Notice2024-24384
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals
Primary source
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Published
October 22, 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 form, previously titled Participating Employee Eligibility form, and now renamed Disability Qualification Determination.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84338-84340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24384]
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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 form, previously titled Participating Employee
Eligibility form, and now renamed Disability Qualification
Determination.
DATES: Submit comments on or before November 16, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5626393a3f352f1637343f3a3f222f39383378313920"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="09796665606a7049686b6065607d7066676c276e667f">[email protected]</span></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,
[[Page 84339]]
DC 20024; telephone: (703) 254-6172; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#accfdfd8c9dbcdded8eccdcec5c0c5d8d5c3c2c982cbc3da"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7b18080f1e0c1a090f3b1a191217120f0214151e551c140d">[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 to approve the form that an AbilityOne-
participating nonprofit agency employer will fill out to document its
determination of an individual's eligibility to be a qualified direct
labor employee for purposes of meeting the statutory requirements of
the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act, 41 U.S.C. 8501-8506. The form is an
updated and modified version of the Commission's Individual Eligibility
Evaluation (IEE) form (OMB Control #3037-0012). The purpose of the IEE
was to determine and document an individual's disability eligibility by
identifying the individual's barriers to employment as well as the job
supports the individual needs to perform their job.
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 to 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 form.
The Commission is responsible for implementing the JWOD Act. In
doing so, the Commission oversees the AbilityOne Program, an employment
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). In
order to qualify for the Program, an NPA must show that 75% of all
direct labor hours are performed by individuals who are blind or
significantly disabled, regardless of whether the hours relate to work
done on AbilityOne contracts or work done on other contracts held by
the NPA. Effective program stewardship requires collection of
information to ensure that NPAs are only counting the hours of
individuals with qualifying disabilities toward their 75% statutory
minimum.
The proposed data collection form in this ICR is consistent with
the Commission's responsibilities and ensures that the Commission will
collect the most pertinent data to inform its oversight and decision
making.
A version of the Disability Qualification Determination form is
available at <a href="http://www.abilityone.gov">www.abilityone.gov</a>.
The form described in this ICR is the first of two forms intended
to modernize the existing IEE form and align it with the Commission's
strategic plan and updated approach to determining qualifying
disability eligibility. A draft version of this form accompanies this
notice. The Commission has outlined the criteria for such eligibility
in its revised Policy 51.403.
As outlined in Policy 51.403, and reflected in the proposed form, a
significant change in the Commission's approach to determining
qualifying disability eligibility is the Commission's acceptance of
other governmental agency determinations of disability. For example,
individuals deemed eligible for Social Security disability benefits are
now automatically deemed as having a qualifying disability for purposes
of meeting the statutory direct labor hour ratio. This ICR will
establish a form that enables NPAs to certify that an individual has a
determination of disability from a governmental agency, and in so
doing, streamlines the process of establishing a qualifying disability.
The Commission published a sixty-day notice for this ICR on
November 17, 2023. The Commission received eleven comments from various
stakeholders in response to the notice. Comments were received from
NPAs, CNAs and other stakeholders. The comments requested instructions
for the form, instructions for each individual section, and definitions
for various terms to be made clearer. Some commenters requested that
changes be made to the various supports and accommodations listed in
the form. Additionally, some commenters expressed concerns regarding
potential confusion caused by introducing a new approach and/or system
and how that might work with legacy disability documentation or
determinations.
Further, commenters expressed concern that the form did not
necessarily permit a reviewer to discern how a significantly disabled
individual is precluded from engaging in ``normal competitive
employment,'' as required by the JWOD Act. While commenters recognized
that this requirement is generally out of line with the current
understanding of the ability of people with significant disabilities to
achieve employment, the Commission has a duty to fulfill its
responsibilities to administer the JWOD Act. For that reason, the
Commission has concluded that a determination of eligibility for Social
Security benefits or for eligibility for Medicaid based on a disability
is sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute. In contrast, the
Commission has concluded that a determination of the extent of an
individual's disability(ies), and the impact of the disability(ies) on
the individual's ability to work, is necessary to meet the statutory
requirement if the certification of disability derives from other
sources, governmental or otherwise.
