[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 145 (Thursday, July 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49650-49652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17782]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9949-78-OLEM]


The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board: 
Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Request for nominations.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites 
nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year 
appointment to fill one IT expert position on the Hazardous Waste 
Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board (the ``Board''). Pursuant to 
the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (the ``e-
Manifest Act''

[[Page 49651]]

or the ``Act''), EPA has established the 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.

DATES: Nominations should be received on or before August 29, 2016.

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: Fred Jenkins, Designated Federal 
Officer (DFO), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Resource 
Conservation and Recovery, (MC: 5303P), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC, 20460, Phone: 703-308-7049; 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, 42 U.S.C. 
6939(g), 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 that result 
in substantial paperwork costs and other inefficiencies. Congress 
intended that 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 the reduce burden by reporting facilities by 300,000 to 700,000 
hours annually, and will produce annualized and discounted cost savings 
over the initial six years of about $34 million. Undiscounted cost 
savings should reach $75 million or more each year, once the system is 
fully established and deployment costs have been paid off. To ensure 
that these goals are met, the Act directs EPA to establish the Board to 
assess the effectiveness of the electronic manifest system and make 
recommendations to the Administrator for improving the system.
    In addition, the e-Manifest Act directs 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 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 system enters operation. The 
Board will meet to assess the adequacy and reasonableness of the 
service fees and, if necessary, make recommendations to the 
Administrator to adjust the fees accordingly.
    Prior to system deployment, the Board will be asked to provide 
recommendations on important system development matters and on 
potential increases or decreases to the amount of a service fee 
determined under the fee structure. Substantial system development 
planning work is underway. The Agency is utilizing lean start-up 
product development strategies with agile, user-centered design and 
development methodologies, and is currently conducting additional 
system development procurement activities. The Agency anticipates the 
initial system deployment to occur in 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 (https://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/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. 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 
EPA, states and tribes.
    Although the system has not been completed, the Board is 
established in accordance with the provisions of the, e-Manifest Act 
and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App.2. The 
Board is in the public interest and supports EPA in performing its 
duties and responsibilities. Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board 
will be comprised of nine members, of which one member is the 
Administrator (or a designee), who will serve as Chairperson of the 
Board, and eight members will be individuals appointed by the EPA 
administrator:

--At least two of whom have expertise in information technology (IT);
--At least three 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 state representatives responsible for processing those 
manifests.

    The Board will meet at least annually as required by the e-Manifest 
Act. However, additional meetings may occur approximately once every 
six months or as needed and approved by the 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 Board will provide 
recommendations on matters related to the operational activities, 
functions, policies, and regulations of 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 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.

[[Page 49652]]

    Any interested person and/or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals for membership. 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 candidates will be considered and screened against the 
criteria listed below as well as EPA's Conflict of Interest (COI) and 
appearance of bias guidance (http://www.epa.gov/peerreview/pdfs/spc_peer_rvw_handbook_addendum.pdf and http://www.epa.gov/osa/pdfs/epa-process-for-contractor.pdf). Currently there is one IT expert position 
available to be filled on the Board. The other positions have already 
been filled pursuant to EPA's request for nominations that was 
previously published in the Federal Register (80 FR 8643, February 18, 
2015).
    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 as is experience in setting and managing fee-based systems in 
general. Additional criteria used to evaluate nominees 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 believe 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.
    The person selected for membership will receive compensation for 
travel and a nominal daily compensation (if appropriate) while 
attending meetings. Additionally, the selected candidate will be 
designated as a Special Government Employee (SGE) or consultant. 
Candidates designated as SGEs are 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 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 that is awarded any related e-Manifest system 
development contract(s).

    Dated: July 15, 2016.
Barnes Johnson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Office of Land 
and Emergency Management.
[FR Doc. 2016-17782 Filed 7-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P