[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11532-11533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03924]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-21-21DC; Docket No. CDC-2021-0012]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or 
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed 
information collection project titled `National Syringe Services 
Program (SSP) Evaluation', which proposes to: (1) Assess and monitor 
SSP operational characteristics and services, client characteristics 
and drug use patterns, client satisfaction, funding resources, 
community relations, and key operational and programmatic successes and 
challenges and (2) support timely analysis and dissemination of 
national program evaluation survey findings.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before April 26, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2021-
0012 by any of the following methods:

     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    2. Evaluate 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;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submissions of responses.
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    National Syringe Services Program (SSP) Evaluation--New--National 
Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The primary purpose of the National Syringe Services Program (SSP) 
Evaluation is to strengthen and improve the capacity of SSPs to conduct 
regular monitoring and evaluation to ensure that comprehensive 
prevention services are provided to meet the needs of people who inject 
drugs (PWID) and reduce infectious disease and other harms related to 
intravenous drug use (IDU). The project will invite the participation 
of all SSPs that are listed in a publicly available directory of all 
known SSPs in the United States maintained by the North American 
Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN; https://nasen.org). SSPs will be sent 
a letter of invitation to participate in a 35-minute program survey. 
Participating programs will have the option of completing the survey 
via different modalities to enhance feasibility and comfort in 
completing the survey, for example via the Research Electronic Data 
Capture (REDCap) or a similarly secure web-based application. Other 
modalities for survey administration will include a coordinated 
telephone or videoconferencing interview. SSPs will be sent reminder 
letters for an approximately three-month data collection period. SSPs 
that do not respond to prior reminders will be sent one final reminder, 
and if the SSP still does not want to participate, one (optional) 
question on why the SSP did not complete the survey will be offered.
    The survey will include questions on operational characteristics 
and services, client characteristics and drug use patterns, client 
satisfaction, funding resources, community relations, and key 
operational successes and challenges. Approximately 400 SSPs will be 
able to

[[Page 11533]]

participate in the survey. We anticipate that approximately 20% of SSPs 
will decline to complete the survey, yielding approximately 320 
completed surveys per year. However, given that this is the first 
survey of SSPs funded by CDC and that the COVID-19 pandemic makes it 
challenging to predict future response rates, we are requesting enough 
burden hours to allow 100% of SSPs to respond to the survey. We 
estimate that it will take 35 minutes to complete the survey, 
regardless of how the respondent chooses to complete it (i.e., self-
administered online or interviewer-administered by phone or 
videoconferencing). SSPs that do not respond to the initial survey 
invitation will be given reminders to complete the survey over the 
duration of the survey implementation period. The final reminder will 
include a link to a single question for SSPs that choose not to 
complete the survey about why they declined to complete the survey. 
Given the uncertainties in response rates described above, we are 
requesting enough burden hours to allow 100% of SSPs to respond to this 
question. We estimate that it will take two minutes to respond to this 
question.
    OMB approval is requested for three years. The survey will be 
administered annually using the most updated national directory of SSPs 
during each survey administration. Participation is voluntary and there 
are no costs to respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondent              Form           Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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All participating SSPs........  National Syringe             400               1           35/60             233
                                 Services
                                 Program
                                 Evaluation
                                 Survey.
Non-responding SSPs...........  Non-Response                 400               1            2/60              13
                                 Survey Item.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             246
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2021-03924 Filed 2-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P