To that end, the Commission has added a narrative section to the
form. By requiring that the reason that an individual needs a
significant job support, as well as the extent the individual needs the
support, is articulated on the form, an official reviewing the form
will be able to reach a conclusion as to the qualifying nature of the
individual's disability.
Comments were received from one of the CNAs pointing out that the
initial number of individuals for whom this form will need to be filled
out was understated in the sixty-day notice. The Commission revised
that number to reflect the total number of blind or significantly
disabled individuals performing direct labor across all qualified NPAs.
The Commission used data from fiscal year 2023 for this calculation, as
reflected in the updated burden analysis below.
Many commenters praised the Commission's move toward a streamlined
process for establishing disability eligibility. Furthermore,
commenters noted that the Commission's implementation of presumptive
disability qualification is responsive to recommendations made by the
panel established by Section 898 of the National Defense Authorization
Act for fiscal year 2017, Public Law 114-328, more often referred to as
``the 898 Panel.'' A draft version of the form NPAs will complete
accompanies this notice. The final form will be electronic.
For individuals who meet the eligibility requirements under either
Part A or Part B of the proposed form, the Commission estimates that
completing the form will take approximately 5 minutes. For individuals
who meet the eligibility requirements under Part C or Part D of the
proposed form, the Commission estimates that completing the form will
take approximately 30 minutes. NPAs completing Part C or Part D of the
form will need to complete Part E, as well, which is included in the
estimated 30 minutes.
In accordance with these and other changes reflected in Policy
51.403, the
[[Page 84340]]
Commission estimates that the time and financial burden to the NPAs in
completing the proposed form will be significantly lower than required
by the corresponding sections of the existing IEE form. Over time, this
form will further substantially reduce the burden on NPAs because, in
most cases, it will be filled out only once per employee--i.e., when an
employee is onboarded--and not on an annual basis as required by the
existing IEE form. For employees with a non-permanent disability, the
form will be completed on a recurring, seven-year basis. The Commission
estimates that approximately 10% of employees with qualifying
disabilities will have non-permanent disabilities.
To calculate the burden for completion of the proposed form, the
Commission considered an estimate from the Society for Human Resource
Management that the average annual turnover across all industries is
approximately 18 percent. Using this number, the Commission estimated
that NPAs may need to complete this form for approximately 18 percent
of their total employees each year. However, AbilityOne employers may
experience lower turnover than employers in the general economy. The
Commission acknowledges that net AbilityOne job growth may result in
NPAs completing additional forms for new employees.
The table below shows the Commission's estimate for the average
amount of time per employee for whom the NPAs complete a form, both in
the first year of implementation (``Year 1'') and in the following
years of implementation (``Years 2+''). The Commission recognizes that
NPAs vary widely in total number of employees. Therefore, an NPA can
apply this analysis based on their individual employment totals.
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Total time
Annual turnover/ Maximum burden for Annual form
Number of employees for whom NPA entry rate of responses Annual form burden all cost burden
must complete form 18% for this (hours/employee) employees (dollars)
form (hours)
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62,798 (Year 1).................... 11,304 74,102 0.5 37,051 1,144,134.9
11,304 (Years 2+).................. 2,035 13,339 0.5 6,669.5 205,954.2
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NPAs can calculate their overall time burden (in hours) by
multiplying the number of qualified direct labor employees they have by
0.5. The cost burden is based upon national average pay data from the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, using the May 2022 National
Occupational Employment and Wage Estimate of $30.88 as the median
hourly wage for a Human Resources Specialist (OC 13-1070). (<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>).
With respect to this collection of information via the proposed
form, the Commission welcomes comments on the following:
1. The necessity to collect this information to support the
Commission's mission and oversight responsibilities;
2. Methodology to improve the accuracy of the estimated time
burden; i.e., specific year-over-year employee turnover rates for NPAs
or number of additional employee hires above turnovers, expressed as a
percentage of the NPAs' total number of qualified direct labor
employees;
3. Methodology to determine the percentage of individuals with
qualifying disabilities who will have non-permanent disabilities;
4. Suggestions or methods to minimize the burdens associated with
collecting the information described in this ICR.
Michael R. Jurkowski,
Director, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2024-24384 Filed 10-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
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