SUPPORTING STATEMENT
1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTION
Title of the Information Collection.
Contractor
Conflicts of Interest (Renewal)
EPA ICR 1550.11, OMB Control
No. 2030-0023
Short
Characterization/Abstract.
The collection of this
information is required to ensure that the Agency can effectively
identify, evaluate, and take appropriate action concerning
contractor conflicts of interest (COI). Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) contractors are required to disclose any actual or
potential COI with regard to their employees, corporate
affiliations, and business relationships. Contractors will be
required to maintain a database of business relationships and
report information to EPA on either an annual basis or when work is
ordered under an Agency contract. Additionally, under some
contracts, the contractor must request written approval from the
contracting officer to enter into a proposed contract subject to
the restrictions of EPA’s Limitation of Future Contracting
Clause that can found at CFR 48 1552.209-74.
The
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the previous ICR
with no terms of clearance.
2. NEED FOR AND USE OF THE COLLECTION
Need/Authority
for the Collection
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
Subpart 9.5, requires contracting officers to analyze acquisitions
to identify and evaluate potential COI, and to avoid, neutralize, or
mitigate significant COI before contract award. EPA’s
information collection is required to fulfill the requirements of
the FAR, protect the Government’s interests at contract award,
and ensure this protection extends throughout the performance of
Agency contracts.
FAR Subpart 2.1 states organizational
conflict of interest means “that because of other activities
or relationships with other persons, a person is unable or
potentially unable to render impartial assistance or advice to the
Government, or the person’s objectivity in performing the
contract work is or might be otherwise impaired, or a person has an
unfair competitive advantage.” Depending on the contract
terms, EPA requires the contractor to either certify annually or
certify each time work is ordered under the contract that to the
best of the Contractor's knowledge and belief, all actual or
potential organizational COI have been reported to EPA. If the
contractor cannot so certify, the firm must provide a disclosure
statement describing all relevant information concerning any past,
present, or planned interests bearing on whether it may have a COI.
The contracting officer and advisers will use this information to
evaluate potential conflicts and to determine the appropriate action
necessary to avoid, mitigate, or neutralize the disclosed
conflict.
Practical
Utility/Users of the Data
EPA staff will use the COI plan
and certifications as a means to ensure contractors are complying
with EPA's requirements for detecting and avoiding conflicts of
interest. If contractors submit a certification stating they have
no conflicts of interest, the contracting officer reviews the
certificate and retains the information in the official contract
file. If contractors disclose information showing they have an
actual or potential COI the contracting officers and advisers
(subject matter or technical experts, legal advisors, and
procurement analysts) carefully review and analyze the disclosure
to determine the appropriate course of action.
Contracting
officers document their determinations in the official contract
file where they also retain the original information collected.
In general, the information collected and the
determinations made will be used by the Agency to ensure that
contractors and the EPA are adequately addressing COI concerns, and
that the Agency is making determinations consistent with the
exercise of common sense, good judgment, and sound discretion to
protect its programs.
3. NONDUPLICATION, CONSULTATIONS & OTHER COLLECTION CRITERIA
Non-Duplication
The
collection of information is not duplicative of information
otherwise accessible to the Agency. The data is unique to each
firm’s contract or order for work under a contract and is not
available from any other source. EPA provisions have the same
general objectives of identifying, mitigating and avoiding COI as
FAR Subpart 9.5. However, unlike the FAR, the EPA provisions
include reporting and certification requirements to ensure that
actual and potential conflicts of interest are reviewed not only
prior to contract award, but also during the period of contract
performance and after contract performance to ensure enforcement
actions are not prejudiced. This is the only way that EPA can
evaluate whether a contractor's work efforts, which may be
initiated during the EPA contract performance period or in some
cases, after contract completion, may present an unacceptable risk
to the Agency.
Public
Notice Required Prior to ICR submission to OMB
A notice to
renew this information collection was posted to the Federal
Register on March 2, 2018. Five comments were received; none were
relevant to subject matter of the ICR.
Consultations
For
this ICR, consultations were conducted with the following EPA
contractors who provide information under EPA's COI disclosure
requirements. In order to obtain the most accurate data, the sample
included both a small and a large firm.
