Information Collection Submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction Act; Nonprofit Agency Recordkeeping Requirements, 15127-15128 [E8-5768]
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 56 / Friday, March 21, 2008 / Notices
Forest Service, 333 Broadway SE,
Albuquerque, NM 87102.
Individuals who use
telecommunication devices for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern
Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
meeting is open to the public. Panel
discussion is limited to Forest Service
staff and Panel members. However,
project proponents may respond to
questions of clarification from Panel
members or Forest Service staff. Persons
who wish to bring Collaborative Forest
Restoration Program grant proposal
review matters to the attention of the
Panel may file written statements with
the Panel staff before or after the
meeting. Public input sessions will be
provided and individuals who
submitted written statements prior to
the public input sessions will have the
opportunity to address the Panel at
those sessions.
Dated: March 13, 2008.
Faye L. Krueger,
Deputy Regional Forester.
[FR Doc. E8–5610 Filed 3–20–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM
PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR
SEVERELY DISABLED
Information Collection Submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for Approval Under the
Paperwork Reduction Act; Nonprofit
Agency Recordkeeping Requirements
Committee for Purchase From
People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Committee for Purchase
From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled (The Committee) is submitting
the collection of information listed
below to OMB for approval under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction
Act. This notice solicits comments on
that collection of information.
DATES: The Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) has up to 60 days to
approve or disapprove information
collection but may respond after 30
days. Therefore, to ensure maximum
consideration, your comments should
be received by OMB by April 20, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should
be addressed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Attention: Desk Officer for the
Committee for Purchase from People
VerDate Aug<31>2005
18:33 Mar 20, 2008
Jkt 214001
Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled,
Office of Management and Budget, 725
17th Street, NW., Room 10222,
Washington, DC 20503. Commenters are
encouraged to submit responses
electronically by e-mail to:
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov or via fax
to (202) 395–6974. Commenters should
include the following subject line in
their response: ‘‘Comment: 3037–0005
Nonprofit Agency Responsibilities.’’
Persons submitting comments
electronically should not submit paper
copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Janet Yandik, Information Management
Specialist, Committee for Purchase
From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800,
Arlington, VA 22202–3259; phone (703)
603–2147; fax (703) 603–0655; or e-mail
rulescomment@abilityone.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office
of Management and Budget (OMB)
regulations at 5 CFR part 1320, which
implement provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), require that interested members
of the public and affected agencies have
an opportunity to comment on
information collection and
recordkeeping activities (see 5 CFR
1320.8(d)). The Committee is submitting
a request to OMB to renew its approval
of the collection of information for
nonprofit agency responsibilities related
to recordkeeping. The Committee is
requesting a 3-year term of approval for
this information collection activity.
Federal agencies may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number. The OMB control
number for this collection of
information is 3037–0005.
The Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) Act
of 1971 (41 U.S.C. 46–48c) is the
authorizing legislation for the
AbilityOne Program. (The name of the
JWOD Program was changed to the
AbilityOne Program on November 28,
2006, Federal Register Volume 71,
Number 227, Page 68492–68494). The
AbilityOne Program creates jobs and
training opportunities for people who
are blind or who have other severe
disabilities. Its primary means of doing
so is by requiring Government agencies
to purchase selected products and
services from nonprofit agencies
employing such individuals. The JWOD
Act, through the AbilityOne Program, is
administered by the Committee. Two
national, independent organizations,
National Industries for the Blind (NIB)
and NISH, help State and private
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
15127
nonprofit agencies participate in the
AbilityOne Program. The implementing
regulations for the JWOD Act, which are
located at 41 CFR Chapter 51, detail the
recordkeeping requirements imposed on
nonprofit agencies participating in the
AbilityOne Program. Section 51–2.4 of
the regulations describes the criteria
that the Committee must consider when
adding a product or service to its
Procurement List. One of these criteria
is that a proposed addition must
demonstrate a potential to generate
employment for people who are blind or
severely disabled. The Committee
decided that evidence that employment
will be generated for those individuals
consists of recordkeeping that tracks
direct labor and revenues for products
or services sold through an AbilityOne
Program contract. This recordkeeping
can be done on each individual
AbilityOne project or by product or
service family. In addition, Section 51–
4.3 of the regulations requires that
nonprofit agencies keep records on
direct labor hours performed by each
worker and keep an individual record or
file for each blind or severely disabled
individual documenting that
individual’s disability and capabilities
for competitive employment. The
records that nonprofit agencies must
keep in accordance with Section 51–4.3
of the regulations constitute the bulk of
the hour burden associated with this
OMB control number.
