[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23718-23720]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-09356]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD21-2-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725B2); 
Comment Request; Revision

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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[[Page 23719]]

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on revisions to the information 
collection FERC-725B2 (Mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical 
Infrastructure Protection [CIP] Reliability Standards) and submitting 
the information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB 
and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as 
explained below.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due June 3, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC-725B2 to OMB through 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB control number (1902-
0304) in the subject line. Your comments should be sent within 30 days 
of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Please submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. 
RD21-2-000) to the Commission as noted below. Electronic filing through 
http://www.ferc.gov, is preferred.
     Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable 
native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture 
format.
     For those unable to file electronically, comments may be 
filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery.
     Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only: Addressed to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
     Hand (Including Courier) Delivery: Deliver to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 
20852.
    Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain; Using the search function under the ``Currently Under Review 
field,'' select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click ``submit'' 
and select ``comment'' to the right of the subject collection.
    FERC submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with 
submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance, 
contact FERC Online Support by email at [email protected], or 
by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and 
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected] and telephone at (202) 502-8663.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725B2, Mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical 
Infrastructure Protection [CIP] Reliability Standards.\1\
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    \1\ The reporting and recordkeeping requirements proposed in 
Docket No. RD21-2-000 would normally be included in FERC-725B (OMB 
Control No. 1902-0248). However another unrelated item under FERC-
725B is pending review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 
and only one item per OMB Control No. can be pending review at a 
time.
    We are submitting the additional requirements (and related 
burden estimates) described in Docket No. RD21-2-000 to OMB under 
the interim information collection number FERC-725B2 in order to 
submit the request to OMB timely. FERC-725B continues to cover the 
current requirements and burden of the standards, before 
implementation of the additional requirements of Docket No. RD21-2-
000.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0304.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of proposed changes as 
described in Docket No. RD21-2-000.
    Abstract: The North American Electric Relaibility Corportation 
filed a petition with the Commission on December 14, 2020. The docket 
was noticed on January 7 with a 21-day comment/intervention period, 
ending on January 28, 2021. In response to the Notice of Information 
Collection and Request for Comments published in the Federal Register 
on February 22, 2021 (86 FR 11760), the Commission received no comments 
on the 60-day Paperwork Reduction Act notice. FERC issued a Commission 
Letter Order on March 18, 2021.\2\
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    \2\ The Commission Letter Order is available on FERC's eLibrary 
system (https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search) by searching in 
Docket Number RD21-2.
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    FERC-725B2 contains the following information collection elements. 
Pursuant to Reliability Standard CIP-013-2 Requirement R1, responsible 
entities should update their supply chain risk management plans to 
include Electronic Access Control or Monitoring Systems and Physical 
Access Control Systems. The act of implementing the modified plans and 
procedures may result in additional documentation, as required by 
Reliability Standard CIP-013-2, Requirement R2. In addition to the 
above one-time paperwork requirements, pursuant to Reliability Standard 
CIP-013-1, Requirement R3, responsible entities are required to review 
their supply chain risk management plan and associated procedures every 
15 months.
    The technical requirements in Reliability Standard CIP-005-7, 
Requirement R3.1 and Requirement R3.2 are likely to result in 
documentation burden in year one to implement new reporting 
requirements.
    Reliability Standard CIP-010-4, Requirement R1.6 will require 
modification of certain procedures, as well as initial implementation 
and documentation of said procedures.
    The compliance-related recordkeeping requirements of the above-
mentioned standards will continue on an ongoing basis beginning in year 
one.
    Type of Respondent: Businesses or other for-profit institutions; 
not-for-profit institutions.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \3\
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    \3\ ``Burden'' is the total time, effort, or financial resources 
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or 
provide information to or for a Federal agency. For further 
explanation of what is included in the information collection 
burden, refer to Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
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    The Commission estimates the total annual burden and cost \4\ for 
this information collection in the table below. For hourly cost (for 
wages and benefits) for the reporting requirements, we estimate that
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    \4\ Costs (for wages and benefits) are based on wage figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for May 2019 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits information 
issued March 19, 2020 (at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).
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     2% of the time is spent by Electrical Engineers 
(Occupation Code: 17-2071, at $70.19/hr.),
     15% of the time is spent by Legal (Occupation Code: 23-
0000, at $142.65/hr.),
     31.5% of the time is spent by Information Security 
Analysts (Occupation Code: 15-1122, at $71.47/hr.),
     10% of the time is spent by Computer and Information 
Systems Managers (Occupation Code: 11-3021, at $101.58/hr.),
     10% of the time is spent by Management (Occupation Code: 
11-0000, at $97.15/hr.), and
     31.5% of the time is spent by Management Analyst 
(Occupation Code: 43-0000 at $66.23/hr.).
    Therefore, for reporting requirements, we use the weighted hourly 
cost (for wages and benefits) of $86.05.
    For recordkeeping requirements, for hourly cost (for wages and 
benefits), we are using $41.03 for Information and Record Clerks 
(Occupation Code: 43-4199).
    The proposed standards are not changing the reporting or 
recordkeeping requirements, however the proposed

