[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8643-8645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03300]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9922-97-OSWER]
The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board:
Request for Nominations
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Request for nominations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites
nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year
appointment to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory
Board (the Board). Pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest
Establishment Act (e-Manifest Act), the EPA is establishing the nine
member Advisory Board to provide practical and independent advice,
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the
activities, functions, policies and regulations associated with the
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System. The EPA
Administrator or designee will serve as chair of the Board. This notice
solicits nominations to fill the remaining eight positions of the
Board, which will be active upon establishment. The Board is considered
established once a Board Charter is filed with Congress, which is
anticipated no later than October 5, 2015.
[[Page 8644]]
To maintain the representation required by statute, nominees will
be selected to represent: state agencies overseeing the intrastate and/
or interstate cradle-to-grave tracking of hazardous waste from the
original generation to its ultimate disposal (three positions);
stakeholders from the hazardous waste management and transportation
sectors who are affected by state and federal hazardous waste manifest
programs (three positions); and the information technology sector (two
positions).
DATES: Nominations should be received on or before March 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Nominations should be submitted via email to
[email protected], and identified with ``BOARD NOMINATION'' in the
subject line of the email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Raia, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, (MC:
5303P), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC, 20460, Phone:
703-308-8577; or by email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The e-Manifest Act was signed into law on
October 5, 2012 (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s710enr/pdf/BILLS-112s710enr.pdf). Under the terms of the e-Manifest Act, the EPA
is required to establish a national electronic Information Technology
(IT) manifest system. This system is to enable users of the uniform
hazardous waste manifest forms (EPA Form 8700-22 and Continuation Sheet
8700-22A) to have the option to more efficiently track their hazardous
waste shipments electronically, in lieu of the paper manifest, from the
point of generation, during transportation, and to the point of receipt
by an off-site facility that is permitted to treat, store, recycle, or
dispose of the hazardous waste. Electronic manifests obtained from the
national system will augment or replace the paper forms that are
currently used for this purpose, and which result in substantial
paperwork costs and other inefficiencies. Congress intended that the
EPA develop a system that, among other things, meets the needs of the
user community and decreases the administrative burden associated with
the current paper-based manifest system on the user community. The
agency anticipates that utilizing electronic manifests will reduce
burden by reporting facilities by 300,000 to 700,000 hours annually,
and will save approximately $75 million dollars. To ensure that these
goals are met, the Act directs the EPA to establish the Hazardous Waste
Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board (the Board) by October 5,
2015 to assess the effectiveness of the electronic manifest system and
make recommendations to the EPA Administrator for improving the system.
In addition, the e-Manifest Act directs the EPA to develop a system
that attracts sufficient user participation and service revenues to
ensure the viability of the system. As a result, the Act provides the
EPA broad discretion to establish reasonable user fees, as the
Administrator determines are necessary, to pay costs incurred in
developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system, including
any costs incurred in collecting and processing data from any paper
manifest submitted to the system after the date on which the system
enters operation. The Board will also meet to assess the adequacy and
reasonableness of the service fees and, if necessary, make
recommendations to the EPA Administrator to adjust the fees
accordingly.
Prior to system deployment the Board will be asked to provide
recommendations on important system development matters, as well as on
user fee regulatory proposals under consideration. Substantial system
development planning work is under completion and the agency is
currently conducting additional system development procurement
activities. Upon completion of those activities the agency will launch
into extensive system design, development, and testing, and anticipates
the initial system deployment to occur no later than spring 2018.
The system will provide the functionality of the current paper
manifest process, in a more efficient, electronic workflow, and will
meet all requirements specified in the e-Manifest Act and e-Manifest
Final Rule, which was published on February 7, 2014 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/laws-regs/state/revision/frs/fr231.pdf). The initial
system is envisioned to be a national, electronic system (internet-
based) that will enable current users of the manifest form to sign,
transmit, archive, and retrieve manifests electronically. The e-
Manifest system is further envisioned to allow a fully electronic
mobile workflow. The mobile workflow will provide both on-line and off-
line capabilities which could enable users to complete an electronic
manifest even when internet access is unavailable. The EPA envisions
that the system will provide all data processing (paper and electronic
formats), data storage, and data reporting back out to industry and
state users, as well as appropriate public accessibility of data.
Finally, e-Manifest aligns with the agency's E-Enterprise business
strategy. E-Enterprise for the Environment is a transformative 21st
century strategy--jointly governed by states and EPA--for modernizing
government agencies' delivery of environmental protection. Under this
strategy, the agency will streamline its business processes and systems
to reduce reporting burden on states and regulated facilities, and
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory programs for the
EPA, states and tribes.