On December 21, 2007, the Committee
published in the Federal Register
(Volume 72, Number 245, Pages 72665–
72666) a notice requesting public
comment on these recordkeeping
requirements for 60 days, ending
February 19, 2008. By that date, the
Committee received comments from 44
respondents with a total of 75
comments.
Seven comments were received
opposing the request by indicating that
this is a new recordkeeping
requirement. There is nothing new in
the Committee’s request. The Committee
did make a change in its recordkeeping
requirements in 2002 to add
recordkeeping of the direct labor hours
and sales for AbilityOne projects on at
least a product or service family basis.
This change was approved by OMB and
was renewed in 2005. There is no
change to the recordkeeping
requirements that the Committee is
requesting OMB to approve again.
Eight comments were received
questioning the necessity of the
recordkeeping requirement and if it has
any practical utility. The JWOD Act
requires that 75% of the direct labor of
all work done at a participating
nonprofit agency be done by people
E:\FR\FM\21MRN1.SGM
21MRN1
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
15128
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 56 / Friday, March 21, 2008 / Notices
who are blind or severely disabled. A
number of these comments also stated
that this requirement does nothing to
increase jobs for people with
disabilities. This recordkeeping
requirement is to ensure that those
nonprofit agencies participating in the
AbilityOne Program employ people who
meet the Act’s definitions. This
requirement does not involve any
reporting requirements by nonprofits,
only that the nonprofits keep records
that can be used to document their
compliance with the requirements of the
Act. The requirement to keep records on
the direct labor hours of AbilityOne
projects is to ensure that the projects are
suitable to remain on the Committee’s
Procurement List. Without this
recordkeeping requirement, the
Committee would have no way of
verifying that those nonprofits that
participate in the AbilityOne Program
were meeting the requirements of the
JWOD Act.
Thirty-eight of the comments referred
to the accuracy of the Committee’s
burden estimate. The comments
included estimates of the actual burden
for the recordkeeping requirement that
ranged from 25 minutes per person who
is blind or severely disabled to 35.6
hours per person who is blind or
severely disabled.
The Committee has used a burden
estimate of 5 hours per agency since
2002 and before that, 3 hours per agency
since at least 1992, and has not received
any prior comments as to its accuracy.
However, after review, the Committee
agrees that 5 hours per agency is
incorrect and that the burden is much
higher. The range of burden estimates is
a result of the many differences between
individual nonprofit agencies and a
misunderstanding of the recordkeeping
requirement being considered. Many of
the burden estimates identified in the
comments included tasks that are
required to meet other requirements,
such as those of the Department of
Labor, or would be performed by the
nonprofit agency even if they were not
in the AbilityOne Program.
Based on an analysis of the
information contained in the comments
and discussions with several other
nonprofit agencies during the comment
period, the Committee believes that a
reasonable burden estimate is 2.5 hours
per person that is blind or severely
disabled. Currently, there are over 600
nonprofit agencies participating in the
AbilityOne Program with employee
numbers ranging from less than 10 to
more than 2,000. The average number of
people who are blind or severely
disabled at participating nonprofit
agencies was 218 in fiscal year 2007;
VerDate Aug<31>2005
18:33 Mar 20, 2008
Jkt 214001
therefore, the current recordkeeping
burden will be estimated at 550 hours
annually per nonprofit agency. The
Committee recognizes that the burden
will be higher for some nonprofit
agencies based on their size, types of
disabilities served, and whether or not
they provide rehabilitation functions.
