Emergency Justification Memo

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

TO:

Alex Goodenough, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

FROM:

Ryan Law, Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Privacy, Transparency, and Records

SUBJECT: Justification for Emergency Processing: Coronavirus Economic Relief for
Transportation Services (CERTS) Compliance Reports
Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 C.F.R. §
1320.13, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requests emergency processing for a
Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) program information
collection request, revising OMB Control Number 1505-0273.
On December 27, 2020, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the
“Act”), Pub. L. No. 116-260., Division N, Title IV, Subtitle B, Section 3201 of the Act
authorized the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) program and
provides $2. billion for the U.S. Department of the Treasury(Treasury) to provide grants to
eligible motorcoach companies, school bus companies, passenger vessel companies, and pilotage
companies that have experienced annual revenue losses of 25 percent or more as result of
COVID-19.
Treasury is seeking approval for the CERTS quarterly reporting forms, which all CERTS
recipients will use to submit detailed information on their utilization of CERTS award funds.
This information collection is vitally important for Treasury to effectively monitor the CERTS
grantees’ compliance with the requirements of the CERTS award.
Due to the need for recipients to prepare and submit these CERTS quarterly reports to Treasury
expeditiously, Treasury requests emergency processing and approval of CERTS quarterly report
forms, instructions, and Treasury’s Portal User Guide by December 20, 2021 in order to increase
the efficient distribution of CERTS quarterly reporting guidance and to facilitateease of
communication with the CERTS grantees on reporting matters. Treasury plans to open the portal
for entry on January 2, 2022, with recipient give 45 days 1 to enter the information for the first
submission (reports will be due February 15, 2022). Treasury would like to publish the revised
guidance expeditiously, to allow respondents, particularly small businesses, ample time to
review and prepare. In compliance with PRA regulation (5 CFR 1320.10) to renew the OMB
approval, Treasury has published a 60-day Federal Register Notice (86 FR 56760) soliciting
comments on the program, including the compliance reports. Given that the public commenting
period is still open and the need to provide respondents time to prepare for the reporting,
Treasury is requesting emergency processing to receive OMB approval on the reports.

Note that, in consultation with the PRAC, subsequent reporting periods will be limited to 15 days. The 45-day period is
only for the first reporting period.

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