J. 60-Day Federal Register Notice_2022 09 02

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 72 / Thursday, April 14, 2022 / Notices
reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, except
holidays. To be sure someone is there to
help you, please call (202) 799–7039
before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
Rebecca Gordon, Senior Staff Officer,
Regionalization Evaluation Services,
Veterinary Services, APHIS, 920 Main
Campus Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606; (919)
855–7741; email: AskRegionalization@
usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
regulations in 9 CFR part 92 subpart B,
‘‘Importation of Animals and Animal
Products; Procedures for Requesting
BSE Risk Status Classification With
Regard To Bovines’’ (referred to below
as the regulations), set forth the process
by which the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) classifies
regions for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) risk. Section 92.5
of the regulations provides that all
countries of the world are considered by
APHIS to be in one of three BSE risk
categories: Negligible risk, controlled
risk, or undetermined risk. These risk
categories are defined in § 92.1. Any
region that is not classified by APHIS as
presenting either negligible risk or
controlled risk for BSE is considered to
present an undetermined risk. The list
of those regions classified by APHIS as
having either negligible risk or
controlled risk can be accessed on the
APHIS website at https://www.aphis.
usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/
animal-and-animal-product-importinformation/animal-health-status-ofregions. The list can also be obtained by
writing to APHIS at Regionalization
Evaluation Services, Veterinary
Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit
38, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238.
Under the regulations, APHIS may
classify a region for BSE in one of two
ways. One way is for regions that have
not received a risk classification from
the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE) to request classification by
APHIS. The other way is for APHIS to
concur with the classification given to a
country or region by the OIE.
If the OIE has classified a region as
either BSE negligible risk or BSE
controlled risk, APHIS will seek
information to support concurrence
with the OIE classification. This
information may be publicly available
information, or APHIS may request that
regions supply the same information
given to the OIE. APHIS will announce
in the Federal Register, subject to
public comment, its intent to concur
with an OIE classification.
In accordance with this process, we
are giving notice in this document that

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APHIS intends to concur with the OIE
risk classification of the country of
Ireland as a region of negligible risk for
BSE.
The OIE recommendation regarding
Ireland can be viewed at https://
www.oie.int/en/disease/bovinespongiform-encephalopathy/. The
conclusions of the OIE Scientific
Commission for Animal Diseases, with
regard to Ireland, can be viewed in the
‘‘Report of the Meeting of the OIE
Scientific Commission for Animal
Diseases, February 1–11, 2021’’ at
https://www.oie.int/app/uploads/2021/
05/a-scad-feb2021.pdf (page 41).
After reviewing any comments that
we receive, we will announce our final
determination regarding the BSE
classification of Ireland in the Federal
Register, along with a discussion of and
response to pertinent issues raised by
commenters. If APHIS recognizes
Ireland as negligible risk for BSE, the
Agency will include this country on the
list of regions of negligible risk for BSE
that is available to the public on the
Agency’s website at https://www.aphis.
usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/
animal-and-animal-product-importinformation/animal-health-status-ofregions.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 8301–
8317; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C.
9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.
Done in Washington, DC, this 8th day of
April 2022.
Anthony Shea,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2022–08027 Filed 4–13–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–34–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request—Rapid Cycle
Evaluation of Operational
Improvements in Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Employment & Training (E&T)
Programs
Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice invites the general public and
other public agencies to comment on the
proposed information collection. This is
a new collection for the contract Rapid
Cycle Evaluation of Operational
Improvements in Supplemental

SUMMARY:

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Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Employment & Training Programs
(SNAP E&T RCE). The purpose of SNAP
E&T RCE is to test small-scale
interventions in SNAP E&T operations
or service delivery using rapid cycle
evaluation (RCE).
DATES: Written comments must be
received on or before June 13, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to:
Mehreen Ismail, Food and Nutrition
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor,
Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments may
also be submitted via email to
[email protected]. Comments
will also be accepted through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to
https://www.regulations.gov, and follow
the online instructions for submitting
comments electronically. All responses
to this notice will be summarized and
included in the request for Office of
Management and Budget approval. All
comments will be a matter of public
record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of this information collection
should be directed to Mehreen Ismail at
703–305–2960.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments
are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions that were
used; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and (d) ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or
other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Title: Rapid Cycle Evaluation of
Operational Improvements in
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program Employment & Training
Programs (SNAP E&T RCE).
Form Number: N/A.
OMB Number: 0584–NEW.
Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
Type of Request: New Collection.
Abstract: In addition to providing
nutrition assistance benefits to millions
of low-income individuals experiencing
economic hardship, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
provides work supports through
Employment and Training (E&T)