The firms contacted are:
Name |
Phone |
Affiliation |
Dalton Stupack |
509-578-3150 |
Leidos Innovation Corp., Lrg Bus |
Vijay Mallepalli |
409-983-4575 |
Chemtex, Small Business |
The process each firm used for tracking contract work, reviewing the scope of work, and certifying there are no conflicts or disclosing the nature of an actual or potential conflict were virtually identical. The amount of effort involved varied on the size of the business, the number of affiliates, and the amount of contracting they do.
Effects of
Less Frequent Collection
EPA is unable to further reduce
this requirement without handicapping its ability to ensure that
contractors do not work in areas where their objectivity may be
impaired, or where their actions may adversely affect enforcement
actions or cost recovery from polluters.
General
Guidelines
This ICR does not exceed any of the OMB
guidelines found 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
Confidentiality
Some of the information submitted in response to our
information request is confidential business information (CBI).
The Agency will protect CBI from release, and will disclose it only
to the extent consistent with 40 CFR part 2, subpart B, Agency
regulations, and the contract terms.
This information
collection complies with the Privacy Act of 1978 and OMB Circular
A-108, as revised and incorporated into OMB Circular A-130.
Sensitive
Questions
We have identified no sensitive questions in
this collection.
4. THE RESPONDENTS AND THE INFORMATION REQUESTED
Respondents/SIC
Codes
The respondents represent a variety of industries
such as: remediation services (NAICS #562910); environmental
consulting services (NAICS #541620); engineering services (NAICS
#541330); research and development (NAICS #541712); administrative
management and general management consulting services (NAICS
#541611); and computer related services (NAICS #541519).
Information Requested
Data
items, including recordkeeping requirements
Data to be
collected includes: (1) certification on either an annual basis
or when work is ordered that conflicts have been disclosed or
that none exist; (2) disclosure of actual and potential conflicts
of interest under the contract; and (3) requests for
authorization to enter into a certain future contract work, cited
in the "Limitation of Future Contracting Clause” in
the applicable contract.
The recordkeeping
requirements associated with this request include corporate
recordkeeping consistent with a contractor's system for
identifying, mitigating, and preventing conflicts of interest as
described in its COI plan submitted to EPA. This COI
recordkeeping includes maintaining a database of corporate
clients and contracts in order to identify potential conflicts
and maintain records of disclosures of conflicts to demonstrate
compliance with a contractor's COI plan. NOTE: The term
"database" as used in this section includes any system
which permits a contractor to search its records for COI and may
be manual or automated. The critical function of any database is
that it gives the respondent the capability to identify any past,
present, and future work which may be in conflict.
Respondent
Activities
Properly responding to EPA’s COI
disclosure requests requires the contractor to first maintain a
list of all current contracts they are working under and the
nature of the work they are performing under the contract. Then,
the contractor must analyze interrelations between the work the
firm will be performing under the current contract and any work
performed under other contracts to understand whether the new
work would cause the contractor to be unable to render impartial
assistance or advice to EPA, impair the firm’s objectivity,
or give the firm an unfair competitive advantage. If the firm
discovers no conflicts of interest, then it certifies this fact
to the contracting officer. If the firm discovers an actual or
potential problem, then the facts of the situation will be
reported to the contracting officer for his or her response. The
steps involved in this process would include:
Create information; (“Customary and usual Business Practices” (CBP* = 50%)
prepare COI plan
Gather information; (CBP = 80%)
create a database
Process, compile, and review information; (CBP = 80%)
search database and records and
maintain records
Identify a potential COI; (CBP = 10%)
make decision and notify EPA contracting officer
Complete written forms or other paperwork; (CBP = 10%)
prepare annual certification, or
prepare certification when work is ordered
Request approval to enter a future contract that may have a COI. (CBP = 0%)
* "Customary and usual business practice" (CBP) means efforts that are part of a company’s day to day work efforts and are not unique to their contracts with EPA. The percentages identified above were based on analysis of interviews with Agency contractors, Agency contracting staff, and historical data on handling COI.
