[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 19 (Monday, February 1, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7713-7714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02085]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Sea Grant Program Application Requirements for Grants, for Sea 
Grant Fellowships, Including the Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy 
Fellowships, and for Designation as a Sea Grant College or Sea Grant 
Institution

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on October 28, 2020, during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.
    Title: Sea Grant Program Application Requirements for Grants, for 
Sea Grant Fellowships, including the Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy 
Fellowships, and for Designation as a Sea Grant College or Sea Grant 
Institution.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0362.
    Form Number(s): NOAA Forms 90-1; 90-2; 90-4.
    Type of Request: Regular submission. Revision and extension of a 
current information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 114.
    Average Hours per Response: Form 90-1--30 minutes; Form 90-2 
(Excel)--20 minutes, (Webform)--15 minutes; Form 90-4--15 minutes; 
Application for Designation as a Sea Grant College or Regional 
Consortia--20 hours; Application for Sea Grant Fellowship--2 hours.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 783.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for the extension, with minor 
proposed revisions, of a currently approved information collection. The 
objectives of the National Sea Grant College Program, as stated in the 
Sea Grant legislation (33 U.S.C. 1121 Sec.  et seq.) are to increase 
the understanding, assessments, development, utilization, and 
conservation of the Nation's ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. 
It accomplishes these objectives by

[[Page 7714]]

conducting research, education, and outreach programs. Grant monies are 
available for funding activities that help obtain the objectives of the 
Sea Grant Program. Both single and multi-project grants are awarded, 
with the latter representing approximately 80 percent of the total 
grant program. In addition to other standard grant application 
requirements, three forms are required with the grants. The Sea Grant 
Control Form (NOAA Form 90-1) is used to identify the organizations and 
personnel who would be involved in the grant and briefly summarize the 
proposed activities under the grant. The Project Record Form (NOAA Form 
90-2), which collects summary data on projects, helps the National Sea 
Grant Office (NSGO) evaluate the proposals during its funding 
decisions. The Sea Grant Budget Form (NOAA Form 90-4) provides 
information similar to, but more detailed than, standardized budget 
forms SF-424A or SF-424C, and allows the NSGO to determine whether or 
not the breakdown cost of multi-project grant awards is reasonable. 
Collectively, the data supplied in these documents form the basis for 
many of NSGO's responses to the Administration, the Congress, other 
agencies, and to the public about the scope of Sea Grant activities.
    The National Sea Grant College Program Act (33 U.S.C. 1126) also 
provides for the designation of a public or private institution of 
higher education, institute, laboratory, or State or local agency as a 
Sea Grant college or Sea Grant institute. Applications are required for 
designation of Sea Grant Colleges and Sea Grant Institutes, although no 
forms are required. The data the collection provides helps the National 
Sea Grant Office determine the suitability of the applicant for meeting 
the standards and conditions for being a Sea Grant College as set forth 
in 33 U.S.C. 1126 and 15 CFR 918.5.
    The NSGO proposes two revisions to this information collection. The 
NOAA Form 90-2 is currently collected using an Excel spreadsheet (100% 
of use cases). The NSGO intends to migrate the Excel spreadsheet to an 
online webform that is hosted on Sea Grant's Planning, Implementation 
and Evaluation Resource (PIER) database. The online webform would 
provide an additional and alternative method of information collection, 
but not eliminate the option for an Excel-based collection. During 
implementation (testing Q2/3-FY21; rollout Q4-FY21), the webform will 
likely require cosmetic modifications on the form structure, but no 
additional data fields will be added. Such modifications will be driven 
by software requirements and improvements to information management and 
the user interface. This modification would enable synchronization of 
existing PIER data, so that time of user entry and data quality control 
is minimized. Additionally, two new information fields will be added 
that are required to better resolve two existing data fields, while one 
field will be eliminated. Such revisions will be reflected on both the 
Excel-based forms and the webform.
    Affected Public: Academic and not-for-profit institutions; 
individuals or households; business or other for-profit organizations; 
State, Local, or Tribal government.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    Legal Authority: Sea Grant legislation, 33 U.S.C. 1121-1131.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0648-0362.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-02085 Filed 1-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KA-P