3/16/2015 FR Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 50 / Monday, March 16, 2015 / Notices
2. NCUA’s Rules and Regulations,
Ownership of Fixed Assets.
RECESS: 10:45 a.m.
TIME AND DATE: 11:00 a.m., Thursday,
March 19, 2015.
PLACE: Board Room, 7th Floor, Room
7047, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA
22314–3428.
STATUS: Closed.
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
1. Personnel Action. Closed pursuant
to Exemptions (2) and (6).
2. Personnel Action. Closed pursuant
to Exemptions (2) and (6).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Gerard Poliquin, Secretary of the Board,
Telephone: 703–518–6304.
Gerard Poliquin,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2015–06055 Filed 3–12–15; 04:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 7535–01–P

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Comment Request
National Science Foundation.
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

The National Science
Foundation (NSF) has submitted the
following information collection
requirement to OMB for review and
clearance under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104–13.
This is the second notice for public
comment; the first was published in the
Federal Register at 79 FR 66419, with
a corrected notice published at 79 FR
68728, along with a notice published at
79 FR 78497 requesting comments on
management fees for large facilities, and
48 comments were received. NSF is
forwarding the proposed submission to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for clearance simultaneously
with the publication of this second
notice. The full submission may be
found at: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/
do/PRAMain.
Comments regarding (a) whether the
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of burden including
the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance
the quality, utility and clarity of the
information to be collected; (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of

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appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology should be
addressed to: Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention:
Desk Officer for National Science
Foundation, 725—17th Street NW.,
Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503,
and to Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports
Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard,
Suite 1265, Arlington, Virginia 22230 or
send email to [email protected].
Individuals who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–
8339, which is accessible 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
(including federal holidays).
Comments regarding these
information collections are best assured
of having their full effect if received
within 30 days of this notification.
Copies of the submission(s) may be
obtained by calling 703–292–7556.
NSF may not conduct or sponsor a
collection of information unless the
collection of information displays a
currently valid OMB control number
and the agency informs potential
persons who are to respond to the
collection of information that such
persons are not required to respond to
the collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Summary of Comments on the National
Science Foundation Proposal and
Award Policies and Procedures Guide
and NSF’s Responses
The draft Large Facilities Manual was
made available for review by the public
on the NSF Web site at http://
www.nsf.gov/bfa/lfo/NSF_Large_
Facilities_Manual_110414_1700–WM_
(for_OMB).pdf. In response to the
Federal Register notice published
December 30, 2014, at 79 FR 78497, NSF
received 48 comments from 6 different
institutions/individuals. This notice
was published to receive comments for
a revised subsection of the Large
Facilities Manual, 4.2.2.2, ‘‘Management
Fee.’’ This management fee subsection
will be incorporated into the revised
NSF Large Facility Manual, which will
be released following OMB approval of
this information collection request. A
summary of the comments is as follows:
48 responses were received from six
different institutions/individuals,
broken down by the following:
• 7 responses questioned alignment
with an existing Federal Regulation/
Policy/Guideline

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• 25 suggested changes to the NSFproposed Policy/Procedures; and
• 16 provided general observations
The full comments and NSF’s
response may be found via: http://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: ‘‘Large Facilities
Manual’’.
OMB Approval Number: 3145–NEW.
Expiration Date of Approval: Not
applicable.
Type of Request: Intent to seek
approval to establish an information
collection for three years.
Proposed Project
The National Science Foundation Act
of 1950 (Pub. L. 81–507) set forth NSF’s
mission and purpose:
‘‘To promote the progress of science;
to advance the national health,
prosperity, and welfare; to secure the
national defense. . . .’’
The Act authorized and directed NSF
to initiate and support:
• Basic scientific research and
research fundamental to the engineering
process;
• Programs to strengthen scientific
and engineering research potential;
• Science and engineering education
programs at all levels and in all the
various fields of science and
engineering;
• Programs that provide a source of
information for policy formulation; and
• Other activities to promote these
ends.
Among Federal agencies, NSF is a
leader in providing the academic
community with advanced
instrumentation needed to conduct
state-of-the-art research and to educate
the next generation of scientists,
engineers and technical workers. The
knowledge generated by these tools
sustains U.S. leadership in science and
engineering (S&E) to drive the U.S.
economy and secure the future. NSF’s
responsibility is to ensure that the
research and education communities
have access to these resources, and to
provide the support needed to utilize
them optimally, and implement timely
upgrades.
The scale of advanced
instrumentation ranges from small
research instruments to shared
resources or facilities that can be used
by entire communities. The demand for
such instrumentation is very high, and
is growing rapidly, along with the pace
of discovery. For large facilities and
shared infrastructure, the need is
particularly high. This trend is expected
to accelerate in the future as increasing
numbers of researchers and educators
rely on such large facilities,