5. THE INFORMATION COLLECTED -- AGENCY ACTIVITIES, COLLECTION METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Agency
Activities
The Agency anticipates performing the
information collection activities listed below, in conjunction with
COI requirements. (See 6(b) for calculations of the Agency's cost
estimates.)
Analyzing the contract scope and inserting appropriate COI clauses in contracts;
Collecting COI certifications or disclosures, or requests to review future contracts from the contractor;
When a conflict is disclosed or a request for a future contract is made, analyzing the information provided and determining the appropriate measures to avoid, neutralize or mitigate the conflict; and
Filing certifications of no conflict or documenting action on potential COI disclosures in the contract file.
Collection Methodology and Management
After conducting extensive market research, the Contracting Officer (CO) makes the determination whether a COI plan and clauses will be required from the responding contractors. The CO has responsibility for collecting, reviewing, and making COI determinations. Information is collected through specific COI related provisions and clauses for Superfund Programs and other requirements that provide contractors with directions on what they need to submit to the Agency depending on the work to be performed. Not all contracts will have the same COI clauses. The information and determinations will be filed in the specific contract files as the official record of the Agency decision. Most respondents will prepare their submissions electronically. Submissions are accepted in any format so long as the required information is provided.
Small
Entity Flexibility
Based on fiscal year 2015, 2016, and
2017 figures, approximately 40% of the Agency’s contracts are
awarded to small businesses. Only the minimum information necessary
to ensure that conflicts of interest do not exist is requested.
Because the information requested is vital to monitoring contractor
performance under Agency contracts, separate or simplified
procedures cannot be developed for small businesses.
EPA
considered alternatives to the information collection, such as
establishing different compliance or reporting requirements or
simplifying the requirements for small entities. EPA also
considered exempting small entities from all or part of the rule.
However, separate or further simplified requirements are not
practical, because the stated objectives cannot be met under such
alternatives. An undisclosed COI poses the same risk to EPA whether
it is a conflict involving a large or small business contractor.
EPA believes the information collection, along with other
established internal controls within the Agency, will prevent
conflicts of interest that may jeopardize future actions.
Collection
Schedule
Depending on the type of contract, this
information collection requires contractors to certify, either
annually or for individual work orders, that they have no COI. If
the contractor detects an actual or potential conflict, then the
firm must disclose the nature of the conflict. The annual
certification requirement is possible where the nature of the work
the contractor is performing is sufficiently known in advance to
allow certifying for an entire year. More frequently, EPA requires
its contractors to certify or disclose with each order for work
under the contract. This requirement, for reporting when specific
work is ordered, is essential under contracts with a wide scope
where it is not possible to know in advance the exact type of work
needed or the exact location the work will be performed. For
example, most Superfund contracts are performed at multiple sites
and there is little or no advance notice of where such work will be
assigned because of changing cleanup priorities. Therefore, a
contractor is in a better position to identify its conflicts or
potential conflicts when work is ordered, as compared to when the
basic contract is awarded.
There is also no set
schedule for submission of requests for authorization to enter into
a contract for non-EPA work cited in the "Limitation of Future
Contracting Clause." This clause identifies outside work that
could pose a significant COI with work performed for EPA and may
impair EPA contractor performance or harm enforcement actions.
These requests are required to be submitted to the contracting
officer if and when a contractor wants to request authorization to
enter into such high-risk contracts. Such requests are essential
in order to provide EPA with the opportunity to protect its
enforcement actions from an unacceptable risk of prejudice before
it occurs. This is essential to protecting the Government
interests.
6. ESTIMATING THE BURDEN AND COST OF THE COLLECTION
Estimating
Respondent Burden
Respondent burden in complying with the
COI information collection is broken down into the following tasks.
Each task will be separately summarized and addressed in
subsequent section of Part 6.
Prepare COI Plan (one-time burden)
Create a Database (one-time burden)
Storage and Maintenance of Records (recurring burden)
Search Data Base Records for Possible COI (recurring burden)
Identify Potential COI, Record Decision, and Notify EPA (recurring burden)
Request Approval for Future Contract (recurring)
Onetime costs, such as COI plan development and creation of a database will only be incurred by contractors and subcontractors who have never contracted with EPA.
