[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 5 (Friday, January 7, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 920-921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00026]


 ========================================================================
 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
 appearing in this section.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 5 / Friday, January 7, 2022 / 
Notices  

[[Page 920]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[Doc. No. AMS-FGIS-21-0092]
RIN 0581-AD94


2022 Rates for Grain Inspection Services Under the United States 
Grain Standards Act

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, Department of Agriculture 
(USDA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the 
2022 rate it will charge for official inspection and weighing services, 
supervision of official inspection and weighing services, and 
miscellaneous fees for other services performed under the United States 
Grain Standards Act, as amended. This action publishes the annual 
review of fees and the resulting fees.

DATES: Applicable February 1, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Prospective customers can find the fee scheduled posted on 
the Agency's public website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/about-ams/fgis-program-directives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Denise Ruggles, FGIS Executive Program 
Analyst, USDA AMS; Telephone: 816-702-3897; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States Grain Standards Act 
(USGSA) provides the Secretary of Agriculture with the authority to 
charge and collect reasonable fees to cover the costs of performing 
official services and costs associated with managing the program. The 
regulations require that Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) 
annually review the national and local tonnage fees, supervision fee, 
and fees for service (7 CFR 800.71).

7 CFR 800.71(a)(1) Schedule A Calculations

    After calculating the tonnage fees according to the regulatory 
formula in 7 CFR 800.71(b)(1), FGIS then reviews the amount of funds in 
the operating reserve at the end of the fiscal year (FY2021 in this 
case) to ensure that it has 4\1/2\ months of operating expenses as 
required by section 800.71(b)(3) of the regulations. If the operating 
reserve has more, or less than 4\1/2\ months of operating expenses, 
then FGIS must adjust all Schedule A fees. For each $1,000,000, rounded 
down, that the operating reserve varies from the target of 4\1/2\ 
months, FGIS will adjust all Schedule A fees by 2 percent. If the 
operating reserve exceeds the target, all Schedule A fees will be 
reduced. If the operating reserve does not meet the target, all 
Schedule A fees will be increased. The maximum annual increase or 
decrease in fees is 5 percent (7 CFR 800.71(b)(3)(i)-(ii)).
    Tonnage fees for the 5-year rolling average tonnage were calculated 
on the previous 5 fiscal years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021). 
Tonnage fees consist of the national tonnage fee and local tonnage fee 
and are calculated and rounded to the nearest $0.001 per metric ton. 
The tonnage fees are calculated as following:
    National tonnage fee. The national tonnage fee is the national 
program administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by 
the average yearly tons of export grain officially inspected and/or 
weighed by delegated States and designated agencies, excluding land 
carrier shipments to Canada and Mexico, and outbound grain officially 
inspected and/or weighed by FGIS during the previous 5 fiscal years.
    The fiscal year 2022 national tonnage fee, prior to the operating 
reserve review, is $0.054 per metric ton. The calculation of this fee 
rate is based on FY2021 national administrative costs of $6,687,477, 
divided by 5-year rolling tonnage average of 123,853,477.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Fiscal year                          Metric tons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017....................................................     135,017,935
2018....................................................     129,687,652
2019....................................................     107,896,235
2020....................................................     110,090,771
2021....................................................     136,574,792
5-Year Rolling Average..................................     123,853,477
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Local tonnage fee. The local tonnage fee is the field office 
administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by the 
average yearly tons of outbound grain officially inspected and/or 
weighed by FGIS field offices during the previous 5 fiscal years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                          5-Year rolling
                      Field office                            FY 2017         FY 2018         FY 2019         FY 2020         FY 2021         average
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans.............................................      70,439,862      66,996,126      57,807,378      59,768,303      72,482,289      65,498,792
League City.............................................      13,307,780       8,424,216       7,939,994       9,318,595      12,877,525      10,373,622
Portland................................................       5,175,459       4,643,241       2,530,648       3,331,672       4,136,482       3,963,500
Toledo..................................................       2,229,920       1,802,762       1,597,584         948,840       1,154,856       1,546,792
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The local field office administrative costs for fiscal year 2021 
and the fiscal year 2022 calculated local field office tonnage fee, 
prior to the operating reserve review, are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      FY 2021 local      Calculated FY
           Field office               administrative       2022 local
                                          costs           tonnage fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans.......................         $1,268,285             $0.019

[[Page 921]]

