[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7759-7760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02674]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Proposed Agency Information Collection

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. 
Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on a 
proposed collection of information that DOE is developing for 
submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Comments are invited on 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; the accuracy of the agency's 
estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, 
including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

DATES: Comments regarding this proposed information collection must be 
received on or before April 10, 2020. If you anticipate difficulty in 
submitting comments within that period, contact the person listed in 
ADDRESSES as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument and instructions should 
be directed to Emily Stanton at (202) 287-5641.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains: (1) OMB No. ``New''; (2) Information Collection Request 
Title: STEM Data Collection (SDC); (3) Type of Request: New; (4) 
Purpose: This new module will be installed on existing platforms--the 
Funding Opportunity Exchange platform (Exchange) and NEUP.gov. These 
systems allow principal investigators and other external users to 
submit applications for competitive Funding Opportunity Announcements 
(FOAs) for research projects in the fields of science, technology, 
engineering and math (STEM). Exchange is used by the following DOE 
program offices: The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 
(EERE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E); 
NEUP.gov is used by the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). NE may also use 
manual data collections on other selected FOAs. All competitive FOAs 
get announced to the Grants.gov website, the U.S. Government's single 
access point for most financial assistance programs offered by DOE. 
Under the proposed information collection request, an interface will be 
implemented in these systems to allow external users to voluntarily 
provide a minimal amount of demographic information to comply with a 
recommendation from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report 
``WOMEN IN STEM RESEARCH; Better Data and Information Sharing Could 
Improve Oversight of Federal Grant-making and Title IX Compliance'' 
(GAO-16-14, December 2015). In this report, GAO made the recommendation 
that DOE collect additional demographic data to ensure that it is in 
compliance with Title IX. The information collected will be used for 
this purpose; (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: According to 
the most recent data available, in fiscal year 2015, EERE reviewed a 
total of 5,168 new funding actions or applications (898 lab funding 
actions; 4,270 financial assistance concept papers or applications); 
ARPA-E reviewed a total of 3,435 new funding actions or applications 
(51 lab funding actions; 3834 financial assistance concept papers or 
applications); and NE reviewed a total of 438 new funding actions or 
applications (266 lab funding actions; 172 financial assistance concept 
papers or applications). While many applications are submitted by 
existing users, assuming one submitter per application, the maximum 
number of unique new users expected per year is

[[Page 7760]]

9,041 (5,168 + 3,435 + 438); (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total 
Responses: 9,041 (maximum of one response expected per user); (7) 
Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: It is estimated that it will 
take no more than 10 minutes (0.167 hours) per new user to register on 
the Exchange or NEUP.gov systems and fill out the requested demographic 
data. The total estimated annual number of burden hours is 1,513 hours 
(9,041 users * 0.167 hours); (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 
Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $100,000 for changes to systems and 
approximately $10,000 per year thereafter for maintenance, reporting 
and record-keeping.

    Statutory Authority: Section 641 of the Department of Energy 
Organization Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7251.

    Signed in Washington, DC on January 8, 2020.
Emily Stanton,
Director of the Office of Strategic Programs, Office of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
[FR Doc. 2020-02674 Filed 2-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P