60-day notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 27 / Thursday, February 8, 2024 / Notices

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance
Program Nos. 93.864, Population Research;
93.865, Research for Mothers and Children;
93.929, Center for Medical Rehabilitation
Research; 93.209, Contraception and
Infertility Loan Repayment Program, National
Institutes of Health, HHS)
Dated: February 2, 2024.
Lauren A. Fleck,
Program Analyst, Office of Federal Advisory
Committee Policy.
[FR Doc. 2024–02525 Filed 2–7–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
[Docket Number DHS–2024–0004]

Agency Information Collection
Activities: DHS Civil Rights Evaluation
Tool, Collection Instrument DHS Form
3095, OMB Control No. 1601–0024
Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
ACTION: 60-Day notice and request for
comments; revision request.
AGENCY:

The Department of Homeland
Security will submit the following
Information Collection Request (ICR) to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until April 8, 2024.
This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR 1320.1.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by docket number Docket
#DHS–2024–0004, at:
Æ Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Please follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name and
docket number Docket #DHS–2024–
0004. All comments received will be
posted without change to http://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to http://
www.regulations.gov.
SUMMARY:

Recipients
of Federal financial assistance from the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) are required to meet certain legal
requirements relating to
nondiscrimination and
nondiscriminatory use of Federal funds.
Those requirements include ensuring
that entities receiving Federal financial
assistance from the DHS do not deny
benefits or services, or otherwise

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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discriminate on the basis of race, color,
national origin, disability, age, sex, or
religion, in accordance with the
following authorities:
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (Title VI) Public Law 88–352, 42
U.S.C. 2000d–1 et seq., and the
Department’s implementing regulation,
6 CFR part 21 and 44 CFR part 7, which
prohibit discrimination on the grounds
of race, color, or national origin by
recipients of Federal financial
assistance. Title VI, through its
prohibition against discrimination on
the basis of national origin, requires
recipients to take reasonable steps to
provide meaningful access to persons
who are limited English proficient
(LEP). See Guidance to Federal
Financial Assistance Recipients
Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against
National Origin Discrimination
Affecting Limited English Proficient
Persons, 76 FR. 21755–21768 (April 18,
2011).
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 (Section 504), Public Law
93–112, as amended by Public Law 93–
516, 29 U.S.C. 794, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability
by recipients of Federal financial
assistance.
• Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 (title IX), 20
U.S.C. 1681 et seq., and the
Department’s implementing regulations,
6 CFR part 17, and 44 CFR part 19,
which prohibits discrimination on the
basis of sex in education program and
activities received Federal financial
assistance.
• Age Discrimination Act of 1975,
Public Law 94–135, 42 U.S.C. 6101 et
seq., and the Department implementing
regulation at 44 CFR part 7, which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of
age by recipients of Federal financial
assistance.
• U.S. Department of Homeland
Security regulation 6 CFR part 19,
which prohibits organizations that
receive financial assistance from DHS
for a social service program from
discriminating against beneficiaries on
the basis of religion or religious belief,
a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a
refusal to attend or participate in a
religious practice.
The aforementioned civil rights
authorities also prohibit retaliatory acts
against individuals for participating or
opposing discrimination in a complaint,
investigation, or other proceeding
related to prohibited discrimination.
DHS has an obligation to enforce
nondiscrimination requirements to
ensure that its federally assisted
programs and activities are
administered in a nondiscriminatory

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manner. In order to carry out its
enforcement responsibilities, DHS must
obtain a signed assurance of compliance
and collect and review information from
recipients to ascertain their compliance
with applicable requirements. DHS
implementing regulations and the
Department of Justice regulation
Coordination of Non-discrimination in
Federally Assisted Program, 28 CFR part
42, provide for the collection of data
and information from recipients (see 28
CFR 42.406).
DHS uses DHS Form 3095: DHS Civil
Rights Evaluation Tool as the primary
tool to implement this information
collection. DHS is revising the
collection, changing Section 1 of the
form on Instructions to extend the
deadline for initial submissions from 30
days of receipt of the Notice of Award
to 60 days; to update the method of
submission from email to an online
portal, and to make other minor
clarifying revisions. DHS is also making
minor changes to Section 2 of the form
on Organization Information to remove
the fields for reporting Grant Agreement
Number and Federal Award
Identification Number; DHS now
obtains that information from
Department data sources. In addition,
DHS is making minor changes to
Section 5 of the form on Additional
Information to streamline
communication with recipients by
providing a single, centralized point of
contact for questions and technical
assistance. Further, a minor change to
Section 2 of the form on Organization
Information to revise the field for
reporting the organization’s DUNS
Number to Unique Entity ID. In 2022,
the Federal Government stopped using
DUNS Number to uniquely identify
organizations and transitioned to using
Unique Entity ID as the official
identifier for entities doing business
with the U.S. Government.
DHS uses the form to collect civil
rights related information from all
recipients of federal financial assistance
from the Department. Recipients are
non-Federal entities that receive Federal
financial assistance in the form of a
grant, cooperative agreement, or other
type of financial assistance directly from
the Department and not through another
recipient or ‘‘pass-through’’ entity. This
information collection does not apply to
subrecipients, Federal contractors
(unless the contract includes the
provision of financial assistance), nor
the ultimate beneficiaries of services,
financial aid, or other benefits from the
Department.
Recipients are required to provide the
information 60 days from receipt of
Notice of Award. Recipient of multiple

