Emergency Request For Approval Letter

September 15, 2020
TO: Danielle Jones
Senior Desk Officer
Office of Management and Budget
THROUGH: Ruth Brown
USDA Information Collection Officer
FROM: Michele Brooks
Director, Regulations Management Division
Innovation Center, Rural Development, USDA

MICHELE
BROOKS

Digitally signed by
MICHELE BROOKS
Date: 2020.09.15
14:39:05 -04'00'

SUBJECT: Request for Emergency Approval of a New Information Collection Request
for Notice of Funds Availability for the Technical Assistance and Training
for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions Grant Pilot
Program (TAT/RWTS)
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the Rural Development (RD) Mission Area
(Agencies) within the United States Department of Agriculture, is requesting emergency review
and approval of a new information collection for the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for
the Technical Assistance and Training for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions
Grant Pilot Program (TAT/RWTS). The Agency is expecting to publish the NOFA, in which the
60-day notice is embedded, in the Federal Register by September 30, 2020. Approval of this
emergency request is important because the TATA/RWTS Pilot Grant Program will not be able
to be implemented prior to the end of FY 20, as the use of normal clearance procedures is likely
to prevent the collection of information from applicants which, in turn, will have negative
consequences on the intended recipients. It is essential to the agency mission.
On December 20, 2019, Congress passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,
which established the TAT/RWTS pilot program. Under this NOFA, the RUS will announce the
availability of up to $ 5 million in competitive grants to eligible entities to fund a new pilot
program for the study and design of innovative treatment solutions of regional wastewater
systems for historically impoverished communities that have had difficulty installing traditional
wastewater treatment systems due to soil conditions.
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of sufficient severity
and magnitude to warrant an emergency declaration for all states, territories, and the District of
Columbia, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act or the Act)

(Pub. L. 116–136) created servicing options that immediately required the RUS Water and
Environmental Programs (WEP) to reprioritize and refocus its efforts into implementing the
CARES Act provisions, leaving the implementation of the TAT/RWTS to a later date this fiscal
year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has indicated that implementation of this
program is a priority publication prior to the close of the FY 2020 because the Congress and
USDA are concerned about raw sewage discharge in some already severely impacted rural
communities, particularly historically impoverished communities that have had difficulty
utilizing Rural Development programs. Projects funded under the TAT/RWTS Pilot Grant
Program can play a vital role in the economic recovery created by time, distance, location, and
lack of resources, which has been severely compounded by the COVID- 19 pandemic. In lieu of
the compressed deadline to the end of fiscal year 2020, Rural Development, USDA is requesting
approval by no later than September 24, 2020. Failure to collect proper information from
borrowers could hinder the government’s selection of grant recipients, and result in improper
determinations of assistance, increase legal costs to the grantees as well as encumber customer
service and, ultimately, slow the deployment of rural wastewater management including county
needs assessments, testing wastewater options, defining funding mechanisms for remediation to
unserved and under-served rural areas.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Michele Brooks, Director,
Regulations Management Division, Innovation Center, Rural Development by telephone at (202)
690-1078 or by email at [email protected]. or MaryPat Daskal, Management Analyst,
Regulations Management Division, Innovation Center, Rural Development by telephone at (202)
720-7853.