1505-0250 Supporting Statement 3.16.20

Department of the Treasury

Departmental Offices

Application and Reports for the Direct Component and the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program of the Office of Gulf Coast Restoration, Office of Fiscal Assistant Secretary

Supporting Statement and Request for Clearance

OMB No. 1505-0250

1. Circumstances necessitating the collection of information

Authorized under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act) (P.L. 112-141), the Department of the Treasury implements several provisions of the Act, more specifically the Direct Component and the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program. These programs require Treasury to award grants from the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund (Trust Fund) equally to the five Gulf Coast States impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The Direct Component recipients include Alabama, 23 Florida counties, Louisiana, 20 Louisiana parishes, Mississippi, and Texas. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas equally share the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program allocations from Trust Fund deposits.

In general, for the Direct Component, the following projects, programs, and activities are eligible for funding under the Direct Component, based on the eligibility criteria described in Treasury’s regulations. See 31 CFR 34.201.

1. Restoration and protection of the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands of the Gulf Coast region

2. Mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and natural resources

3. Implementation of a federally approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring

4. Workforce development and job creation

5. Improvements to or on State parks located in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

6. Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure

7. Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure

8. Planning assistance

9. Administrative costs

10. Promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region, including recreational fishing

11. Promotion of the consumption of seafood harvested from the Gulf Coast region.

For the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program, each Gulf Coast State may establish one or more centers of excellence to focus on science, technology, and monitoring research only on the Gulf Coast Region based on five eligible disciplines. See 31 CFR 34.704.

1. Coastal and deltaic sustainability, restoration, and protection, including solutions and technology that allow citizens to live in a safe and sustainable manner in a coastal delta in the Gulf Coast Region

2. Coastal fisheries and wildlife ecosystem research and monitoring in the Gulf Coast Region

3. Offshore energy development, including research and technology to improve the sustainable and safe development of energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico

4. Sustainable and resilient growth, economic and commercial development in the Gulf Coast Region

5. Comprehensive observation, monitoring, and mapping of the Gulf of Mexico.

Additionally, on December 13, 2016, Treasury published a final rule in the Federal Register, effective January 12, 2017, titled Regulation Regarding Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Race, Color, or National Origin in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance From the Department of the Treasury (31 CFR Part 22), which implements Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The final regulation provides guidance to the Department’s recipients of federal financial assistance in complying with the provisions of Title VI and also promotes consistent and appropriate enforcement of Title VI by the Department’s components. Through this final rule, the Department also notified beneficiaries of its programs offering financial assistance of the protections against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.

The information collections contained in this final rule are being added to the information collection for RESTORE Act grants. The information collections contained in this rule are found in 31 CFR Part 22.

2. Use of the data

The collection information: (1) identifies eligible recipients and activities; (2) determines the appropriate amount of funding; (3) ensures compliance with the RESTORE Act, the regulation (31CFR Part 34), and Federal laws and policies on grants (Office of Management and Budget’s Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards 2 CFR 200, herein OMB Uniform Guidance), and compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (31 CFR Part 22); (4) tracks recipients’ progress; and (5) reports on the effectiveness of the program.

3. Use of information technology

Treasury uses the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS’s) GrantSolutions.gov shared-service provider system to manage the application submission process. Eligible recipients complete fillable forms and supplemental document uploads and submits the grant application electronically via GrantSolutions.gov. Eligible recipients complete fillable multiyear plan forms and an operational self-assessment form electronically and submits those forms directly to Treasury via email. Eligible recipients enter progress information on fillable forms and submits the progress reports electronically through GrantSolutions.gov. Data from grant applications and reports are stored electronically.

4. Efforts to identify duplication

The information is not known to overlap with any other data collected under previously approved information collections.

5. Impact on small businesses and entities

This collection is limited to certain states, counties, and parishes named as eligible entity recipients in the RESTORE Act and regulation. All efforts have been made to minimize burden on small entities therein.

6. Consequences of less frequent collection and obstacles to burden reduction

Collection is at a minimum: grant applications for when funds are available; semi-annual reporting to assess progress of the activity funded by the awarded grant; multiyear plan submission subject to the eligible recipient’s time tables; and operational self-assessment updated annually.

7. Circumstances requiring special information collection

There are no special circumstances causing the information collection to be conducted in a manner described in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. Solicitation of comments on information collection

Treasury published a notice soliciting comments on information collection in the Federal Register on October 24, 2019. See 84 FR 57159. Treasury received comments from three respondents.

All three respondents requested minor clarifications and technical enhancements to the Direct Component and Centers of Excellence Application forms; minor clarifications to the Direct Component Narrative Supplement; and format changes to the Operational Self-Assessment. In response, Treasury made formatting changes and clarified forms, as appropriate and consistent with Treasury program guidance.

