Notice2024-25793
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals
Primary source
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Published
November 6, 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 Participating Employee Information (PEI) form.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 215 (Wednesday, November 6, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 215 (Wednesday, November 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88014-88017]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25793]
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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 Participating Employee Information (PEI) form.
DATES: Submit comments within 30 days of this notice, on or before
December 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments through <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;
[[Page 88015]]
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#395a4a4d5c4e584b4d79585b5055504d4056575c175e564f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="81e2f2f5e4f6e0f3f5c1e0e3e8ede8f5f8eeefe4afe6eef7">[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 a form that a participating
nonprofit agency (NPA) employer will fill out to document relevant
information for each of its blind or significantly disabled employees
whose work on a requirement on the Procurement List contract is counted
by the NPA as direct labor hours. These individuals are called
``Participating Employees.''
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 may not require
completion of this form without receiving approval from OMB and is
required to display a valid control number.
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), 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 more than 400 qualified NPAs.
Consistent with the Commission's Strategic Plan, the Agency is
working to ensure that Participating Employees in the AbilityOne
program are afforded high quality employment opportunities with the
possibility for lateral, upward, and outward, mobility. Measuring the
Commission's success in this regard requires the Commission to gather
data as to the matters covered by this form and the other forms on
which the Commission is seeking public comment.
This PEI form will collect data from qualified NPAs regarding
Participating Employees to ensure the integrity and further the mission
of the AbilityOne Program. This form will provide data on matters such
as employee wages, the nature of Participating Employees' disabilities,
what job supports and accommodations the Participating Employees are
receiving, and a description of employee career development activities
that are available to Participating Employees, if an NPA is currently
providing such activities.
The form described in this ICR is the second of three forms
designed to modernize the Commission's information gathering efforts
and align it with the Commission's Strategic Plan for FY 2022-2026, as
well as with Commission regulations, including, inter alia, 41 CFR 51-
4.3.
The Commission is also developing a new Policy 51.405 which will
set forth an NPA's responsibility to provide Participating Employees
with employee career development activities such as job
individualization and employee career plans. Although the requirements
of Policy 51.405 will be implemented over time, this form will allow
those NPAs that are already providing such employee career development
activities to provide data on what they offer.
The PEI form will be filled out and submitted annually for each
Participating Employee through an electronic system that will be
established by the Central Nonprofit Agency(ies) (CNAs) for the use of
the NPAs.
The Commission published a 60-day notice for this form on May 3,
2024, (89 FR 36774). In that notice, the Commission called this form
the ``Individual Employee Information'' form, but it is now called the
Participating Employee Information form. The Commission received 48
comments in response.
A few commenters stated their support for the Commission's purposes
of helping ensure the integrity of and furthering the mission of the
Program. A commenter noted that some aspects of the information
collection are simplified, while promoting the growth and development
of Participating Employees. One commenter stated that the forms present
a good opportunity to collect data to measure Program accountability
and increase transparency.
The Commission also received comments questioning the necessity of
collecting the proposed information and asserting that the information
to be collected was too extensive or excessive. Some comments noted
that the proposed data collection is not required by law. Some also
stated that the rationale for collecting the information was too
general to substantiate the collection. Finally, some commenters
requested information about the Commission's planned use for the
information.
In addition, the Commission received comments expressing concerns
over the potential collection of personally identifiable information
(PII) covered by the Privacy Act. Some suggested that personal
identifiers could raise concerns for NPAs under the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), and still others were concerned that the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) may be implicated.
However, no commenter offered a legal analysis as to why HIPAA would be
implicated.
Other commenters suggested revisions to the disabilities and job
supports listed on the form. Commenters also noted that some employees
might object to listing additional disabilities beyond those qualifying
them for the program.
A number of commenters questioned why the wage data was required
and stated that the wage data requested on the form would require
significant work by different employees to complete.
Commenters expressed concerns about providing data regarding
employees' career mobility and requested clarification as to how to
fill out the form for an employee who did not desire career mobility.
One commenter requested clarification as to why the form requested
both the date of hire and the date of eligibility for an employee.
As to the burden of completion, commenters opined that the
Commission's estimated time for completing the form was too short,
though only a few offered an alternative estimate. Similarly, one
commenter questioned the Commission's assessment of the salary for
someone completing the form, but here again, the Commission received
little feedback as to an alternative amount. Some commenters contrasted
the proposed form to the Commission's prior requirements for
information, which required record keeping but not data reporting.
Commenters noted that the CNAs presently collect some of the
information collected in this form.
