Notice2021-25900
Notice of Intent To Extend and Revise a Currently Approved Information Collection
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Published
November 29, 2021
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentNational Institute of Food and Agriculture
Abstract
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, this notice announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) intention to extend and revise, a currently approved information collection entitled, "Reporting Requirements for State Plans of Work for Agricultural Research and Extension Formula Funds." NIFA is also proposing to modify the collection in response to audit findings of the USDA Office of Inspector General.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 226 (Monday, November 29, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 226 (Monday, November 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67680-67681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25900]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Notice of Intent To Extend and Revise a Currently Approved
Information Collection
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
ACTION: Approval of notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, this notice
announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA)
intention to extend and revise, a currently approved information
collection entitled, ``Reporting Requirements for State Plans of Work
for Agricultural Research and Extension Formula Funds.'' NIFA is also
proposing to modify the collection in response to audit findings of the
USDA Office of Inspector General.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by January 28,
2022 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by any of the following
methods: Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#04766b666176702a696576706d6a3744717760652a636b72"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="17657875726563397a7665637e7924576264737639707861">[email protected]</span></a>. Mail: Office of Information
Technology (OIT), NIFA, USDA, STOP 2216, 1400 Independence Avenue SW,
Washington, DC 20250-2216. You may also submit comments, through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Martin, Records Officer; email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#77051815120503591a1605031e1944370204131659101801"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d6a4b9b4b3a4a2f8bbb7a4a2bfb8e596a3a5b2b7f8b1b9a0">[email protected]</span></a>; phone: 202-445-5388.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Reporting Requirements for State Plans of Work for
Agricultural Research and Extension Capacity Grants.
OMB Number: 0524-0036.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: September 30, 2022.
Type of Request: Notice of intent to extend, for one year, a
currently approved information collection. The burden for this
collection remains unchanged.
The agency is building a new reporting system, the ``NIFA Reporting
System,'' (NRS) that will consume the ``Reporting Requirements for
Research, Education, and Extension project reporting tool (REEport)''
and this collection upon completion. At the appropriate time, NIFA will
request approval for a new information collection to include all
competitive and capacity programs. In addition, NIFA will work with
university partners in extension and research to review and identify
measures to further streamline the submission, reporting under, and
implementation of plan of work requirements under USDA extension and
research capacity programs, as required by section 7505 of the Food,
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Public Law 110-246 (7 U.S.C.
7614b). The adoption of new technology and elimination of data fields
that are not required by law or are not used by NIFA for informational
purposes, will reduce the burden of collecting and reporting
information to our grantees. At that time, we will be better able to
estimate the actual burden.
In addition to the Plan of Work requirements described below, NIFA
seeks to collect two digital identifiers to assist with collecting
information on publications that result from NIFA-funded projects. The
first digital identifier is the Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
assigned to journal articles by publishers. The DOI will allow NIFA to
eliminate the manual entry of publication data by grantees. NIFA also
seeks to collect the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID). The
ORCID is a persistent digital identifier, available to individuals at
no cost. Increasingly, researchers are placing their ORCIDs in
publication metadata. Together, the DOI and ORCID will help NIFA
improve the robustness of its publication data and be better positioned
to demonstrate the value of its investments.
NIFA also seeks to collect information from its grantees in support
of its key performance indicator (KPI), Workforce Development. NIFA, in
collaboration with the Office of Chief Scientist, defines the KPI as
the number of students trained as part of a NIFA-funded project or
program. This data is currently collected from a segment of NIFA's
programs. The Agency seeks to expand this to all relevant programs as
they are brought over to the NIFA Reporting System.
Abstract: The purpose of this collection of information is to
continue implementing the requirement that a plan of work must be
submitted by each institution and approved by the National Institute of
Food and Agriculture (NIFA) before formula funds may be provided to the
1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions.
The formula funds are authorized under the Hatch Act of 1887, as
amended (7 U.S.C. 361a-i) for agricultural research activities at the
1862 land-grant institutions, under the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 341-
349) for the extension activities at the 1862 land-grant institutions,
and under sections 1444 and 1445 of AREERA (7 U.S.C. 3221-3222) for
research and extension activities at the 1890 land-grant institutions.
The requirement for the submission of a plan of work may be found in 7
U.S.C. 344(c) for the Smith-Lever Act, in 7 U.S.C. 361g(d) for the
Hatch Act, and in 7 U.S.C. 3221(d)(3) and 3222(c)(2) respectively for
Research and Extension at the 1890 Institutions. The plan of work must
address critical agricultural issues in the State and describe the
programs and projects targeted to address these issues using the NIFA
formula funds. The plan of work also must describe the institution's
multistate activities and include their integrated research and
extension activities.
