0693-0036-BEES-Please-SupportingStatement Final Mar 2020

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Institute of Standards and Technology

BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) Please

OMB CONTROL NO. 0693-0036

A. JUSTIFICATION

This is a request to extend the Office of Management and Budget approval.

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

The Engineering Laboratory (EL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed and automated a program for measuring the life cycle of environmental and economic performance of building products. The program is known as BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability). The tool follows internationally standardized guidance (ISO 14040:2006, International Organization of Standardization (ISO), Environmental management, Life cycle assessment, Principles and framework; and ISO 14044:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines). This guidance reduces complex, science-based technical content (e.g., up to 400 material and energy flows from raw material extraction through product disposal) to decision-enabling results and delivers them in a visually intuitive graphical format.

BEES Please is a voluntary program to collect data from product manufacturers so that the environmental performance of their products may be evaluated scientifically using the BEES Program.

The questionnaire used to collect the information asks a manufacturer about its product production processes, such as material inputs and process energy use and emissions, in order to compile a standardized inventory of material and energy flows into and out of the product system. Based on their completed questionnaire, NIST compiles a draft life-cycle inventory for confidential review by the firm. With manufacturer’s subsequent permission, the final life-cycle inventory for their product is included in the BEES software, which conducts a life-cycle impact assessment to estimate the impacts of their product’s inventory flows.

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 BEES software will be made available to the public through published, NIST-approved software with accompanying documentation and that reports, with manufacturer’s approval, an aggregated version of the data collected from them. The information in BEES is used by decision makers evaluating the environmental and economic performance of products.

This information collection and dissemination will comply with the NIST Chief Information Officer Information Quality Guidelines and Standards.

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 data collection is fully automated via an Excel questionnaire. The questionnaire is available from the NIST website at http://www.nist.gov/el/economics/BEESSoftware.cfm

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

Manufacturers submitting data to BEES often have limited experience or knowledge of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) yet have the most knowledge of their own product(s) and processes. The questionnaire used for BEES enables manufacturers to seamlessly provide thorough data on their processes that will cover the requirements for BEES submission. Because the questionnaire is in Excel format – one that is familiar for most individuals and easy shared – the process becomes standardized and designed for the data to be easily updated in the future by the same individual or transferred to someone else at the company. This process facilitates data exchange between an LCA practitioner (for BEES or other life cycle data application) and the manufacturer and increases the likelihood that the data developed for BEES will also meet the needs of future data requests from their suppliers and customers who are increasingly requesting environmental data on their manufacturing operations.

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

NIST and NIST’s BEES Please data contractor are always available to assist manufacturers in completion of the questionnaire. To reduce the data collection burden, only the essential information for a life-cycle impact assessment of a product’s inventory flows is collected.

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

Without this data collection, it would be impossible to publish the environmental and economic performance results in BEES to maintain up-to-date information increasingly sought by decision makers.

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

The collection will be conducted 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 Federal Register Notice soliciting public comment was published on December 9, 2019 (Vol. 84, No. 236, page 67260. No comments were received.

The 30-day period notice soliciting public comment was published on March 19, 2020 (Vol. 85, No. 54, page 15767).

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

No payments or gifts are given to respondents.

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

The respondents are assured that the detailed data they provide on their manufacturing operations will not be shared with the public. The data confidentiality is assured via legal clauses in the LCA contractor’s Confidential Disclosure Agreement.

Upon request, respondents are sent, usually via email, a copy of the page of the Confidential Disclosure Agreement.

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.

No questions of a sensitive nature are requested.

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

NIST estimates that it will receive 30 responses annually x 63 minutes per response = 31.5 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 to the respondent.

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

NIST is reimbursed by the product manufacturers. NIST estimates that approximately 60 hours of time would be involved for managing the efforts of this information collection. That estimated cost is $3,360.00.

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

There are no program changes or adjustments.

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

Tabulation is completed by a contractor under the confidential disclosure agreement. NIST does not have access to the underlying data collected through the questionnaire. The final LCA results are provided to NIST for inclusion into the software.

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.

The collection instrument will display the OMB Control # and expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

NIST does not require any exceptions.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

No statistical methods are employed.