Information Collection; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015), 1482-1490 [2024-31659]

Download as PDF 1482 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices the Office of Agreements at (202) 523– 5793 or tradeanalysis@fmc.gov. Agreement No.: 201347–001. Agreement Name: Sallaum/Hyundai Glovis Space Charter Agreement. Parties: Hyundai Glovis Co. Ltd.; Sallaum Lines SA. Filing Party: Wayne Rohde, Cozen O’Connor. Synopsis: The amendment expands the geographic scope of the Agreement, clarifies language in light of the expansion of the scope, and adds new Articles 5.1(b) and 5.1(c). Proposed Effective Date: 1/3/2025. Location: https://www2.fmc.gov/ FMC.Agreements.Web/Public/ AgreementHistory/33505. Dated: January 3, 2025. Alanna Beck, Federal Register Alternate Liaison Officer. [FR Doc. 2025–00229 Filed 1–7–25; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6730–02–P FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Sunshine Act Meetings 2 p.m., Tuesday, January 28, 2025. PLACE: The Richard V. Backley Hearing Room, Room 511, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 504 North, Washington, DC 20004 (enter from F Street entrance). STATUS: Open. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The Commission will consider and act upon the following in open session: Secretary of Labor v. Morton Salt, Inc., Docket No. CENT 2022–0176. (Issues include whether the Judge erred in concluding that violations of 30 CFR 57.3200 and 57.11053(c) were not significant and substantial.) Any person attending this meeting who requires special accessibility features and/or auxiliary aids, such as sign language interpreters, must inform the Commission in advance of those needs. Subject to 29 CFR 2706.150(a)(3) and 2706.160(d). CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: Emogene Johnson (202) 434–9935/(202) 708–9300 for TDD Relay/1–800–877– 8339 for toll free. Phone Number for Listening to Meeting: 1–(866) 236–7472. Passcode: 678–100. Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552b. lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 TIME AND DATE: Dated: January 6, 2025. Sarah L. Stewart, Deputy General Counsel. [FR Doc. 2025–00360 Filed 1–6–25; 4:15 pm] BILLING CODE 6735–01–P VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Sunshine Act Meetings 10 a.m., Tuesday, January 28, 2025. PLACE: The Richard V. Backley Hearing Room, Room 511, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 504 North, Washington, DC 20004 (enter from F Street entrance). STATUS: Open. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The Commission will hear oral argument in the matter Secretary of Labor v. Morton Salt, Inc., Docket No. CENT 2022–0176. (Issues include whether the Judge erred in concluding that violations of 30 CFR 57.3200 and 57.11053(c) were not significant and substantial.) Any person attending this meeting who requires special accessibility features and/or auxiliary aids, such as sign language interpreters, must inform the Commission in advance of those needs. Subject to 29 CFR 2706.150(a)(3) and 2706.160(d). CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: Emogene Johnson (202) 434–9935/(202) 708–9300 for TDD Relay/1–800–877– 8339 for toll free. Phone Number for Listening to Meeting: 1–(866) 236–7472. Passcode: 678–100. Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552b. TIME AND DATE: Dated: January 6, 2025. Sarah L. Stewart, Deputy General Counsel. [FR Doc. 2025–00365 Filed 1–6–25; 4:15 pm] BILLING CODE 6735–01–P GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION [OMB Control No. 3090–XXXX; Docket No. 2025–0001; Sequence No. 2] Information Collection; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015) Submit comments identified by Information Collection 3090–XXXX; ‘‘Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015)’’ to: https:// www.regulations.gov. Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching for ‘‘Information Collection 3090–XXXX; ‘‘Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015).’’ Select the link ‘‘Submit a Comment’’ that corresponds with ‘‘Information Collection 3090– XXXX; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015).’’ Follow the instructions provided at the ‘‘Submit a Comment’’ screen. Please include your name, company name (if any), and ‘‘Information Collection 3090–XXXX; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015)’’ on your attached document. If your comment cannot be submitted using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the points of contact in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate instructions. Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite ‘‘Information Collection 3090–XXXX; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015),’’ in all correspondence related to this collection. Comments received generally will be posted without change to https:// www.regulations.gov, including any personal and/or business confidential information provided. To confirm receipt of your comment(s), please check www.regulations.gov, approximately two-to-three days after submission to verify posting. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colin C. Bennett, Human Resources Specialist, Office of Human Resources Management, Strategic Planning, Policy, and Training Division, at telephone 240–418–6822 or via email to colin.bennett@gsa.gov for clarification of content. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: ADDRESSES: AGENCY: A. Purpose Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new information collection requirement. DATES: Submit comments on or before March 10, 2025. Federal civil service personnel law, codified at 5 U.S.C. 5379, allows Federal agencies to use appropriated funds, revenue funds, or revolving funds, to pay for all or part of student loan debts incurred by job candidates or existing agency employees. By law, each candidate or employee is limited to a benefit of $10,000 per calendar year and a lifetime limit of $60,000 (at any agency or combination of Federal agencies). This benefit is paid by the Federal agency directly to the financial institution, and not to the job candidate Office of Human Resource Management, Strategic Planning, Policy, and Training Division, General Services Administration (GSA). ACTION: Notice; request for comments. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 or employee. When paid by an agency to the lender, these benefits are considered taxable wages and are subject to income tax withholding and Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. There are many eligibility requirements that must be met before agencies can transfer funds to a candidate’s or employee’s lender. First, the student loans must be made, insured, or guaranteed under parts B, D or E of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.). Normally these loans are part of the U.S. Department of Education’s William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Direct Consolidation Loans are all common types of Direct Loans. Only certain types of Federal appointments are eligible. Non-career temporary appointments limited to 1 year or less are not eligible. Non-career term appointments of less than 3 years are also excluded. ‘‘Schedule C’’ political appointments in the Title 5 excepted service are also not eligible. All candidates or employees who are eligible, and who receive benefits, must sign a service agreement to remain with the Federal Government (sometimes with the specific agency) for a period no less than 3 years. In practice, if payments are made annually over the course of multiple years, the service agreement length can last as long as 6 years under this recruitment and retention bonus authority. To ensure that Federal funds are only used in an appropriate and strategic manner, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has promulgated civil services implementing regulations, found at 5 CFR part 537. These regulations stipulate that this authority is available to job candidates, who are not currently part of the Federal civil service, when the candidates are highlyqualified and the agency otherwise would encounter difficulty in filling the positions with highly qualified individuals. This authority is also available to facilitate the retention of agency employees when those employees would otherwise be likely to leave the Federal service agency for outside employment. In the retention context, agencies must determine that it VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 is essential to retain the employees based upon their high or unique qualifications or a special agency need. GSA, like many Federal agencies, has administrative approval controls to make sure that funds are only used for the most appropriate recruitment or retention cases. At GSA, the administrative approval process is currently very cumbersome and laborious because it requires a customwritten memorandum by a ‘‘Requesting Official’’ (i.e., the selecting official or employee’s supervisor), routed through a senior ‘‘Reviewing Official’’ for budgetary approval, and then finally routed through three different divisions within the Office of Human Resources and then one additional office in the office of the Chief Financial Officer. Because each memorandum is customwritten, the agency is only able to transactionally process a very small number of requests each year (i.e., typically 1 to 7 requests annually, across an agency of nearly 13,000 employees). In an effort to improve Government efficiency, GSA proposes to standardize and streamline its agency process for this personnel authority by creating a new agency form, GSA Form 5015, ‘‘Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement.’’ The purpose of this form will be to collect together, in one place, information necessary to determine a job candidate’s or employee’s eligibility. The information collected will include the type of loan, the name and address of the lender, and a justification statement summarizing the candidate’s or employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities that support a ‘‘highly-qualified’’ designation. The proposed form also will contain standard signature blocks for all 6 agency signatures that are required for transactional processing. The agency’s current processing procedures are contained within the public administrative Order 9537.1B, ‘‘Student Loan Repayment Plan,’’ found at https://www.gsa.gov/. The proposed form also contains the Service Agreement itself, so that all signatures and binding terms and conditions of the agreement are centralized into one location. Public notice for GSA Form 5015 is sought because non-Federal job candidates may partially complete PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 1483 certain selections of the form, to aid the selecting official who is responsible for the vacancy announcement. For student loan repayment applications that are approved and processed, the GSA Form 5015 will be placed into the future or existing employee’s Official Personnel File (OPF) as an agency temporary document, in accordance with the OPM Guide to Personnel Recordkeeping (available at https://www.opm.gov). B. Annual Reporting Burden Respondents: 25 per year. Responses Per Respondent: 1. Total Annual Responses: 25. Hours per Response: 8. Total Burden Hours: 200. C. Public Comments Public comments are solicited to help GSA understand whether or not creating the proposed new GSA Form 5015 will help to streamline the current consideration and approval process as well as save labor hours in the creation of requests and their subsequent approval and administrative routing. The agency would also like to know: (a) whether this collection of information is necessary, (b) whether it will have practical utility, (c) whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate (and based on valid assumptions and methodology), (d) whether or not there are ways to enhance the new form’s utility and clarity of the information to be collected, and (e) whether or not there might be ways in to minimize the data collection burden through the use of information technology. Obtaining Copies of Proposals: We have provided a copy of the proposed draft GSA Form 5015 at the end of this notice below the signature block. A copy of the proposed draft form can alternatively be obtained through GSA’s Regulatory Secretariat Division by calling (202) 501–4755 or emailing GSARegSec@gsa.gov. Please cite OMB Control No. 3090–XXXX, Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015), in all correspondence. Lois Mandell, Director, Regulatory Secretariat Division, General Services Administration. E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 1484 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices GSA Form 5015 J STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENTAPPLICATION ANO:SER.V"ICES:AGREEMENT' • .. 0MB OonttofNo;: Expiratl~ti Date;· ... .. PARTkAPPLICATION l 1. Name (Last Name,. First Name, Middle Initial) 2. Social Security No. 3.. Position Title I 4. Occupational Series 5. Pay Plan l 6. Grade 7. GSA Component (j PJ;,i~lic Building Seryice (PBS) tl F:e,cferai Acquisition Service □ Staff Office If staff Office; name of Staff Office: .... 8. Organization correl:lPQndence i:lymbol: 9. ApPQintment Type: o Competitive Service o Excepted Service 10. ls this a term appointment? D Yes □ No Note: If yes, the term appointment must be 3 years or longer or lead to PQSSible conversion to the competitiveffrvice. 11. Ba$1s of application: o Recruitment □ Retention of an existing GSA ernptoyee If Recruitment, provide effective date•.ofGSAapPQintment (MM/OO/YYVY) 12.. Annual loan repayment amount (not to exceed $10,000): 13. Number of years of requested benefits: □ 1 Yeat(requires 3 years of service) D 2 Years (requires 3 years of service) o 3Years (requires 3years of service) □ 4 Years (requires 4 years of service) □ 5 Years (requires 5 years of service) O 6· Years (requires 8 years of. service) VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.009</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 N<>hl: Fon$Cl"liltment, the servicEHigreementperiod begins UPQn.appointment. For retention, the period begins on the date this form is sign~, Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices 1485 GSA Form 5015 14. T;;1x Handling Pli\Yr(lems by the Government to third parties (sUth as lenders) ate coni;i(feted taicable incotre under iMome and employment tlax rul~. Y<>u have t\NO.· tiptlons on howthls tax Obffgatton can be handled (5 C.F.R;.