[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30323-30324]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14448]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5833-9]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses From Grant Officials 
at Year-End

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit a 
proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR is 
intended to obtain information on unbilled grant expenses at year end 
from a sample of EPA grant recipients. Before submitting the ICR to 
OMB, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed 
collection of information as described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted August 4, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of the 
Comptroller, Financial Management Division, Mail Code 2733F, 401 M St. 
SW Washington D. C. 20460. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the 
ICR without charge by contacting Mr. Larry Achter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Achter, 202-260-9446, Facsimile 
Number 202-260-4592, E-MAIL Address: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Affected entities: EPA will use the Probability Proportionate to 
Size sampling method to select approximately 110 grants awarded by the 
Agency and paid through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) process. EPA 
will contact the recipients of these selected grants to obtain 
information on unbilled expenses.
    Title: Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses from Grant Officials at 
Year-end (EPA ICR No. 1810.01.)
    Abstract: EPA's Financial Management Division (FMD) prepares annual 
financial statements that present the financial position and results of 
operations for EPA. The financial statements must comply with the 
Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) and other 
accounting requirements. EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) 
audits these financial statements to determine whether they fairly and 
accurately reflect EPA financial conditions.
    To meet the SFFAS requirements, EPA must report the estimated 
amount of its accrued liabilities. These accrued liabilities include: 
(1) Grant expenses incurred during the fiscal year that the grant 
recipient has paid and recorded in its accounting records but has not 
yet billed to EPA; and (2) grant expenses that vendors have billed the 
grant recipient between October 1 and November 15 (following the end of 
the Federal fiscal year) that relate to the prior fiscal year. EPA, 
working with its OIG, has evaluated the use of existing reports as a 
source of accrued liability information. However, for grants paid 
through the ACH electronic funds transfer mechanism, EPA has been 
unable to determine how to obtain this information without contacting 
the grant recipients themselves. ACH drawdown requests do not include 
period of performance data, which is essential for determining 
accruals. To minimize the amount of burden associated with gathering 
this data, EPA believes that information from a sample of approximately 
110 grants would be sufficient to meet its financial statement needs. 
EPA would use estimation techniques to project the amount of grant 
accruals applicable to all EPA grants paid through ACH.
    The grant recipients selected in the sample would only be asked to 
report

[[Page 30324]]

the accrual information on the specific grant, and not all EPA grants 
to that grantee. Further, other EPA grant recipients would not be 
affected by this information collection request. EPA will also request 
information from the selected grant recipients on their billing 
practices in order to conduct additional analyses to improve our 
accrual estimates.
    Unless EPA is able to obtain this information from the selected 
grant recipients, and develop a reasonable estimate of accruals based 
on that data, EPA does not believe it will be able to obtain an 
unqualified (``clean'') audit opinion from the OIG on its financial 
statements. Thus the information is crucial for EPA to meet its 
fiduciary responsibilities.
    Burden Statement: Burden means the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, 
install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of 
collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; 
adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable 
instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to 
a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review 
the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.
    EPA believes that a grant recipient should require no more than 6 
hours to prepare the information requested, and the data collection 
will not require grant recipients to purchase new equipment or develop 
new procedures to compile and report the data. Thus, the total 
reporting burden would be 660 hours, or a total estimated annual cost 
of $14,600.
    Confidential information: FMD does not believe this information is 
confidential in nature. Therefore the additional protections afforded 
confidential data will not be provided.
    OMB Control Numbers: An agency 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 numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 
48 CFR Chapter 15. In this specific information collection, grant 
recipient responses will be voluntary.
    Comments requested: EPA would like to solicit public comments on:
    (i) 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;
    (ii) Whether the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information is accurate, and whether methodology and 
assumptions used are valid;
    (iii) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (iv) Means to 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 submission of responses.

    Dated: May 28, 1997.
Jack Shipley,
Director, Financial Management Division.
[FR Doc. 97-14448 Filed 6-2-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P