83-I NEPA ARRA 1609c_2501-0187 V2

Supporting Statement for HUD NEPA ARRA Section 1609(c) Reporting

2506-0187

1. Section 1609(c) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) requires that grantees who receive funding under ARRA (i.e., ARRA grantees/Respondents) must report on the status and progress of their projects and activities with respect to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements and documentation. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has provided to heads of federal departments and agencies a reporting framework for implementation of Section 1609(c). Section 1609(c) reads:

"The President shall report to the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee every 90 days following the date of enactment until September 30, 2010 on the status and progress of projects and activities funded by this Act with respect to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act requirements and documentation."

"HUD NEPA ARRA Section 1609(c) Reporting" is the name of copy attached for which HUD is seeking OMB approval for an three year extension of the current approval. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is putting into operation the proposed HUD electronic data system that will be made available to grantees to facilitate their reporting on all ARRA funded activities including Section 1609(c). See item A. 2. below.

2. The respondents to the attached copy are the grantees that received ARRA assistance. The information on the attached copy will report on the status and progress of the ARRA grantees' projects and activities with respect to compliance with NEPA requirements and documentation. See:http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/RECOVERY/Reporting

HUD has a permanent Information Technology system in place with the capability to capture NEPA data as required by Section 1609(c) of the ARRA. HUD’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) deployed such a system, called RAMPS (Recovery Act Management Performance System). The attached copy was given to the RAMPS designers with the instruction to have the system gather this information, because it contains all of the ARRA section 1609 information that HUD will need to collect from ARRA grantees in order for HUD to complete its report to CEQ.

HUD publicized the URL of the RAMPS site via links on the WWW.HUD.GOV/RECOVERY website and via listserve email broadcasts. ARRA grantees will go to the URL and enter their data at the project level. Please note that there can be multiple projects within each grant; for instance the City of Albuquerque may receive 1 grant under the ARRA "Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2" but will have multiple projects at various sites/locations around the city. Most ARRA grantees have special legislation that authorizes them to perform the HUD's Federal environmental compliance review for NEPA. For each “project” grantees will report NEPA review data each quarter on the RAMPS site. At the end of each reporting period, HUD will download the raw data from the RAMPS site. HUD will bring the data into Microsoft Excel, then aggregate/summarize/format the data as necessary to produce a report in the required CEQ format. HUD will submit the report to OMB as directed by CEQ. The CEQ Report to Congress is posted on www.NEPA.gov. Also, the website provides CEQ guidance to Federal Agencies on NEPA reporting under the Recovery Act.

3. The attached copy for reporting Sec. 1609(c) data is designed to assure that the percentage of responses collected electronically will be 100%. The collection will be efficient and help reduce burden to respondants by using current available information technology. See response to A.2. above for detailed description.

4. Not applicable. Duplication is highly unlikely, because HUD previously had no need or statutory authority or information technology readiness (See response to A.2. above) to undertake such nationwide data collection for reporting on the status and progress of the ARRA grantees' projects and activities with respect to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements and documentation.

5. Not applicable. The information collection does not involve or impact small businesses.

6. Not applicable. Sec. 1609(c) prescribes reporting every 90 days following the date of enactment until Septmeber 30, 2010. Failure to perform would be a violation of statute and the directives from OMB and CEQ to heads of federal agencies to perform this mandate.

7. Not applicable. None of the above special circumstances apply to this data collection for implementing Sec. 1609(c).

8. Consultation is ongoing with staff of the Council on Environmental Quality to assure conformity with CEQ guidance for implementing Sec. 1609(c). A notice of proposed information collection with request for public comment was published in the Federal Register for this review and extension of the current approval request to OMB (74 FR 46446, September 9, 2009).

9. Not Applicable. Respondents will not receive any payment or gifts for responding to this data collection.

10. Not Applicable. The information collected is public information.

11. Not Applicable. The information collection does not pertain to any of the above-listed topics.

12. Estimated number of respondents is 6,000. Frequency of response is once quarterly. Annual number of responses is 24,000 (6,000 x 4).

Estimate 30 minutes for response. Annualized burden hours is 12,000 (24,000 x 0.5 hour).

Estimate annualized cost for collection of information is $480,000 (12,000 x $40 estimate hourly cost). The estimated hourly cost figure of $ 40 is determined for an experienced professional that approximates the hourly (mid-range) salary of a GS-13 employee. Individual ARRA grantees charge their costs for this data collection as ARRA project management and administration costs. The annualized cost is funded by the Federal government. See item below A.14.

13. Not Applicable. There is no need to purchase or lease any equipment for this information collection.

14. By law, the Sec. 1609(c) reporting is required of ARRA grant recipients and the cost for the collection of information is paid from their ARRA grant award funding.

15. This is a revision of a previously approved collection. Two questions have been added to the RAMPS system: (1) Is the Review Complete? and (2) What is the reason for the pending review? These questions will have minimum, if any impact, on the time it takes to compete the review. In most cases, the questions may not be applicable because either the project is exempt or categorically excluded from the process or the review has been completed.

16. Not Applicable. HUD has no plans to publish this information as general statistical information. To comply with ARRA 1609(c), HUD will collect this information every 90 days following the date of enactment until September 30, 2010 and will consolidate and transmit the information received from ARRA grantees to the Council on Environmental Quality and OMB for the Administration's reporting to the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee every 90 days following the date of enactment until September 30, 2010 as prescribed in the legislation.

17. Not Applicable. The expiration date of the OMB approval will be displayed on attached copy.

18. Not Applicable.

Part B. Not Applicable.