Emergency ICR Justification Cover Memo_emergency cost 2 23 21

ace

February 23, 2021

United States
Departm ent of
Agriculture

MEMORANDUM

Food and
Nutrition
Service
1320 Braddock
Alexandria, VA
22314

TO:

Jordan Cohen
Desk Officer
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB

THRU:

Maureen Lydon
Chief of the Planning and Regulatory Affairs Office (PRAO)
Food and Nutrition Service
Ruth Brown
Office of the Chief Information Officer
United States Department of Agriculture

FROM:

Cindy Long
Acting Administrator
Food and Nutrition Service

SUBJECT: Emergency Approval of New Information Collection for
Implementation of the Child Nutrition Emergency Operational Costs
Reimbursement Programs
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) is requesting emergency approval under the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) to collect information associated with implementation of the
Child Nutrition Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Programs outlined in
Sec. 722 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act). The Act authorizes
FNS to offer additional funds to State agencies administering the National School
Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), and the Child and Adult
Care Food Program (CACFP) to provide local operators of those programs with
additional reimbursements for emergency operating costs they incurred during the
COVID-19 public health emergency. To participate in these reimbursement
programs, State agencies must opt-in by submitting an application and
implementation plan to FNS. The Act requires State agencies to opt into the
reimbursement programs within 30 days of FNS’s publication of guidance, or
February 25, 2021.
OMB has established regulations for the emergency processing of information
collection requests (ICR) at 5 CFR 1320.13[1]. OMB can authorize Emergency
Clearance for an information collection, for up to 6 months.

[1]

5 CFR 1320.13(f) states that OMB will issue clearance for a maximum of 90 days. However, thisprovision
was revised by P.L. 104-106, Sec. 5605, in 1996. The revision increased the maximum clearance to 180
days or 6 months.

FNS is requesting emergency Clearance for an information collection related to the
Child Nutrition Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Programs. The
information is required by statute and is needed to distribute funds to State agencies
so they are able to provide emergency funds to local Child Nutrition Program
operators. FNS can attest that the collection of information is:


Needed sooner than OMB clearance can be granted under normal procedures;



Essential to the mission of the agency; and

The agency cannot reasonably comply with normal clearance procedures because:


Using normal clearance procedures is reasonably likely to cause FNS to miss a
statutory-ordered deadline.

Emergency funding for local operators is needed immediately due to financial losses
associated with the public health emergency. Waiting for the normal clearance process to
take place would put emergency funding at risk for thousands of local Child Nutrition
Program operators.

Digitally signed by
Maureen Lydon
Date: 2021.02.23
08:30:28 -05'00'

___________________________
Maureen Lydon, Chief
Planning and Regulatory Affairs Office
Office of Policy Support, FNS/USDA

CYNTHIA
LONG

Digitally signed by CYNTHIA
LONG
Date: 2021.02.24 14:36:19
-05'00'

_________________________________
Cindy Long, Acting Administrator
Food and Nutrition Service
United States Department of Agriculture