[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 248 (Thursday, December 28, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 89654-89655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28571]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. USDA-2022-0010]


Agency Information Collection Activities; USDA Generic Solution 
for Solicitation for Funding Opportunity Announcement

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requesting comments concerning 
authorization to revise the approved USDA Generic Solution for 
Solicitation for Funding Opportunity Announcement information 
collection request (ICR). This is a revision request. We are revising 
the ICR to cover the additional use across USDA agencies for grants, 
agreements, and other Federal financial assistance programs.

DATES: We will consider comments we receive by February 26, 2024.

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on this notice.
    Electronic Submission of Comments. You may submit comments, 
identified by Docket ID: USDA-2022-0010, electronically through the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.
    Submission of Comments by Mail, Hand Delivery, or Courier. You may 
submit comments to the Office of Budget and Program Analysis, USDA, 
Jamie L. Whitten Building, Room 101-A, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, 
Washington, DC 20250. USDA strongly encourages commenters to submit 
comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows you 
maximum time to prepare and submit a comment and ensures timely receipt 
by USDA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve O'Neill, 202-720-0038, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), USDA is requesting comments concerning a 
authorization to conduct the USDA Generic Solution for Solicitation for 
Funding Opportunity Announcement ICR. This is a revision request.

[[Page 89655]]

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts a pre-clearance 
consultation program to provide the public and Federal agencies an 
opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing information 
collections before submitting them to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB).
    This program helps to ensure requested data can be provided in the 
desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is 
minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the 
impact of collection requirements can be properly assessed.
    USDA is requesting an increase the approved burden hours to cover 
grant or cooperative agreement activity and funding announcements of 
new programs for other types of Federal financial assistance. USDA 
requests an increase in the responses by 880,000, and the burden hours 
by 1.5 million hours. USDA has successfully used the existing approval 
for ongoing information collection activities and is expecting to well 
beyond the initial estimates when the ICR was first approved by OMB. 
The increase has been for the Federal financial assistances for new 
programs.

Grants or Cooperative Agreement

    Periodically USDA solicits grant applications on http://grants.gov 
by issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement, Request for 
Applications, Notice of Funding Announcement, Notice of Solicitation of 
Applications, Grants.gov announcement, or other funding announcement 
type. To ensure grants are awarded to the applicant(s) best suited to 
perform the functions of the grant, applicants are generally required 
to submit an application. The first part of USDA grant applications 
consists of submitting the application form(s), which includes the 
Standard Form 424, Application for Federal Assistance and may include 
additional standard grant application forms. The second part of a grant 
application usually requires a technical proposal demonstrating the 
applicant's capabilities in accordance with a statement of work or 
selection criteria and other related information as specified in the 
funding announcement. Following the grant award, the grant awardee may 
also be required to provide progress reports or additional documents.

Federal Financial Assistance Programs

    In addition to grants and agreements, there are other types of 
funding announcements. USDA agencies announce new Federal financial 
assistance programs in the Federal Register in a Notice of Funding 
Availability (NOFA) or other types of funding or program announcements. 
Generally, the applicants need to apply for financial assistance under 
the new program. The agencies generally require application forms and 
related forms for the applicants can apply for the Federal financial 
assistance.
    A Federal agency generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection 
of information, and the public is generally not required to respond to 
an information collection, unless it is approved by OMB under the PRA 
and displays a currently valid OMB control number. In addition, 
notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person will be subject 
to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if 
the collection of information does not display a valid control number 
(see 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6). USDA intends to seek approval from 
OMB for the revision request for this collection of information for 3 
years.
    Interested parties are encouraged to provide comments to the 
individual listed in the ADDRESSES section above.
    Comments must be written to receive consideration, and they will be 
summarized and included in the request for OMB approval of the final 
ICR. The comments will also become a matter of public record. Comments 
responsive to this request will be made available on-line, without 
redaction, as part of the submission to OMB; therefore, USDA is 
particularly interested in comments that:
     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;
     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;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including using appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, for example, permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    USDA will consider the comments received and amend the ICR as 
appropriate. The final ICR package will then be submitted to OMB for 
review and approval. At that time, USDA will issue another Federal 
Register notice to announce the submission of the ICR to OMB and the 
opportunity to submit additional comments to OMB.
    Agency: USDA Office of the Secretary.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    OMB Control Number: 0503-0028.
    Title of Collection: USDA Generic Solution for Solicitation for 
Funding Opportunity Announcements.
    Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments; Private 
Sector--businesses or other for-profits and not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1 million.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Total Estimated Annual Responses: 1 million.
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 20 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 20 million hours.
    Total Estimated Annual Other Cost Burden: $0.

    Stephen O'Neill,
Legislative and Regulatory Division, OBPA-USDA.
[FR Doc. 2023-28571 Filed 12-27-23; 8:45 am]
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