Survey Approval Process

Requests for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) employees to participate in surveys using official duty time and Government equipment must be approved before the survey is issued. The Service’s Policy and Regulations Branch is the point of contact for survey approvals and works with requestors to facilitate the survey approval process. Service Manual chapter 119 FW 1, Approving and Completing Surveys, outlines the survey approval policy.

Survey requests from non-employees (external surveys) as well as from Service employees (internal surveys) require advance approval prior to dissemination, with limited exceptions. Service Manual chapter 119 FW 1 includes tables that outline the approval requirements for all surveys, generated from both external and internal sources.

Steps to Obtain Survey Approval

To begin the approval process, provide the following information by email to Info_Coll@fws.gov:

  1. A copy of the final survey instrument,
     
  2. A list of employees (or position titles or programs/offices, if known) requested to participate in the survey (requests for names and email addresses of Service employees will only be released via a FOIA request),  and
     
  3. A formal request for the Service to participate in the survey, which includes the following:
     
    • Names and titles of individuals administering the survey, to include affiliation of the requesting organization;
    • Purpose of the survey;
    • Explanation of how the survey will be implemented;
    • Approximate time it will take each employee to complete the survey; and
    • Benefits of the survey to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
       

Please provide the formal request on your organization’s letterhead, if possible. Email will work if letterhead is not available.

Next Steps After Submission of Request

The Policy and Regulations Branch will coordinate with the appropriate programs and experts to ensure the survey is of adequate quality to warrant employees using duty time to complete it. Following are examples of the types of officials/programs from whom the Policy and Regulations Branch may seek input or concurrence, or both:

  • The Ethics office in the Department of the Interior,
  • The Service Associate Privacy Act Officer,
  • A Service survey expert,
  • The Service Science Integrity officer, for surveys related to scientific information or integrity, and
  • The Assistant Director(s) of the program(s) affected (e.g., the Chief – National Wildlife Refuge System for a survey about refuges).

After review by the appropriate Service officials, the Chief – Policy and Regulations Branch writes a decision memorandum recommending approval or disapproval of the survey request. The decision memorandum is forwarded to the Assistant Director – Management and Administration (and the program Assistant Director(s) if the survey is of interest to or impacts a specific program) for consideration.

The Policy and Regulations Branch notifies the initiator of the survey of the approval/disapproval decision.

Point of Contact

Questions about the survey approval process may be emailed to the Policy and Regulations Branch at the following email address: Info_Coll@fws.gov