[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 232 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74391-74392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26399]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 232 / Monday, December 5, 2022 / 
Notices  

[[Page 74391]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Intent To Extend and Revise a Previously Approved 
Information Collection

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, this notice 
announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) 
intention to extend and revise a previously approved information 
collection, entitled Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program 
(EFNEP).

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by February 3, 
2023 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
    Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Givens, 816-527-5379, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0524-0044.
    Expiration Date of Current Approval: 3/31/2023.
    Type of Request: Notice of intent to extend and revise a previously 
approved information collection for three years.
    Abstract: NIFA's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program 
(EFNEP) at United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a unique 
program that began in 1969 and is designed to reach limited resource 
audiences, especially youth and families with young children. EFNEP is 
authorized under section 1425 of the National Agricultural Research, 
Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3175 and funded 
under section 3(d) of the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 343(d)). Extension 
professionals train and supervise paraprofessionals and volunteers who 
teach food and nutrition information and skills to families and youth 
with limited financial resources. EFNEP operates through the 1862 and 
1890 Land Grant Universities (LGU) in all 50 States, the District of 
Columbia, and in American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, 
Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
    The objectives of EFNEP are to assist families and youth with 
limited resources in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and 
changed behaviors necessary for nutritionally sound diets, and to 
contribute to their personal development and the improvement of the 
total family diet and nutritional well-being.
    NIFA sponsors an integrated data collection process that is used at 
the county, State, and Federal level. The current data collection 
system, the Web-based Nutrition Education Evaluation and Reporting 
System (WebNEERS), captures EFNEP impacts. Its purpose is to gauge if 
the Federal assistance provided has had an impact on the target 
audience. It also enables EFNEP staff to make programmatic improvements 
in delivering nutrition education. Further, the data collected provide 
information for program management decisions and diagnostic assessments 
of participants' needs and program fidelity. In order to capture all of 
EFNEP's reporting requirements in one place, EFNEP program plans and 
budgetary data are now submitted, reviewed, and approved through 
WebNEERS. These specific reporting requirements are tied to release of 
Federal EFNEP funds.
    WebNEERS grew out of EFNEP's long-standing commitment to program 
evaluation. Since EFNEP's inception in 1969, states have annually 
reported demographic and dietary behavior change of their EFNEP 
audience to the federal National Program Leader at NIFA, and its 
preceding agencies within USDA. Increased rigor and attention to data 
collection began in 1990 in response to communications with staff from 
the House Committee on Agriculture, who expressed a need for greater 
accountability and the ability to show the degree to which EFNEP was 
meeting its objectives. Representatives from the Economic Research 
Service, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA Office of Budget and Program 
Analysis, as well as evaluation specialists from the Federal Extension 
Service and its university partners, identified the most valuable 
behaviors to measure, which then became the core components of the 
system. Concurrence was received from staff for the House Committee on 
Agriculture. Over the years, the system has been upgraded to align with 
technological advancements, incorporate relevant evidence-based 
practices and practice-based evidence, and address changes in data 
collection standards and requirements (e.g., data collection on race/
ethnicity, updates to the U.S. dietary guidelines, etc.). Data 
submission has evolved from paper forms, to discs, to the current web-
based system. With each of these evolutionary changes, the data 
collection system was also reviewed for appropriateness and need for 
changes to collected content. Development of WebNEERS began in FY 2011; 
national implementation of this web-based platform began in FY 2013. 
WebNEERS and its predecessor collection systems have been approved by 
OMB.
    Specifications for WebNEERS were developed by a committee of 
representatives from the EFNEP and Extension community and others with 
content and audience expertise from across the United States. These 
specifications are in compliance with Federal Equal Employment 
Opportunity standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting data 
on race and ethnicity, and protecting personally identifiable 
information.
    WebNEERS stores information on:
    (1) Adult program participants, their family structure, and dietary 
practices;
    (2) Youth group participants;
    (3) Staff;
    (4) Annual budgets; and
    (5) Annual program plans.
    WebNEERS is a secure online system designed, hosted, and maintained 
by Clemson University. WebNEERS is accessed through the internet via

[[Page 74392]]

internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers. It 
can also be accessed through mobile devices and tablets. The existing 
system incorporates local, university, and Federal components, the 
EFNEP 5-Year Plan/Annual Update (program plan), the EFNEP budget and 
budget justification, and the social ecological framework of the 
Community Nutrition Education (CNE) logic model. Only approved users 
can access WebNEERS and each user can only access data based on their 
defined permissions. The system also has the capability to export raw 
data for external analysis. Data exported from WebNEERS does not 
include personally identifiable information (PII). Several stakeholder 
groups provide ongoing input on the system to: (1) Ensure that EFNEP 
only collects data NIFA needs for evaluation and reporting purposes, 
and (2) Resolve bugs or other concerns experienced by users. These 
stakeholder groups also give feedback to improve user interfaces and to 
improve functionality and capabilities of the system.
    The evaluation processes of EFNEP remain consistent with the 
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB, including the 
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).
    WebNEERS is a single web-based system that operates at three 
levels: Region (County); Institution (university), and Federal. Data is 
entered at the regional level and is available in aggregated form at 
the Institution level in real time. University staff are able to 
generate institutional-level reports to guide program management 
decisions and to inform State-level stakeholders. In States that have 
both 1862 and 1890 LGUs, separate reports are generated by each type of 
institution on the respective audiences served. A permissions process 
is used to allow data to flow from the Region to the Institution to the 
Federal level. Data is not available at the Federal level until the 
university staff submits it. This process allows for State and National 
assessments of the program's impact. National data is used to create 
National reports, which are made available to the public.
    There are revisions to the currently approved collection. WebNEERS 
uses an agile development process, which allows software developers to 
work closely with users to operate smoothly, maintain securities, 
improve efficiencies, and function effectively in the ever-changing 
environment in which EFNEP is administered. It also supports an 
accelerated incorporation of research-based indicators to appropriately 
identify behavioral change.
    NIFA is proposing a number of revisions to the previously approved 
collection. The revised form will include ten additional questions on 
the Adult Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire. The additional 
questions were recommended by a multistate research group with 
programmatic expertise and experience and will allow for greater 
accuracy in reporting program impacts. NIFA also proposes to utilize a 
direct data app that will allow participants to enter their own data. 
This will improve data quality and reduce the amount of time required 
to complete the collection. Additionally, NIFA is proposing changes 
designed to improve accessibility. Finally, NIFA will include 
technology indicators that better reflect the technology approaches 
that have been incorporated into EFNEP program delivery.
    Estimate of Burden: The total annual estimated burden for this 
information collection is 14,744 hours. This includes the time needed 
for participant education and data entry, aggregation, and reporting; 
and for preparation, review, and submission of EFNEP program plans and 
budgetary information.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 76.
    Annual Responses: 76.
    Average Time to Complete Each Response: 194 hours.
    Burden Hours: 14,744.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to 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.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request to OMB for approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.
    Obtaining a Copy of the Information Collection: A copy of the 
information collection and related instructions may be obtained free of 
charge by contacting Laura Givens as directed above.

    Done at Washington, DC, this day of November 17, 2022.
Dionne Toombs,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2022-26399 Filed 12-2-22; 8:45 am]
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