Although the information collection requirements for small and large business are the same, EPA’s consultations with small businesses confirmed that the workload is generally less for small businesses because they have less complex organizational structures, fewer contracts, and less data to maintain and search than large businesses.
While the overall makeup of EPA contracts is 40% small business and 60% large business; it is difficult to accurately predict how that split will apply to respondents for this ICR. As mentioned, the COI process is more cumbersome for large businesses because they have more contracts and more business relationships. Therefore, they are also more likely to have a COI than a small business. Given the uncertainty involved, we determined it would be most prudent to use the estimated response times for large businesses in this ICR’s burden calculation.
It is anticipated that some of the work associated with COIs would be done by contractors in the normal course of business as a customary and usual business practice (CBP), such as maintaining records of who they do business with. The CBP in this ICR are based on knowledge of the business practices of anticipated respondents and from a review of information received from EPA contractors who provided data in response to our consultations. In our burden calculations, the burden attributable to CBPs is subtracted from the overall total burden to show the new estimated burden anticipated for this requirement. The calculations for CBP are described below for each category of effort.
Estimating Respondent Costs
Estimating
Labor Costs
For all tasks, based on historical data, it is
calculated that 25% of the effort would be managerial, 50% would be
technical, and 25% would be administrative. The mean hourly labor
rates are from the May 2016 National Occupational Employment and
Wage Estimates published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Bureau of Labor Statistics. For business/financial management the
rate was $67.17; for a conservation scientist (technical) the rate
was $31.31; and for administrative staff the rate was $17.91. To
calculate a fully loaded rate, an overhead of 100% was added to the
hourly rate.
Estimating
Capital and O&M Costs
Because it will not be
necessary for respondents to acquire any capital goods to provide
the requested information, EPA has estimated no incurred
capital/start-up costs. Operating and maintenance costs, which
include such items as file storage, photo copying, and postage, are
negligible.
Estimating
Agency Burden and Costs
The Agency based its burden
estimates on actual experience in collecting, reviewing, and
approving contractors’ COI submissions. Due to the complexity
of the task, as well as the experience and skill required in
reviewing contractors’ COI submissions, this effort is
performed by a Grade 14 contracting officer. The contracting
personnel who review the submissions also document their findings
in the contracting file. No administrative support is used in this
effort. The second task, reviewing the contractor’s COI plan
is done before the contract is awarded on a one-time basis. The
third task, reviewing certifications and disclosures, includes
annual and by work order certifications and disclosures as well as
requests. The fourth task is reviewing requests for approval of
future contract.
The hourly rate for a step five, GS-14
is $47.86 per Office
of Personnel Management Salary Table 2017-GS. A rate of 65%, or
$31.10, was added to cover overhead costs. The loaded rate equals
$78.96 per hour.
Annual Agency Burden/Cost Estimates |
||
Collection Activity |
Burden Hours (per year) |
Cost (based on rate of $78.96) |
1. Answer Respondent Questions |
250 |
$ 19,740.00 |
2. Reviewing the contractor’s conflict of interest plan |
240 |
$ 18,950.40 |
3a. Reviewing annual certifications or disclosures and documenting the file. (11 x 2=22 hours) |
22 |
$ 1,737.12 |
3b. Reviewing work order certifications or disclosures and documenting the file. (52 x 45 =2,340 responses. 2,340 x 2 = 4,680 hours) |
4,680 |
$ 369,532.80 |
4. Reviewing requests for approval for future contracting and documenting the contract file
|
100 |
$ 7,896.00 |
Total: |
5,292 |
$ 416,119.20 |
Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden Costs
Respondents to this information collection activity are Agency contractors performing work for the Agency which requires protection from conflicts of interest. The number of EPA contractors who will be required to provide information under this collection is approximately 45, and is derived from the number of COI Plans submitted for review in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Analysis of Annual Respondent Hourly Burden Per-Activity:
Prepare COI (COI) Plan. (Non-recurring one-time effort) In its initial request, EPA estimated 1,170 hours per plan as a non-recurring one-time cost, because once contractors have prepared a COI Plan, it will only be necessary to update and/or modify it. We continue to utilize the estimate of 1,170 hours per plan for any firms who have never previously done business with EPA or been a prime or subcontractor on a Federal Government contract involving COI provisions. For new respondents, we retain the original CBP of 50%. This results in an estimate of 585 hours for each of the estimated 15 new respondents. In order to allocate the 585 hours across the seven-year period of performance we have divided the 585 by 7 to arrive at an average 84 hours per respondent per year to prepare the initial COI plan. Total burden per year for the 15 new respondents is 1,260.
