SUPPORTING STATEMENT
NOMINATION REQUEST FORM - ANIMAL DISEASE TRAINING
March 2011
Justification
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.
The Animal Health Protection Act (AHPA) of 2002 is the primary Federal law governing the protection of animal health. The law gives the Secretary of Agriculture broad authority to detect, control, or eradicate pests or diseases of livestock or poultry. The Secretary may also prohibit or restrict import or export of any such animal or related material if necessary to prevent spread of any livestock or poultry pest or disease.
The AHPA is contained in Title X, Subtitle E, Sections 10401-18 of P.L. 107-171, May 13, 2002, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), is responsible for administering regulations intended to prevent the introduction of animal diseases into the United States. VS’ Professional Development Staff (PDS) provides training on responses to animal disease events, sample collection procedures, and disease mitigation/eradication activities to private veterinarians and State, Tribal, industry, and university personnel. The courses are designed to prepare participants for activities in the event of a U.S. animal disease incident.
The PDS Nomination Request Form is used to collect contact information needed to select and prioritize applicants for PDS trainings on animal disease. Authorization and/or nomination to attend courses must be provided by the applicant’s supervisor and the appropriate regional official (if applicable). The information required for PDS training includes: the applicants’ work addresses, work telephone number, work email address, agency/organization affiliation, and job title. This information is also used to produce participant rosters after course selections are made and during training to encourage ongoing working relationships between course participants. PDS would not be able to conduct trainings without the above mentioned information.
APHIS is asking the Office of Management and Budget to approve its use of these information collection activities for an additional 3 years.
2. Indicate how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.
APHIS uses the following information activities to collect contact information needed to select and prioritize applicants for PDS trainings on animal disease.
Nomination/Registration Request Form (VS Form 1-5)
Information is collected on VS Form 1-5 from private veterinarians, State, Tribal, university, and industry personnel who want to attend animal disease training facilitated by PDS. Applicants submit the completed form (hardcopy or Web-based) to Regional Training Coordinators prior to the PDS course date. The Regional Training Coordinators prioritize applicants based on the need in their respective States for such trained personnel. VS Form 1-5 is subsequently sent to a PDS Training Technician for processing.
3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.
Applicants may register for PDS training by accessing AgLearn (a USDA Learning Management System) at http://www.aglearn.usda.gov/. Alternatively, respondents without Internet access, and those who cannot successfully register through AgLearn, may submit a hardcopy of VS Form
1-5 to PDS.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purpose described in item 2 above.
The information collected in connection with this program is not available from any other source.
5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.
The collection of information impacts approximately 5 percent of small businesses or other small entities. The majority of small business respondents are private veterinarians who may have access to the Internet to register for PDS courses.
6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.
If the information were collected less frequently or not collected at all, it would significantly impact APHIS’ ability to eradicate animal diseases. PDS provides training on the processes and activities to mitigate/eliminate harmful animal diseases that could potentially affect human health. The absence of this training and work would increase the possibility of an animal health disease incursion; thereby, elevating the risk of adverse effects on U.S. public health, food, animal health industries, and U.S. trade.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.
requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;
requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;
requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;
requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;
in connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;
requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;
that includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or
requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.
The information collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines established in
5 CFR 1320.5.
8. Describe 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 form, and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency’s notice, soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.
In 2011, APHIS engaged in productive consultations with the following individuals concerning the information collection requirements associated with this program:
Jamie Berning
The Ohio State University
2297 Summit Street
Columbus, OH 43202
(419) 297-3336
Emily Byers
Auburn University
1100 Stonegate Drive, Lot 231
Auburn, AL 36832
(706) 870-0909
Erin Stough
University of Pennsylvania
4110 Spruce Street, Apt. 4
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(717) 818-6078
On Tuesday, July 26, 2011, page 44570, APHIS published in the Federal Register, a 60- day notice seeking public comments on APHIS’ plans to request a 3-year extension of this collection of information. During that time APHIS received one comment from Jean Public requesting to take the Animal Disease Training. It had no relevance to the purpose of the collection.
9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than reenumeration of contractors or grantees.
This information collection activity involves no payments or gifts to respondents.
10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
No additional assurance of confidentiality is provided with this information collection. Any and all information obtained in this collection shall not be disclosed except in accordance with 5 U.S.C.552a.
11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.
This information collection activity will ask no questions of a personal or sensitive nature.
12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated.
• Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.
See APHIS Form 71. Approximately 100 individuals use VS Form 1-5 per year. Burden estimates were developed from discussions with State, industry, Tribal, and university personnel who would likely attend a PDS training course.
• Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.
The annualized cost to the public is $1,023.66. APHIS arrived at this figure by multiplying the total burden hours (33) by the estimated average hourly wage of the above respondents ($31.02). U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2009 Report - Occupational Employment and Wages in the United States. See http://www.bls.gov/oes/
13. Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimates should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component annualized over its expected useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.
There is zero annual cost burden associated with capital and start-up costs, operation and maintenance expenditures, and purchase of services.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.
The annualized cost to the Federal Government is estimated at $760.28 (See APHIS Form 79).
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-1.
ICR Summary of Burden:
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There is an adjustment decrease of -452 respondents and -458 responses resulting in -678 burden hours for this submission.
In previous years, respondents were given the option to register electronically for PDS training courses by accessing AgLearn (the USDA Learning Management System) or by submitting a hard copy of VS Form 1-5 to PDS. However, it is now required that Federal and State personnel register for PDS training courses via AgLearn. Therefore, the number of hard copy submissions of VS Form 1-5 has decreased significantly, but remains available for non-governmental applicants and others who do not have Internet access. The large decrease in respondents which ultimately affects the annual responses and total burden hours is because of budget limitations. APHIS is not offering as many training sessions which impacts the number of respondents completing the Nomination Request Form. Also, the time for responses decreased from 1 hour to .333 hours per response because this is the first renewal of this information collection and APHIS has a better accounting for the time needed to complete the form; therefore, the time was adjusted to reflect this more accurate response time. This collection does not require recordkeeping which was accounted for in the previous collection. This entry has been removed and accounted for as an adjustment.
16. For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.
APHIS has no plans to publish information collected in connection with this program.
17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.
APHIS has no plans to seek approval for not displaying the OMB expiration date on its form.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in the “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act.”
APHIS can certify compliance with all provisions of the Act.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Statistical methods are not employed in this information collection activity.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | smharris |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-31 |