[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 56 (Friday, March 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15127-15128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5768]


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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: [email protected] 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 [email protected].

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