CRP-SupportingStatement-06-01-16

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Community Resilience Panel

OMB Control No. 0693-XXXX

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

The Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems (Panel) is an organization that will engage a diverse group of stakeholders around goals and actions needed to achieve community resilience and to derive benefits from improved buildings and infrastructure. The mission of the Panel is to promote collaboration among stakeholders who strive to strengthen the resilience of buildings, infrastructure, and social systems upon which communities rely. The Panel will consider the adequacy of standards, guidelines, best practices, and recommend, develop, and work with others to make improvements in community resilience.

It is necessary to collect information about the Panel members in order to facilitate the Panel formation and functions. Information concerning the Panel members’ background and qualifications will be used to identify leadership and determine appropriate placement within the Panel organizational structure.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.

The Panel is established under a contract to support NIST in its role under the NIST authorities set forth in 15 U.S.C. 272(b)(10), (c)(12) and (c)(15) and to fulfill NIST’s responsibilities described in the President’s Climate Action Plan of 2013. The Panel will identify, describe, and prioritize guidance for comprehensive community resilience planning across the United States. A NIST contractor will serve as the Panel Administrator to review Panel documents and products approved by their Coordinating Committee, add their own technical expertise to these deliverables prior to review by NIST, report on progress by managing the Panel’s activities and ensure that all Panel work products are publicly available in the online Resilience Knowledge Base.

Panel members will be asked to complete an application and the information collected from this application will be used to determine the respondents’ relevant experience and skills.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

The Panel Administrator will launch a call for candidates for Panel members through the NIST Community Resilience website. Interested parties are encouraged to submit an application for membership electronically via the Internet. Applications will also be accepted by the Panel Administrator in paper format or by email.

The Panel membership form will be posted on the Panel Administrator’s website: The form asks the applicant to provide his/her name, title, work address, work telephone, work email address, organization, education, relevant work experience, standards developing experience, professional associations, stakeholder and standing committee areas of interest, as well as other relevant experience and areas of interest. Collection of the information will be ongoing but each applicant will provide their information only once. Information provided by the applicants will be used to organize the Panel and select leaders who will use their expertise and experience in a consensus process that will achieve the goals and actions set forth in the Panel Charter and Bylaws.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

As the Panel is a new initiative, there are no existing information collections that will provide the information that the Panel needs to select and appropriately place members.

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

The collection of this information is minimal, facilitated electronically and does not impose an undue burden on small businesses.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

If the collection is not performed, NIST will be unable to fulfill its responsibilities described in the President’s Climate Action Plan of 2013. A robust Panel membership is necessary in order to meaningfully identify, describe, and prioritize guidance for comprehensive community resilience planning across the United States.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

The collection will be conducted in a manner consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide information of the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the 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 format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

A 60-day notice soliciting comments on the information was published in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, pp. 45507, on July 30, 2015. No comments were received.

A 30-day notice was published in the Federal Register, Vol 80, pp. 59735 on October 2, 2015.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

There will be no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

The instrument states that the information collected is considered to be non-sensitive personally identifiable information and that NIST will take reasonable precautions to protect the information. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, is the basis for assurance of confidentiality. Personnel privacy information would be withheld under FOIA exemption (b)(6): Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

Not applicable.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.

200 respondents at 15 minutes per responses equals 50 total annual burden hours.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in

Question 12 above).

There is no cost burden to respondents.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.

NIST estimates an annual cost of $33,850 to be paid for the collection of this information.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

This is a new collection.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

The results will not be published.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

Not applicable. The OMB Control Number and expiration date will be displayed.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

None.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methodology.

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