[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68939-68940]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-30594]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Information Collection To Be Submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act; Division of International Conservation Requests for Proposals

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (We) will submit the 
collection of information described below to OMB for approval under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. An estimate of the 
information collection burden is included in this notice. If you wish 
to obtain copies of the proposed information collection requirement, 
related forms, and/or explanatory material, contact the Service 
Information Collection Clearance Officer at the address listed below.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before February 9, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on specific requirements 
to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, MS 222-ARLSQ, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the information 
collection submission, explanatory information, and/or related forms, 
contact Anissa Craghead, Information Collection Clearance Officer, at 
703-358-2445 or electronically at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB regulations at 5 CFR 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 be given an opportunity to comment on information 
collection and record keeping activities (see 5 CFR 1320.8(d)). We are 
submitting a request to OMB to approve: (1) The revision of the 
collection of information for four of our multinational species 
conservation grant fund requests for proposals (Form numbers 3-2214 
through 3-2217), and (2) the addition of two new requests for proposals 
(Form numbers 3-2263 and 3-2264). We are requesting a three-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 1018-0123.
    Revisions to the currently approved requests for proposals include 
updating application forms to: (1) Comply with new Government-wide 
policy directing all funding programs to request Dunn & Bradstreet 
registration from all applicants; (2) reformat to comply with new 
Government-wide policies prescribing a standard RFP format; (3) add 
additional instructions for applicants; (4) request from domestic 
applicants the submission of standard forms 424, 424a, 424b and DI 
2010; and (5) reformat the application cover page form to fit on one 
page. In addition, two new requests for proposals have been added to 
the information collection in order to meet our obligations under the 
requirements of the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife 
Preservation in the Western Hemisphere. The two new requests for 
proposals and associated forms will be translated into Spanish for the 
convenience of our Latin American and Caribbean applicants. The new 
requests for proposals (forms 3-2263 and 3-2264) are noted in the table 
below. In addition, this information collection is currently titled, 
``Multinational Species Conservation Fund Requests for Proposals.'' Due 
to the addition of two new requests for proposals that are not part of 
the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, we are proposing to change 
the title of this information collection to ``Division of International 
Conservation Requests for Proposals.''
    The information obtained from the first four requests for proposals 
listed below will be used to select conservation projects for grant 
funding in accordance with the criteria in several Acts of Congress. 
The Acts of Congress include the African Elephant Conservation Act, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 4201-46), the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act, 
as amended (16 U.S.C. 5301-06), the Asian Elephant Conservation Act (16 
U.S.C. 4261-4266), and the Great Ape Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6301-
6305). The information obtained from the final two requests for 
proposals will be used to select conservation projects for grant 
funding in accordance with the U.S. Government's obligations under the 
Western Hemisphere Convention, and

[[Page 68940]]

authorized by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 
1531-43). The following table lists the requests for proposals, with 
their respective burden estimates, that we plan to submit to OMB for 
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

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                                                         Estimated time to     Total annual       Total annual
 Name of request for proposals (RFP)       Form No.           complete          responses         burden hours
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African Elephant Conservation Fund               3-2214                 12                 60                720
 RFP................................
Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation                3-2215                 12                 70                840
 Fund RFP...........................
Asian Elephant Conservation Fund RFP             3-2216                 12                 50                600
Great Ape Conservation Fund RFP.....             3-2217                 12                 60                720
Wildlife Without Borders-Mexico RFP              3-2263                 12                 40                480
 *..................................
Wildlife Without Borders-Latin                   3-2264                 12                 55               660
 America & the Caribbean RFP *......
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* Note: These are new information collections.

    Title: Division of International Conservation Requests for 
Proposals.
    OMB Number: 1018-0123.
    Service Form Numbers: 3-2214 through 3-2217, 3-2263 and 2-2264.
    Frequency of Collection: Annually.
    Description of Respondents: Foreign governments; domestic and 
foreign non-governmental organizations and individuals.
    Total Annual Responses: 335 responses.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 4,020 hours.
    We invite comments concerning this collection on: (1) Whether the 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
burden on the public; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on those who are to 
respond.

    Dated: November 21, 2003.
Anissa Craghead,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service
[FR Doc. 03-30594 Filed 12-9-03; 8:45 am]
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