ANNUAL BURDEN: 84 hours per respondent
Create Data Base. (Non-recurring one-time effort) Our estimate of 700 hours reflects EPA's best estimate based on information received from respondents. The CPB for this line item is 80%, resulting in total hours of 140. This line item is also a non-recurring one-time burden. Also, as described in task 1 above, these hours are allocated over a seven-year period of performance and only for new respondents, which is anticipated to be 15 per year. Therefore, our estimate includes 140 hours per response for new respondents, divided by 7 years which equals 20 hours per year, times 15 respondents or 300 total burden hours per year for all new respondents.
ANNUAL BURDEN: 20 hours per respondent
Storage and Maintenance of Records. The estimate for storing and maintaining records is 484 hours per respondent, per year. Therefore, a total of 154 hours of storage and maintenance of records activity is associated with this collection request.
ANNUAL BURDEN:154 hours per respondent
Search
Data Base Records for Possible COI. The number of times
work is ordered under an EPA contract varies greatly; however,
for purposes of this ICR we retain the estimate, based on
historical data that 75 work orders will be issued in a given
year. Of this number, approximately 16% will be for the same
Superfund site for which a previous work order has been issued.
Since contractors are not required to submit more than one
certification or disclosure per Superfund site, then it is
expected that contractors will only do certifications or
disclosures for 63 work orders per year.
The
average time required to perform each search is estimated to be
8 hours. In our interviews with contractors, we found firms
typically perform a key word search (key words such as type of
work, location, names of affiliates) in an automated database.
The database search would take less than an hour; however, an
employee with the appropriate expertise must review the search
findings for accuracy. Eight hours includes the database search
time, ensuring the findings are appropriate, and possibly
querying contractor project staff as well as records. Based on
interviews with contractors, the CBP for this line item is 10%.
Therefore, the hours associated with this collection request for
data base searches is 7 hours.
ANNUAL BURDEN: 7 x 63 = 441 hours per respondent
Identify Potential COI, Record Decision. Execute Work Order or the Annual Certification, and Notify the EPA of the Decision. This category reflects the management and technical activity in the search and certification effort that a contractor must perform. In accordance with the contract terms, the contractor is required to submit either a onetime certification or individual certifications when work is ordered under the contract. Of the 63 worker orders requiring certification or disclosure, approximately 17% of cases (11 work orders per year) will qualify as needing only an annual certification. The remaining 52 orders will require individual certification or disclosure.
Our estimate is 28 hours to complete an annual certification
(in 11 cases) and 4 hours to complete a per work order review (in 52
cases). The CBP factor for this task is very low because most of
this effort is associated solely with EPA requirements. The estimate
of 10% for CBP is associated with an identification of a COI on a
private contract which requires management attention but may not
require the documentation and certification process required by EPA.
ANNUAL BURDEN: 11 x 28 = 308 (annual certification)
52 x 4 = 208 (work order certifications)
Total: 516 hours per respondent
Request Approval to Contract. The estimate utilized is identical to that provided in the ICR for the proposed rule and for previous renewals. It is based upon an average estimate of five requests per respondent per year with an associated effort of 20 hours per request, or 100 hours per respondent. This review and approval time has remained fairly constant over the years and is not expected to change during the three-year period covered by this renewal. This is exclusively a requirement for the Federal Government and therefore no CBP is assigned.
