30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Foreign Assistance Requirements

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Department of State has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we are requesting comments on this collection from all interested individuals and organizations. The purpose of this Notice is to allow 30 days for public comment.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 205 (Monday, October 26, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 205 (Monday, October 26, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67385-67388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21756]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice: 13155]


30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Foreign 
Assistance Requirements

ACTION: Notice of request for public comment and submission to OMB of 
proposed collection of information.

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SUMMARY: The Department of State has submitted the information 
collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for approval. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we 
are requesting comments on this collection from all interested 
individuals and organizations. The purpose of this Notice is to allow 
30 days for public comment.

DATES: Submit comments up to November 25, 2026.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open

[[Page 67386]]

for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct requests for additional 
information regarding the collection listed in this notice, including 
requests for copies of the proposed collection instrument and 
supporting documents, to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#93c3dbd5d5d2ccd0fcfefef6fde7e0d3e0e7f2e7f6bdf4fce5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c5958d8383849a86aaa8a8a0abb1b685b6b1a4b1a0eba2aab3">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    <bullet> Title of Information Collection: Foreign Assistance 
Recordkeeping Requirements.
    <bullet> OMB Control Number: None.
    <bullet> Type of Request: New Collection.
    <bullet> Originating Office: Department of State, Office of Foreign 
Assistance Oversight.
    <bullet> Form Number: No form.
    <bullet> Respondents: Foreign non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs), U.S. NGOs, and international organizations.
    <bullet> Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,500.
    <bullet> Estimated Number of Responses: 2,500.
    <bullet> Average Time per Response: 240 hours.
    <bullet> Total Estimated Burden Time: 600,000 hours.
    <bullet> Frequency: On occasion.
    <bullet> Obligation to Respond: Mandatory.
    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department to:
    <bullet> Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department.
    <bullet> Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost 
burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used.
    <bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected.
    <bullet> Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Please note that comments submitted in response to this Notice are 
public record. Before including any detailed personal information, you 
should be aware that your comments as submitted, including your 
personal information, will be available for public review.

Abstract of Proposed Collection

    This information collection relates to three final rules published 
on January 27, 2026. 91 FR 3319, 91 FR 3332, and 91 FR 3345. These 
rules implement the President's Protecting Human Flourishing in Foreign 
Assistance (PHFFA) policy, by requiring recipients of U.S. foreign 
assistance funds to agree to certain terms and conditions. In summary, 
foreign NGOs, U.S. NGOs, and international organizations are required 
to comply with the policy (foreign governments and parastatals may also 
be required to comply with the policies, but those entities are not 
``persons'' under the Paperwork Reduction Act, thus not covered by this 
notice) and agree that during the period of the award they will 
segregate records so that the Department can verify that they are not 
violating the terms of the foreign assistance grants that were provided 
to them. Full details are included in the three final rules.

Methodology

    There is no form involved in this information collection. The final 
rules require recipients of U.S. foreign assistance funds to maintain 
records and make business records available upon request, which is a 
requirement governed by the Paperwork Reduction Act. In accordance with 
2 CFR 200.334, all recipients need to preserve records. The final rules 
require U.S. NGOs to ensure that any program, project, or activity for 
which funds are made available under a Department award must be 
organized so that the program, project, or activity is physically and 
financially separate from any ``prohibited activities'' undertaken 
using other funding sources. Foreign assistance grantees must ensure 
that all award terms flow down to any subrecipients of such assistance, 
as applicable.

Public Comments

    The Department published a 60-day notice for this information 
collection on April 6, 2026. 91 FR 17322. Four comments were received 
from three organizations. The Department is publishing a Federal 
Register notice, soliciting comment for 30 days. The Department 
published a 60-day notice for this information collection on April 6, 
2026. 91 FR 17322. Four comments were received from three 
organizations.

