[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54552-54553]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19533]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--Quality 
Control

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 17, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: Stephanie Proska, Food and 
Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center 
Drive, Room 822, Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may also be submitted 
via fax to the attention of Stephanie Proska at 703-305-0928 or via 
email to [email protected]. Comments will also be accepted 
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments electronically.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed to Stephanie 
Proska at 703-305-2437.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Title: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--Title 7, 
Part 275.
    OMB Number: 0584-0303.
    Expiration Date: January 31, 2017.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: There are three components of the Quality Control (QC) 
system that are covered in this required information collection. They 
are: (1) The sampling plan; (2) the arbitration process; and (3) the 
good cause process. Each State is required to develop a sampling plan 
that demonstrates the integrity of its case selection procedures. The 
QC system is designed to measure each State agency's payment error rate 
based on a statistically valid sample of SNAP cases. A State agency's 
payment error rate represents the proportion of cases that were 
reported through a QC review as being ineligible, as well as the 
proportion of SNAP benefits that were either overissued or underissued 
to SNAP households.
    The QC system contains procedures for resolving differences in 
review findings between State agencies and FNS. This is referred to as 
the arbitration process. The QC system also contains procedures that 
provide relief for State agencies from all or a part of a QC liability 
when a State agency can demonstrate that a part or all of an excessive 
error rate was due to an unusual event that had an uncontrollable 
impact on the State agency's payment error rate. This is referred to as 
the good cause process.
    The approved burden for the QC system includes the burden for the 
QC sampling plan, the arbitration process and the good cause process. 
The currently approved burden for total reporting burden for the QC 
system is 1,544.91 hours, an increase of 167.91 hours. (1) The annual 
reporting burden associated with the QC sampling plan remains at 265 
hours. (2) We estimate the annual reporting burdens associated with 
arbitration and (3) good cause processes to total 791.1 and 320 hours, 
respectively. The decrease in the revised burden from the currently 
approved 792 to 791.1 hours for the arbitration process is due to a 
decrease in the estimated number of responses per State agency. These 
decreases are a result of State agencies less frequently disagreeing 
with FNS' findings. The requested annual reporting burden for the good 
cause process remains at 320 hours.
    In addition, we are adding two additional forms to the reporting 
burden: FNS 74A, Template for QC-related New Investment Plans and FNS 
74B, Template for QC-related New Investment Plan Progress Reports. 
These two templates are being added to this collection in an effort to 
formalize the regulatory requirements of these two items for States 
that are subject to QC-related new investments.
    Based on the number of State agencies subject to the QC-related new 
investment requirement over the last three years and feedback from 
those State agencies that responded to our inquiry, we estimate the 
amount of time to create a QC-related new investment plan is 
approximately 32 hours. This estimate includes determining root causes 
of a State agency's error rate, exploring methods to address those 
causes, and writing up the plan to address those causes. In addition, 
we estimate it takes approximately 5 hours to complete a progress 
report updating FNS on the status of the activities in the State 
agency's relevant QC-related new investment plan. We estimate the total 
annual reporting burden for 4 State Agencies to complete a new 
investment plan to be 128 hours and 40 hours for the progress report.
    The requested annual recordkeeping burden associated with the QC 
sampling plan remains at 1.25 hours per year. The revised annual 
recordkeeping burdens associated with arbitration has increased from 
0.7788 hour to 1.4868 hours and the good cause process has remained at 
0.0472 hour. The estimated recordkeeping burden for the QC-related new 
investment plan and progress reports total 0.0944 hour and 0.1888 hours 
respectively.
    The burden for recordkeeping has increased from 2.076 hours to 
3.068 hours. As a result, the overall annual burden for the QC system, 
as proposed by this notice, increased from 1,379.076 to 1547.978 hours, 
totaling an increase of 168.90 hours.

[[Page 54553]]



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                                                                                                                             Estimated
                                                                             Estimated       Responses     Total annual   average number     Estimated
              Affected public                        Requirement             number of     annually per      responses     of hours per     total hours
                                                                            respondents     respondent     (Col. b x c)      response      (Col. d x e)
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                                                                    Reporting Burden
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State Agencies............................  Sampling Plan...............              53               1              53               5             265
State Agencies............................  Arbitration Process.........              15             4.2              63           12.57          791.91
State Agencies............................  Good Cause Process..........               2               1               2             160             320
State Agencies............................  New Investment Plan Template               4               1               4              32             128
                                             Form FNS 74 A.
State Agencies............................  New Investment Progress                    4               2               8               5              40
                                             Report Template Form FNS 74
                                             B.
                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Grand Total Reporting.................  ............................              53  ..............             130  ..............         1544.91
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                                                                                             Number of                                       Estimated
                                                                             Estimated        reports        Number of    Estimated time       total
              Affected public                        Requirement             number of     annually per    total annual     per record     recordkeeping
                                                                            respondents        state          records                          hours
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                                                                  Recordkeeping Burden
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State Agencies............................  Sampling Plan...............              53               1              53          0.0236          1.2508
State Agencies............................  Arbitration Process.........              15             4.2              63          0.0236          1.4868
State Agencies............................  Good Cause Process..........               2               1               2          0.0236          0.0472
State Agencies............................  New Investment Plan Template               4               1               4          0.0236          0.0944
                                             Form FNS 74 A.
State Agencies............................  New Investment Progress                    4               2               8          0.0236          0.1888
                                             Report Template Form FNS 74
                                             B.
                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Grand Total Recordkeeping.............  ............................              53  ..............             130  ..............           3.068
                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Combined Grand Total Reporting and      ............................              53         4.90566             260        5.953730        1547.978
     Recordkeeping.
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    Dated: August 2, 2016.
Yvette S. Jackson,
Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-19533 Filed 8-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-30-P