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 72 / Thursday, April 14, 2022 / Notices

programs that help SNAP participants
gain skills and find work. State agencies
are required to operate an E&T program
and have considerable flexibility to
determine the services they offer and
populations they serve. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) seeks to ensure
the quality of the services and activities
offered through SNAP E&T programs by
investing resources and providing
technical assistance to help States build
capacity, create more robust services,
and increase engagement in their
programs.
The Rapid Cycle Evaluation of
Operational Improvements in SNAP
E&T Programs (SNAP E&T RCE)
evaluation will use rapid cycle
evaluation (RCE) to test small-scale
interventions in SNAP E&T operations
or service delivery to determine their
effectiveness in improving program
engagement and service take-up. RCE is
an approach that involves cycles of
identifying, testing, and refining smallscale, low-cost operational interventions
to determine their effectiveness. SNAP
E&T RCE has partnered with eight sites
to identify the main challenges their
SNAP E&T programs face: (1) Colorado
Department of Human Services, (2)
Connecticut: Community Colleges, (3)
District of Columbia Department of
Human Services, (4) Kansas Division of
Children and Families, (5) Minnesota
Department of Human Services, (6)
Minnesota: Hennepin County
Department of Human Services, (7)
Massachusetts Department of
Transitional Assistance, and (8) Rhode
Island Department of Human Services.
Objectives for this study include: (a)
Describing how RCE can be used to
improve SNAP E&T operations, service
delivery and program outcomes; (b)
designing and implementing RCEs to
obtain impact estimates of small-scale
interventions on SNAP E&T outcomes;
(c) conducting an implementation
evaluation; (d) assessing the scalability
of small-scale interventions to SNAP
E&T operations and services delivery to
other SNAP E&T programs; and (e)
determining and documenting the costs
associated with implementing and
maintaining small-scale interventions.
The SNAP E&T RCE team is using the
Learn, Innovate, and Improve (LI2)
framework to collaborate with sites,
identify the challenges they want to
address, and eventually design and test
the interventions. The Learn phase
focuses on assessing sites’ needs and
readiness to make changes, which
informs development of solutions or
strategies—the focus of the Innovate
phase. The challenges the eight sites
identified through the Learn phase

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generally involve recruitment and
outreach or participant engagement and
receipt of services. The SNAP E&T RCE
team worked with each site to co-create
an intervention addressing one of these
challenges through the Innovate phase.
Examples of interventions the sites plan
to test include sending text messages
and emails to participants to encourage
enrollment in SNAP E&T or attendance
at appointments or activities, using
assessments of work readiness to
improve participant referrals, or
enhancing case management.
After identifying challenges in each
site and designing interventions for
addressing them, the SNAP E&T RCE
team will work with each site to define
operational plans for implementing the
interventions and testing, refining, and
retesting selected strategies in the
Improve phase. Most interventions will
be evaluated using randomized control
trials in which individuals eligible for
the intervention will be randomly
assigned to a treatment group that
receives the intervention or a control
group that does not. The control group
will be offered the existing approach to
recruiting, outreach, and engagement,
depending on the focus of intervention.
Once interventions have been
successfully piloted to ensure they
operate smoothly for the site, the SNAP
E&T RCE team will provide technical
assistance to sites while they implement
the intervention for a period of about
three to four months.
The study will gather data from
administrative records, State and local
SNAP administrators, and SNAP
participants to evaluate the
interventions’ effectiveness in
improving recruitment and program
engagement. Where appropriate, the
study will create a system for
enrollment into the evaluation and
random assignment. Data collected in
this system may include demographic
and socioeconomic characteristics,
contact information, and the collection
of service use data. The study will
conduct a 10-minute participant survey
among a total of 4,000 participants in
four of the eight sites. The participant
survey will be used to collect
information on barriers to engaging with
services and seeking employment,
program satisfaction, and reasons for
engagement decisions for both
individuals who engaged in the E&T
program and those who either never
engaged or disengaged.
The study will also collect data for the
implementation evaluation across all
eight sites using a combination of semistructured interviews with
administrators, focus groups with
participants, and staff characteristics

