2012-28448. Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection

AGENCY:

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a new information collection, which is summarized below under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

Please submit comments by January 22, 2013.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID 2012-0113 by any of the following methods:

Web site: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.

Fax: [phone].

Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.

Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Joyce Gottlieb, 202-366-3664, Office of Civil Rights, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Federal-Aid Highway Construction Equal Employment Opportunity.

Background: Title 23, Part 140(a), requires the FHWA to ensure equal opportunity regarding contractors' employment practices on Federal-aid highway projects. To carry out this requirement, the contractors must submit to the State Transportation Agencies (STAs) on all work being performed on Federal-aid contracts during the month of July, a report on its employment workforce data. This report provides the employment workforce data on these contracts and includes the number of minorities, women, and non-minorities in specific highway construction job categories. This information is reported on Form PR-1391, Federal-Aid Highway Construction Contractors Summary of Employment Data. The statute also requires the STAs to submit a report to the FHWA summarizing the data entered on the PR-1391 forms. This summary data is provided on Form PR-1392, Federal-Aid Highway Construction Contractors Summary of Employment Data. The STAs and FHWA use this data to identify patterns and trends of employment in the highway construction industry, and to determine the adequacy and impact of the STA's and FHWA's contract compliance and on-the-job (OJT) training programs. The STAs use this information to monitor the contractors-employment and training of minorities and women in the traditional highway construction crafts. Additionally, the data is used by FHWA to provide summarization, trend analyses to Congress, DOT, and FHWA officials as well as others who request information relating to the Federal-aid highway construction EEO program. The information is also used in making decisions regarding resource allocation; program emphasis; marketing and promotion activities; training; and compliance efforts.

Respondents: 11,077 annual respondents for form PR-1391, and 52 STAs annual respondents for Form PR-1392, total of 11,129.

Frequency: Annually.

Estimated Average Burden per Response: FHWA estimates it takes 30 minutes for Federal-aid contractors to complete and submit Form PR-1391 and 8 hours for STAs to complete and submit Form PR-1392.

Estimated Total Amount Burden Hours: Form PR-1391- 5,539 hours per year; Form PR-1392- 416 hours per year, total of 5,955 hours annually.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

Issued On: November 19, 2012.

Victoria Scott,

Business Operations Group Manager, Information Technology Division.