Notice2024-09706
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals
Primary source
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Published
May 3, 2024
Issuing agencies
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled
Abstract
The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled operates as the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (Commission). This notice announces the Commission's intent to submit the Information Collection Request ("ICR") described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under applicable provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice provides an opportunity to interested members of the public and affected agencies to comment on a proposed Nonprofit Agency (NPA) AbilityOne Representations and Certifications (ARC) form.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 87 (Friday, May 3, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 87 (Friday, May 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36770-36771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09706]
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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposals, Submissions,
and Approvals
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or
Severely Disabled operates as the U.S. AbilityOne Commission
(Commission). This notice announces the Commission's intent to submit
the Information Collection Request (``ICR'') described below to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under applicable
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice provides an
opportunity to interested members of the public and affected agencies
to comment on a proposed Nonprofit Agency (NPA) AbilityOne
Representations and Certifications (ARC) form.
DATES: Submit comments on or before July 1, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Stewart, Compliance and
Enforcement Attorney, Office of General Counsel, U.S. AbilityOne
Commission, 355 E Street SW, Suite 325, Washington, DC 20024;
telephone: (703) 254-6172; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1774646372607665635776757e7b7e636e78797239707861"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85e6f6f1e0f2e4f7f1c5e4e7ece9ecf1fceaebe0abe2eaf3">[email protected]</span></a>. If you are
deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and wish to access
telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Overview of ICR: This notice pertains to an
ICR the Commission intends to submit to OMB for approval of an updated
form that an AbilityOne NPA will submit annually regarding its
AbilityOne Program performance. This is a revision of an existing form
that is submitted on an annual reporting cycle. This ICR is consistent
with OMB regulations at 5 CFR part 1320, which implement provisions of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). These
regulations require the Commission to provide an opportunity for
interested members of the public and affected agencies to comment on
information collection and recordkeeping activities (see 5 CFR
1320.8(d)), such as those proposed to be implemented through this
updated form.
The Commission is responsible for implementing the Javits-Wagner-
O'Day (JWOD) Act, 41 U.S.C. 8501-8506. In doing so, the Commission
oversees the AbilityOne Program (Program), a program in which
individuals who are blind or have significant disabilities provide
products and services to Federal agencies, thereby creating employment
opportunities for such individuals. The Commission maintains a
Procurement List of mandatory source products and services provided by
approximately 400 qualified nonprofit agencies (NPAs). Individuals who
are working on AbilityOne contracts and counted towards the direct
labor hour ratio mandated by the JWOD Act are called ``participating
employees.''
The implementing regulations for the JWOD Act, located at 41 CFR
chapter 51, provide the program's requirements, procedures, and
standards. Section 51-4.3 of the regulations sets forth the
[[Page 36771]]
requirements that an NPA must meet to maintain qualification for
participation in the Program. Under this section of the regulations, an
NPA must submit a completed copy of the appropriate Annual
Certification form. This documentation helps the Commission determine
whether the NPA is meeting the qualification requirements of the
Program. The Commission has also published policies regarding
compliance expectations of the NPAs. This information collection
request seeks approval for the Commission to update its collection of
information necessary to verify an NPA's compliance with Program
requirements, as well as regarding an NPA's effective performance in
meeting the mission of the Program. To ensure consistency with the
Commission's modernization of the Program, the updated form will
collect information on employment benefits offered to participating
employees, aggregate data regarding employment mobility outcomes
achieved by participating employees, and the prevalence of
subcontracting that contributes to workplace integration and employee
career development for participating employees.
The proposed updated ARC is available at <a href="http://www.abilityone.gov">www.abilityone.gov</a>.
The ARC will be required annually at the Federal fiscal year-end.
The form will be completed and submitted electronically.
The updated form is expected to provide a net reduction in the time
burden for NPAs and to result in greater efficiency and cost savings in
the oversight process.
The estimated time burden for the existing form is 8 hours. The
Commission estimates that the updated form will require 5 hours to
complete.
The existing form requires 33 yes/no/not applicable responses to
questions about the NPA's AbilityOne Program qualification standing,
and these questions require that attachments be provided to explain
certain responses to these questions. The existing form also includes
seven data tables to be completed, with more than 60 rows of data.
The proposed new form limits qualification standing responses to
10, comprised of five yes/no/not applicable responses, with only two
questions directing further explanation or an attachment, as well as
one multiple choice question and four open text field questions. The
proposed new form contains one less data table than the existing form
and requires fewer than 30 rows of data to be completed. The Commission
proposes two related forms for electronic completion, which should
enable auto-calculation of certain data fields required by this
proposed form, further streamlining the process to complete the
proposed form. In total, the existing form requires 132 mandatory
responses and requires additional (conditional) explanations to 33
questions. The proposed new form requires fewer than 80 mandatory
responses and approximately 65 conditional responses. The Commission
does not expect the NPAs preparing this form to answer ``yes'' to every
question that involves a conditional response. The Commission has also
designed the new proposed form with check boxes where possible, to make
preparation of the form more efficient.
To calculate the cost burden for the average annual burden, the
Commission used national average pay data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, using the May 2023 National Occupational Employment and
Wage Estimate of $30.88 as the median hourly wage for a Human Resources
Specialist (OC 13-1070) to fill out the form and a median principal
officer hourly wage from the 990 Forms filed by a sampling of NPAs for
the NPA principal officer to review and sign the form. (<a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#11-0000">https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#11-0000</a>.)
The table below represents the time and cost burden the Commission
estimates this form will necessitate.
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Annual form Annual form cost
NPA positions time burden Cost estimate for annual time burden on all
(hours) burden on employees NPAs
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HR Specialist................................ 4 $123.52 (for 4 hours).......... $49,408
Principal Officer............................ 1 $384.60 (for 1 hour)........... 153,840
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Total Cost Burden: $203,248.
With respect to this collection of information via the proposed
form, the Commission welcomes comments on the following:
<bullet> The necessity to collect this information to support the
Commission's mission and oversight responsibilities;
<bullet> Methodology to improve the accuracy of the estimated time
burden;
<bullet> Suggestions or methods to minimize the burdens associated
with collecting the information described in this ICR.
<bullet> The proposed form is viewable at <a href="http://www.abilityone.gov">www.abilityone.gov</a>.
Michael R. Jurkowski,
Director, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2024-09706 Filed 5-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
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