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questionnaires with frontline
intervention staff. In addition, the study
will conduct in-depth interviews with
participants in four of the eight sites.
Data collected from administrators and
staff will be used to describe how the
interventions were implemented, assess
the fidelity of the implementation and
costs of the intervention, and identify
implications for future application of
similar types of changes. Additional
data collected from participants will
provide context to the administrative
data and survey responses related to
participant decisions, satisfaction, and
barriers, as well as give a voice to
participant backgrounds and
experiences.
Affected Public: Members of the
public affected by the data collection
include Individuals and Households
and State, Local, and Tribal
Governments from eight sites.
Respondent groups identified include:
(1) Individuals eligible for SNAP E&T
participation; (2) directors and managers
from State and local government
agencies supporting the SNAP E&T
programs; and (3) staff from State and
local government agencies providing
direct services to SNAP E&T
participants.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
The estimated total number of
respondents and nonrespondents is
91,910, including 73,566 respondents
and 18,344 non-respondents. The
sample includes 91,528 individuals, 135
State program staff, and 247 local
program staff. As part of the site
interventions, FNS will contact 91,528
SNAP participants across all eight sites,
out of whom 18,306 will be nonrespondents.
As part of data collection activities for
the evaluation, FNS will contact
approximately 4,000 SNAP participants
to conduct the participant survey, 2,000
of whom will have also received the
intervention offered to the treatment
group and 2,000 in the control group
who did not receive the intervention.
We expect that 80 percent of the 4,000
individuals contacted will complete the
participant survey (800 will be nonrespondents). Among individuals
participating in the site interventions,
FNS will recontact a total of 800
individuals to participate in focus
groups (160 will be focus group
respondents and 640 will be considered
non-respondents). Among individuals
participating in the site interventions,
240 individuals will also be recontacted
for in-depth-interviews (including 60
respondents and 180 non-respondents).
FNS will also contact 382 SNAP
program staff for administrative data
requests, semi-structured interviews,

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 72 / Thursday, April 14, 2022 / Notices
and a staff characteristics survey; of the
382 contacted, 135 will be State staff
and 247 will be local staff.
Estimated Number of Responses per
Respondent: SNAP participants will be
asked to participate in an intervention
(which includes several possible
notifications), as well as a possible indepth interview, survey (which includes
several possible notifications), and focus
group for an average total of 3.40
responses across all instruments or
activities. State and local program staff
will respond to a semi-structured
interview, administrate data request, or
a brief questionnaire for a total of 1.63
responses each.
Estimated Total Annual Responses:
249,401.
Estimated Time per Response: The
estimated time of response for
respondents varies from 1 minute to 8
hours depending on the respondent
group, with an average estimated time of
0.062 hours (3.72 minutes).
Estimated Total Annual Burden on
Respondents: The total estimated
burden on respondents and nonrespondents is 17,254 hours (1,035,235
minutes). The total burden on
respondents, excluding nonrespondents,
is 15,458 hours (927,458 minutes).
Cynthia Long,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2022–08011 Filed 4–13–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–30–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Business-Cooperative Service
[Docket #RBS–22–CO–OP–0008]

Notice of Solicitation of Applications
for the Socially Disadvantaged Groups
Grant
Rural Business-Cooperative
Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Solicitation of
Applications.
AGENCY:

