Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Departmental Offices Information Collection Requests, 53052-53053 [2022-18689]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 30, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53052-53053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-18689]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Departmental Offices Information Collection 
Requests

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury will submit the following 
information collection requests to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this 
notice. The public is invited to submit comments on these requests.

DATES: Comments should be received on or before September 29, 2022 to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 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: Copies of the submissions may be 
obtained from Melody Braswell by emailing [email protected], calling 
(202) 622-1035, or viewing the entire information collection request at 
www.reginfo.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Office of Economic Policy

    Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request; Application, Evaluation Design Plan, 
Reports, and Recordkeeping for the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay 
for Results Act (SIPPRA) Grant Program.
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number: 1505-0260.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Description: SIPPRA, enacted February 9, 2018, amends Title XX of 
the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1397 et seq., to provide $100 
million in funding to implement social impact partnership projects'' 
(projects) and feasibility studies for such projects. SIPPRA authorizes 
the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into award agreements with state 
or local governments for projects or feasibility studies. Treasury, in 
consultation with other federal agencies, administers the SIPPRA grant 
program.
    SIPPRA authorizes Treasury to conduct a request for proposals for 
projects, make award determinations, and enter into project award 
agreements. Treasury intends to publish a Notice of Funding 
Availability (NOFA) seeking applications for projects and anticipates 
that ten or more persons will respond to its NOFA announcing 
availability of funding for SIPPRA projects.
    Although Treasury is asking applicants to use the SF-424 and SF-425 
families of common forms for their applications and reports, Treasury 
also expects to solicit additional detailed information from applicants 
to effectively and efficiently assess and evaluate whether applications 
for projects comply with statutory requirements. This request includes 
only the burden for this additional information. The burden for the SF-
424 forms is covered under OMB Control Numbers 4040-0004, 4040-0006, 
4040-0007, 4040-0008, 4040-0009, 4040-0010, and 4040-0013. The burden 
for the SF-425 form is covered under OMB Control Number 4040-0014. The 
additional information includes the following components:
     SAM.gov registration;
    [cir] Notice of Intent to Apply (optional);
    [cir] Project Narrative, to include an Executive Summary;
    [cir] Project Narrative Attachments, to include project budget, 
narrative statement addressing partnership agreements, an estimate of 
the value to the federal government of the interventions being proposed 
in the project, partner qualifications, independent evaluator 
qualifications, evaluation design plan, independent evaluator contract, 
outcome valuation (for which Treasury's SIPPRA website will provide 
guidance to assist applicants), legal compliance, and (optional) 
additional supporting documentation such as a preexisting feasibility 
study;
    [cir] Treasury Office of Civil Rights and Diversity Assurances and 
Certifications, Terms and Conditions, and Compliance Data;
    [cir] Additional documentation related to Title VI of the Civil 
Rights Act;
    [cir] Copy of application proposing privileged or confidential 
information to be redacted;
    [cir] Administrative Reporting, including a Quarterly Performance 
Report, Evaluation Progress Reports, and Final Evaluation Report; and
    [cir] Records Retention requirements.

Use of the Data

    The information collected under this NOFA: (1) Identifies eligible 
recipients and activities; (2) helps identify which applications 
sufficiently address all statutory requirements and which proposed 
projects are the most competitive; (3) determines the appropriate 
amount of funding; (4) allows evaluation of compliance with SIPPRA and 
Federal laws and policies on grants (e.g., Office of Management and 
Budget's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and 
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards 2 CFR part 200, (herein OMB 
Uniform Guidance); Title VI of the Civil Rights Act); (5) tracks 
recipients' progress; and (6) collects statutorily mandated reports 
prepared by recipients' contracted independent evaluators.
    The Notice of Intent is optional; it will assist Treasury and the 
Federal Interagency Council on Social Impact Partnerships (Interagency 
Council) in estimating the number of applications to be received, and 
thus, enable them to conduct intake and evaluation of applications as 
efficiently and economically as possible.
    The application Executive Summary will assist Treasury and the 
Interagency Council in streamlining the processing of applications and 
in optimizing the eligibility phase of application review. The 
application standard forms, Project Narrative, and Project Narrative 
attachment components of the grant application are intended to provide 
Treasury with the information necessary to properly evaluate and assess 
whether applications include statutorily mandated information. 
Additionally, certain components of the application, in particular the 
evaluation design plan and outcome valuation, will enable the 
Interagency Council to determine whether to make statutorily mandated 
certifications regarding the proposed projects.

