[Federal Register: March 21, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 56)]
[Notices]
[Page 15127-15128]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21mr08-37]
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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Information Collection Submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction Act; Nonprofit
Agency Recordkeeping Requirements
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or
Severely Disabled (The Committee) is submitting the collection of
information listed below to OMB for approval under the provisions of
the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice solicits comments on that
collection of information.
DATES: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has up to 60 days to
approve or disapprove information collection but may respond after 30
days. Therefore, to ensure maximum consideration, your comments should
be received by OMB by April 20, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk Officer for the
Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled,
Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Room 10222,
Washington, DC 20503. Commenters are encouraged to submit responses
electronically by e-mail to: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov or via fax to
(202) 395-6974. Commenters should include the following subject line in
their response: ``Comment: 3037-0005 Nonprofit Agency
Responsibilities.'' Persons submitting comments electronically should
not submit paper copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Yandik, Information Management
Specialist, Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or
Severely Disabled, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway, Jefferson Plaza 2,
Suite 10800, Arlington, VA 22202-3259; phone (703) 603-2147; fax (703)
603-0655; or e-mail rulescomment@abilityone.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
regulations at 5 CFR part 1320, which implement provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), require that
interested members of the public and affected agencies have an
opportunity to comment on information collection and recordkeeping
activities (see 5 CFR 1320.8(d)). The Committee is submitting a request
to OMB to renew its approval of the collection of information for
nonprofit agency responsibilities related to recordkeeping. The
Committee is requesting a 3-year term of approval for this information
collection activity.
Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays
a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this
collection of information is 3037-0005.
The Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act of 1971 (41 U.S.C. 46-48c) is
the authorizing legislation for the AbilityOne Program. (The name of
the JWOD Program was changed to the AbilityOne Program on November 28,
2006, Federal Register Volume 71, Number 227, Page 68492-68494). The
AbilityOne Program creates jobs and training opportunities for people
who are blind or who have other severe disabilities. Its primary means
of doing so is by requiring Government agencies to purchase selected
products and services from nonprofit agencies employing such
individuals. The JWOD Act, through the AbilityOne Program, is
administered by the Committee. Two national, independent organizations,
National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH, help State and
private nonprofit agencies participate in the AbilityOne Program. The
implementing regulations for the JWOD Act, which are located at 41 CFR
Chapter 51, detail the recordkeeping requirements imposed on nonprofit
agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program. Section 51-2.4 of the
regulations describes the criteria that the Committee must consider
when adding a product or service to its Procurement List. One of these
criteria is that a proposed addition must demonstrate a potential to
generate employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. The
Committee decided that evidence that employment will be generated for
those individuals consists of recordkeeping that tracks direct labor
and revenues for products or services sold through an AbilityOne
Program contract. This recordkeeping can be done on each individual
AbilityOne project or by product or service family. In addition,
Section 51-4.3 of the regulations requires that nonprofit agencies keep
records on direct labor hours performed by each worker and keep an
individual record or file for each blind or severely disabled
individual documenting that individual's disability and capabilities
for competitive employment. The records that nonprofit agencies must
keep in accordance with Section 51-4.3 of the regulations constitute
the bulk of the hour burden associated with this OMB control number.
On December 21, 2007, the Committee published in the Federal
Register (Volume 72, Number 245, Pages 72665-72666) a notice requesting
public comment on these recordkeeping requirements for 60 days, ending
February 19, 2008. By that date, the Committee received comments from
44 respondents with a total of 75 comments.
Seven comments were received opposing the request by indicating
that this is a new recordkeeping requirement. There is nothing new in
the Committee's request. The Committee did make a change in its
recordkeeping requirements in 2002 to add recordkeeping of the direct
labor hours and sales for AbilityOne projects on at least a product or
service family basis. This change was approved by OMB and was renewed
in 2005. There is no change to the recordkeeping requirements that the
Committee is requesting OMB to approve again.
