.org). SSPs will be sent a letter of invitation to participate in a 35-minute program survey. Participating programs will have the option of completing the survey via different modalities to enhance feasibility and comfort in completing the survey, for example via the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) or a similarly secure web-based application. Other modalities for survey administration will include a coordinated telephone or videoconferencing interview. SSPs will be sent reminder letters for an approximately three-month data collection period. SSPs that do not respond to prior reminders will be sent one final reminder, and if the SSP still does not want to participate, one (optional) question on why the SSP did not complete the survey will be offered.

The survey will include questions on operational characteristics and services, client characteristics and drug use patterns, client satisfaction, funding resources, community relations, and key operational successes and challenges. Approximately 400 SSPs will be able to participate in the survey. We anticipate that approximately 20% of SSPs will decline to complete the survey, yielding approximately 320 completed surveys per year. However, given that this is the first survey of SSPs funded by CDC and that the COVID-19 pandemic makes it challenging to predict future response rates, we are requesting enough burden hours to allow 100% of SSPs to respond to the survey. We estimate that it will take 35 minutes to complete the survey, regardless of how the respondent chooses to complete it (i.e., self-administered online or interviewer-administered by phone or videoconferencing). SSPs that do not respond to the initial survey invitation will be given reminders to complete the survey over the duration of the survey implementation period. The final reminder will include a link to a single question for SSPs that choose not to complete the survey about why they declined to complete the survey. Given the uncertainties in response rates described above, we are requesting enough burden hours to allow 100% of SSPs to respond to this question. We estimate that it will take two minutes to respond to this question.

OMB approval is requested for three years. The survey will be administered annually using the most updated national directory of SSPs during each survey administration. Participation is voluntary and there are no costs to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondent	Form	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
All participating SSPs	National Syringe Services Program Evaluation Survey	400	1	35/60	233
Non-responding SSPs	Non-Response Survey Item	400	1	2/60	13
Total					246

Jeffrey M. Zirger,

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.