OMB Supporting Statement 11 05 07

Supporting Statement for the Bank Enterprise Award Program of the

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program Application

CDFI Form 0002

A. Justification

1. Circumstances necessitating collection of information

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund implements the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program that provides incentives to insured depository institutions to increase their support of CDFIs and their activities in economically distressed communities. The Application form and materials will be used by applicants to the Program to apply for Bank Enterprise Awards. Applicants are required to complete and submit an application so that the Fund can evaluate applicants for awards allowable according to statutory and regulatory requirements (12 CFR 1806).

2. Method of collection and use of data

Data will be collected by the Fund once per funding round in the form of an application and supporting documentation submitted by institutions wishing to be considered for a Bank Enterprise Award. The Fund uses submitted information to determine qualified award amounts.

3. Use of Information Technology

The Fund has established an online mapping system that allows applicants to determine and define their targeted distressed community as well as to geocode transaction to determine if they are eligible. This mapping system is simple to use and reduces the burden to applicants, which would otherwise have to define targeted distressed communities and geocode transactions by hand. The Fund also allows applicants to submit a list of all eligible transactions electronically, which allows for more efficient award calculation.

4. Efforts to identify duplication

The Fund does not request information available from other Federal agencies, namely, financial institution regulatory agencies.

5. Impact on small entities

This collection of information is not expected to have significant impact on small entities. During the development of the Application Form, the Fund consulted with other Federal agencies –specifically, financial institution regulatory agencies –to determine what information is available to the Fund from the sources. In doing this, the Fund was able to lessen any potential burden on small entities.

6. Consequences of less frequent collection and obstacles to burden reduction

The Fund cannot meet its statutory requirement to make award decisions without the materials received from applicants. Elements specified in the Program’s regulation limit the amount to which the burden can be reduced.

7. Circumstances requiring special information collection

Not applicable.

8. Solicitation of comments on information collection

Comments on the previous application for this Program were solicited in the Federal Register on October 28, 2004, Vol. 69 FR 62934; no comments were received.

9. Provision of payment to respondents

No payment or gift will be made to respondents.

10. Assurance of confidentiality

The Fund is subject to all Federal regulations with respect to confidentiality of information supplied in the application process.

11. Justification of sensitive questions.
No questions of a sensitive nature are asked in the application.

12. Estimate of the hour of burden of information collection

The total hour burden of this information collection is estimate at 976.5 with an estimated 15.5 hours for the application per respondent. The Fund anticipates 63 respondents to the application (based on the number of applications received in the FY 2007 round).

13. Estimate total annual cost burden to respondents

There are no cost burdens associated with the collection of this data. No purchases of equipment or services are necessary to complete this application.

14. Estimate of annualized cost to the Government

The cost to the Government is the Fund staff time required to develop the application, follow-up with respondents, tabulate the data, calculate award amounts, and report the results.

15. Any program changes or adjustments

The FY 2008 BEA Program application is substantively the same as the previous application (FY 2007) other than changes in dates, clarification of explanatory information, and:

1. The inclusion of a brief voluntary survey to collect information on past and planned use of BEA awards. The collection of this information is not expected to have a significant impact on applicants as it is voluntary in nature and does not require additional information or documentation to be submitted with the application.

2. A requirement that applicants electronically report addresses for all distressed community transactions. This requirement is not expected to significantly increase the burden on applicants as it does not require applicants to supply additional materials or documentation than previously collected. The collection of this information only requires the completion of four fields (address, city, state and zip code) in an existing electronic spreadsheet.

16. Plans for information tabulation and publication

The information collected through this Application form will not be published.

17. Reasons for not displaying expiration date of OMB approval

Not applicable. Information disseminated includes OMB number.

18. Explanation of exception to certification statement

Not applicable.