Eight comments were received questioning the necessity of the
recordkeeping requirement and if it has any practical utility. The JWOD
Act requires that 75% of the direct labor of all work done at a
participating nonprofit agency be done by people
[[Page 15128]]
who are blind or severely disabled. A number of these comments also
stated that this requirement does nothing to increase jobs for people
with disabilities. This recordkeeping requirement is to ensure that
those nonprofit agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program employ
people who meet the Act's definitions. This requirement does not
involve any reporting requirements by nonprofits, only that the
nonprofits keep records that can be used to document their compliance
with the requirements of the Act. The requirement to keep records on
the direct labor hours of AbilityOne projects is to ensure that the
projects are suitable to remain on the Committee's Procurement List.
Without this recordkeeping requirement, the Committee would have no way
of verifying that those nonprofits that participate in the AbilityOne
Program were meeting the requirements of the JWOD Act.
Thirty-eight of the comments referred to the accuracy of the
Committee's burden estimate. The comments included estimates of the
actual burden for the recordkeeping requirement that ranged from 25
minutes per person who is blind or severely disabled to 35.6 hours per
person who is blind or severely disabled.
The Committee has used a burden estimate of 5 hours per agency
since 2002 and before that, 3 hours per agency since at least 1992, and
has not received any prior comments as to its accuracy. However, after
review, the Committee agrees that 5 hours per agency is incorrect and
that the burden is much higher. The range of burden estimates is a
result of the many differences between individual nonprofit agencies
and a misunderstanding of the recordkeeping requirement being
considered. Many of the burden estimates identified in the comments
included tasks that are required to meet other requirements, such as
those of the Department of Labor, or would be performed by the
nonprofit agency even if they were not in the AbilityOne Program.
Based on an analysis of the information contained in the comments
and discussions with several other nonprofit agencies during the
comment period, the Committee believes that a reasonable burden
estimate is 2.5 hours per person that is blind or severely disabled.
Currently, there are over 600 nonprofit agencies participating in the
AbilityOne Program with employee numbers ranging from less than 10 to
more than 2,000. The average number of people who are blind or severely
disabled at participating nonprofit agencies was 218 in fiscal year
2007; therefore, the current recordkeeping burden will be estimated at
550 hours annually per nonprofit agency. The Committee recognizes that
the burden will be higher for some nonprofit agencies based on their
size, types of disabilities served, and whether or not they provide
rehabilitation functions. However, based on the information submitted,
the Committee believes that, on average, 550 hours per nonprofit agency
is a reasonable burden estimate of those tasks imposed directly by this
recordkeeping requirement.
Sixteen comments were received with suggestions on minimizing the
burden. These included making changes to the JWOD Act, adhering to the
Act as promulgated and intended by Congress, abolishing the Committee,
deleting requirements from the Committee regulations, not requiring
annual evaluations on some disabilities, and that the Committee include
the cost of meeting the recordkeeping requirements in the price of
products and services on the Procurement List. The Committee has
reviewed its regulations and believes that its current regulations are
in keeping with its administration of the JWOD Act, and those
recommendations that would require a change to the Act itself are,
therefore, beyond the scope of the Committee's information collection
authority. One commenter questioned the necessity for requiring annual
evaluations of all people with severe disabilities. This issue had
previously been addressed by the Committee and determined that the
requirement exists.
Five comments were received that do not fit within the four areas
about which the Committee requested comments. One commenter requested
that the Committee's request be denied; one discussed the difficulties
involved with meeting the requirements of different Federal and State
requirements; one requested that the Committee seriously consider the
comments from all nonprofit agencies; one commented that this request
was perpetuating the inefficiencies which hamper the AbilityOne
Program; and one comment was that the Committee had made substantive
and material modifications to collection requirements after approval by
OMB. The Committee believes that this recordkeeping requirement is
critical for the Committee to determine if nonprofit agencies are in
compliance with the JWOD Act. There has been no substantive or material
modification to collection requirements since 2002, and those made in
2002 were approved by OMB in 2002 and renewed in 2005. The Committee's
responsibility to administer the Act requires that certain information
be available to them to ensure that the purposes of the Act are met.
Reasonable requirements by participating nonprofit agencies will permit
the Committee to gather data required to report the results to the
President and to Congress.
Dated: March 18, 2008.
Kimberly M. Zeich,
Director, Program Operations.
[FR Doc. E8-5768 Filed 3-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P