ANNUAL BURDEN: 100 hours per respondent
Analysis of Annual Respondent Cost Per-Activity: |
||||||
Task & Labor Type Breakdown |
Rate |
Hours |
Cost |
|
||
New Respondents Only |
||||||
Task 1 Prepare COI Plan |
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
21 |
$2821.14 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
42 |
$2630.04 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
21 |
$752.22 |
|
||
|
|
|
84 |
$6203.40 |
|
|
Task 2 Create Database |
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
5 |
$671.17 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
10 |
$626.20 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
5 |
$179.10 |
|
||
|
|
|
20 |
$1476.47 |
|
|
All Respondents |
||||||
Task 3 Storage & Maintenance |
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
38.5 |
$5172.09 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
77 |
$4821.74 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
38.5 |
$1379.07 |
|
||
|
|
|
154 |
$11372.90 |
|
|
Task 4 Search Database |
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
110.25 |
$14810.99 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
220.50 |
$13807.71 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
110.25 |
$3949.16 |
|
||
|
|
|
441 |
$32567.86 |
|
|
Task 5 Certify/Disclose |
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
129 |
$17329.86 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
258 |
$16155.96 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
129 |
$4620.78 |
|
||
|
|
|
516 |
$38106.60 |
|
|
Task 6 Request Approval to Contract
|
||||||
|
Management |
$ 134.34 |
25 |
$3358.50 |
|
|
Technical |
$62.62 |
50 |
$3131.00 |
|
||
Administrative |
$35.82 |
25 |
$895.50 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
100 |
$7385.00 |
|
Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables
Respondent Tally
Total annual respondent burden for new respondents (which includes all tasks) is 1,315 hours times 15 new respondents for a total of 19,725 hours.
Total annual respondent burden for respondents which are not new (performing only tasks 3 through 6) is 1,211 hours times 30 respondents for a total of 36,330 hours.
Annual time burden for all respondents, all tasks, is 56,055 hours.
Estimated burden per respondent is (total hours divided by all 45
respondents) is 1,245.67.
For the 15 new respondents required to undertake tasks 1 and 2,
annual costs for these activities are estimated to be $7,679.87 per
respondent and $115,198.05 for the group.
All 45
respondents are expected to undertake tasks 3 through 6. Their
anticipated annual costs for these activities are $89,432.36 per
respondent and $4,024,456.20 for the group.
The total
annual cost for all respondents is $4,139,654.25. The average
annual cost per respondent is estimated to be $91,992.32
Analysis of Total Annual Labor Costs |
||
|
|
|
Task 1 |
$6,203.40 |
|
Task 2 |
$1,476.47 |
|
Total: |
$7,679.87 |
|
Task 1&2 Total (for 15 New Respondents): |
$115,198.05 |
|
|
|
|
Task 3 |
$11,372.90 |
|
Task 4 |
$32,567.86 |
|
Task 5 |
$38,106.60 |
|
Task 6 |
$7,385.00 |
|
Total: |
$89,432.36 |
|
Task 3-6 Total (for 45 Respondents): |
$4,024,456.20 |
|
|
||
Total All Respondents: |
$4,139,654.25 |
|
Per Respondent: |
$91,992.32 |
Agency
Tally
Annual agency burden is estimated to be 5,292 hours
and $416,199.20.
Reason for Changes in Burden
There is a significant
reduction in expected respondents (135 to 45). The lower
respondent count used in this renewal is derived from the actual
number of COI Plans submitted for review in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and
Agency expectations that workflow levels should continue, generally
unchanged, in the upcoming period. Burden levels and costs
associated with this renewal are consistent with those previously
requested when viewed on a per-response basis. The
overall decreases noted in these categories are proportional to the
reductions in expected responses.
Burden
Statement
The annual public reporting and recordkeeping
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average
1,218.70 hours per response. Burden means the total time, effort,
or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain,
retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal
agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions;
develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for
the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information,
processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and
providing information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any
previously applicable instructions and requirements; train
personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information;
search data sources; complete and review the collection of
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for
EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter
15.
To comment on the Agency's need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OARM-2018-0028, which is available for online viewing at www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Office of Environmental Information in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Office of Environmental Information is (202) 566-1752. An electronic version of the public docket is available at www.regulations.gov. This site can be used to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. When in the system, select “search,” then key in the Docket ID Number identified above. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OARM-2018-0028 and OMB Control Number 2030-0023 in any correspondence.
File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
Author | MCHAMBER |
File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
File Created | 2021-01-20 |