However, based on the information
submitted, the Committee believes that,
on average, 550 hours per nonprofit
agency is a reasonable burden estimate
of those tasks imposed directly by this
recordkeeping requirement.
Sixteen comments were received with
suggestions on minimizing the burden.
These included making changes to the
JWOD Act, adhering to the Act as
promulgated and intended by Congress,
abolishing the Committee, deleting
requirements from the Committee
regulations, not requiring annual
evaluations on some disabilities, and
that the Committee include the cost of
meeting the recordkeeping requirements
in the price of products and services on
the Procurement List. The Committee
has reviewed its regulations and
believes that its current regulations are
in keeping with its administration of the
JWOD Act, and those recommendations
that would require a change to the Act
itself are, therefore, beyond the scope of
the Committee’s information collection
authority. One commenter questioned
the necessity for requiring annual
evaluations of all people with severe
disabilities. This issue had previously
been addressed by the Committee and
determined that the requirement exists.
Five comments were received that do
not fit within the four areas about which
the Committee requested comments.
One commenter requested that the
Committee’s request be denied; one
discussed the difficulties involved with
meeting the requirements of different
Federal and State requirements; one
requested that the Committee seriously
consider the comments from all
nonprofit agencies; one commented that
this request was perpetuating the
inefficiencies which hamper the
AbilityOne Program; and one comment
was that the Committee had made
substantive and material modifications
to collection requirements after
approval by OMB. The Committee
believes that this recordkeeping
requirement is critical for the
Committee to determine if nonprofit
agencies are in compliance with the
JWOD Act. There has been no
substantive or material modification to
collection requirements since 2002, and
those made in 2002 were approved by
OMB in 2002 and renewed in 2005. The
Committee’s responsibility to
administer the Act requires that certain
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
information be available to them to
ensure that the purposes of the Act are
met. Reasonable requirements by
participating nonprofit agencies will
permit the Committee to gather data
required to report the results to the
President and to Congress.
Dated: March 18, 2008.
Kimberly M. Zeich,
Director, Program Operations.
[FR Doc. E8–5768 Filed 3–20–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353–01–P
COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM
PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR
SEVERELY DISABLED
Procurement List; Additions and
Deletions
Committee for Purchase From
People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Additions to and Deletions from
the Procurement List.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This action adds to the
Procurement List products and services
to be furnished by nonprofit agencies
employing persons who are blind or
have other severe disabilities, and
deletes from the Procurement List
products and a service previously
furnished by such agencies.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 20, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase
From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800,
1421 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington, Virginia 22202–3259.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kimberly M. Zeich, Telephone: (703)
603–7740, Fax: (703) 603–0655, or email CMTEFedReg@jwod.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Additions:
On January 18 and January 25, 2008,
the Committee for Purchase From
People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled published notice (73 FR 3450;
4519) of proposed additions to the
Procurement List.
After consideration of the material
presented to it concerning capability of
qualified nonprofit agencies to provide
the products and services and impact of
the additions on the current or most
recent contractors, the Committee has
determined that the products and
services listed below are suitable for
procurement by the Federal Government
under 41 U.S.C. 46–48c and 41 CFR 51–
2.4.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
I certify that the following action will
not have a significant impact on a
E:\FR\FM\21MRN1.SGM
21MRN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 56 (Friday, March 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15127-15128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5768]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Information Collection Submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction Act; Nonprofit
Agency Recordkeeping Requirements
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or
Severely Disabled (The Committee) is submitting the collection of
information listed below to OMB for approval under the provisions of
the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice solicits comments on that
collection of information.
