Notice2023-28231
2024 Rate Changes for the Basetime, Overtime, Holiday, Laboratory Services, and Export Application Fees
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Published
December 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentFood Safety and Inspection Service
Abstract
FSIS is announcing the 2024 rates it will charge meat, poultry, and egg products establishments, and importers and exporters for providing voluntary, overtime, and holiday inspection and identification, certification, and laboratory services. Additionally, FSIS is announcing that there will be no changes to the fee FSIS assesses to exporters that choose to apply for export certificates electronically through the export component of the Agency's Public Health Information System. The 2024 basetime, overtime, holiday, and laboratory services rates will be applied on January 14, 2024.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88560-88563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28231]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. FSIS-2023-0029]
2024 Rate Changes for the Basetime, Overtime, Holiday, Laboratory
Services, and Export Application Fees
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: FSIS is announcing the 2024 rates it will charge meat,
poultry, and egg products establishments, and importers and exporters
for providing voluntary, overtime, and holiday inspection and
identification, certification, and laboratory services. Additionally,
FSIS is announcing that there will be no changes to the fee FSIS
assesses to exporters that choose to apply for export certificates
electronically through the export component of the Agency's Public
Health Information System. The 2024 basetime, overtime, holiday, and
laboratory services rates will be applied on January 14, 2024.
[[Page 88561]]
DATES: FSIS will charge the rates announced in this notice beginning
January 14, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact
Michael Toner, Director, Budget Division, Office of the Chief Financial
Officer; Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c28faba1aaa3a7aeecb6adaca7b082b7b1a6a3eca5adb4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="24694d474c4541480a504b4a415664515740450a434b52">[email protected]</span></a>, Telephone: (202) 365-1352.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On April 12, 2011, FSIS published a final rule amending its
regulations to establish formulas for calculating the rates it charges
meat, poultry, and egg products establishments and importers and
exporters for providing voluntary, overtime, and holiday inspection and
identification, certification, and laboratory services (76 FR 20220).
In the final rule, FSIS stated that it would use the formulas to
calculate the annual rates, publish the rates in Federal Register
notices prior to the start of each calendar year, and apply the rates
on the first FSIS pay period at the beginning of the calendar year.
This notice provides the 2024 rates, which will be applied starting on
January 14, 2024.
On September 6, 2017, FSIS published the Federal Register notice,
``Public Health Information System (PHIS) Export Component Country
Implementation'' (82 FR 42056). The notice announced the delayed
implementation of the export component to ensure sufficient testing and
outreach to stakeholders and that the application fee would be
recalculated based on available costs and number of applications but
would not be assessed prior to January 1, 2019. In addition, FSIS
announced that it would implement the PHIS Export Component with a
limited number of countries and gradually expand implementation to
additional countries.
On April 29, 2019, FSIS published the Federal Register notice,
``Public Health Information System Export Component Fee'' (84 FR
17999). The notice announced that starting June 1, 2019, FSIS would
assess a fee of $4.01 to exporters that chose to apply for export
certificates electronically through the export component of PHIS. As
noted below, that fee remains unchanged since 2019.
2024 Rates and Calculations
The following table lists the 2024 Rates per hour, per employee, by
type of service:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024 Rate
(estimates
rounded to
Service reflect
billable
quarter hour)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basetime............................................... $71.64
Overtime............................................... 87.96
Holiday................................................ 104.28
Laboratory............................................. 103.24
Export Application..................................... * 4.01
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Per application.
The regulations that cover these fees (other than the export
application fee) state that FSIS will calculate the rates using
formulas that include the Office of Field Operations (OFO) inspection
program personnel's previous fiscal year's regular direct pay and
regular hours (9 CFR 391.2, 391.3, 391.4, 590.126, 590.128, 592.510,
592.520, and 592.530). The final rates have been rounded to make the
amount divisible by the quarter hour (15 minutes). Fifteen minutes is
the minimum charge for the services covered by these rates.
FSIS determined the 2024 rates using the following calculations:
Basetime Rate = The quotient of dividing the Office of Field
Operations (OFO) inspection program personnel's previous fiscal year's
regular direct pay by the previous fiscal year's regular hours, plus
the quotient multiplied by the calendar year's percentage of cost-of-
living increase, plus the benefits rate, plus the travel and operating
rate, plus the overhead rate, plus the allowance for bad debt rate.