Summary of InterAction Comment

    InterAction's central argument is that the Department's burden 
estimates fail to capture the real operational costs of PHFFA 
compliance, particularly because the regulations require organizations 
to assess activities and funding streams beyond a single U.S. 
Government award. Training costs are understated: one member 
organization consolidated training across three related regulations but 
still had to run both introductory and specialized HR-focused sessions, 
with more anticipated as interpretation evolves--meaning these are 
recurring, not one-time, costs. A second major cost driver is ambiguity 
around allowable activities; without clear definitions or standardized 
documentation expectations, organizations cannot direct compliance 
resources efficiently and must repeatedly engage legal review. Subaward 
relationships compound the burden further--prime recipients must 
determine which PHFFA requirements apply to which partners, monitor 
activities funded by non-U.S. donors to assess overall organizational 
compliance, and in some cases provide technical assistance to partners 
struggling to interpret the rules against their own funding structures. 
InterAction warns this could push smaller local and national 
organizations out of U.S.-funded programs altogether, given their 
limited administrative capacity. Finally, the comment flags unresolved 
retention-period questions (duration, post-award cost allocation, 
audit-triggered extensions, and translation of non-English records) as 
a gap likely to cause organizations to over-retain records defensively, 
inflating costs further. InterAction's asks are narrow and specific: 
clarify the scope of monitoring for non-federally-funded activities, 
and ensure any new compliance IT tools integrate with existing 
nonprofit systems rather than adding parallel administrative layers.

FAO Response

    The Department of State acknowledges InterAction for its comment 
submitted in response to the 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information 
Collection: Foreign Assistance Requirements (Public Notice 12977, 91 FR 
17322, April 6, 2026).
    The Department acknowledges the compliance requirements on prime 
and sub-recipients. and will consider further additional information 
regarding the scope of prime recipient monitoring obligations with 
respect to non-U.S. Government-funded activities. The Department also 
notes InterAction's concern regarding potential compliance costs and 
will take these issues into consideration.
    Regarding InterAction's points on record retention, the guidance 
outlined in 2 CFR 200.334 (Uniform Guidance) shall apply. Records must 
generally be retained for three years from the date of the final 
expenditure report, subject to applicable exceptions.
    Taking note of InterAction's observation on technology and 
automation, the Department does not require recipients to maintain 
technological or automated compliance systems for the purposes of PHFFA

[[Page 67387]]

compliance. To the extent a recipient implements a PHFFA-specific 
technological or automated monitoring system, the Department suggests 
that any technological solutions should be designed to integrate with 
existing compliance systems wherever possible. Regarding InterAction's 
observations on award budget structures appropriately accounting for 
PHFFA compliance costs, particularly for organizations managing complex 
partner networks, the Department takes seriously its obligations under 
the PRA to ensure burden estimates are accurate, information 
collections are clear and useful, and reporting burden is minimized. 
See 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)-(C). The Department remains committed to 
maintaining an open dialogue for ongoing feedback in relation to the 
demonstrated burden estimates.

Conclusion

    The Department thanks InterAction for its comment. The Department 
is committed to working with the implementing partner community to 
ensure that PHFFA compliance requirements are clear and accurately 
reflected in the burden estimates submitted to OMB.

Summary of National Catholic Bioethics Center Comment and FAO Response

    The NCBC provided an argument focused on Title X of the Public 
Health Service Act. The Department does not implement Title X programs.

Summary of The Council for Global Equality Comment

    CGE's comment is a procedural challenge under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, not a policy critique of PHFFA's substance. The core 
claim is that the Notice fails all four PRA evaluation criteria because 
it discloses almost nothing about what records must be kept, why the 
collection is necessary, or how it will be used--stating only that 
recipients must maintain records ``separate'' from non-federally-funded 
activities and make them available on request. CGE identifies a 
specific legal defect here: the underlying Rules only require U.S. NGOs 
to keep separate records, yet the Notice/Supporting Statement extend 
this obligation to foreign recipients as well, a requirement they argue 
appears nowhere in the Rules themselves. On burden estimation, CGE 
documents two concrete numerical inconsistencies: a 52,500-hour gap 
between the Rules' estimate (652,500 hours) and the Notice's estimate 
(600,000 hours), and an approximately $85 million discrepancy in per-
hour cost assumptions ($175/hour in the Rules versus $50/hour in the 
Supporting Statement, yielding $114M vs. $30M total cost estimates)--
with no explanation offered for either gap. CGE also argues the 
Notice's respondent count (2,500) is unrealistic because it excludes 
subgrantees and subrecipients who are independently subject to 
monitoring obligations under the Rules; they cite an example of a 
single foreign NGO with roughly 1,500 subgrantees to illustrate how far 
off the estimate could be. Separately, CGE notes the Notice does not 
address burden-minimization for small entities as required by the PRA, 
and the Supporting Statement's response--that requirements apply 
``equally to large and small grantees''--does not satisfy that 
obligation. CGE's requested remedy is not to block the rule but to 
require the Department to withdraw and reissue the Notice with 
sufficient detail to allow a genuine 60-day comment period, arguing the 
current process is procedurally inadequate as a matter of law.

