[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52696-52697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-21548]


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OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY


Paperwork Reduction Act; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of National Drug Control Policy.

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for comments. New Information 
Collection Request: Drug Free Communities Support Program National 
Evaluation.

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SUMMARY: The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) intends to 
submit the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget for review and approval under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act.

DATES: ONDCP encourages and will accept public comments until September 
22, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments in writing within 30 days to Mr. 
Patrick Fuchs. Facsimile and e-mail are the most reliable means of 
communication. Mr. Fuchs facsimile number is (202) 395-5167, and his e-
mail address is [email protected]. Mailing address is 725 17th Street, 
NW., Washington DC 20503. For further information contact Mr. Fuchs at 
(202) 395-3897.
    Abstract: ONDCP directs the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Program in 
partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration's Center for Substance

[[Page 52697]]

Abuse Prevention. The DFC Program has two primary goals: To reduce 
youth substance abuse, and to support community anti-drug coalitions by 
establishing, strengthening, and fostering collaboration among public 
and private agencies.
    Under reauthorization legislation (21 U.S.C. 1702), Congress 
mandated an evaluation of the DFC Program to determine its 
effectiveness in meeting objectives. In 2009, a contract was awarded to 
evaluate the DFC Program. This evaluation builds upon the results of an 
earlier evaluation and makes use of an existing web-based performance 
system, called the Coalition Online Management and Evaluation Tool 
(COMET) and the Coalition Classification Tool (CCT), to gather 
information from DFC grantees. COMET and CCT are being revised to 
reduce the burden of information collection on grantees, increase the 
quality of the data, and facilitate the monitoring and tracking of 
grantee progress. Revisions to the core outcome measures of DFC are 
also proposed to bring this data collection in line with the National 
Outcome Measures (NOMS). Proposed changes include the addition of a 
peer disapproval measure, the removal of the age of first use measure, 
and a revision to the perception of risk measure for alcohol to focus 
on binge drinking. Moreover, prescription drug use is proposed to be 
tracked as a core substance of abuse in this study.
    In addition to the information collected from the COMET and CCT 
system, the new evaluation will include a case study component to 
document coalition practices. This element of the evaluation will 
involve interviews with coalition leaders and surveys of coalition 
partners from a number of agencies. Each year, nine DFC grantees will 
be evaluated and the information from the case studies will be shared 
other grantees.
    Type of Information Collection: Web-based data collection, surveys 
and interviews of DFC and Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking 
(STOP) Act grantees.
    Title: Drug Free Communities Support Program National Evaluation.
    Frequency: Semi-annually by DFC and Stop Act Program Directors via 
COMET, and annually for DFC Program Directors and selected coalition 
members via the CCT. Interviews and electronic surveys of Program 
Directors and electronic surveys of selected coalition members will be 
accomplished one time.
    Affected Public: DFC and STOP Act grantees.
    Estimated Burden: ONDCP expects that the time required to complete 
each semi-annual report via COMET will be approximately five hours, and 
each CCT report will take approximately one hour to complete. Face to 
face interviews will take 1.5-2 hours and surveys will take 
approximately .25 hours each to complete. The estimated total amount of 
time required by all respondents over one year, including Program 
Directors and grantees to complete COMET, CCT, surveys, and interviews, 
is 9,680 hours.
    Goals: ONDCP intends to use the data of the DFC National Evaluation 
to assess the DFC Program's effectiveness in preventing and reducing 
youth substance use. Two primary objectives of the evaluation are to: 
(1) Support an effective grant monitoring mechanism that provides the 
Federal government with the expertise, system, functions, and products 
to collect, analyze, and report data collectively, and (2) regularly 
monitor and measure data in order to demonstrate the progress of the 
DFC program and its grantees.
    Comment Request: ONDCP especially invites comments on: whether the 
proposed data are proper for the functions of the agency; whether the 
information will have practical utility; the accuracy of ONDCP's 
estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, 
including the validity of the methodology and assumptions; ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and, ways to ease the burden on proposed respondents, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology. Comments will be accepted for thirty days.

    Dated: August 18, 2011.
Daniel R. Petersen,
Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2011-21548 Filed 8-22-11; 8:45 am]
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