Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request, 39583-39584 [2010-16752]

Agencies

• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 131 (Friday, July 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39583-39584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16752]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice; 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, Public Law 104-13. 
This is the second notice for public comment; the first was published 
in the Federal Register at 75 FR 14633, and four 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. The full submission may be found 
at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Comments regarding (a) 
Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to 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 should be addressed to: Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for National 
Science Foundation, 725--17th Street, NW., Room 10235, Washington, DC 
20503, and to Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National 
Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 295, Arlington, VA 
22230, or by e-mail to splimpton@nsf.gov. Comments regarding these 
information collections 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.
    Under OMB regulations, the agency may continue to conduct or 
sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending 
at OMB.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to Suzanne Plimpton, Reports 
Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, 
Room 295, Arlington, VA 22230, or by e-mail to splimpton@nsf.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Call or write, Suzanne Plimpton, 
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson 
Boulevard, Room 295, Arlington, VA 22230, or by e-mail to 
splimpton@nsf.gov. Individuals who use a telecommunications device 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 time, Monday through 
Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: An announcement of the NSF request for 
clearance was published in the Federal Register on Friday, March 26, 
2010 (Volume 75, Number 58). NSF received four public comments in 
response to the announcement.
    One comment came from Ms. Jean Public of Whitehouse Station, NJ who 
objected to the information collection. Ms. Public had no specific 
suggestions for altering the data collection plans other than to 
discontinue them entirely. Because the comment does not pertain to the 
collection of information on the required forms for which NSF is 
seeking OMB approval, NSF is proceeding with the clearance request.

[[Page 39584]]

    Another comment came from Rachel Blanchard Carpenter at The 
Brookings Institution. She requested a copy of the HERD pilot test 
instrument and instructions which were provided to her.
    A third comment came from Bob Mullen at the University of Maryland. 
He requested a copy of the FY 2010 survey instrument. Because the draft 
of the instrument was not ready at the time of his request, NSF 
provided a copy of the pilot questionnaire and told him the final 2010 
questionnaire would be sent to all institutions later this summer once 
OMB clearance was obtained.
    A final comment came from Tony DeCrappeo and David Kennedy with the 
Council on Governmental Relations (Attachment 5). They expressed 
general support for the survey and highlighted two issues for further 
consideration. The first point was a request for the NSF to carefully 
weigh the administrative burden of the additional survey items in 
evaluating the first year of the full rollout of the survey, and to be 
open to making additional changes should the burden prove too great. 
NSF has already taken into account the administrative burden expressed 
by the pilot institutions and eliminated four of the pilot test 
questions from the FY 2010 survey. NSF will continue to monitor 
institution concerns during the FY 2010 survey and make adjustments to 
the survey as necessary in subsequent years.
    The second point was a request for more information regarding why 
the breakdown of institutional funds in Question 1 remains 
confidential. Confidentiality has been promised from the beginning of 
data collection for this sub-item in 1978 because many institutional 
respondents expressed hesitance at releasing information on the 
unreimbursed indirect costs and cost sharing portion of their R&D 
expenditures total. The main concerns were that (1) since many 
institutions do not ``book'' such expenses in their accounting systems, 
they were concerned about releasing such estimates that could not be 
tracked back on a project-by-project basis, and (2) the information 
would be used to justify lowering indirect cost reimbursement on 
grants, or to judge public institutions by how well they recovered 
indirect costs on R&D projects. Respondents felt that both uses would 
be inappropriate and misleading, because of the variety of types of 
projects and sponsors represented within the total. Because certain 
agencies cap their indirect cost reimbursement well below a normal 
institutional negotiated rate, some amount of unreimbursed costs is 
necessary and expected. NSF asked about retaining the confidentiality 
of these sub-items on the redesigned HERD survey during our recent site 
visits, cognitive testing, and during the pilot test. The majority of 
respondents preferred keeping the confidentiality for the reasons 
stated above.
    Over the past three years as part of the major survey redesign 
project, NSF has conducted over 30 institution visits, 40 telephone 
debriefings at the conclusion of the FY 2009 pilot test, and has also 
held several workshops and panels with respondents and regular data 
users. These meetings provided a wealth of information on the impact of 
the survey's current and planned data requests upon academic 
respondents. Copies of the summary reports from these activities are 
available upon request.
    Title of Collection: Higher Education Research and Development 
Survey
    OMB Approval Number: 3145-0100
    Abstract: The Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at 
Universities and Colleges originated in fiscal year (FY) 1954 and has 
been conducted annually since FY 1972. The survey is the academic 
research and development component of the NSF statistical program that 
seeks to provide a ``central clearinghouse for the collection, 
interpretation, and analysis of data on the availability of, and the 
current and projected need for, scientific and technical resources in 
the United States, and to provide a source of information for policy 
formulation by other agencies of the federal government,'' as mandated 
in the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. Since 2007, NSF has 
been working on a redesign and expansion of the survey to better 
reflect the current state of academic R&D. The redesigned survey was 
renamed the Higher Education R&D Survey and was pilot tested with a 
random sample of 40 institutions during the FY 2009 survey cycle. 
Beginning with the FY 2010 cycle, the redesigned survey will be 
administered to the full population of research-performing academic 
institutions.
    Use of the Information: The proposed project will continue the 
annual survey cycle for three years. The FY 2010 Higher Education R&D 
Survey will be administered to an expected minimum of 760 institutions. 
A shorter version of the survey asking for R&D expenditures by source 
of funding and character of work (basic, applied, or development) will 
be administered to the 38 Federally Funded Research and Development 
Centers.
    The Higher Education R&D Survey will provide continuity of 
statistics on R&D expenditures by source of funding and field of 
research, with separate data requested on current fund expenditures for 
research equipment by field. Further breakdowns are collected on funds 
passed through to subrecipients and funds received as a subrecipient, 
and on R&D expenditures by field from specific federal agency sources. 
New items on the survey include R&D expenditures funded from foreign 
sources, R&D within an institution's medical school, interdisciplinary 
R&D expenditures, and R&D expenditures by type of funding mechanism 
(contracts vs. grants) and cost category (salaries, equipment, 
software, etc.). Other new items request non-expenditure information 
such as headcounts of research personnel, counts of R&D proposals 
submitted, and counts and total dollar values of R&D awards.
    Data are published in NSF's annual publication series Academic R&D 
Expenditures and are available electronically on the World Wide Web.
    The survey is a fully automated web data collection effort and is 
handled primarily by administrators in university sponsored programs 
and accounting offices. To minimize burden, institutions are provided 
with an abundance of guidance and resources on the web, and are able to 
respond via a downloadable excel spreadsheet if desired. Each 
institution's record is pre-loaded with the 2 previous years of 
comparable data that facilitate editing and trend checking. Response to 
this voluntary survey has exceeded 95 percent each year, and response 
to the pilot test of the new survey is expected to be 100 percent.
    The average burden report for the FY 2009 pilot test institutions 
was 66 hours, 21 hours of one-time programming and 45 hours of annual 
reporting burden.

    Dated: July 6, 2010.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2010-16752 Filed 7-8-10; 8:45 am]
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