DATES: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has up to 60 days to
approve or disapprove information collection but may respond after 30
days. Therefore, to ensure maximum consideration, your comments should
be received by OMB by April 20, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk Officer for the
Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled,
Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Room 10222,
Washington, DC 20503. Commenters are encouraged to submit responses
electronically by e-mail to: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov or via fax to
(202) 395-6974. Commenters should include the following subject line in
their response: ``Comment: 3037-0005 Nonprofit Agency
Responsibilities.'' Persons submitting comments electronically should
not submit paper copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Yandik, Information Management
Specialist, Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or
Severely Disabled, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway, Jefferson Plaza 2,
Suite 10800, Arlington, VA 22202-3259; phone (703) 603-2147; fax (703)
603-0655; or e-mail rulescomment@abilityone.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
regulations at 5 CFR part 1320, which implement provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), require that
interested members of the public and affected agencies have an
opportunity to comment on information collection and recordkeeping
activities (see 5 CFR 1320.8(d)). The Committee is submitting a request
to OMB to renew its approval of the collection of information for
nonprofit agency responsibilities related to recordkeeping. The
Committee is requesting a 3-year term of approval for this information
collection activity.
Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays
a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this
collection of information is 3037-0005.
The Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act of 1971 (41 U.S.C. 46-48c) is
the authorizing legislation for the AbilityOne Program. (The name of
the JWOD Program was changed to the AbilityOne Program on November 28,
2006, Federal Register Volume 71, Number 227, Page 68492-68494). The
AbilityOne Program creates jobs and training opportunities for people
who are blind or who have other severe disabilities. Its primary means
of doing so is by requiring Government agencies to purchase selected
products and services from nonprofit agencies employing such
individuals. The JWOD Act, through the AbilityOne Program, is
administered by the Committee. Two national, independent organizations,
National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH, help State and
private nonprofit agencies participate in the AbilityOne Program. The
implementing regulations for the JWOD Act, which are located at 41 CFR
Chapter 51, detail the recordkeeping requirements imposed on nonprofit
agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program. Section 51-2.4 of the
regulations describes the criteria that the Committee must consider
when adding a product or service to its Procurement List. One of these
criteria is that a proposed addition must demonstrate a potential to
generate employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. The
Committee decided that evidence that employment will be generated for
those individuals consists of recordkeeping that tracks direct labor
and revenues for products or services sold through an AbilityOne
Program contract. This recordkeeping can be done on each individual
AbilityOne project or by product or service family. In addition,
Section 51-4.3 of the regulations requires that nonprofit agencies keep
records on direct labor hours performed by each worker and keep an
individual record or file for each blind or severely disabled
individual documenting that individual's disability and capabilities
for competitive employment. The records that nonprofit agencies must
keep in accordance with Section 51-4.3 of the regulations constitute
the bulk of the hour burden associated with this OMB control number.
On December 21, 2007, the Committee published in the Federal
Register (Volume 72, Number 245, Pages 72665-72666) a notice requesting
public comment on these recordkeeping requirements for 60 days, ending
February 19, 2008. By that date, the Committee received comments from
44 respondents with a total of 75 comments.
Seven comments were received opposing the request by indicating
that this is a new recordkeeping requirement. There is nothing new in
the Committee's request. The Committee did make a change in its
recordkeeping requirements in 2002 to add recordkeeping of the direct
labor hours and sales for AbilityOne projects on at least a product or
service family basis. This change was approved by OMB and was renewed
in 2005. There is no change to the recordkeeping requirements that the
Committee is requesting OMB to approve again.
Eight comments were received questioning the necessity of the
recordkeeping requirement and if it has any practical utility. The JWOD
Act requires that 75% of the direct labor of all work done at a
participating nonprofit agency be done by people
[[Page 15128]]
who are blind or severely disabled. A number of these comments also
stated that this requirement does nothing to increase jobs for people
with disabilities. This recordkeeping requirement is to ensure that
those nonprofit agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program employ
people who meet the Act's definitions. This requirement does not
involve any reporting requirements by nonprofits, only that the
nonprofits keep records that can be used to document their compliance
with the requirements of the Act. The requirement to keep records on
the direct labor hours of AbilityOne projects is to ensure that the
projects are suitable to remain on the Committee's Procurement List.