In response to the comments received, the Commission has
significantly updated the form. First, to address the privacy concerns,
the form will no longer require the name of any employee. Instead, the
form will have only a form reference number. The NPA will maintain the
information required to associate the form with the specific employee,
and the NPA will make that information available for certain employees
during qualification assessments. In order to share this information
with CNA staff during such
[[Page 88016]]
qualification assessments (also known as compliance inspections), the
NPA will have been required to collect any consent forms that might be
required under law from the individual at the onset of employment, or
the NPA will be required to meet an exemption under the law.
With respect to the Privacy Act, the law does not apply because the
forms will not be retrievable by the Commission via a search of any
personally identifiable information. Moreover, searches of the forms
will be limited to the broad category of an NPA and any form references
numbers that may appear in that search will not be able to be
correlated to any personally identifiable information. Therefore, the
Commission is confident that the Privacy Act is not implicated in the
collection of this information.
With regard to HIPAA, the Commission believes that, even to the
extent some NPAs are covered entities under that law, submitting the
form would constitute an exception for disclosures required for
``[e]ntities subject to government regulatory programs for which health
information is necessary for determining compliance with program
standards[.]'' 45 CFR 164.512(d)(1)(III). Moreover, the Commission has
removed personal identifiers from the form, creating another built-in
layer of privacy.
If the NPA believes that submitting the form would constitute a
transaction under 45 CFR part 162, the NPA should consult with its
HIPAA compliance officer for any updates to its existing HIPAA release
form(s).
With regard to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the
inclusion of information on the form about an employee's disability and
the reasonable accommodations the employee is receiving, it is true
that the ADA requires that such information be kept confidential,
subject to only limited exceptions. However, an exception exists where
release of the information is required or necessitated by another
Federal law. Since disability is a statutory prerequisite to be able to
count an individual's direct labor hours toward an NPA's ratio under
the JWOD Act, proof of disability is necessary for complying with the
law. To the extent NPAs have any additional concerns, they may also
obtain the authority to release this information for these very limited
purposes upon hire.
This form does not change an NPA's record keeping requirements
except insofar as the NPA is required to maintain a record of which
employee is associated with which Form Reference Number. That duty is a
natural consequence of NPAs' regulatory requirements to maintain a file
on each employee as required to participate in the AbilityOne Program.
See 51.4.3(b) and (c).
With regard to comments about the difficulty of providing
information on wages, the Commission has deleted the questions
regarding the average hours worked per week and median wages. Instead,
the form asks only about the employee's W-2 wages in the past calendar
year and the employee's hourly wage as reflected on the most recent pay
stub for the employee.
The listed disabilities were reorganized, as were the significant
job supports, and supports were added in response to specific
suggestions.
The form makes clear that only the disability(ies) that qualifies
the individual for the program must be recorded on the form, although
employees may choose to provide information on other disabilities
(particularly those for which they are receiving job supports).
With regard to career mobility, collecting and analyzing data in
this area is necessary to identify the career opportunities available
in this program. The Commission has also added an option permitting the
NPA to note an employee's desire not to participate in career mobility
and, in addition, to record whether the employee's desire not to move
to a job with higher pay was due to the employee's concern with losing
government-funded health care or other benefits.
With respect to burden, the Commission agrees with commenters that
some of the information requested in this form is already being
collected by one of the CNAs. Once this form is approved, the CNAs will
be required to have an electronic data system that can collect this
information, and the Commission will ensure the CNAs will not be
collecting information that duplicates the information in this form.
Moreover, the Commission believes that making the form available in
electronic format will significantly ease the burden of compliance.
Nevertheless, based on all of the comments received, the Commission has
revised its estimate for completing the form upward to two hours.
A draft version of the PEI form is available at <a href="http://www.abilityone.gov">www.abilityone.gov</a>.
To calculate the burden for completion of the form in units of
hours, the Commission multiplied the estimated total number of annual
responses by 2, the number of hours the Commission estimates will be
needed to complete the form. NPAs can assess the burden to their
particular organization by multiplying the time by their total number
of Participating Employees.
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>) The table below represents
the time and cost burden the Commission estimates this form will
necessitate. The Commission believes that collecting this critical data
will further the Program's mission and ultimately result in an
expansion in opportunities for the individuals employed through the
AbilityOne Program.
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Change due
Program Program to Change due
Requested change due change due adjustment to potential Previously
to new to agency in agency violation of approved
statute discretion estimate the PRA
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Annual Number of Responses for 37,377
this IC........................
Annual IC Time Burden (Hour).... 74,754
Annual IC Cost Burden (Dollars). $2,308,404
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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. Whether there are better or different means of requesting the
information sought in the form.
[[Page 88017]]
3. Whether there are additional pieces of information that should
be collected in the form.
4. Methodology to improve the accuracy of the estimated time
burden.
5. Suggestions or methods to minimize the burdens associated with
collecting the information described in this ICR.
Michael R. Jurkowski,
Director, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2024-25793 Filed 11-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
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