Emergency Request Letter for OMB

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Acting Chief Financial Officer and
Assistant Secretary for Administration
Washington, D.C. 20230

October 26, 2021

Sharon Block
Acting Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Dr. Block,
Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 C.F.R. Part
1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, I request that the proposed information
collection, the Agency Medical Exemption Form, Part 2, OMB Control No. 0690-NEW, be
processed as an Emergency Clearance Request in accordance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.13,
Emergency Processing.
I have determined that this information must be collected prior to the time periods established
under Part 1320 of the regulations and that this information is essential to implement agencies’
health and safety measures regarding the Federal Employee medical and religious exemptions to
the vaccination requirement included within recent Safer Federal Workforce Task Force
Guidance for COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccinations. Government agencies have an urgent need to
request medical exemption information with input from medical providers from federal
employees. Applying regular Paperwork Reduction Act clearance procedures is likely to cause
harm because of the threat of COVID-19 exposure and transmission (5 C.F.R § 1320.13(c)).
Therefore, the Department of Commerce (DOC) requests a 180-day emergency clearance to
establish the Agency Medical Exemption Form, Part 2, allowing individuals to request medical
exemption with medical provider input from COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccinations. During the
180-day emergency approval, the Department of Commerce will work to establish a regular
clearance submission of this information collection request under the Paperwork Reduction Act
procedures. As this request for approval concerns an urgent safety need, DOC is also seeking
OMB’s approval to waive the need for the Federal Register Notices otherwise required by 5
C.F.R. §§ 1320.5(a)(1)(iv) and 1320.8(d)(1) prior to publication and implementation of this
disclosure.
We would appreciate if you could provide an approval/disapproval determination of this request
to collect information under an emergency clearance by close of business on Wednesday,
October 28, 2021.

Sincerely

ZACHARY
SCHWARTZ

Digitally signed by ZACHARY
SCHWARTZ
Date: 2021.10.26 10:43:55 -04'00'

Zack Schwartz
COVID-19 Lead
Chief of Staff to the Acting CFO and
Assistant Secretary for Administration