Without this recordkeeping requirement, the Committee would have no way
of verifying that those nonprofits that participate in the AbilityOne
Program were meeting the requirements of the JWOD Act.
Thirty-eight of the comments referred to the accuracy of the
Committee's burden estimate. The comments included estimates of the
actual burden for the recordkeeping requirement that ranged from 25
minutes per person who is blind or severely disabled to 35.6 hours per
person who is blind or severely disabled.
The Committee has used a burden estimate of 5 hours per agency
since 2002 and before that, 3 hours per agency since at least 1992, and
has not received any prior comments as to its accuracy. However, after
review, the Committee agrees that 5 hours per agency is incorrect and
that the burden is much higher. The range of burden estimates is a
result of the many differences between individual nonprofit agencies
and a misunderstanding of the recordkeeping requirement being
considered. Many of the burden estimates identified in the comments
included tasks that are required to meet other requirements, such as
those of the Department of Labor, or would be performed by the
nonprofit agency even if they were not in the AbilityOne Program.
Based on an analysis of the information contained in the comments
and discussions with several other nonprofit agencies during the
comment period, the Committee believes that a reasonable burden
estimate is 2.5 hours per person that is blind or severely disabled.
Currently, there are over 600 nonprofit agencies participating in the
AbilityOne Program with employee numbers ranging from less than 10 to
more than 2,000. The average number of people who are blind or severely
disabled at participating nonprofit agencies was 218 in fiscal year
2007; therefore, the current recordkeeping burden will be estimated at
550 hours annually per nonprofit agency. The Committee recognizes that
the burden will be higher for some nonprofit agencies based on their
size, types of disabilities served, and whether or not they provide
rehabilitation functions. However, based on the information submitted,
the Committee believes that, on average, 550 hours per nonprofit agency
is a reasonable burden estimate of those tasks imposed directly by this
recordkeeping requirement.
Sixteen comments were received with suggestions on minimizing the
burden. These included making changes to the JWOD Act, adhering to the
Act as promulgated and intended by Congress, abolishing the Committee,
deleting requirements from the Committee regulations, not requiring
annual evaluations on some disabilities, and that the Committee include
the cost of meeting the recordkeeping requirements in the price of
products and services on the Procurement List. The Committee has
reviewed its regulations and believes that its current regulations are
in keeping with its administration of the JWOD Act, and those
recommendations that would require a change to the Act itself are,
therefore, beyond the scope of the Committee's information collection
authority. One commenter questioned the necessity for requiring annual
evaluations of all people with severe disabilities. This issue had
previously been addressed by the Committee and determined that the
requirement exists.
Five comments were received that do not fit within the four areas
about which the Committee requested comments. One commenter requested
that the Committee's request be denied; one discussed the difficulties
involved with meeting the requirements of different Federal and State
requirements; one requested that the Committee seriously consider the
comments from all nonprofit agencies; one commented that this request
was perpetuating the inefficiencies which hamper the AbilityOne
Program; and one comment was that the Committee had made substantive
and material modifications to collection requirements after approval by
OMB. The Committee believes that this recordkeeping requirement is
critical for the Committee to determine if nonprofit agencies are in
compliance with the JWOD Act. There has been no substantive or material
modification to collection requirements since 2002, and those made in
2002 were approved by OMB in 2002 and renewed in 2005. The Committee's
responsibility to administer the Act requires that certain information
be available to them to ensure that the purposes of the Act are met.
Reasonable requirements by participating nonprofit agencies will permit
the Committee to gather data required to report the results to the
President and to Congress.
Dated: March 18, 2008.
Kimberly M. Zeich,
Director, Program Operations.
[FR Doc. E8-5768 Filed 3-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