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 27 / Thursday, February 8, 2024 / Notices
awards of DHS financial assistance only
submit one completed form for their
organization, not per award. Recipient
are required to complete the form once
every two years if they have an active
award, not every time a grant is
awarded. Entities whose award does not
run a full two years are required to
provide the information again if they
receive a subsequent award more than
two (2) years after the prior award. In
responding to Section 4: Required
Information, which contains the bulk of
the information collection, if the
recipient’s responses have not changed
in the two-year period since their initial
submission, the recipient does not need
to resubmit the information. Instead, the
recipient will indicate ‘‘no change’’ for
each applicable item.
The purpose of the information
collection is to advise recipients of their
civil rights obligations and collect
pertinent civil rights information to
ascertain if the recipient has in place
adequate policies and procedures to
achieve compliance, and to determine
what, if any, further action may be
needed (technical assistance, training,
compliance review, etc.) to ensure the
recipient is able to meet its civil rights
requirements and will carry out its
programs and activities in a
nondiscriminatory manner.
Over the past three years, DHS has
used the information collected via the
DHS Civil Rights Evaluation Tool to
identify gaps and deficiencies in
recipient programs and directly help
recipients address these gaps and
deficiencies by providing technical
assistance on developing or improving
policies and procedures to prevent
discrimination and ensure accessibility.
DHS is transitioning the submission
process from an email-based system to
a new online portal platform. The portal
will streamline and improve the
submission process by allowing
recipients to view the requirements
contained in the form, report civil rights
complaint and lawsuit data in a
standardized chart, upload responsive
documents and supporting information,
and access technical assistance
templates and other resources all in one
space. DHS anticipates that records or
files that will be used to respond to the
information collection are already
maintained in electronic format by the
recipient, so providing the information
electronically further minimizes
administrative burden.
When fully deployed, recipients will
also be able to view and update contact
information, the status of their
submission with DHS, and submission
due dates. If the recipient is unable to
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alternative arrangements will be made
to submit responses in hard copy.
The information collection will
impact some small entities (e.g., nonprofit service providers, local fire
departments, etc.); however, recipients
will only be required to provide this
information once every two years, not
every time a grant is awarded.
Additionally, in responding to Section
4: Required Information, if the
recipient’s responses have not changed
in the two-year period since their initial
submission, the recipient does not need
to resubmit the information. This will
dramatically reduce the administrative
burden on recipients after the initial
submission. Additionally, DHS will
further minimize burden on recipients
by making available sample policies,
procedures, and templates to assist
recipients in completing Section 4 of the
Form, and providing technical
assistance directly to the recipient as
needed.
In accordance with the authorities
identified above, the Department is
required to obtain a signed assurance of
compliance from recipients and to
ensure that its federally assisted
programs and activities are
administered in a nondiscriminatory
manner. If the information collection is
not conducted or is conducted less
frequently, the Department will not be
able to fulfill its obligations to ascertain
recipient compliance and enforce
nondiscrimination in recipient
programs. This could lead to the award
of Federal financial assistance to
recipients that are not complying with
Federal civil rights law, and the
perpetuation of discrimination in the
provision of benefits and services to
members of the public.
There are no confidentiality
assurances associated with this
collection. The only privacy-sensitive
information the form collects are the
names of Point of Contacts from
recipient organizations. Coverage for the
collection of this information is
provided under a Department Privacy
Impact Assessment, DHS/ALL/PIA–006
General Contacts List.
DHS is seeking a revision of the
collection for another three-year period,
proposing changes to Section 1
Instructions, Section 2 Organization
Information and Section 5 Additional
Information. The changes to Sections 1,
2, and 5 do not impact the burden
analysis for the collection. The changes
in burden reflect the increase in the
number of entities that are required to
respond to the collection (as a result of
increased Department grantmaking),
increase in hourly wage rates as
reported by BLS in the 2022 National

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8693

Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates, increase in hourly wage rates
for Federal staff as reported by Office of
Personnel Management for 2023,
increases in the number of staff
supporting the program, and
development of an online portal to
streamline and modernize the
submission process. Lastly, DHS is
changing the name of the collection
from ‘‘DHS Civil Rights Compliance
Form’’ to ‘‘DHS Civil Rights Evaluation
Tool.’’
The Office of Management and Budget
is particularly interested in comments
which:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
Analysis:
Agency: Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
Title: DHS Civil Rights Evaluation
Tool.
OMB Number: 1601–0024.
Frequency: Annually.
Affected Public: Entities Receiving
Federal Financial Assistance from DHS.
Number of Respondents: 5,000.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 3
hours.
Total Burden Hours: 10,050.
Robert Porter Dorr,
Executive Director, Business Management
Directorate.
[FR Doc. 2024–02588 Filed 2–7–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9112–FL–P

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR–7092–N–18]

Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
Office of Administration,
Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD).

AGENCY:

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