The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requires the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Information and Communications 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. NTIA created the SBDD Grant Program to achieve this objective. The awardees must submit reports which update project milestones and key performance indicators that allow NTIA to measure a project's progress and ensure proper monitoring and compliance with program rules using the Performance Progress Report (PPR) form.
After reviewing recent PPRs, NTIA identified a need to revise its existing PPRs by making changes to existing questions to improve clarity, adding questions, reducing the frequency with which some information is reported, and deleting certain items that are not necessary for performance monitoring. The revisions will improve recipients' responses and enable NTIA to better monitor and assess how the recipients are meeting program goals and milestones.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.