SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
OMB CONTROL NO. 9000-0079
Travel Costs
FAR section affected: 31.205-46
A. Justification.
1. Administrative requirements. This justification supports an extension of OMB Control No. 9000-0079.
This clearance covers the information that contractors must submit to comply with the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements:
FAR 31.205-46(a)(3)- In special or unusual situations, costs incurred by a contractor for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses, may exceed the per diem rates in effect as set forth in the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) for travel in the contiguous 48 United States. The actual costs may be allowed only if the contractor provides the following:
FAR 31.205-46(a)(3)(ii) - A written justification for use of the higher amounts approved by an officer of the contractor's organization or designee to ensure that the authority is properly administered and controlled to prevent abuse.
FAR 31.205-46(a)(3)(iii) - Advance approval from the contracting officer if it becomes necessary to exercise the authority to use the higher actual expense method repetitively or on a continuing basis in a particular area.
FAR 31.205-46(a)(3)(iv) - Documentation to support actual costs incurred including a receipt for each expenditure of $75.00 or more.
FAR 31.205-46(c) requires firms to maintain and make available manifest/logs for all flights on company aircraft. As a minimum, the manifest/log must indicate:
Date, time, and points of departure;
Destination, date, and time of arrival;
Name of each passenger and relationship to the contractor
Authorization for trip; and
Purpose of trip.
The information required by (1) and (2) and the name of each passenger (required by (3)) are recordkeeping requirements already established by Federal Aviation Administration regulations. This information, plus the additional required information, is needed to ensure that costs of owned, chartered, or leased aircraft are properly charged against Government contracts and that directly associated costs of unallowable activities are not charged to Government contracts.
2. Uses of information. The contracting officer will use the information to ensure that the Government does not reimburse contractors for excessive travel costs. Also, the information is used by Government auditors to identify allowable and unallowable costs under Government contracts.
3. Consideration of information technology. Federal agencies use information technology to the maximum extent practicable. Where both the Government agency and contractors are capable of electronic interchange, the contractors may submit this information collection requirement electronically.
4.
Efforts
to identify duplication.
These requirements are issued under the FAR, which has been
developed to standardize Federal procurement practices and eliminate
unnecessary duplication.
5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses, describe methods used to minimize burden. The burden applied to small businesses is the minimum consistent with applicable laws, Executive orders, regulations, and prudent business practices.
6. Describe consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently. Collection of information on a basis other than contract-by-contract is not practical. Similar information is not already available to the contracting officer.
7. Special circumstances for collection. Collection is consistent with guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Efforts to consult with persons outside the agency.
A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 87 FR 9356, on February 18, 2022. No comments were received.
A 30-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 87 FR 24568, on April 26, 2022.
9. Explanation of any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees. Not applicable.
10. Describe assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents. This information is disclosed only to the extent consistent with prudent business practices, current regulations, and statutory requirements.
11. Additional justification for questions of a sensitive nature. No sensitive questions are involved.
12 & 13. Estimated total annual public hour and cost burden.
a. FAR 31.205-46(a)(3). Reporting cost to the public is caused by the compliance with the conditions for authority to exceed the stated per diem limit. The requirement documentary evidence is consistent with the applicable travel regulations. The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) shows 313,895 awards for Product and Service Code (PSC) Category R were made in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. However, we believe there are only approximately 1% of these that would result in the use of the actual expense method. The burden is calculated as follows:
Estimated number of respondents/yr................... 3,139
Responses per respondent.............................. x 10
Total annual responses............................... 31,390
Estimated hrs/response................................ x .25
Estimated annual burden hours........................ 7,848
Hourly rate*.......................................... x $40
Estimated annual reporting cost to the public....... $313,920
b. FAR 31.205-46(c). Time required to read and prepare information is estimated at 2 hours per aircraft (and 3 aircraft per firm). FPDS shows 120,907 unique vendors in FY 2021. However, we believe there are only approximately 0.5% of these that might use a company aircraft.
Recordkeeping
Recordkeepers/yr..................................... 604
Records per recordkeeper...........................x 3
Total annual records............................... 1,812
Review hours/record............................... x 2
Annual recordkeeping burden hours...................3,624
Hourly rate**......................................x $59
Annual recordkeeping burden cost to the public...$213,816
* Based on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 2022 General Schedule (GS) 9/step 5 salary for the rest of the United States ($29.72 per hour) plus a 36.25 percent fringe factor, rounded to the nearest whole dollar ($40). The fringe factor used is pursuant to the rate provided in OMB memorandum M-08-13 for use in public-private competition.
** Based on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 2022 General Schedule (GS) 12/step 5 salary for the rest of the United States ($43.10 per hour) plus a 36.25 percent fringe factor, rounded to the nearest whole dollar ($59). The fringe factor used is pursuant to the rate provided in OMB memorandum M-08-13 for use in public-private competition.
14. Estimated cost to the Government.
a. FAR 31.205-46(a)(3). Time required for Governmentwide review is estimated at 0.25 hours per response.
Total annual responses............................... 31,390
Review time per response (hours)..................... x 0.25
Review time per year (hours)......................... 7,848
Hourly rate*......................................... x $40
Estimated annual cost to the Government.............$313,920
b. FAR 31.205-46(c). Time required for Governmentwide review is estimated at 2 hours per response.
Total annual responses............................... 604
Review time per response (hours)..................... x 2
Review time per year (hours)......................... 1,208
Hourly rate**........................................ x $59
Estimated annual cost to the Government............. $71,272
15. Explain reasons for program changes or adjustments reported in Item A.13 or A.14. There are no program changes. The FAR requirements remain the same. For this extension, the burden has been adjusted by using the most currently available data from FPDS. The estimated cost to the public and to the Government was updated based on use of calendar year 2022 OPM GS wage rates for the rest of the United States.
16. Outline plans for published results of information collections. Results will not be tabulated or published.
17. Approval not to display expiration date. Not applicable.
18. Explanation of exception to certification statement. Not applicable.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.
Statistical methods are not used in this information collection.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-04-28 |