§.537;106(a)(6)). Check the appropriate boX. D Have the taxes withheld from the payment to the lender, which Will mean that the actual payment tothef-,mder Will be smaller than originally anticipated; D Make the total paymentto the lender but have GSA Payroll setup.a collectible debt which can be repaid either by check written to GSA or through periodic installment deductions from future paychecks, under 5 U.S.C. § 5514. Note: There is no cost differeni:» to the job candidate or employee between eitherof these two ehoi~s. Neither choice involves an intere$1:eharge by GSA.. 15. Justification Statemen~ ~ovlde: ai:X)n,prehensiv$ jus~ficati!).llsta~rnentjwritten by supervisor anti applicant) Note: Stucl!ilnt loan repayrrtent b$nefflsJHe only available ifthe 10b candidate or GSA employee. can demonstrate that he otsheJs highly-qualified. FotapplieatiOns related to recruitment, the hiring official most demonstrate that the positi6n WQUld be difficult to fill Without this workplace benefit. Fol' applications based on retention, the en,ployee's current supervisor must demonstrate thatthe employee otherwise is likely to leave the agency for employment outside the Federal service and it is essential to retain the employee based on the. employee's high or unique qualifications or a special need of the agency. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.010</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 2 1486 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices GSA Form 5015 18. Signature of Applicant (Le. JQb Candidate or GSA Employee) By$ig/Jingthis.sgreement, you agree.to the. tefl'rls. attached. 17. Date (MMlODIYYYY) PART II: TERMS OF AGREEMENT GSA will repay the amounts specified in the.above application directly to the holder of the qualifying federally-insured student loan, on the job candidate or employee's behalf. GSA is not obligated to pay student loan repayment benefits based upon a service agreement with another agency. The (lfOS$ repayment ali10unt$ar:e su~jl;!cttof'ecl~rai, state, and lod:11 ineornefaxandsocial security and Medicare taxwithhotd,ng, Whieh wm be subtracted from the.gr:()'$$ amount before the repayment is made to th.e hokier of theJoan(s). This:seMce agreement does. notconstifUfe,.a. ii9ht, promise, of entitlement for continued employmento'.r' non-competitiVe converslon·.to tfie.oompetitive.service. This-agreement to make repayments on a loan does, not exempt an employee from his or her responsibility or liabilityforanyloan the individual hastakenout. In connpfiance with 5 C.F.R. §§ 5:37J06(c)aod 107(a), GSA reserves the right to terminate a multi~year agreement earfy in the everit that funding is no longer available after the first year. A job candidate 9r employee will~. deemed to have breached this agreement if he or she separates from GSA voluntarily (inc;;1uding thrbughagency transfer;.appointrnent expiration, resignatioTI, or retirement). or involuntanly:(dulil to miscoriduct, unacceptable perfom,aTice, or a neg11ti\le suitability determination} befo~ fhl$agreement expires, Ajobcaodldate or employee will be deemed to not have breaehe.d this agreement if the involuntary separation is due to reasons notwithin the indiVidual'!i control, such as areduction in force. • 1f the employee is not able to maintain an acceptable level of performance (Le, a ratlng of ''3" e>ut of5); fllen the employee loses eligibility forfuture payments ll!ldera multi-year agreement. This situation, however, does not cause a breach of agreement, and does not generate a collectible Govemme.nt debt The job candidate or employee understands that when there is a breach of this agreement that the individual may owe GSA a collectible Government debt, based on 31 U.S.C. Subchapter ll. The employee has the.right, !.lnder5U.S.C. §5379and5C.F.R, Part 537, to requesta waiver Of the collectible debt, ifit would be againstequify :and gobdoonscience or againstthe public interest. Internal temporary or permanent reassignments, promotions, .or-reductions in grade within GSA do not constitute a breach of the service agreement. Ho\Alever, if the employee moves to Iii new position covered by a different funcfing source (for exan,ple, from F.As to l='BS; or FIBS to F'AS, etc,), the new organization is not()bligabiid to contin~ multi-year b&ne~ts. In this case, the empJqyee must still remain in GSA.service for a 3-year minimum period or .a one-yein period following thiJ final payment by GSA to the lender (if longer than a 3 year VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.011</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 3 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices 1487 GSA Form 6015 service period) PAFtTltr: LOAN\JERIFIC.ATION INFORMATION 1. Name of Loan Holder: 2. Loan Holder Address: 3. Loan Holder Employer Identification Number (EIN) 4, TypeofLoan 5. Do you want the payment tJ Federa(Family Education:Loan (pr.e2010) o Wifliam Cl. Ford DitE!ct Loan Program □ Federal Perkins Loan Program D Lo.an under the Public Health Seivlce Act rniade by electronic funds transfer? • □ Yes: □ No Note: tryea, complete and attach SF-t199a 6. Outstanding Balance of the loan($} 7. As of Date (DD/MM/YYYY) .. PART IV: APPROVAL SIGNATURES 1. Requesting Official (Le, supervisor) 2. Date (DD/MM/YYYY) 3. Reviewing Official (i.e.. FAS Deputy.or.Assistant Commissioner, PBS Regional Commissioner, or HeacS of Staff Office) 3. Date (DD/MM/YYYY) 4. OHRM Director of Staffing Service Center 5. Date (DD/MM/YYYY) 6. Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer (OHRM) 7. Date (DD/MM/YYYY) .8. Chief Human CapitaLOfficer (OHRM) 9. Date (DD/MM/YYYY) 10. C.hie, Financial Officer.(OCFO) 11. Date(DO/MMIYYYY) VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.012</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 4 1488 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices GSA Form 5015 PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT Information :collected Via this forrr(is pur~antto federal law; in particular: 5 U.s.C. § 5379, Disclo-sute is mandatqry so that-the conect pay and ben~itts tan be provided, The informatioru::ollected via thisformwm <mly be used by OHRM and the employee's supefyisqrunder the provisions of$ U.S.Ci§552a(b)(3) (t()utine use]. such illformatioh is not releasable to the 9enera1 public. due to 5 u.s.c. § 552(b)(6). and will be stored within the Office of Personnel Manasemenrs (OPM) Electronic Personnel Folder (eOPF) application, under Systemof Record Notice (SORN) "OPM/GOVT•t•via the Federal Register at 77 FR 73694. (DecemberH, 2012). A job candidate'sfaifureto provide the information requested on this form may lead to the erroneous payment of benefits, or, the non-payment of eligible benefits. PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT S.TATEMENT This information collection meets.the ~uirements of 44 U.s.c. § 3507, as amended by .section 2 ofthe Papenilitji'k Reduction.Act of 1995. You do notneed:toanswerthese questions unless we display a valid Office of Management an.d Budget(OMB) control number. The 0MB control numberfor this collectionis S000-:0329: We estimate that awill'take 3 hours. to read the instructions, gather the. facts,..and:answer1he. questions.. Send only. comments relating to our time estimate, including suggestions for reducing this burden, or any other aspects ofthiscoHectlon of information to: U,S.General Services Administration, Regulatory Secretariat Division (MVCB}, 1800 F Street; NW, Wlshington, 0Q20405. INSTRUCTIONS The following guidance ls provided to help the applicanfand the supervisor to be able to tomplete this form. PART I: Application t, Nm:ne: Provide you full, official name as containedwithinoff"icialagencyrecotds. Z, $Qcial Se<:urity lilumber.Noll n,ayprovida only the tast4~igUs ofyo1:1r SSN. 3. Position Title: Provide the: offieiai title ofyour position, a!l liS~d tn your position description 4.. Oce1:1pationai Seti~s: Provi~yout 4-digit oocupational$arie$. lfyou do not know your series, an OHRM staff i'tierilbet can provide you With thatinfoimation. 5. Pay Plan: Provide you pay plan (Such as GS) 6. Grade: Provide your grade, if your pay plan uses grades, otherwise, write "NIA" 7. GSA Component Provide thl;l GSAC-Omponent that you Work for, since.this may impact the source of Government funds used if you are approved for this benefit. &. Organization Correspondence Symbol: Provide the office:corresponde11ce (i.e. mail ... . . . • ~uting) symbol.. .. 9 .Appointment type: ProVidewhetherornot you are in the competitive service or excepted service. If you do not knoW; you may ask a staff member-With OHR M. 10. Term Appointment: PrQvide whether or not you are on a term appointment, such as a ~1,ways Recent Graduate programappointment. ThisintQrmation Wili tielp determine whether or not you ate eligible fQtthis workplace benefit VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.013</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 5 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices 1489 GSA Form 6015 11. Basis of Application: Provide whether .or not this is for a job candidate new to Fe.deral service or if this.is an existing GSA employee. 12. Annual Loan Repayment. Amount: Provide. here the. dollar at1nua1 amouriHhat you are requesting and that the Reviewing Official has approved. 13; Number of Years. of Requested Benefits. Provide the total number of payments and service. agreement years covered by this application and approval. 