Support Statement FRRS

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act
“FederalReporting.gov Recipient Registration System” for Reporting under Section 1512 of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5

A. Justification.
1.

Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5,
123 Stat. 115 (2009) (Recovery Act), requires recipients of Recovery Act funds to report
on the use of those funds. These reports are submitted to FederalReporting.gov, and
certain information from these reports is then posted to the publically available website
Recovery.gov.
The FederalReporting.gov Recipient Registration System (FRRS) was developed to
protect the Board and FederalReporting.gov users from individuals seeking to gain
unauthorized access to user accounts on FederalReporting.gov. FRRS is used for the
purpose of verifying the identity of the user; allowing users to establish an account on
FederalReporting.gov; providing users access to their FederalReporting.gov account for
reporting data; allowing users to customize, update, or terminate their accounts with
FederalReporting.gov; and renewing or revoking a user’s account on
FederalReporting.gov, thereby protecting FederalReporting.gov and
FederalReporting.gov users from potential harm caused by individuals with malicious
intentions gaining unauthorized access to the system.
To assist in this goal, FRRS will collect a registrant’s name, email address, telephone
number and extension, three security questions and answers, and, by way of a DUNS
number, organization information. (See the attached Information Collection Instrument.)
The person registering for FederalReporting.gov will generate a self-assigned password
that will be stored on the FRRS, but will only be accessible to the registering individual.

2.

Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used.
As described above, FRRS was developed to protect the Board and FederalReporting.gov
users from individuals seeking to gain unauthorized access to user accounts on
FederalReporting.gov. FRRS is used for the purposes of verifying the identity of the
individual; allowing individual users to establish an account on FederalReporting.gov;
providing individual users access to their FederalReporting.gov account for reporting
data; allowing users to customize, update, or terminate their accounts with
FederalReporting.gov; renewing or revoking an individual user’s account on

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FederalReporting.gov; and supporting the FederalReporting.gov help desk functions.
The information is used to provide authenticated protected access to
FederalReporting.gov, thereby protecting FederalReporting.gov and
FederalReporting.gov users from potential harm caused by individuals with malicious
intentions gaining unauthorized access to the system.
3.

Use of Information Technology in Collection
FederalReporting.gov is the means by which recipients of Recovery funds are required to
report on the use of those funds. The user registration for FederalReporting.gov is
required for usage of FederalReporting.gov and ultimately reporting the required
information. Electronic registration will facilitate data validation and ensure that only
authorized users are reporting the required 1512 data elements.

4.

No Duplication or Use of Similar Information
FRRS is a unique registration system that does not duplicate an existing collection and
will provide authenticated protected access to FederalReporting.gov.

5.

Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities
Use of this data set should result in a minimal impact on all registrants, including small
businesses or other small entities. The limited information collected, which should be
readily available to registrants, includes a registrant’s name, email address, telephone
number and extension, three security questions and answers, and, by way of a DUNS
number, organization information. The time required to submit the requested
information, as stated in number 12 below, is approximately 5 minutes and only needs to
be completed once by each registrant. Moreover, any impact on subrecipients would be
felt only by those that are required by the prime recipients to report the information
because prime recipients have the option of reporting the information themselves.

6.

Consequences if Collection is Not Conducted
If the collection is not conducted, there will be no adequate means to verify the identity
of the user, to provide users access to their FederalReporting.gov account for reporting
data, or to allow users to customize, update, or terminate their accounts with
FederalReporting.gov. Furthermore, lack of such a collection will hinder the
accountability goals of such reporting on the use of Recovery funds because of the
difficulties in ascertaining the user inputting the required 1512 data.

7.

Special Circumstances relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

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The FRRS does not require special circumstances.
8.

Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the
Agency
The 60-day notice and request for comments was published in the Federal Register on
December 26, 2012, 77 Fed. Reg. 76097, corrected at 78 Fed. Reg. 4175 (Jan. 18, 2013),
and interested persons were invited to submit comments on or before February 25, 2013.
No comments on this proposed information collection activity were received. The 30day notice was published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2013, 78 Fed. Reg. 16894,
and written comments are due to be submitted to OMB by April 18, 2013.

9.

Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents
N/A - FRRS does not involve a payment or gift to respondents.

10.

Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
FRRS data and information will be collected in a secure system environment. Physical
access to the data system housed within the facility is controlled by a computerized badge
reading system. Multiple levels of security are maintained via dual factor authentication
for access using biometrics.

11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions
The FRRS currently does not include questions of a sensitive nature.

12.

Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs
The FRRS online registration form, a copy of which is attached, is neither complex nor
long. Based upon repeated trials of the FRRS, it is estimated that it will take a registrant
approximately 5 minutes (.0833333 hours) to register.
Based on an analysis of historical trends spanning the past 14 quarters of Recovery Act
reporting, we are estimating approximately 1,000 new respondents will register in the
FRRS each year moving forward.
Estimated
Number of
Respondents

Total

1,000

3

Frequency
of
Response
1

Estimated
Burden
Hours per
Response
.0833333

Total Annual
Burden Hours

84

Using the average hourly cost equivalent figure that was utilized in the Board’s earlier
1512 Data Elements – Federal Financial Assistance information collection request
(approved July 12, 2010), which was $68.00 per hour, the total cost equivalent of the
FRRS information collection would equal $5,667.
13.

Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers
The FRRS does not require additional recordkeeping by the respondents.

14.

Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
The cost associated with the FRRS is already incorporated into the costs of operating and
maintaining the entire FederalReporting.gov system, which is estimated to cost
approximately $1,000,000 per year.

15.

Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments
N/A – Operating costs of FederalReporting.gov system will be reduced due to previously
sunk costs and a declining estimated number of respondents, which is also reflected
above; however, there are no substantive program changes or adjustments.

16.

For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans for
tabulation and publication.
N/A – Although the 1512 data elements are posted on Recovery.gov, there is no plan to
publish FRRS data.

17.

Reason(s) for Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate
N/A – The Board is not seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB
approval of the information collection.

18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
N/A – There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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