[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 40 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10782-10783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4783]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6542-4]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Continuing Collection: 
Subject of ICR: Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses From Grant Officials 
at Year-End

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the 
following continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses from 
Grant Recipients at Year-End, EPA ICR number 1810.02, OMB Control 
number 2030-0037, expiration date 9/30/2000. Before submitting the ICR 
to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific 
aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 1, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of the 
Comptroller, Financial Management Division, Mail Code 2733F, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington D. C. 20460. Interested persons may 
obtain a copy of the ICR without charge by contacting Mr. Larry Achter 
at the above address, or via e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Achter, 202-564-4931, Facsimile 
Number 202-565-2586, E-MAIL Address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
those grant recipients who are paid either through the Automated 
Clearing House (ACH) or Automated Standard Application for Payments 
(ASAP) process. EPA will use the Probability Proportionate to Size 
sampling method to select approximately 185 grants awarded by the 
Agency and paid through the process. EPA will send a confirmation

[[Page 10783]]

letter to each grant recipient to obtain information on unbilled grant 
expenses.
    Title: Unbilled Grant Expenses from Grant Officials at Year-end 
(EPA ICR No. 1810.02., OMB Control Number 2030-0037) expiring 09/30/
2000.
    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, grants paid through 
the ACH and ASAP electronic funds transfer mechanisms, do not report 
this information. Therefore, EPA can't obtain this information without 
contacting the grant recipients themselves. ASAP and 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 185 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 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.
    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. The grantees selected in the sampling 
process are not required to respond to our request, but the grantees' 
cooperation will enable EPA to fairly report the accrued liablility on 
the financial statement. The submitted information is not intended to 
be shared with other grantees or used in any other Agency program. 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.
    The EPA would like to solicit comments to:
    (i) 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;
    (ii) 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;
    (iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and
    (iv) 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.
    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 1100 hours, or a total estimated annual cost 
of $27,500.

    Dated: February 18, 2000.
Juliette McNeil,
Acting Director, Financial Management Division.
[FR Doc. 00-4783 Filed 2-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P