14, Justification Statement: Proyidea ~etailed justification stat1:1ment of tl'le skills, competencies, and accorrplishmentsc, which supporHhe determination that the employee is highly-qtJalified. To write this narrative the appl~nt and supervisor may drawfrom the applicant's tesllme as well as the official position de$Ctiption. These two documents can be attached, to facilitate application rev1ewand approval. For job candidates, the supervisor must also demonstrate that the position is .difficult to fill, such as due to employment trends, geographical labor market shortages, and pay disparities between the Government and .the. private sector, For current G.SA employees as applicants,the supervisor must demonstrate that the employee ls at risk ofleaving the Federal service, through resignation or retiremem. This can be based on the high demand of the position or occupational series, or can be due the applicant actually !'laving received a· 110n.-Federal·offer of employment Signature of Applicant: T~eapplieant must sign here. The sigr!iifure mean$ that the applicant is willing to ba subjec:Uo ttle terms of the agreement if the appll<:111tion is approved. 16. Date of Signature: Date: (ODIMMi'i¥YV) ts. PART II - Nt> instructions rl'iq01red. PART Ill • Loan lnfOrmation L Name of Loan Holder: Provide the name of the lending institution or lending source 2, Loan Holder Address:: Provide the address in case a check paymentis made 3. Loan Holder EIN: Provfdethe IRS employer identification nuniber (used for tax purpose} 4. Ty~ of loan: Provtdethe>fype of loart Ifyour type of loan ls: not ilfledthen it is not eligibli:! for this benefit F'orexample, li:>11ns from pri~te banks.are not eligible. it Ele¢tronie Funds Tra11Sfer:. It is usualiy best to transfer funds eleetrol'iic:aily, to prevent paper checks from being lost. It is.recommended that applicants complete the SF•1199a, which is the Direct ~posit form. This provides GSAwith the appropr.iate electronic funds transferil"iformation. 6. 0.utstanding Loan Balartce: Plea$e contact you lenderand generate a statement showing the total loan balance, as of a certain date 7. Date of Loan Balance: Provide the date of the statement from the loan holder Note on Attaehrnents Plealse atlaehlfie: following to thili application package: L A OOpy ofthe applicant's te$ume. 2. .A copyofthe position.de$cription foflhe position applledfor; ofofthe. incumbent employee applying fofthis benefit 3. A copy of the statement from the lender :showing the loan balahce and loan information VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.014</GPH> lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 6 1490 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 5 / Wednesday, January 8, 2025 / Notices GSA Form 5015 Guidance on Completing the.SF-1199a t, Enter personal infotmatioriin Section 1, A. .2. Enter the name ofthe pel'$0n.or entifyto whom your loan payments are made in Section 1, 8. S, Enter your social ~ecurifynumbefin Section 1, Candsign. 4. Section 1, D is not applicable, 5, Enter the Employee Loan ACCCluntnumber in Section E 6. Check "Other" and enter Student Loan Repaymentln SecHon f, F, 7. Section 1, G is not applicable. 8. Under Section 2, "Government Agency Name" enter GSA Fax: 816-823-5435. 9. Under Section 2, "Government Agency Address" enter 2300 Main Street - 2NW, Kansas City, Missouri 64108. 10. In. Section 3 enter name,. address, and touting numbtlr Of financial Institution; and 11 .. Obtain name, telephone number, andsignature of institution representative. l, [FR Doc. 2024–31659 Filed 1–7–25; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6820–FM–P lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [30Day–25–24FU] Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers for VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:50 Jan 07, 2025 Jkt 265001 Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information collection request titled ‘‘Comprehensive Understanding of Readiness for Elimination of Hepatitis C in Corrections (Cure-HepC)’’, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. CDC previously published a ‘‘Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations’’ notice on May 28, 2024, to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. CDC received two nonsubstantive public comments related to PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 the previous notice. This notice serves to allow an additional 30 days for public and affected agency comments. CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly interested in comments that: (a) 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; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the E:\FR\FM\08JAN1.SGM 08JAN1 EN08JA25.015</GPH> 7

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1482-1490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31659]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-XXXX; Docket No. 2025-0001; Sequence No. 2]


Information Collection; Student Loan Repayment Application and 
Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015)

AGENCY: Office of Human Resource Management, Strategic Planning, 
Policy, and Training Division, General Services Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new 
information collection requirement.