All three respondents requested clarifications, additional detail, and formatting changes to the Status of Performance Report and Milestones Report forms. In response, Treasury will address formatting issues in the online forms within the Grantsolutions.gov management system and will provide guidance and training to applicants regarding suggested performance measures.

All three respondents requested changes to the Environmental Checklist form to modify the format and clarify requirements for several environmental laws. In response, Treasury made some format changes and revised language for specific environmental laws and added a reference to one environmental law to be consistent with Treasury’s RESTORE Act Standard Terms and Conditions. One respondent requested further clarifications for two environmental laws - Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Treasury made no changes to the language for the MBTA, because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the MBTA on January 30, 2020. Treasury will provide guidance to applicants to work with their State Historic Preservation Office to address questions related to the NHPA.

All three respondents requested changes to the Title VI Narrative to reduce recipient burden by accepting comparable Title VI information provided with a grant application to another federal agency. In response, Treasury will accept information provided to another federal agency to the extent it responds to all the information required in the Treasury Title VI Narrative. Any missing information will be required to supplement the information provided to another agency. All three respondents requested changes and clarifications to the Treasury Title VI Narrative related to post-award information requirements. The Title VI Narrative is required at the time of application to Treasury; therefore, Treasury deleted all references to post-award information requirements in the Title VI Narrative.

9. Provision of payments to record keepers

No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. Assurance of confidentiality

The Department is subject to all Federal regulations with respect to confidentiality of the information provided in this collection of information and provides no other assurances of confidentiality to respondents.

11. Justification of sensitive questions

No personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.

12. Justification

Reporting	# Respondents	# Responses Per Respondent	Total annual Responses	Hours per response	Total Burden	Cost to Respondent (@ $48 per hr.*)
Operational Self-Assessment	48	1	48	2	96	$4,608
Multiyear Plans	47	1	15	5	75	$3,600
Applications - Direct Component	47	2	27	9	243	$11,664
Application - Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program	5	1	3	8	24	$1,152
Direct Component Activity Milestones Report	47	4	94	1	94	$4,512
Direct Component Activity Status of Performance Report	47	4	94	1	94	$4,512
Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program Activity Milestones Report	5	2	10	1	10	$480
Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program Status of Performance Report	5	2	10	1	10	$480
Direct Component Title VI Civil Rights Narrative	47	2	27	8	216	$10,368
Centers of Excellence Title VI Civil Rights Narrative	5	1	3	8	24	$1,152
Total Reporting	52	6	331	2.677	886	$42,528
Recordkeeping	# Recordkeepers				Total Burden	Cost to Respondent (@ $48 per hrs.)
Applications - Direct Component	47				4,700	$225,600
Application - Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program	5				500	$24,000
Total Recordkeeping	52	1	52	100	5,200	$249,600
Total Burden	52	7	383	15.89033943	6,086	$292,128

* $48 per hour based on average Bureau of Labor Statistics Management Occupation for Gulf Coast states and select FL counties.

13. Estimated total annual cost burden to respondents  

There are no annualized capital/startup costs for the eligible recipients to provide this information collection. Receiving grant awards under the RESTORE Act specifically does not require grantees to incur startup costs beyond those costs generally associated with receiving federal financial assistance.

14. Estimated cost to the federal government.

Ther additional costs incurred to the government as a result of implementing the information collection include the annual cost of the grants management system used for applications and post-award management and the personnel costs associated with the review of recipient risk, applications, and post-award actions

Item	Annual Cost	Notes
Grantsolutions System	$520,560	Annual IAA with HHS
Personnel
OGCR staff	$730,035	5 GS-14 FTEs @ 50% + 1 GS-15 50%*
TRAC staff	$118,647	3 GS-14 @ 20%*
TOTAL	$1,369,242

*Calculated by taking the pro-rated annual salary for each grade level, step 1 in the Washington, DC locality area from the Office of Personnel Management, plus an additional 63% to account for the cost of benefits.

15. Reasons for change in burden

There is an increase of 16 responses and 240 hours due to agency discretion resulting from the addition of the Title VI Civil Rights Narratives. However there is a reduction of 18 responses and 296 hours due to revised agency estimates based on recent application data.

16. Plans for tabulation, statistical analysis and publication

There are no plans for publication. The Treasury Department will conduct numerous types of analysis on these data. These analyses will include assessments of eligibility and effectiveness of program activities (e.g. types of activities, amounts funded) as well as compliance checks.

17. Reasons why displaying the OMB expiration date is inappropriate

Display of the expiration date may be confusing to respondents. Non-display of expiration date is requested.

18. Exceptions to certification requirement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.