FHWA-PPR_Supporting Statement_2025-0401

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

OMB Control No. 2125-XXXX

Performance Progress Report (PPR) Form

The Supporting Statement A

Introduction: Federal Highway Administration Performance Progress Report (FHWA PPR) form is for use by recipients of grant and cooperative agreements awards administered by FHWA to provide project progress information for FHWA to monitor the status of the Federal award and to conduct project oversight. This is a new clearance request.

Part A. Justification.

1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary:

Recipients of grant and cooperative agreement awards are required by 2 C.F.R. 200.329(b) to monitor activities under federal awards to ensure compliance with applicable federal requirements and that performance expectations are achieved. In addition, the Federal agency must use OMB-approved common information collections when requesting performance reporting information from the recipient (2 CFR 200.329(b)). The FHWA PPR form is the data collection form used by FHWA grant award and cooperative agreement recipients (1) to report key accomplishments; any scope, schedule, and budget concerns; and special events held during the reporting period and (2) to provide any updates on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) approval dates and grant project completion dates. The information will be collected from the recipient quarterly, semiannually, or annually, as required by the terms included in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Federal financial assistance program and incorporated into the award.

The FHWA PPR form standardizes the data collection categories necessary to ensure the project is implemented consistent with the terms and conditions of the grant or cooperative agreement award. This standardization improves service to FHWA’s external customers by making the reporting categories clear and consistent. The FHWA PPR form aligns with US DOT’s Organizational Excellence goal and furthers FHWA’s goal of consistent grant and cooperative agreement award management and administration.

2. How, by whom, and for what purpose is the information used:

FHWA Headquarters (HQ) and Division staff involved with grant and cooperative agreement management and implementation will use the performance progress information provided by the recipient in the FHWA PPR to monitor project progress and determine if an amendment to the executed grant or cooperative agreement is required to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the award. The FHWA PPR will also allow the recipient and FHWA to determine if the funded project is complete and the award is ready to be closed. FHWA grant project data management systems will be updated with the recipient’s project status information and used to generate grant program and project status reports for FHWA and Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) leadership.

3. Extent of automated information collection:

The FHWA PPR form is a fillable PDF that can be completed and signed electronically. FHWA’s future use of an online grant management system may also include the ability of recipients of FHWA grant and cooperative agreement awards to submit an FHWA PPR form and SF-425 form within the online system.

4. Efforts to identify duplication:

The FHWA PPR form is intended to be used by all recipients of awards under FHWA-administered grant and cooperative agreement programs to report on award progress and intended to replace any progress reporting form that is currently used by an FHWA-administered grant or cooperative agreement program.

5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses:

If a small business is a recipient of a grant or cooperative agreement award, then the small business recipient will use the FHWA PPR form to report on award progress. The FHWA PPR form standardizes the data collection categories and is intended to collect only what is necessary to ensure the grant project is implemented consistent with the terms and conditions of the award. The FHWA PPR form is intended to reduce the burden on all recipients, including small businesses, because the reporting categories are clear and will be consistent across all FHWA administered grant and cooperative agreement programs.

6. Impact of less frequent collection of information:

The purpose of the progress reporting requirement in 2 C.F.R. 200.329(b) is to monitor activities under Federal awards to ensure compliance with applicable Federal requirements and that performance expectations are achieved. The default report frequency submittal interval is disclosed in the grant program NOFO, and performance progress and Federal financial reports are not submitted more frequently than once per calendar year quarter. The FHWA PPR form standardizes the grant project performance progress information and is limited to the information necessary to monitor the recipient’s compliance with the award terms and conditions. The frequency of performance progress report submittals ensures timely resolution of a potential noncompliance issue with the recipient.

7. Special circumstances:

FHWA requires grant and cooperative agreement recipients to submit their performance progress and Federal financial reports 20 days after the end of the final month of the calendar year reporting period. This gives FHWA staff 10 days to review the reports, work with the recipient to correct any errors, and accept the final reports within 30 to 45 days after the end of the reporting period.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8:

The 60-day notice for the FHWA PPR form was published in the Federal Register on Monday, December 2, 2024, at [89 FR 95347]. FHWA did not receive any comments.

The 30-day notice for the FHWA PPR was published in the Federal Register on Friday, May 16, 2025, at [90 FR 21106].

9. Payments or gifts to respondents:

The only payments to grant and cooperative agreement recipients who submit the FHWA PPR are funds that are authorized under the executed award agreement. The data collected by the FHWA PPR form is required by 2 C.F.R. 200.329(b).