The calculation for the 2024 basetime rate per hour per program
employee is:
[FY 2023 OFO Regular Direct Pay divided by the previous fiscal year's
Regular Hours ($476,421,039/15,341,750)] = $31.05 + ($31.05 * 5.2%
(calendar year 2024 Cost of Living Increase)) = $32.67 + $13.34
(benefits rate) + $2.75 (travel and operating rate) + $22.86 (overhead
rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance rate) = $71.62, rounded up to $71.64,
so that it is divisible by 4.
Overtime Rate = The quotient of dividing the Office of Field
Operations (OFO) inspection program personnel's previous fiscal year's
regular direct pay by the previous fiscal year's regular hours, plus
that quotient multiplied by the calendar year's percentage of cost-of-
living increase, multiplied by 1.5 (for overtime), plus the benefits
rate, plus the travel and operating rate, plus the overhead rate, plus
the allowance for bad debt rate.
The calculation for the 2024 overtime rate per hour per program
employee is:
[FY 2023 OFO Regular Direct Pay divided by previous fiscal year's
Regular Hours ($476,421,039/15,341.750)] = $31.05 + ($31.05 * 5.2%
(calendar year 2024 Cost of Living Increase)) = $32.67 * 1.5 = $49.01 +
$13.34 (benefits rate) + $2.75 (travel and operating rate) + $22.86
(overhead rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance rate) = $87.95, rounded up
to $87.96, so that it is divisible by 4.
Holiday Rate = The quotient of dividing the Office of Field
Operations (OFO) inspection program personnel's previous fiscal year's
regular direct pay by the previous fiscal year's regular hours, plus
that quotient multiplied by the calendar year's percentage of cost-of-
living increase, multiplied by 2 (for holiday pay), plus the benefits
rate, plus the travel and operating rate, plus the overhead rate, plus
the allowance for bad debt rate.
The calculation for the 2024 holiday rate per hour per program
employee calculation is:
[FY 2023 OFO Regular Direct Pay divided by Regular Hours ($476,421,039/
15,341,750)] = $31.05 + ($31.05 * 5.2% (calendar year 2024 Cost of
Living Increase)) = $32.67 * 2 = $65.34 + $13.34 (benefits rate) +
$2.75 (travel and operating rate) + $22.86 (overhead rate) + $0.00 (bad
debt allowance rate) = $104.29, rounded down to $104.28, so that it is
divisible by 4.
Laboratory Services Rate = The quotient of dividing the Office of
Public Health Science (OPHS) previous fiscal year's regular direct pay
by the OPHS previous fiscal year's regular hours, plus the quotient
multiplied by the calendar year's percentage cost of living increase,
plus the benefits rate, plus the travel and operating rate, plus the
overhead rate, plus the allowance for bad debt rate.
The calculation for the 2024 laboratory services rate per hour per
program employee is:
[FY 2023 OPHS Regular Direct Pay/OPHS Regular hours ($28,365,622/
464,251)] = $61.10 + ($61.10 * 5.2% (calendar year 2024 Cost of Living
Increase)) = $64.28 + $13.34 (benefits rate) + $2.75 (travel and
operating rate) + $22.86 (overhead rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance
rate) = $103.23, rounded up to $103.24, so that it is divisible by 4.
Calculations for the Benefits, Travel and Operating, Overhead, and
Allowance for Bad Debt Rates
These rates are components of the basetime, overtime, holiday, and
laboratory services rates formulas.
[[Page 88562]]
Benefits Rate: The quotient of dividing the previous fiscal year's
direct benefits costs by the previous fiscal year's total hours
(regular, overtime, and holiday), plus that quotient multiplied by the
calendar year's percentage cost of living increase. Some examples of
direct benefits are health insurance, retirement, life insurance, and
Thrift Savings Plan basic and matching contributions.
The calculation for the 2024 benefits rate per hour per program
employee is:
[FY 2023 Direct Benefits/(Total Regular hours + Total Overtime hours +
Total Holiday hours) ($236,947,058/18,687,290)] = $12.68 + ($12.68 *
5.2% (calendar year 2024 Cost of Living Increase)) = $13.34.
Travel and Operating Rate: The quotient of dividing the previous
fiscal year's total direct travel and operating costs by the previous
fiscal year's total hours (regular, overtime, and holiday), plus that
quotient multiplied by the calendar year's percentage of inflation.
The calculation for the 2024 travel and operating rate per hour per
program employee is:
[FY 2023 Total Direct Travel and Operating Costs/(Total Regular hours +
Total Overtime hours + Total Holiday hours) ($50,219,960/18,687,290)] =
$2.69 + ($2.69 * 2.3% (2024 Inflation) = $2.75.
