2024-01069. Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Commercial Research and Development Facilities (R&D) Information Collection Request (ICR)

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on July 24, 2023 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Commerce.

Title: Commercial Research and Development Facilities (R&D) Concept Plan and Full Application Information Collection Request (ICR).

OMB Control Number 0693–XXXX.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Regular.

Number of Respondents: Concept Paper: 100 (1 time). Full Application: 25 (1 time).

Average Hours per Response: Concept Paper: 42 hours. Full Application: 42 hours.

Burden Hours: Concept Paper: 4,200 hours. Full Application: 1,050 hours.

Needs and Uses: The CHIPS Program Office (CPO) intends to release a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to solicit applications for CHIPS Incentives that will support investments in the construction, expansion, or modernization of facilities for the research and development of semiconductors. A potential applicant must submit a concept plan to be officially considered for a CHIPS Incentive Award. Concept plans will be reviewed CPO and a subset of applicants whose concept plan scored sufficiently will then be invited to submit full applications. Full applications will be reviewed and evaluated to make award and funding decisions that align with key programmatic objectives.

Information collected as part of the application process may include but is not limited to project descriptions, project timelines, narrative justifications for incentives, applicant financial information, and relevant project environmental and workforce information.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Once.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory to be eligible for CHIPS Act funding.

Legal Authority: CHIPS Act of 2022 (Division A of Pub. L. 117–167) (the Act).

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0693–XXXX.

Sheleen Dumas,

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.