[[Page 53053]]

    SAM.gov registration is required under the OMB Uniform Guidance.
    To comply with the OMB Uniform Guidance performance and financial 
monitoring and reporting requirements, 2 CFR 200.328-200.330, Treasury 
intends to require a quarterly performance and annual financial report 
from grant recipients. SIPPRA requires that recipients submit progress 
reports prepared by an independent evaluator on a periodic basis and 
before the scheduled time of outcome payments. 42 U.S.C. 1397n-4(d). 
SIPPRA also requires that recipients submit a final report prepared by 
an independent evaluator within six months of a project's completion. 
42 U.S.C. 1397n-4(e). Per the statute, Treasury will use these reports 
to determine if outcome payments are warranted.
    Treasury intends to require recipients under this NOFA to comply 
with the OMB Uniform Guidance's record retention requirement, 2 CFR 
200.334, which requires them to maintain records for three years after 
grant close-out.
    SIPPRA establishes a Commission on Social Impact Partnerships 
(Commission) whose principal obligation is to make recommendations to 
Treasury regarding the funding of SIPPRA projects and feasibility 
studies. 42 U.S.C. 1397n-6. The Commission is subject to the provisions 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which generally requires 
that documents made available to the Commission be made available for 
public inspection and copying. 5 U.S.C. app. section 10(b). Treasury 
may provide to the Commission all complete applications received under 
this NOFA from eligible applicants and would make all such applications 
available for public inspection and copying. However, FACA also 
provides that trade secrets and commercial or financial information 
that is privileged or confidential (confidential business information) 
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) need not be made publicly 
available. 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4). To assist Treasury in complying with 
FACA's public disclosure requirements while protecting confidential 
business information in accordance with FOIA, Treasury expects to 
request applicants to propose redactions of confidential business 
information. An applicant may omit pages for which it does not propose 
any redactions. Treasury expects to review the redactions proposed by 
each applicant.
    Also, applicants must provide qualifications of key project 
personnel and partners. Applicants may voluntarily provide curriculum 
vitae for key project personnel and partners, but the application will 
not require that personally identifiable information (PII) is 
collected.

Planned Revisions to the Data Collection

    For several reasons, Treasury expects to make a number of changes 
in the second SIPPRA NOFA relative to the first SIPPRA NOFA. Treasury 
understands that Congress intended for SIPPRA to be a demonstration 
program, which suggests that trying different strategies and approaches 
in the second NOFA and comparing them to those used in the first NOFA 
may be consistent with congressional intent. Treasury also believes 
that the revisions it plans may increase the number of applications it 
receives, reduce the burden on applicants and stakeholders, reduce 
application review time, and enhance the success of projects. Treasury 
is interested in receiving comments on applicants' experiences with the 
application process under the first NOFA and suggestions on revisions 
Treasury should consider in the second NOFA to make the application and 
application review process more user-friendly and efficient. The most 
salient revisions Treasury plans to make in the second NOFA are 
addressed below.
    Treasury anticipates providing more guidance, expanded FAQs, and 
additional online resources to prospective applicants for the second 
NOFA. More specifically, Treasury plans to expand its guidance on 
evaluation plan design, causal impact measurement requirements, and 
quasi-experimental design criteria. Treasury anticipates the guidance 
it plans to provide in the second NOFA will reduce applicants' burden 
during the application process and recipients' burden throughout the 
project performance period. Treasury also anticipates this guidance 
will be one means by which Treasury and the Interagency Council may be 
able to reduce application review time.
    Treasury also plans to replace the outcome valuation methodology, 
budget impact analysis, required in the first NOFA, with a different 
methodology, benefit-cost analysis. Treasury is planning on making this 
change because testing different approaches to value determination may 
help broaden insights in valuation practices in the pay for success 
field.
    Through its outreach with Federal agencies and external 
stakeholders, Treasury has identified the need to make the application 
and the application review process more efficient for all parties. 
Treasury invites suggestions and specific strategies and efficiencies 
that Treasury may incorporate into the second NOFA that will increase 
administrative efficiencies to the extent permitted under the statute 
and other federal laws and regulations.
    Under the first NOFA, Treasury provided applicants three months 
from the date of NOFA publication in the Federal Register to submit 
their applications. In the second NOFA, Treasury anticipates providing 
approximately five months from the date of publication for applicants 
to submit their applications. Treasury is interested in learning 
whether prospective applicants favor a shorter window of time to submit 
their applications, which would leave more time for project 
implementation, or conversely, if they favor a longer application 
timeframe (e.g., five or six months), which would give applicants more 
time to submit their applications, but less time for project 
implementation. (The statute does not permit Treasury to obligate funds 
beyond February 2028. Treasury is interested in an approach that 
provides an applicant sufficient time to submit an application while 
still providing sufficient project implementation time.)
    Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 25.
    Estimated Frequency of Response: Once; on occasion.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 25.
    Estimated Time per Response: 359 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 8,975 hours.

(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)

Melody Braswell,
Treasury PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-18689 Filed 8-29-22; 8:45 am]
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