2019-09463. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR). This collection of information assists CDC in being responsible for the stewardship of funds provided via contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements, from CDC to partners throughout the world, while providing excellent, professional services to our partners and stakeholders.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before July 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2019-0035 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

1. 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;

2. 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;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. 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, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR) (OMB Control No. 0920-1132, Expiration 08/31/2019)—Revision—Office of Science (OS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

Each year, approximately 80% of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) budget is distributed via contracts, grants and cooperative agreements, from the Office of Financial Resources (OFR) to partners throughout the world in an effort to promote health, prevent disease, injury and disability and prepare for new health threats. OFR is responsible for the stewardship of these funds while providing excellent, professional services to our partners and stakeholders.

Currently, CDC uses the Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR—OMB Control Number: 0920-1132, Expiration Date: 08/31/2019), a progress report form for Non-Research awards to collect information semi-annually from Awardees regarding the progress made over specified time periods on CDC funded projects. The PPMR was originally modified from SF-PPR (OMB Control Number: 0970-0406, Expiration Date: 10/31/2015), a similar progress report that was owned by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The PPMR was created by CDC to provide an agency-wide collection tool that would be able to obtain data on the progress of CDC Awardees for the purposes of evaluation, and to bring the Awardee reporting procedure into compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).

The information collected enables the accurate, reliable, uniform, and timely submission to CDC of each Awardee's work plans and progress reports, including strategies, activities and performance measures. The information collected by the PPMR is designed to align with, and support the goals outlined for each of the CDC Awardees. Collection and reporting of the information will occur in an efficient, standardized, and user-friendly manner that will generate a variety of routine and customizable reports. The PPMR will allow each Awardee to summarize activities and progress towards meeting performance measures and goals over a specified time period specific to each award. CDC will also have the capacity to generate reports that describe activities across multiple Awardees. In addition, CDC will use the information collection to respond to inquiries from HHS, Congress and other stakeholder inquiries about program activities and their impact.

This Revision request is being submitted to allow CDC to continue collection of this valuable information from Awardees for an additional three years, and to amend the procedures by which the information can be collected. Currently, the submission process requires Awardees to submit a completed PDF version of the PPMR by uploading it to www.grants.gov in accordance with program guidance and award terms and conditions. While this method will continue to be utilized, CDC now requests that Awardees be permitted to submit the PPMR, and associated forms directly to the Programs that will be performing the evaluation. This method of submission will occur via the use of a fillable PDF and Excel-based versions of the PPMR Reporting Tool.

Use of this mechanism and the ability of Awardees to submit information related to program evaluation directly to evaluators is expected to greatly increase the use of the PPMR and its associated forms. Centers, Institutes and Offices within CDC will use the PPMR with varying frequency, however with the opportunity to submit evaluation information directly, the total number of responses per year could be increased by 2,000. The total annual burden is estimated to increase to 13,014 hours. There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
CDC Award Recipients	Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR)—Att. A-F	5,200	1	2	10,400
CDC Award Recipients	Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR)—Att. G	1,632	1	5/60	136
NHSS Award Recipients	Performance Progress and Monitoring Report (PPMR)—Att. A-F	60	1	41	2,478
Total					13,014

Jeffrey M. Zirger,

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.