10. Assurance of confidentiality:

FHWA will handle trade secrets and commercial or financial information from a person that is privileged or confidential in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4). The data collected by the FHWA PPR form does not require a systems of records notice (SORN) or a privacy impact assessment (PIA).

11. Justification for collection of sensitive information:

The FHWA PPR form does not request sensitive information.

12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested:

Grant project performance progress information will be collected quarterly, semiannually, or annually, as required by terms included in the grant program’s NOFO and incorporated into the award. It is estimated that the FHWA PPR form will take up to one (1) hour to complete. Recipients must submit a minimum of one (1) FHWA PPR per reporting period for each award, with a maximum of four (4) FHWA PPR submittals per calendar year. This estimate includes time to review the form instructions, research existing sources to gather necessary data, complete, and review the form before submitting to FHWA.

It is expected that approximately 2,500 respondents will complete up to four (4) PPR forms per year for up to 10 grant awards per respondent for an estimated total of 100,000 annual burden hours.

It is assumed that a Project Manager will be completing the FHWA PPR form. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) hourly wage (90 percentile) for a Project Manager for 2023 is $78.39 per hour.¹ The calculation of annualized costs to each recipient is provided in the table below.

Category	Hourly Wage	Time to complete FHWA PPR form (hour)	Maximum No. of FHWA PPR forms per grant award per year	Average no. of grant awards per recipient	Total Anticipated Maximum Annual Burden Hours per recipient	Total Annual Cost per recipient
Project Manager	$78.39	1	4	10	40	$3,135.60

¹Bureau of Labor Statistics website (https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes131082.htm) accessed January 28, 2025.

13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents:

FHWA does not expect any additional costs to respondents beyond burden hours described above. FHWA anticipates that recipients have access to a computer and the necessary software to complete the FHWA PPR form, which is a fillable PDF document, without incurring additional costs.

14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government:

FHWA staff review grant project performance progress information submitted by the recipient and collaborate with the recipient to correct FHWA PPR form information, if needed. FHWA staff perform this task quarterly, semiannually, or annually, as required by terms included in the grant program’s NOFO and incorporated into the award. Review of the FHWA PPR form takes up to one (1) hour, including time to collaborate with the recipient to correct information. Recipients must submit a minimum of one (1) and maximum of four (4) FHWA PPR forms per year for each grant award. FHWA staff have an average of 25 grant awards, for an anticipated maximum Annual Burden Hour total of 100 hours. Up to two (2) FHWA Full Time Employees (FTEs) are responsible for this task in up to 60 FHWA Offices.

FHWA (HQ) or contractor staff will conduct an additional review of the FHWA PPR forms to monitor the status of awards across a discretionary grant program, which is estimated to take up to 30 minutes. Recipients must submit a minimum of one (1) and maximum of four (4) FHWA PPR forms per year for each grant award. Up to 54 FHWA HQ or contractor staff will have an average of 50 grant awards each, for a maximum Annual Burden Hour total of 100.

The calculation of maximum potential annualized costs to FHWA is provided in the table below.

Category	General Schedule	Hourly Wage1	Maximum time to review FHWA PPR form (hour)	Maximum No. of FHWAPPR forms for each grant award	Average no. of grant awards per FHWA FTE	Total Maximum Annual Burden Hours per FTE	Total Maximum Annual Cost per FTE	Total no. of FTE	Total Anticipated Maximum Annual Cost
FHWA Staff	GS-13/5	$65.48	1	4	25	100	$6,548.00	120	$785,760.00
FHWA HQ or Contractor Staff	GS-14/5	$77.38	0.5	4	50	100	$7,738.00	54	$417,852.00
Totals								158	$1,203,612.00

¹Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2025/DCB_h.pdf, accessed January 28, 2025.

15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments:

The FHWA PPR form is a new information collection.

16. Publication of results of data collection:

The data collected with the FHWA PPR form will be used by FHWA staff and the recipient and will not be published by FHWA. If FHWA receives a specific request for the FHWA PPR form under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), then FHWA would assess the request in accordance with the FOIA.

17. Approval for not displaying the expiration date of OMB approval:

The FHWA PPR form will include the OMB Control Number and the expiration date. No action requested.

18. Exceptions to certification statement:

No exception to the “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions” is requested for the FHWA PPR form.