[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23771-23773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-11724]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2009-0039]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for 
Renewal of a Previously Approved Information Collection Titled: Federal 
Highway Administration (FHWA) State Reports for American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to 
request

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the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for information 
collection that is summarized below under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. We 
are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Please submit comments by July 20, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
FHWA-2009-0039, by any of the following methods:
    Web Site: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen White, 202-366-9474, Office of 
Policy and Governmental Affairs, HPTS, Federal Highway Administration, 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 
DC 20590, between 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) State Reports for 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), OMB Control  
2125-0623.
    Background: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 
(ARRA), provides the State Departments of Transportation and Federal 
Lands Agencies with $27.5 billion for highway infrastructure 
investment. With these funds also comes an increased level of data 
reporting with the stated goal of improving transparency and 
accountability at all levels of government. According to President 
Obama ``Every American will be able to hold Washington accountable for 
these decisions by going online to see how and where their tax dollars 
are being spent.'' The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in concert 
with the Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) and the other 
modes within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will be taking 
the appropriate steps to ensure that this accountability and 
transparency is in place for all infrastructure investments.
    The reporting requirements of the ARRA are covered in Sections 
1201, 1512 and 1609. Section 1201 (c)(1) stipulates that 
``notwithstanding any other provision of law each grant recipient shall 
submit to the covered agency (FHWA) from which they received funding 
periodic reports on the use of the funds appropriated in this Act for 
covered programs. Such reports shall be collected and compiled by the 
covered agency (FHWA) and transmitted to Congress. Covered agencies 
(FHWA) may develop such reports on behalf of grant recipients (States) 
to ensure the accuracy and consistency of such reports.''
    Section 1512 of the ARRA requires ``any entity that receives 
recovery funds directly from the Federal Government (including recovery 
funds received through grant, loan, or contract) other than an 
individual,'' including States, to provide regular ``Recipient 
Reports.''
    Section 1609 references the National Environmental Policy Act of 
January 1, 1970. The ARRA legislation requires that ``The President 
shall report to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and 
the House National Resources Committee every 90 days... the status and 
progress of projects and activities funded by this Act with respect to 
compliance with National Environmental Policy act requirements and 
documentation.''
    As the recipients or grantees for the majority of the ARRA funds, 
States and Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMA) are by statute 
responsible for reporting to FHWA on the projects, use of ARRA funds, 
and jobs supported. States and FLMA that receive recovery fund 
apportionments directly from the Federal government are responsible for 
reporting to FHWA, which in turn is responsible for reporting 
periodically to Congress and quarterly to the Recovery.gov Web site. To 
achieve a high-quality, consistent basis for reporting, the FHWA has 
designed a system for obtaining and summarizing data for all purposes.
    States and FLMA will be responsible for providing the data that are 
not currently available at the national level. Not every data element 
required to be reported by the ARRA needs to be specifically collected. 
To the maximum extent possible, FHWA will utilize existing data 
programs to meet the ARRA reporting requirements. For example, for the 
requirement to report aggregate expenditures of State funds, FHWA will 
use existing reports submitted by States and data collected in the 
Financial Management Information System (FMIS). While the reporting 
obligations in the ARRA are only applicable to the grant recipients, 
the States and FLMA may need to obtain certain information from their 
contractors, consultants, and other funding recipients in order to 
provide the FHWA with all of the required information. Additional 
information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is 
available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/economicrecovery/index.htm.
    Respondents: In a reporting cycle, it is estimated that reports 
will be received from approximately 70 grant recipients. Respondents 
include: 50 State Departments of Transportation, the District of 
Columbia and Puerto Rico, the U.S. territories, the following Federal 
Land Management Agencies: National Park Service, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife, National Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and 
several Native American Indian Governments who, by contract, manage 
their own transportation program. These reports will be submitted 
online and reviewed for accuracy by the FHWA Division Offices before 
being submitted to FHWA Headquarters for compilation and submission to 
OST for publication on Recovery.gov.
    Form#: FHWA-1585.
    Background: This form is used by the State DOTs and the FLMAs to 
provide information on the status of all their ARRA projects. The data 
that is collected on this form addresses the reporting requirements of 
Sections 1201 and 1512.
    Frequency: Monthly until September 2012.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,010 hours.
    Form#: FHWA-1586.
    Background: This form is used to collect information concerning how 
each State and FLMA plans to invest its allotment of ARRA funding. The 
list needs to be consistent with the list of projects provided in the 
State's Section 1511 certification, as it may be amended. States and 
FLMA should provide their best estimates of a complete list of projects 
to be funded with ARRA grants as of the plan's due date. If a State has 
not programmed all ARRA funds by that time, that information should be 
provided as well. These data will be used for meeting the reporting 
requirements of Sections 1201, 1512 and 1609.
    Frequency: Initial list was due March 31, 2009. Additional updates 
are due

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within 2 weeks of the State or FLMA issuing a new Section 1511 
certification.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 280 hours.
    Form#: FHWA-1587.
    Background: This form is used by States, FLMA and the FHWA to 
provide summary employment information for all active ARRA projects. 
These data will be used for meeting the reporting requirements of 
Sections 1201 and 1512.
    Frequency: Monthly until September 2012.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,010 hours.
    Form#: FHWA-1588.
    Background: This report form is for cases in which a State or FLMA 
needs to provide information on one or more individual ARRA projects 
that are part of a previously awarded grouped, bundled or area wide 
project. These data will be used for meeting the reporting requirements 
of Sections 1201, 1512 and 1609. States and FLMA shall provide the 
required information as individual projects. If a State or Federal 
Lands agency has no grouped or bundled projects, then no report is 
necessary. An example of an area wide grouped or bundled project would 
be a district wide bridge project that involves re-decking one bridge 
and replacing the guardrail on a second. Each of these individual 
bridge projects would be reported on this form after they have been 
awarded.
    Frequency: Monthly as needed until September 2012
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 560 hours.
    Form#: FHWA-1589
    Background: This form is to be used by the FHWA to gather 
employment information on every ARRA project that is initiated by the 
FHWA. Monthly employment information will be used to meet the 
requirements of Sections 1201 and 1512. In order for FHWA to fulfill 
the reporting obligations, FHWA must collect and analyze certain 
employment data for each FHWA ARRA funded contract. FHWA will require 
contractors and consultants to provide the required information for 
their own workforce as well as the workforce of all subcontractors that 
were active on their ARRA funded project(s) for the reporting month.
    Frequency: Monthly until the contract is completed or September 
2012 whichever occurs first.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 0.5 hour.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 500 hours.
    Form#: FHWA-1590.
    Background: This form contains the detailed instructions for 
completing the previous ARRA data reporting forms.
    Frequency: Issued once initially.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 10 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 12 hours.

     Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: May 14, 2009.
James R. Kabel,
Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.
[FR Doc. E9-11724 Filed 5-19-09; 8:45 am]
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