Supporting Statement for SBDD Grant Program Qtrly Rep.Jan272010

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program Progress Report

OMB CONTROL No. 0660-XXXX

JUSTIFICATION

This is an emergency review request for the above titled information collection. NTIA is requesting approval of this review by February 2, 2010.

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

Section 6001(l) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Pub. L. No. 111-5 (2009), requires the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Information and Communications (Assistant Secretary) to develop and maintain a comprehensive, interactive, and searchable nationwide inventory map of existing broadband service capability and availability in the United States that depicts the geographic extent to which broadband service capability is deployed and available from a commercial or public provider throughout each state.¹ The statute further provides that the Assistant Secretary will make the national broadband map accessible by the public on a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) web site no later than February 17, 2011.² The Recovery Act authorizes NTIA to expend up to $350 million pursuant to the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), Title I of Public Law No. 110-385, 122 Stat. 4096 (Oct. 10, 2008), and for the purposes of developing and maintaining a broadband inventory map.³

On July 8, 2009, NTIA issued the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and Solicitation of Applications for the State Broadband Data and Development (SBDD) Grant Program setting forth the requirements for this competitive grant program. See 74 Fed. Reg. 32545 (July 8, 2009). NTIA issued subsequent clarifications on August 12, 2009 and September 10, 2009. See 74 Fed. Reg. 40569 (August 12, 2009) and 74 Fed. Reg 46573 (Sept. 10, 2009). The NOFA requires Awardees to submit regular reports to NTIA. Specifically, it states:

All awardees under this Program will provide quarterly reports on: (a) achievement of project goals, objectives, and milestones (e.g., collection of a “substantially complete data set”; completion of data review or quality control process) as set forth by the applicant in their application timeline; i. expenditure of grant funds and how much of the award remains; ii. amount of non-federal cash or in-kind investment that is being added to complete the project; and iii. whether the awardee is on schedule to provide broadband-related data in accordance with the mapping project timeline. See 74 Fed. Reg 32556 (July, 8, 2009).

Based upon this guidance, NTIA has developed a list of specific questions (in ROCIS) that will better allow the SBDD Grant Program to evaluate the progress of Awardees.

NTIA requires these reports in order to gauge the progress of Awardees in meeting their project goals. Without such formal reporting, NTIA will be unable to effectively monitor the expenditure of these Recovery Act funds. While Awardees are also required to submit Recovery Act reports, these reports do not include vital details that NTIA in order to provide proper oversight of activities.

This emergency request approval is needed in order to collect the progress reports in a timely manner.

2. Explain how, by whom, the frequency, and the purpose for which the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.

NTIA’s SBDD Grant Program Office will collect performance reports from grantees quarterly. This information will be used so that the Program Office may effectively monitor awardees’ performance and take timely action to ensure successful completion of each project and efficient use of Recovery Act funding.

NTIA does intend to release these reports to the public, but the Agency’s Information Quality Guidelines do not apply to this collection.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

NTIA will request awardees to submit their reports via email. Awardees will provide the quarterly report using word processing and spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

Awardees will provide some of the same information that it also provided in the Recovery Act report, which is always due several weeks earlier than the quarterly report. However, it would be more burdensome to attempt to combine the data from the two reports than it is will be for grantees to copy and paste the same answer into both reports.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize the burden.

NTIA has constructed this quarterly report to include only the minimum amount of information that the Program Office requires in order to effectively monitor these awards. Additionally, each awardee has received federal funds to implement their awards, and all awardees have included funds to ensure proper program management, including timely reporting to NTIA.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

Without proper oversight of awardee activities, NTIA will be unable to properly manage this program and will lack the tools necessary to ensure effective use of Recovery Act funding.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

This information collection will be conducted in a manner consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide a copy of the PRA Federal Register notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Due to the time constraints of this emergency submission, OMB has waived the Federal Register Notice soliciting comments.

The public has, however, had an opportunity to provide general comments on the application process. On March 10, 2009, NTIA, the FCC, and the RUS cosponsored a public meeting to initiate public outreach about the current availability of broadband service in the United States and ways in which the availability of broadband service could be expanded.⁴ The March 10^th meeting was followed by the release of a Request for Information (RFI) and 6 days of additional public meetings and field hearings during March.⁵ The RFI requested the submission of information on a broad range of topics including topics related to broadband mapping, the Recovery Act, and the BDIA. The meetings and hearings included nearly 120 panelists with representatives from consumer and public interest groups, state and local governments, tribal governments, minority and vulnerable populations, industry, academia and other institutions.

Furthermore, in response to the RFI and the public meetings, NTIA received over 1,000 comments from institutions and individuals on the broadband initiatives funded by the Recovery Act. While NTIA received more than 200 comments about the SBDD Grant Program, none provided recommendations for the structure or content of the quarterly progress reports for Awardees.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or awardees.

NTIA will not provide gifts or payments to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

NTIA has not made assurances of confidentiality to awardees in regard to the information submitted in the quarterly progress reports.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

This information does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.

1. Number of Respondents: 56.

2. Frequency of Response: Quarterly.

3. Total Number of Responses Annually: 224.

4. Estimated Number of Hours Per Response: 4.

5. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 896.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in Question 12 above).

No additional cost burden is placed on awardees by the requirement to complete and submit these reports.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.

The estimated annual cost to the government includes a small portion of the salaries and overhead of staff assigned to the program.  Total staff time is not expected to exceed 224 hours per year, less than 4% of the time of each Program Staff member.

Estimation: 224 hrs X $45 per hour (based on GS-12 as an average NTIA staffer).

= $10,800.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

This is a new collection.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

NTIA plans to post the final quarterly reports from each awardee on the SBDD Grant Program’s website.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

NTIA is not seeking approval to refrain from displaying the expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement in Item 19 of the OMB 83-I.

No exceptions are requested.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.

1 Recovery Act § 6001(l), 123 Stat. at 516. See Section IV for the definition of “state” and other relevant definitions.

2 Id.

3 Recovery Act at Div. A, 123 Stat. at 14.

4 See Notice: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Broadband Initiatives, 74 Fed. Reg. 8914 (Feb. 27, 2009).

5 See Notice: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Broadband Initiatives, 74 Fed. Reg. 10716 (March 12, 2009). Agendas, transcripts and presentations from each meeting are available on NTIA’s website at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/meetings.html.