DATES: Submit comments on or before March 10, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 3090-
XXXX; ``Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA 
Form 5015)'' to: https://www.regulations.gov. Submit comments via the 
Federal eRulemaking portal by searching for ``Information Collection 
3090-XXXX; ``Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement 
(GSA Form 5015).'' Select the link ``Submit a Comment'' that 
corresponds with ``Information Collection 3090-XXXX; Student Loan 
Repayment Application and Service Agreement (GSA Form 5015).'' Follow 
the instructions provided at the ``Submit a Comment'' screen. Please 
include your name, company name (if any), and ``Information Collection 
3090-XXXX; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement 
(GSA Form 5015)'' on your attached document. If your comment cannot be 
submitted using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the points 
of contact in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 
document for alternate instructions.
    Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite ``Information 
Collection 3090-XXXX; Student Loan Repayment Application and Service 
Agreement (GSA Form 5015),'' in all correspondence related to this 
collection. Comments received generally will be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal and/or business 
confidential information provided. To confirm receipt of your 
comment(s), please check www.regulations.gov, approximately two-to-
three days after submission to verify posting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colin C. Bennett, Human Resources 
Specialist, Office of Human Resources Management, Strategic Planning, 
Policy, and Training Division, at telephone 240-418-6822 or via email 
to [email protected] for clarification of content.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    Federal civil service personnel law, codified at 5 U.S.C. 5379, 
allows Federal agencies to use appropriated funds, revenue funds, or 
revolving funds, to pay for all or part of student loan debts incurred 
by job candidates or existing agency employees. By law, each candidate 
or employee is limited to a benefit of $10,000 per calendar year and a 
lifetime limit of $60,000 (at any agency or combination of Federal 
agencies). This benefit is paid by the Federal agency directly to the 
financial institution, and not to the job candidate

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or employee. When paid by an agency to the lender, these benefits are 
considered taxable wages and are subject to income tax withholding and 
Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.
    There are many eligibility requirements that must be met before 
agencies can transfer funds to a candidate's or employee's lender. 
First, the student loans must be made, insured, or guaranteed under 
parts B, D or E of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1071 et seq.). Normally these loans are part of the U.S. 
Department of Education's William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. 
Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, 
and Direct Consolidation Loans are all common types of Direct Loans.
    Only certain types of Federal appointments are eligible. Non-career 
temporary appointments limited to 1 year or less are not eligible. Non-
career term appointments of less than 3 years are also excluded. 
``Schedule C'' political appointments in the Title 5 excepted service 
are also not eligible. All candidates or employees who are eligible, 
and who receive benefits, must sign a service agreement to remain with 
the Federal Government (sometimes with the specific agency) for a 
period no less than 3 years. In practice, if payments are made annually 
over the course of multiple years, the service agreement length can 
last as long as 6 years under this recruitment and retention bonus 
authority.