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 50 / Monday, March 16, 2015 / Notices

instruments, and databases to provide
the reach to make the next intellectual
leaps.
NSF currently provides support for
facility construction from two accounts:
the Major Research Equipment and
Facility Construction (MREFC) account,
and the Research and Related Activities
(R&RA) account. The MREFC account,
established in FY 1995, is a separate
budget line item that provides an
agency-wide mechanism, permitting
directorates to undertake large facility
projects that exceed 10% of the
Directorate’s annual budget; or roughly
$100M or greater. Smaller projects
continue to be supported from the
R&RA Account.
Facilities are defined as shared-use
infrastructure, instrumentation and
equipment that are accessible to a broad
community of researchers and/or
educators. Facilities may be centralized
or may consist of distributed
installations. They may incorporate
large-scale networking or computational
infrastructure, multi-user instruments or
networks of such instruments, or other
infrastructure, instrumentation and
equipment having a major impact on a
broad segment of a scientific or
engineering discipline. Historically,
awards have been made for such diverse
projects as accelerators, telescopes,
research vessels and aircraft, and
geographically distributed but
networked sensors and instrumentation.
The growth and diversification of
large facility projects require that NSF
remain attentive to the ever-changing
issues and challenges inherent in their
planning, construction, operation,
management and oversight. Most
importantly, dedicated, competent NSF
and awardee staff are needed to manage
and oversee these projects; giving the
attention and oversight that good
practice dictates and that proper
accountability to taxpayers and
Congress demands. To this end, there is
also a need for consistent, documented
requirements and procedures to be
understood and used by NSF program
managers and awardees for all such
large projects.
Use of the Information: Facilities are
an essential part of the science and
engineering enterprise, and supporting
them is one major responsibility of the
National Science Foundation (NSF).
NSF makes awards to external entities—
primarily universities, consortia of
universities or non-profit
organizations—to undertake
construction, management and
operation of facilities. Such awards
frequently take the form of cooperative
agreements. NSF does not directly
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supports. However, NSF retains
responsibility for overseeing their
development, management and
successful performance. The Large
Facilities Manual is intended to:
• Provide step-by-step guidance for
NSF staff and awardees to carry out
effective project planning, management
and oversight of large facilities while
considering the varying requirements of
a diverse portfolio;
• Clearly state the policies, processes
and procedures pertinent at each stage
of a facility’s life cycle from
development through construction,
operations, and termination; and
• Document and disseminate ‘‘best
practices’’ identified over time so that
NSF and awardees can carry out their
responsibilities more effectively.
This version of the Large Facilities
Manual reflects recent changes in
organization and formatting to improve
readability and facilitate period
revision. It also up-dates sections
related to contingency and cost
estimating requirements. The Manual
does not replace existing formal
procedures required for all NSF awards,
which are described in the Grant
Proposal Guide and The Award and
Administration Guide. Instead, it draws
upon and supplements them for the
purpose of providing detailed guidance
regarding NSF management and
oversight of facilities projects. All
facilities projects require merit and
technical review, as well as approval of
certain deliverables. The level of review
and approval varies substantially from
standard grants, as does the level of
oversight needed to ensure appropriate
and proper accountability for federal
funds. The requirements, recommended
procedures and best practices presented
in the Manual apply to any facility
significant enough to require close and
substantial interaction with the
Foundation and the National Science
Board.
This Manual will be updated
periodically to reflect changes in
requirements, policies and/or
procedures. Award Recipients are
expected to monitor and adopt the
requirements and best practices
included in the Manual which are
aimed at improving management and
oversight of large facilities projects and
at enabling the most efficient and costeffective delivery of tools to the research
and education communities.
The submission of proposals and
subsequent project documentation to
the Foundation related to the
development, construction and
operations of Large Facilities is part of
the collection of information. This
information is used to help NSF fulfill

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this responsibility in supporting meritbased research and education projects in
all the scientific and engineering
disciplines. The Foundation also has a
continuing commitment to provide
oversight on facilities development and
construction which must be balanced
against monitoring its information
collection so as to identify and address
any excessive reporting burdens.
NSF has approximately twenty-two
(22) Large Facilities in various stages of
development, construction, operations
and termination. One to two (1 to 2)
new awards are made approximately
every five (5) years based on science
community infrastructure needs and
availability of funding. Of the twentytwo large facilities, there are
approximately eight (8) facilities
annually that are either in development
or construction. These stages require the
highest level of reporting and
management documentation per the
Large Facilities Manual.
Burden to the Public: The Foundation
estimates that an average of three (3)
Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) are
necessary for each facility project in
development or construction (Total
Project Cost of $200–$500M) to respond
to NSF routine reporting and project
management documentation
requirements on an annual basis; or
6240 hours per year. The Foundation
estimates an average of one (1) FTE for
a facility in operations; or 2080 hours
per year. Assuming an average of eight
(8) facilities in construction and the
balance in operations, this equates to
roughly 80,000 public burden hours
annually.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2015–05875 Filed 3–13–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50–483; NRC–2012–0001]

License Renewal for Callaway Plant,
Unit 1
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: License renewal and record of
decision; issuance.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has issued renewed
facility operating license No. NPF–30 to
Union Electric Company (dba Ameren
Missouri or the licensee), the operator of
the Callaway Plant, Unit 1 (Callaway).
Renewed facility operating license No.

SUMMARY:

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