§ 868.91 - Fees for certain Federal rice inspection services.

§ 868.91 Fees for certain Federal rice inspection services.

The fees shown in Tables 1 and 2 for services in paragraph (a) apply to Federal rice inspection services. Fees for other services not referenced in Table 2 will be based on the non-contract hourly rate listed in § 868.91, Table 1.

Table 1 - Hourly Rates/Unit Rate per CWT

Service¹ Regular workday (Monday-Saturday) Nonregular workday (Sunday-Holiday) Effective February 16, 2007 Contract (per hour per Service representative)$54.80$76.00 Noncontract (per hour per Service representative)66.8092.10 Export Port Services (per hundredweight)² 0.0660.066 Effective October 1, 2007 Contract (per hour per Service representative)$56.40$78.30 Noncontract (per hour per Service representative)68.8094.80 Export Port Services (per hundredweight)² 0.0680.068 Effective October 1, 2008 Contract (per hour per Service representative)$58.10$80.70 Noncontract (per hour per Service representative)70.9097.70 Export Port Services (per hundredweight)² 0.0700.070 Effective October 1, 2009 Contract (per hour per Service representative)$59.90$83.10 Noncontract (per hour per Service representative)73.00100.60 Export Port Services (per hundredweight)² 0.0720.072 Effective October 1, 2010 Contract (per hour per Service representative)$61.70$85.60 Noncontract (per hour per Service representative)75.20103.60 Export Port Services (per hundredweight)² 0.0740.074

¹ Original and appeal inspection services include: Sampling, grading, weighing, and other services requested by the applicant when performed at the applicant's facility.

² Services performed at export port locations on lots at rest.

Table 2 - Unit Rates Service¹

Effective February 16, 2007 Inspection for quality (per lot, sublot, or sample inspection): (a) Rough rice$41.90 (b) Brown rice for processing36.00 (c) Milled rice26.00 Factor analysis for any single factor (per factor): (a) Milling yield (per sample) (Rough or Brown rice)32.50 (b) All other factors (per factor) (all rice)15.60 Total oil and free fatty acid50.80 Interpretive line samples:² (a) Milling degree (per set)111.00 (b) Parboiled light (per sample)27.20 Faxed and extra copies of certificates (per copy)3.00 Stowage Examination (service-on-request)³ (a) Ship (per stowage space) (minimum $252.50 per ship)50.50 (b) Subsequent ship examination (same as original) (minimum $151.50 per ship)50.50 (c) Barge (per examination)40.50 (d) All other carriers (per examination)15.50 Effective October 1, 2007 Inspection for quality (per lot, sublot, or sample inspection): (a) Rough rice$43.20 (b) Brown rice for processing37.10 (c) Milled rice26.80 Factor analysis for any single factor (per factor): (a) Milling yield (per sample) (Rough or Brown rice)33.50 (b) All other factors (per factor) (all rice)16.10 Total oil and free fatty acid52.30 Interpretive line samples:² (a) Milling degree (per set)114.30 (b) Parboiled light (per sample)28.00 Faxed and extra copies of certificates (per copy)3.00 Stowage Examination (service-on-request)³ (a) Ship (per stowage space) (minimum $252.50 per ship)50.50 (b) Subsequent ship examination (same as original) (minimum $151.50 per ship)50.50 (c) Barge (per examination)40.50 (d) All other carriers (per examination)15.50 Effective October 1, 2008 Inspection for quality (per lot, sublot, or sample inspection): (a) Rough rice$44.50 (b) Brown rice for processing38.20 (c) Milled rice27.60 Factor analysis for any single factor (per factor): (a) Milling yield (per sample) (Rough or Brown rice)34.50 (b) All other factors (per factor) (all rice)16.60 Total oil and free fatty acid53.90 Interpretive line samples:² (a) Milling degree (per set)117.70 (b) Parboiled light (per sample)28.80 Faxed and extra copies of certificates (per copy)3.00 Stowage Examination (service-on-request)³ (a) Ship (per stowage space) (minimum $252.50 per ship)50.50 (b) Subsequent ship examination (same as original) (minimum $151.50 per ship)50.50 (c) Barge (per examination)40.50 (d) All other carriers (per examination)15.50 Effective October 1, 2009 Inspection for quality (per lot, sublot, or sample inspection): (a) Rough rice$45.80 (b) Brown rice for processing39.40 (c) Milled rice28.40 Factor analysis for any single factor (per factor): (a) Milling yield (per sample) (Rough or Brown rice)35.50 (b) All other factors (per factor) (all rice)17.10 Total oil and free fatty acid55.50 Interpretive line samples:² (a) Milling degree (per set)121.30 (b) Parboiled light (per sample)29.70 Faxed and extra copies of certificates (per copy)3.00 Stowage Examination (service-on-request)³ (a) Ship (per stowage space) (minimum $252.50 per ship)50.50 (b) Subsequent ship examination (same as original) (minimum $151.50 per ship)50.50 (c) Barge (per examination)40.50 (d) All other carriers (per examination)15.50 Effective October 1, 2010 Inspection for quality (per lot, sublot, or sample inspection): (a) Rough rice$47.20 (b) Brown rice for processing40.60 (c) Milled rice29.30 Factor analysis for any single factor (per factor): (a) Milling yield (per sample) (Rough or Brown rice)36.60 (b) All other factors (per factor) (all rice)17.60 Total oil and free fatty acid57.20 Interpretive line samples:² (a) Milling degree (per set)124.90 (b) Parboiled light (per sample)30.60 Faxed and extra copies of certificates (per copy)3.00 Stowage Examination (service-on-request)³ (a) Ship (per stowage space) (minimum $252.50 per ship)50.50 (b) Subsequent ship examination (same as original) (minimum $151.50 per ship)50.50 (c) Barge (per examination)40.50 (d) All other carriers (per examination)15.50