    To ensure that Federal funds are only used in an appropriate and 
strategic manner, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has 
promulgated civil services implementing regulations, found at 5 CFR 
part 537. These regulations stipulate that this authority is available 
to job candidates, who are not currently part of the Federal civil 
service, when the candidates are highly-qualified and the agency 
otherwise would encounter difficulty in filling the positions with 
highly qualified individuals. This authority is also available to 
facilitate the retention of agency employees when those employees would 
otherwise be likely to leave the Federal service agency for outside 
employment. In the retention context, agencies must determine that it 
is essential to retain the employees based upon their high or unique 
qualifications or a special agency need.
    GSA, like many Federal agencies, has administrative approval 
controls to make sure that funds are only used for the most appropriate 
recruitment or retention cases. At GSA, the administrative approval 
process is currently very cumbersome and laborious because it requires 
a custom-written memorandum by a ``Requesting Official'' (i.e., the 
selecting official or employee's supervisor), routed through a senior 
``Reviewing Official'' for budgetary approval, and then finally routed 
through three different divisions within the Office of Human Resources 
and then one additional office in the office of the Chief Financial 
Officer. Because each memorandum is custom-written, the agency is only 
able to transactionally process a very small number of requests each 
year (i.e., typically 1 to 7 requests annually, across an agency of 
nearly 13,000 employees).
    In an effort to improve Government efficiency, GSA proposes to 
standardize and streamline its agency process for this personnel 
authority by creating a new agency form, GSA Form 5015, ``Student Loan 
Repayment Application and Service Agreement.'' The purpose of this form 
will be to collect together, in one place, information necessary to 
determine a job candidate's or employee's eligibility. The information 
collected will include the type of loan, the name and address of the 
lender, and a justification statement summarizing the candidate's or 
employee's knowledge, skills and abilities that support a ``highly-
qualified'' designation. The proposed form also will contain standard 
signature blocks for all 6 agency signatures that are required for 
transactional processing. The agency's current processing procedures 
are contained within the public administrative Order 9537.1B, ``Student 
Loan Repayment Plan,'' found at https://www.gsa.gov/. The proposed form 
also contains the Service Agreement itself, so that all signatures and 
binding terms and conditions of the agreement are centralized into one 
location.
    Public notice for GSA Form 5015 is sought because non-Federal job 
candidates may partially complete certain selections of the form, to 
aid the selecting official who is responsible for the vacancy 
announcement. For student loan repayment applications that are approved 
and processed, the GSA Form 5015 will be placed into the future or 
existing employee's Official Personnel File (OPF) as an agency 
temporary document, in accordance with the OPM Guide to Personnel 
Recordkeeping (available at https://www.opm.gov).

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Respondents: 25 per year.
    Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Total Annual Responses: 25.
    Hours per Response: 8.
    Total Burden Hours: 200.

C. Public Comments

    Public comments are solicited to help GSA understand whether or not 
creating the proposed new GSA Form 5015 will help to streamline the 
current consideration and approval process as well as save labor hours 
in the creation of requests and their subsequent approval and 
administrative routing. The agency would also like to know: (a) whether 
this collection of information is necessary, (b) whether it will have 
practical utility, (c) whether our estimate of the public burden of 
this collection of information is accurate (and based on valid 
assumptions and methodology), (d) whether or not there are ways to 
enhance the new form's utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected, and (e) whether or not there might be ways in to minimize 
the data collection burden through the use of information technology.
    Obtaining Copies of Proposals: We have provided a copy of the 
proposed draft GSA Form 5015 at the end of this notice below the 
signature block. A copy of the proposed draft form can alternatively be 
obtained through GSA's Regulatory Secretariat Division by calling (202) 
501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please cite OMB Control No. 
3090-XXXX, Student Loan Repayment Application and Service Agreement 
(GSA Form 5015), in all correspondence.

Lois Mandell,
Director, Regulatory Secretariat Division, General Services 
Administration.

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[FR Doc. 2024-31659 Filed 1-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-FM-P
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