This collection of information also includes the reporting
requirements of section 102(c) of AREERA (7 U.S.C. 7612(c)) for the
1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions. This section requires the 1862,
1890, and 1994 land-grant institutions, and Hispanic-serving
agricultural colleges and universities receiving agricultural research,
education, and extension formula funds from NIFA of the Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to establish and implement processes for obtaining
input from persons who conduct or use agricultural research, extension,
or education concerning the use of such funds.
Section 102(c) further requires that the Secretary of Agriculture
promulgate regulations that prescribe what the institutions must do to
meet this requirement and the consequences of not complying with this
requirement. The Stakeholder Input Requirements for Recipients of
Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Formula Funds (7 CFR
3418) final rule (65 FR 5998, Feb. 8, 2000) applies not only to the
land-grant institutions and Hispanic-serving agricultural college and
universities receiving formula funds but also to the veterinary and
forestry schools that are not land-grant institutions but receive
forestry research funds under the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry
Research Act of 1962 (16 U.S.C. 582a1-7) and animal health and disease
research funds under section 1433 of NARETPA (7 U.S.C. 3195(a)).
Failure to comply with the requirements of this rule may result in
the withholding of a recipient institution's formula funds and
redistribution of its share of formula
[[Page 67681]]
funds to other eligible institutions. The institutions are required to
annually report to NIFA: (1) The actions taken to seek stakeholder
input to encourage their participation; (2) a brief statement of the
process used by the recipient institution to identify individuals and
groups who are stakeholders and to collect input from them; and (3) a
statement of how collected input was considered. There is no
legislatively prescribed form or format for this reporting requirement.
However, the 1862 and 1890 land- grant institutions and Hispanic-
serving agricultural colleges and universities are required to report
on their Stakeholder Input Process annually as part of their Annual
Report of Accomplishments and Results.
Section 103(e) of AREERA (7 U.S.C. 7613(e)) requires that the 1862,
1890, and 1994 land-grant institutions, as well as Hispanic-serving
agricultural colleges and universities, establish a merit review
process to obtain agricultural research and extension funds. Section
104 of AREERA (7 U.S.C. 361c(h)) further stipulated that for research
conducted pursuant to the Hatch Act, a scientific peer review process
be established for research programs funded under section 3(c)(3) of
the Hatch Act (commonly referred to as Hatch Multistate Research
Funds), which should be used in lieu of the merit review requirement in
section 7613(e).
I. Initial 5-Year Plan of Work
Estimate of Burden: The Initial 5-Year Plan of Work was submitted
for the FY 2020-2024 Plan of Work in 2019. Thus, this reporting burden
has been satisfied and will no longer be collected. Consequently, the
total reporting and record keeping requirements for the submission of
the ``Initial 5- Year Plan of Work'' is estimated to average 0 hours
per response.
The revised Plan of Work includes six components: ``Critical
Issues,'' Extension Program and Research project Initiations in the NRS
platform,'' ``Stakeholder Input Process,'' ``Merit Review Process,''
``Multistate Activities,'' and ``Integrated Activities.'' The total
reporting and record keeping requirements for the initial submission
was estimated to average 64 hours per response.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 75.
Estimated Number of Responses: 150.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 9,600 hours.
Frequency of Responses: Annually.
II. Annual Update to 5-Year Plan of Work
Estimate of the Burden: The total reporting and record keeping
requirements for the submission of the ``Annual Update to the 5-Year
Plan of Work'' is estimated to average 64 hours per response. There are
five components of this ``5-Year Plan of Work'': ``Planned Programs,''
``Stakeholder Input Process,'' ``Program Review Process,'' ``Multi
state Activities,'' and ``Integrated Activities.''
Estimated Number of Respondents: 75.
Estimated Number of Responses: 150.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 9,600 hours.
Frequency of Responses: Annually.
III. Annual Report of Accomplishments and Results
The Annual Report of Accomplishments and Results will contain
summaries of projects and programs for which key activities have
produced outcomes. Projects and programs are organized by Critical
Issue. Project summaries include four components: The issue and its
significance; key activities undertaken to achieve the goals and
objectives; changes in knowledge, behavior, or condition resulting from
the project's activities; and who benefited and how.
Estimate of the Burden: The total annual reporting and record
keeping requirements of the ``Annual Report of Accomplishments and
Results'' is estimated to average 260 hours per response.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 75.
Estimated Number of Responses: 150.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 39,000 hours.
Frequency of Responses: Annually.
Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) 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) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance
the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (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. Comments should be
sent to the address stated in the preamble.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public
record.
Done at Washington, DC, this day of November 18, 2021.
Carrie L. Castille,
Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2021-25900 Filed 11-26-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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