This notice announces that
the Rural Business-Cooperative Service
(Agency) is inviting fiscal year (FY)
2022 applications for the Socially
Disadvantaged Groups Grant (SDGG)
program, subject to the availability of
funding. This notice is being issued in
order to allow applicants sufficient time
to leverage financing, prepare and
submit their applications, and give the
Agency time to process applications
within FY 2022. The purpose of this
program is to provide technical
assistance to socially disadvantaged
groups in rural areas. Eligible applicants
include cooperatives, groups of

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cooperatives, and cooperative
development centers. This program
supports Rural Development’s (RD)
mission of improving the quality of life
for rural Americans and commitment to
directing resources to those who most
need them. Detailed information can be
found on the SDGG website located at
https://www.rd.usda.gov/programsservices/socially-disadvantaged-groupsgrant. Expenses incurred in developing
applications are the responsibility of the
applicant. An announcement on the
website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/
newsroom/federal-fundingopportunities will identify the amount
available in FY 2022 for SDGG
applications. All applicants are
responsible for any expenses incurred in
developing their applications.
DATES: Completed applications for
grants must be submitted electronically
by no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
June 13, 2022, through https://
www.grants.gov to be eligible for grant
funding. Please review the Grants.gov
website at https://www.grants.gov/web/
grants/applicants/organizationregistration.html for instructions on the
process of registering your organization
as soon as possible to ensure that you
are able to meet the electronic
application deadline. Applications
received after the deadline are not
eligible for funding under this notice
and will not be evaluated.
ADDRESSES: You are encouraged to
contact your USDA Rural Development
State Office well in advance of the
application deadline to discuss your
project and ask any questions about the
application process. Contact
information for State Offices can be
found at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/
contact-us/state-offices.
Program guidance as well as
application templates may be obtained
at https://www.rd.usda.gov/programsservices/socially-disadvantaged-groupsgrant or by contacting your State Office.
To submit an electronic application,
follow the instructions for the SDGG
funding announcement located at
https://www.grants.gov. You are
strongly encouraged to file your
application early and allow sufficient
time to manage any technical issues that
may arise.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arti
Kshirsagar, Program Management
Division, Rural Business-Cooperative
Service, United States Department of
Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue
SW, Mail Stop-3226, Washington, DC
20250–3226, (202) 720–1400 or by email
at: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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Overview
Federal Agency Name: USDA Rural
Business-Cooperative Service.
Funding Opportunity Title: Socially
Disadvantaged Groups Grant.
Announcement Type: Notice of
Solicitation of Applications (NOSA).
Assistance Listing Number: 10.871.
Funding Opportunity Number: RBCS–
SDGG–2022.
Dates: Application Deadline. Your
electronic application must be received
by https://www.grants.gov no later than
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, by June 13,
2022, or it will not be considered for
funding.
Administrative: The following apply
to this NOSA:
(i) Key Priorities. The Agency
encourages applicants to consider
projects that will advance the following:
• Assisting Rural communities
recover economically from the impacts
of the COVID–19 pandemic, particularly
disadvantaged communities;
• Ensuring all rural residents have
equitable access to RD programs and
benefits from RD funded projects; and
• Reducing climate pollution and
increasing resilience to the impacts of
climate change through economic
support to rural communities.
(ii) Technical Assistance. The
Application Template provides specific,
detailed instructions for each item of a
complete application. The Agency
emphasizes the importance of including
every item and strongly encourages
applicants to follow the instructions
carefully, using the examples and
illustrations in the Application
Template. Prior to official submission of
applications, applicants may request
technical assistance or other application
guidance from the Agency, as long as
such requests are made prior to May 16,
2022. Agency contact information can
be found in section D (Application and
Submission Information) of this Notice.
(iii) Hemp Related Projects. Please
note that no assistance or funding from
this grant can be provided to a hemp
producer unless they have a valid
license issued from an approved State,
Tribal or Federal plan in accordance
with Subtitle G of the Agricultural
Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7
U.S.C. 1621 et seq.). Verification of valid
hemp licenses will occur at the time of
award. The purpose of this program is
to provide technical assistance, so
funding for the production of hemp or
marketing hemp production is not
eligible.
(iv) Persistent Poverty Counties.
Section 736 of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law
116–260, designates funding for projects

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