Overhead Rate: The quotient of dividing the previous fiscal year's
indirect costs plus the previous fiscal year's information technology
(IT) costs in the Public Health Data Communication Infrastructure
System Fund plus the provision for the operating balance less any
Greenbook costs (i.e., costs of USDA support services prorated to the
service component for which fees are charged) that are not related to
food inspection by the previous fiscal year's total hours (regular,
overtime, and holiday) worked across all funds, plus the quotient
multiplied by the calendar year's percentage of inflation.
The calculation for the 2024 overhead rate per hour per program
employee is:
[FY 2023 Total Overhead/(Total Regular hours + Total Overtime hours +
Total Holiday hours) ($417,650,727/18,687,290)] = $22.35 + ($22.35 *
2.3% (2024 Inflation) = $22.86.
Allowance for Bad Debt Rate: Previous fiscal year's total allowance
for bad debt (for example, debt owed for overtime and holiday
inspection services that is not paid in full by establishments that
declare bankruptcy) divided by previous fiscal year's total hours
(regular, overtime, and holiday) worked.
The 2024 calculation for bad debt rate per hour per program
employee is:
[FY 2023 Total Bad Debt/(Total Regular hours + Total Overtime hours +
Total Holiday hours) = ($73,707/18,687,290)] = $0.00.
2024 Electronic Export Application Fee
The 2024 Electronic Export Application Fee:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN22DE23.013
As published in FSIS' final rule, Electronic Export Application and
Certification Charge; Flexibility in the Requirements for Export
Inspection Marks, Devices, and Certificates; Egg Products Export
Certification (81 FR 42225), the Electronic Export Application Fee
Formula is:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN22DE23.014
FSIS stated in the 2016 final rule (81 FR 42225) and the 2017
Federal Register notice (82 FR 42056) that it would update and
recalculate the fee based on the best available estimates for costs and
number of applications; however, the number of export applications (the
denominator in the formula) cannot be accurately assessed until a
majority of countries are included in the export component. Therefore,
because a majority of countries are not yet included in the PHIS Export
component, the cost estimates and projected export applications in the
final rule remain the best estimate for 2024, leaving the electronic
export application fee unchanged.
Additional Public Notification
Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy
development is important. Consequently, FSIS will announce this Federal
Register publication on-line through the FSIS web page located at:
<a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/federal-register">https://www.fsis.usda.gov/federal-register</a>.
FSIS will also announce and provide a link through the FSIS
Constituent Update, which is used to provide information regarding FSIS
policies, procedures, regulations, Federal Register notices, FSIS
public meetings, and other types of information that could affect or
would be of interest to our constituents and stakeholders. The
Constituent Update is available on the FSIS web page. Through the web
page, FSIS is able to provide information to a much broader, more
diverse audience. In addition, FSIS offers an email subscription
service which provides automatic and customized access to selected food
safety news and information. This service is available at: <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/subscribe">https://www.fsis.usda.gov/subscribe</a>. Options range from recalls to export
information, regulations, directives, and notices. Customers can add or
delete subscriptions themselves and have the
[[Page 88563]]
option to password protect their accounts.
USDA Non-Discrimination Statement
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and USDA civil rights
regulations and policies, USDA, its Mission Areas, agencies, staff
offices, employees, and institutions participating in or administering
USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color,
national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender
expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status,
family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance
program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil
rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA
(not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing
deadlines vary by program or incident.
Program information may be made available in languages other than
English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of
communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large
print, audiotape, American Sign Language) should contact the
responsible Mission Area, agency, or staff office; the USDA TARGET
Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY); or the Federal Relay Service
at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a complainant should
complete a Form, AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form,
which can be obtained online at <a href="https://www.usda.gov/forms/electronic-forms">https://www.usda.gov/forms/electronic-forms</a>, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a
letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant's
name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the
alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights about the nature and date of an
alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter
must be submitted to USDA by: (1) Mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410; or (2) Fax: (833) 256-1665 or
(202) 690-7442; or (3) Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8cfcfee3ebfeede1a2e5e2f8ede7e9ccf9ffe8eda2ebe3fa"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="daaaa8b5bda8bbb7f4b3b4aebbb1bf9aafa9bebbf4bdb5ac">[email protected]</span></a>.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Done at Washington, DC.
Paul Kiecker,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2023-28231 Filed 12-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P
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