2012 Ss 0232

SUPPORTING STATEMENT OMB NO. 0579-0232

STANDARDS FOR PRIVATELY OWNED QUARANTINE FACILITIES FOR RUMINANTS

August 2012

A. 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 animal or related material if necessary to prevent the 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.

Disease prevention is the most effective method for maintaining a healthy animal population and for enhancing the United States’ ability to compete in the world market of animal and animal product trade.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) provides standards for the approval, operation, and oversight of privately owned quarantine facilities for imported ruminants prior to their release into the United States. These standards trigger a number of information collection activities when applicants apply for approval to establish and operate privately owned quarantine facilities. These information collections include the writing of application letters, the maintenance of daily logs, and the writing of variance requests.

APHIS is asking the Office of Management and Budget to approve, for an additional 3 years, its use of this information collection. These information activities include application letters, compliance agreements, daily logs, and requests for variance.

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 associated with its efforts to maintain a system whereby private individuals can operate (with APHIS oversight) their own facilities for the quarantine of imported ruminants.

Application Letter

Anyone desiring to obtain APHIS approval to establish and operate a privately owned medium or minimum security quarantine facility for ruminants must submit, in writing, a letter that contains the full name and mailing address of the applicant, the location and street address of the proposed facility, a description of the financial resources for construction, operation, and maintenance of the facility, the anticipated origin of the ruminants to be quarantined, and the expected size and frequency of shipments. In addition to the letter, the applicant must provide APHIS with blueprints of the proposed facility, all approved State and local permits for construction and operation of such a facility, and a contingency plan for the destruction and disposal of all possible ruminants capable of being held in the facility. This information can be submitted to APHIS via fax, postal mail, or email.

APHIS uses this information to determine whether an applicant is capable of designing, equipping, operating, and maintaining a quarantine facility that meets APHIS standards for biological security. Requests for approval must be submitted at least 120 days prior to the date of application for local business permits. Based on this information, APHIS will determine if permission will be granted to establish and operate a private quarantine facility for ruminants.

Compliance Agreement

The applicant agrees to establish, operate, and maintain the private quarantine facility in accordance with APHIS standards and requirements. The compliance agreement further stipulates that the operator is responsible for the cost of building the facility, as well as any costs associated with its maintenance and operation.

Daily Log

For purposes of security, facility operators must maintain a daily log to record the entry and exit of all persons entering and leaving the facility while quarantine is in progress. These logs must be made available to an APHIS representative upon request, and must be kept for 2 years following the release of the ruminants from quarantine.

Request for Variance

Facility operators desiring a variance from APHIS regulatory standards must submit their variance request, in writing, at least 30 days in advance of the arrival of ruminants at the quarantine facility. APHIS will grant a variance to existing facility requirements relating to location, construction, design, sanitation, security, operating procedures, recordkeeping, or other provisions if it determines that there is no detrimental effect on the health of the ruminants or to the overall biological security of the quarantine operation.

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 submission 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.

All documents associated with this information collection can be submitted to APHIS electronically by email as scanned documents. The information regarding the application letter will be available through APHIS’ National Center for Import/Export at 301-851-3300 or by fax at 301-734-6402. Guidelines for submitting an application are available on the APHIS homepage at www.aphis.usda.gov .

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 that APHIS collects is not available from any other source. APHIS is the only Federal agency responsible for preventing foreign animal diseases from entering the United States.

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

The information collected is the absolute minimum needed to ensure that privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants are being operated according to APHIS standards for biosecurity. APHIS has no small entities involved with this information collection.

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 was collected less frequently or not collected, APHIS would be forced to discontinue its program of allowing the operation of privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants; a development that would hamper U.S. animal import activities.

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;

Daily Log

For purposes of security, facility operators must maintain a daily log to record the entry and exit of all persons entering and leaving the facility while quarantine is in progress.

• 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;

Daily Log

These logs must be made available to an APHIS representative upon request, and must be kept for 2 years following the release of the ruminants from quarantine.

• 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.

There are no other special circumstances associated with this collection of information. 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 record keeping, 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 activities associated with this program:

Dr. Annette Whiteford

Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services

California Department of Food and Agriculture

1220 N Street, A-114

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 900-5000

Dr. Heather Hirst

Delaware Department of Agriculture

2320 South Dupont Highway

Dover, DE 19901

(302) 698-4500

Dr. Thomas J. Holt

Division of Animal Industry

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

407 South Calhoun Street, Room 335, Mayo Building

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0800

(850) 410-0900

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012, page 14725, APHIS published in the Federal Register, a 60-day notice seeking public comments on its plans to request a 3-year renewal of this collection of information. During that time, APHIS received no comments.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment of 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 0MB Form 83-1.

See APHIS Form 71. Public burden estimates were developed from discussions with the owners/operators of the privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants.

Provide estimates, of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.

Respondents are owners/operators of privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants. APHIS estimates the total annualized cost to these respondents to be $2,409.96. APHIS arrived at this figure by multiplying the total burden hours (76 hours) by the estimated average hourly wage of the above respondents ($31.71). APHIS determined the hourly rate derived from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2011 Report - Occupational Employment and Wages in the United States. See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf

13. Provide estimates the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimate should be split in to two components: (a) a total capital and startup cost component annualized over its excepted useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There is zero annual cost burden associated with capital and startup 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 $189.00. (See APHIS Form 79.)

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustment reported in Items 12 or 14 of the 0MB Form 83-1.

	Requested	Program Change Due to New Statute	Program Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Agency Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA	Previously Approved
Annual Number of Responses	154	0	0	-1	0	155
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	76	0	0	-94	0	170
Annual Cost Burden ($)	0	0	0	0	0	0

The number of privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants has decreased due to the high cost of building and maintaining such facilities. There was an error in the last submission. The program stated that it took 80 hours to complete the application letter; however, it should have taken 1 hour to complete.

There is an adjustment decrease of -1 responses (added 1 response to the compliance agreement and subtracted -2 responses to the request for variance) and there is a decrease of -94 burden hours with correcting the response time for the application letter (-79 hours) and the decrease in recordkeeping

(-15 hours).

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 it collects 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.

There are no forms associated with this information collection.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in the “Certification for Paper work Reduction Act.”

APHIS certifies compliance with all provisions of the Act.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

There are no statistical methods associated with the information collection activities used in this program.