[[Page 23720]]

standards are expanding the types of assets to which the reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements apply.
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    \5\ There are 1,494 unique registered entities in the NERC 
compliance registry as of February 5, 2021. Of this total, we 
estimate that 343 entities (Balancing Authority [BA], Distribution 
Provider [DP], Generator Owner [GO], Generator Operator [GOP], 
Reliability Coordinator [RC], Transmission Owner [TO], and 
Transmission Operator [TOP]) will face an increased paperwork burden 
due to Docket No. RD21-2.

                                         FERC-725B2, Estimated Additional Annual Burden Due to Docket No. RD21-2
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                                                                            Annual  number
                                      Type of reporting or  Annual  number   of  responses   Total  number      Average annual        Estimated  total
Type and number of  respondents \5\      recordkeeping            of              per         of  annual     burden hours  & cost   annual  burden hours
                                          requirement         respondents     respondent       responses      ($)  per response        and cost  ($)
                                                                       (A)             (B)     (A) x (B) =  (D)..................  (C) x (D)
                                                                                                       (C)
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                                                             Reliability Standard CIP-013-2
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343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Reporting,                        343               1             343  136 hrs.; $11,702.80.  46,648 hrs.;
 TOP).                                Implementation (one-                                                                          $4,014,060.40.
                                      time in Year 1).
343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Reporting (ongoing                343               1             343  30 hrs.; $2,581.50...  10,290 hrs.;
 TOP).                                starting in Year 2).                                                                          $885,454.50.
343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Recordkeeping                     343               1             343  5 hrs.; $205.15......  1,715 hrs.;
 TOP).                                (ongoing starting in                                                                          $70,366.45.
                                      Year 1).
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    Sub-Total for CIP-013-2........  .....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  .....................  58,653 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                    $4,969,881.35.
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                                                             Reliability Standard CIP-005-7
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343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Reporting,                        343               1             343  12 hrs.; $1,032.60...  4,116 hrs.;
 TOP).                                Implementation (one-                                                                          $354,181.80.
                                      time in Year 1).
343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Recordkeeping                     343               1             343  3 hrs.; $123.09......  1,029 hrs.;
 TOP).                                (ongoing starting in                                                                          $42,219.87.
                                      Year 1).
    Sub-Total for CIP-005-7........  .....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  .....................  5,145 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                    $396,401.67.
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                                                             Reliability Standard CIP-010-4
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343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Reporting,                        343               1             343  12 hrs.; $1,032.60...  4116 hrs.;
 TOP).                                Implementation (one-                                                                          $354,181.80.
                                      time in Yr. 1).
343 (BA, DP, GO, GOP, RC, TO, and    Recordkeeping                     343               1             343  3 hrs.; $123.09......  1,029 hrs.;
 TOP).                                (ongoing starting in                                                                          $42,219.87.
                                      Year 1).
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    Sub-Total for CIP-010-4........  .....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  .....................  5,145 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                    $396,401.67.
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        Total Annual Burden Hrs.     .....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  .....................  68,943 hrs.;
         and Cost, due to RD21-2.                                                                                                   $5,762,684.69.
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    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and 
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

    Dated: April 29, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-09356 Filed 5-3-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P