Emergency Memo

1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 2055-S, STOP 0201
Washington, D.C. 20250-0201

TO:

Elyse Greenwald
Desk Officer
Office of Management and Budget

THROUGH: Levi S. Harrell
Departmental Clearance Officer
Office of the Chief Information Officer
FROM:

Bruce Summers
Administrator
Agricultural Marketing Service

SUBJECT:

Request for Emergency Review and Approval for a New Information Collection
Request

Digitally signed by
BRUCE
BRUCE SUMMERS
2021.07.07
SUMMERS Date:
09:56:14 -04'00'

We are requesting emergency review and approval of an information collection package for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to administer a
new competitive grant program, titled the Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant Program,
authorized and funded under section 751 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA)
(Pub. L. 116-260) in response to the ongoing 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The agency cannot reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures under the PRA due
to the immediate need to provide financial assistance to domestic agriculture companies and
organizations impacted by COVID-19. PRS is intended to provide Federal financial assistance to
food processors or distributors, seafood processing facilities and processing vessels, farmers
markets, and agricultural producers for efforts to respond to coronavirus, including for measures
to protect workers against COVID–19.
The CAA directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make available $1.5 billion beginning in fiscal
year 2021, until expended. Of this $1.5 billion, USDA is allocating $650 million for this new
Pandemic Response and Safety Grant Program. It directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide
“grants and loans to small or midsized food processors or distributors, seafood processing
facilities and processing vessels, farmers markets, producers, or other organizations to respond to
coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against the Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19).” In accordance with the CAA, PRS funds may be use for:
•
•

Workplace safety measures, including, but not limited to, personal protective
equipment, sanitizer, hand washing stations, air filters, thermometers, cleaning
supplies, etc.
Market pivots such as transition to virtual/online sales costs (online platform
development and fees, online marketing, credit card processing fees), supplies, new
signage.

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•
•
•
•

Retrofitting facilities for worker and consumer safety (plexiglass, walk up windows,
heat lamps, fans, tents, propane, weights, tables, chairs).
Additional transportation costs incurred to maintain social distancing.
Additional worker housing costs incurred to maintain social distancing or to allow for
quarantining of new or exposed employees.
Unreimbursed costs associated with providing or enabling vaccinations, testing, or
healthcare treatment of infected employees, including any paid leave.

Grants will be awarded in amounts ranging from 1,500 to 20,000 dollars, and award recipients
are not required to provide a match. AMS would allow reimbursement for costs incurred from
the start of the Public Health Emergency Period (01/27/20) declared by the Secretary of Health
and Human Services along with anticipated expenses for the remainder of 2021 to support
entities who experienced significant expenses over the course of the entire pandemic.
PRS is voluntary and respondents will apply for this specific competitive grant program. In
doing do, they provide information, and AMS is the primary user of the information. The
information collected is needed to certify that grant participants are complying with applicable
program regulations in section 751 of the CAA and in accordance with the Office of
Management and Budget’s (OMB) Guidance on Grants and Agreements (2 C.F.R. Part 200). The
data collected is the minimum information necessary for AMS to effectively carry out the
program requirements and to provide the respondents the support they request to address the
financial costs for their pandemic response efforts.
Due to the targeted applicant population, we are anticipating a high volume of potential
applicants and 32,500-433,333 potential recipients. This scale has presented technical challenges
to existing grants management and financial systems. In an effort to reduce the burden on
applicants and recipients, we have been working in close coordination with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), Grants.gov, the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), the Grants Management Quality Service Management Office (QSMO), and
GrantSolutions. This coordination has resulted in a recommendation that a custom system to
manage the entire award life cycle including pre-award, award, post-award, and closeout for PRS
be developed. PRS applicants, AMS staff, and award recipients will utilize a customized
GrantSolutions system and website to access all necessary application, financial, and reporting
forms.
In compliance with OMB regulations (5 C.F.R. Part 1320) which implement the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), the information collection and recordkeeping
requirements that may be imposed by this action are submitted to OMB for emergency review
and approval. The additional reporting requirements would not become effective prior to OMB
review. Once approved the collection will be merged with OMB No. 0581-0240, AMS Grant
Programs.
Attached are the OMB 83-I, the Supporting Statement, and AMS-71 spreadsheet.