¹ Fees apply to determinations (original or appeals) for kind, class, grade, factor analysis, equal to type, milling yield, or any other quality designation as defined in the U.S. Standards for Rice or applicable instructions, whether performed singly or in combination at other than at the applicant's facility.

² Interpretive line samples may be purchased from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AMS, FGIS, National Grain Center, 10383 North Ambassador Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1394. Interpretive line samples also are available for examination at selected FGIS field offices. A list of field offices may be obtained from the AMS website at (https://www.ams.usda.gov). The interpretive line samples illustrate the lower limit for milling degrees only and the color limit for the factor “Parboiled Light” rice.

³ If performed outside of normal business hours, 11⁄2 times the applicable unit fee will be charged.

[72 FR 1915, Jan. 17, 2007, as amended at 84 FR 45646, Aug. 30, 2019

Starting with fiscal year 2022, calculations provided in paragraph (b) will be used to determine annual fee rates.

(a) Fees for services are published on the Service's website.

(b) For each fiscal year, starting with 2022, the Administrator will calculate the rates for services, issue a public notice, and publish fees on the Service's website with an effective date of October 1 of each year.

(1) For each year, the Administrator will calculate the rates for services, per hour per inspection program employee using the following formulas:

(i) Regular rate. The Service's total inspection program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus the allowance for bad debt rate. If applicable, actual travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

(ii) Overtime rate. The Service's total inspection program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase and then multiplied by 1.5, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus an allowance for bad debt. If applicable, actual travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

(iii) Holiday rate. The Service's total inspection program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase and then multiplied by 2, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus an allowance for bad debt. If applicable, actual travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

(2) For each year, based on previous year/historical actual costs, the Administrator will calculate the benefits, operating, and allowance for bad debt components of the regular, overtime, and holiday rates as follows:

(i) Benefits rate. The Service's total inspection program direct benefits costs divided by the total hours (regular, overtime, holiday) worked, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase. Some examples of direct benefits are health insurance, retirement, life insurance, and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) retirement basic and matching contributions.

(ii) Operating rate. The Service's total inspection program operating costs divided by total hours (regular, overtime, and holiday) worked, which is then multiplied by the percentage of inflation.

(iii) Allowance for bad debt rate. Total allowance for bad debt, divided by total hours (regular, overtime, holiday) worked.

(3) The Administrator will use the most recent economic factors released by the Office of Management and Budget for budget development purposes to derive the cost of living expenses and percentage of inflation factors used in the formulas in this section.

[85 FR 5302, Jan. 30, 2020]