 
League City.......................            444,041              0.043
Portland..........................            531,013              0.134
Toledo............................            182,736              0.118
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Operating reserve. In order to maintain an operating reserve that 
is not less than 3 and not more than 6 months of operating expenses, 
FGIS reviewed the value of the operating reserve at the end of FY 2021 
to ensure that an operating reserve equivalent to 4\1/2\ months of 
operating expenses is maintained.
    The program operating reserve at the end of fiscal year 2021 was 
$7,073,637 with a monthly operating expense of $3,151,244. The target 
of 4.5 months of operating reserve is $14,180,599. Therefore, the 
operating reserve is less than 4.5 times the monthly operating expenses 
by $7,073,637. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, above the target 
level, all Schedule A fees must be increased by 2 percent. The 
operating reserve is $7.1 million below the target level, implying a 14 
percent increase in fees is required. However, section 800.71(b)(3)(ii) 
limits annual fee changes to 5 percent. Therefore, for 2022, FGIS is 
increasing all the 2021 Schedule A fees for service in Schedule A in 
paragraph (a)(1) by 5 percent, including calculated fiscal year 2022 
national and local tonnage fees. All Schedule A fees for service are 
rounded to the nearest $0.10, except for fees based on tonnage or 
hundredweight. The fee Schedule A will be published on the agency's 
public website after Federal Register publication.

7 CFR 800.71(a)(2) Schedule B Calculations

    FGIS calculates the supervision tonnage fee using the prior year's 
actual costs and the 5-year average tonnage of domestic U.S. grain 
shipments inspected, weighed, or both, including land carrier shipments 
to Canada and Mexico.
    Operating reserve adjustment. In order to maintain an operating 
reserve not less than 3 and not more than 6 months, FGIS reviewed the 
value of the operating reserve at the end of FY 2021 to ensure that an 
operating reserve of 6 months is maintained.
    The operating reserve adjustment is the difference between FY 2021 
ending reserves and the operating reserve threshold, which is 
equivalent to 6 months of supervisory costs. FY 2021 supervision costs 
were $1,369,123. The operating reserve threshold for FY 2022 is 
calculated by dividing FY 2021 supervision costs by 2 ($1,369,123/2 = 
$684,562). FY 2021 operating reserve ending balance ($2,042,268) 
exceeds the operating reserve threshold ($684,562) by $1,357,707. 
Therefore, the operating reserve adjustment for calendar year 2022 is -
$1,357,707.
    Supervision tonnage fee. FGIS adds the total prior year supervision 
costs and the operating reserve adjustment, then divide the result by 
the previous 5-year average tonnage. If the calculated fee is zero or a 
negative value, FGIS will suspend collection of supervision tonnage 
fees for the next calendar year.
    The supervision tonnage fee for calendar year 2022 is $0.000 per 
ton. The calculation, based on FY 2021 supervision costs of $1,369,123, 
is $1,369,123 plus the operating reserve adjustment of -$1,357,707, 
which equals $11,416, divided by 5-year average tonnage of 231,147,201, 
which equals $0.000 per ton.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Fiscal year                          Metric tons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017....................................................     244,355,906
2018....................................................     234,298,085
2019....................................................     206,693,881
2020....................................................     237,649,430
2021....................................................     232,738,700
5-Year Rolling Average..................................     231,147,201
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Therefore, for 2022, FGIS will suspend the assessment of the 
supervision tonnage fee on domestic shipments officially inspected and/
or weighed, including land carrier shipments to Canada and Mexico, 
performed by delegated States and/or designated agencies on or after 
January 1, 2022. The fee Schedule B will be published on the agency's 
public website after Federal Register publication.

7 CFR 800.71(d) Miscellaneous Fees for Other Services Calculations

    Registration certificates and renewals. FGIS calculates the 
application fee by multiply the Schedule A non-contract hourly rate 
(Table 1 in Sec.  800.71(a)) by a quantity of five. The resulting fee 
is expected to cover FGIS personnel costs to review applications, fee 
publication expenses, and administrative expenses. The Schedule A non-
contract hourly rate is $66.20. Thus, the application fee for 2022 will 
be $66.20 times 5, or $331. The fee will be published on the agency's 
public website after Federal Register publication.
    Designation amendments. FGIS calculates the rate using the Federal 
Register publication rate for three columns, plus one hour of 
noncontract hourly rate from Sec.  800.71(a) Table 1 of Schedule A. The 
fee covers FGIS personnel costs, administrative expenses, and Federal 
Register publication costs. The Federal Register publication rate $151 
per column and the Schedule A non-contract hourly rate is $66.20. FGIS 
calculates the fee will be $519.20 for calendar year 2022. The fee will 
be published on the agency's public website after Federal Register 
publication.
    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 71-87k.

Erin Morris,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00026 Filed 1-6-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P