FAO Response

    The Department of State has reviewed the comment submitted by the 
Council for Global Equality (CGE), Professor Pamela Herd, and Professor 
Donald Moynihan in response to the 60-Day Notice of Proposed 
Information Collection: Foreign Assistance Requirements (Public Notice 
12977, 91 FR 17322, April 6, 2026).
    The commenters objected to the Notice's application of the 
segregation requirement to foreign recipients as contradicting the 
rules. The rules require U.S. NGOs to ensure that any program, project, 
or activity for which funds are made available under a Department award 
must be organized so that the program, project, or activity is 
physically and financially separate from any ``prohibited activities'' 
undertaken using other funding sources. However, in accordance with 2 
CFR 200.334, all recipients need to preserve records. The Department 
recognizes that the terminology utilized in the Notice generated 
confusion due to the separation requirement for U.S. NGOs under the 
rules and will clarify the terminology in the 30 day notice. Regarding 
the concern on information collection, Appendix A to Part 602 I 
outlines relevant terms and conditions in alignment with Part 200 of 
Title 2 of the CFR.
    Additionally, the Department's operating expectation is that 
grantees will be required to maintain records that track expenses 
attributable to U.S. funded activities separate from expenses 
attributable to other activities. A single record or records system may 
include both U.S. funded and other expenses but the U.S. funded 
expenses would need to be demonstrated separately. For U.S. NGOs 
impacted by the physical separation requirement, the requirement that 
U.S. NGOs maintain records for U.S. funded activities and that those 
records are physically separate from the records of other activities, 
the Department confirms that that requirement applies only to U.S. NGOs 
and only when there is an activity funded from any other source that 
would otherwise be prohibited under the rules. Reiterating this point, 
a U.S. NGO needs to maintain physical and financial separation only if 
it engages in any of the otherwise ``prohibited activities'' outlined 
in the rules--with another source of funds. Certain activities remain 
prohibited for U.S. NGOs regardless of funding sources.
    Regarding concerns that there are calculation discrepancies between 
the burden figures in the final rules, the Notice, and the Supporting 
Statement. The final rules address compliance estimates beyond the more 
narrow scope of the PRA notice which is focused on the information 
collection. The final rules also include associated training. The 
Department is aware that burden estimates at the notice stage are 
preliminary and welcome continued dialogue with implementers as these 
compliance costs become more apparent.
    Regarding the comment's point that the estimate of 2,500 
respondents fails to account for subrecipients, the Department's 
position is that prime recipients have the duty to monitor their 
subrecipients and the estimate reflects the respondents as the prime 
recipient. The final rules require prime recipients to ensure that 
award terms flow down to subrecipients, as applicable, and to monitor 
subrecipient compliance.
    Regarding the issue of the Small Entity Burden, the Department 
acknowledges that the PRA requires agencies to consider how to minimize 
burden on small entities, including through exemptions or simplified 
requirements that account for resource limitations.

Effect on the Proposed Collection

    The Department has considered the commenters' submission in full. 
These actions reflect the Department's standard process for finalizing 
a PRA submission and are responsive to the requirements of 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)-(C).
    The Department does not agree that the collection must be withdrawn 
and reissued. The concerns raised are appropriately addressed through 
the

[[Page 67388]]

Supporting Statement and supplemental guidance, which are the standard 
mechanisms for providing the level of detail the commenters seek.

Conclusion

    The Department thanks the Council for Global Equality, Professor 
Herd, and Professor Moynihan.

Ryan H. Leppert,
Chief of Staff, Office of the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, 
Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2026-21756 Filed 10-23-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-05-P


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