Although the system has not been completed, the Board is
established in accordance with the provisions of the Hazardous Waste
Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, 42 U.S.C. 6939(g), and the
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App.2. The Board is in
the public interest and supports the EPA in performing its duties and
responsibilities. Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board will be
comprised of nine members, of which one (1) member is the Administrator
(or a designee), who will serve as Chairperson of the Board, and eight
(8) members will be individuals appointed by the EPA Administrator:
--At least two (2) of whom have expertise in information
technology; (IT);
--At least three (3) of whom have experience in using, or represent
users of, the manifest system to track the transportation of hazardous
waste under federal and state manifest programs; and
--At least three (3) state representatives responsible for
processing those manifests.
The Board will meet at least annually as required by the e-Manifest
Act. However, additional meetings by teleconference may occur
approximately once every six (6) months or as needed and approved by
the Designated Federal Officer (DFO).
Member Nominations: Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board will
assist the agency in evaluating the effectiveness of the e-Manifest IT
system and associated user fees; identifying key issues associated with
the system, including the need (and timing) for user fee adjustments;
system enhancements; and providing independent advice on matters and
policies related to the e-Manifest program. The e-Manifest Board will
provide recommendations on matters related to the operational
activities, functions, policies, and regulations of the EPA under the
e-Manifest Act, including proposing actions to encourage the use of the
electronic (paperless) system, and actions related to the E-Enterprise
[[Page 8645]]
strategy that intersect with e-Manifest. These intersections may
include issues such as business to business communications, performance
standards for mobile devices, and Cross Media Electronic Reporting Rule
(CROMERR) compliant e-signatures.
Any interested person and/or organization may nominate qualified
individuals for membership. The EPA values and welcomes diversity. In
an effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates, the agency
encourages nominations of women and men of all racial and ethnic
groups. All nominations will be considered. However, applicants need to
be aware of the specific representation required by the e-Manifest Act.
Further, state and industry nominees should have a comprehensive
knowledge of hazardous waste generation, transportation, treatment,
storage, and disposal under RCRA Subtitle C at the federal, state, and
local levels. Nominees who represent the states, should have
comprehensive knowledge of state programs that currently collect
manifests from generators and treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities (TSDFs), and track manifest data in state tracking systems/
databases. Nominees who represent industry should have strong knowledge
of existing industry systems/devices/approaches and business operations
in order to provide valuable input on e-Manifest integration into
current industry data systems. IT nominees should have core
competencies and experience in large scale systems and application
development and integration, deployment and maintenance, user help desk
and support, and expertise relevant to support the complexity of an e-
Manifest system. Examples of this expertise may include but are not
limited to: Expertise with web-based and mobile technologies,
particularly that support large scale operations for geographically
diverse users; expertise in IT security, including perspective on
federal IT security requirements; expertise in electronic signature and
user management approaches; expertise with scalable hosting solutions
such as cloud-based hosting; and expertise in user experience. Existing
knowledge of, or willingness to gain an understanding of EPA shared
services and enterprise architecture is a plus. Another plus for any
nominee is experience in setting and/or managing fee based systems in
general. Additional criteria used to evaluate nominees will include:
Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication
skills;
Demonstrated experience developing group recommendations;
Willingness to commit time to the Board and demonstrated
ability to work constructively on committees;
Absence of financial conflicts of interest;
Impartiality (including the appearance of impartiality);
and
Background and experiences that would help members
contribute to the diversity of perspectives on the Board, e.g.,
geographic, economic, social, cultural, educational backgrounds,
professional affiliations and other considerations.
Nominations must include a resume, which provides the nominee's
background, experience and educational qualifications, as well as a
brief statement (one page or less) describing the nominee's interest in
serving on the Board and addressing the other criteria previously
described. Nominees are encouraged to provide any additional
information that they feel would be useful for consideration, such as:
Availability to participate as a member of the Board; how the nominee's
background, skills and experience would contribute to the diversity of
the Board; and any concerns the nominee has regarding membership.
Nominees should be identified by name, occupation, position, current
business address, email, and telephone number. Interested candidates
may self-nominate. The agency will acknowledge receipt of nominations.
Persons selected for membership will receive compensation for
travel and a nominal daily compensation (if appropriate) while
attending meetings. Additionally, selected candidates will be
designated as Special Government Employees (SGEs) or consultants.
Candidates designated as SGEs will be required to fill out the
``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Environmental Protection
Agency Special Government Employees'' (EPA Form 3310-48). This
confidential form provides information to the EPA ethics officials to
determine whether there is a conflict between the SGE's public duties
and their private interests, including an appearance of a loss of
impartiality as defined by federal laws and regulations. One example of
a potential conflict of interest may be for IT professional(s) serving
in an organization which is awarded any related e-Manifest system
development contract(s).
Dated: February 6, 2015.
Barnes Johnson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response.
[FR Doc. 2015-03300 Filed 2-17-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P