2011-17218. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; Environmentally Sound Products

AGENCIES:

Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION:

Notice of request for public comments regarding an extension to an existing OMB clearance.

SUMMARY:

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB) will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning environmentally sound products.

DATES:

Submit comments on or before August 8, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

Submit comments identified by Information Collection 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products, by any of the following methods:

• Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov.

Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by inputting “Information Collection 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products”, under the heading “Enter Keyword or ID” and selecting “Search”. Select the link “Submit a Comment” that corresponds with “Information Collection 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products”. Follow the instructions provided at the “Submit a Comment” screen. Please include your name, company name (if any), and “Information Collection 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products” on your attached document.

• Fax: [phone].
• Mail: General Services Administration, Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20417. ATTN: Hada Flowers/IC 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products.

Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information Collection 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products, in all correspondence related to this collection. All comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal and/or business confidential information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. William Clark, Procurement Analyst, Contract Policy Branch, GSA, [phone] or [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

This information collection complies with Section 6002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. 6962). RCRA requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate items which are or can be produced with recovered materials. RCRA further requires agencies to develop affirmative procurement programs to ensure that items composed of recovered materials will be purchased to the maximum extent practicable. Affirmative procurement programs required under RCRA must contain, as a minimum (1) a recovered materials preference program and an agency promotion program for the preference program; (2) a program for requiring estimates of the total percentage of recovered materials used in the performance of a contract, certification of minimum recovered material content actually used, where appropriate, and reasonable verification procedures for estimates and certifications; and (3) annual review and monitoring of the effectiveness of an agency's affirmative procurement program.

The items for which EPA has designated minimum recovered material content standards are grouped into eight categories: (1) Construction products, (2) landscaping products, (3) nonpaper office products, (4) paper and paper products, (5) park and recreation products, (6) transportation products, (7) vehicular products, and (8) miscellaneous products. The FAR rule also permits agencies to obtain pre-award information from offerors regarding the content of items which the agency has designated as requiring minimum percentages of recovered materials.

In accordance with RCRA, the information collection applies to acquisitions requiring minimum percentages of recovered materials, when the price of the item exceeds $10,000 or when the aggregate amount paid for the item or functionally equivalent items in the preceding fiscal year was $10,000 or more.

Contracting officers use the information to verify offeror/contractor compliance with solicitation and contract requirements regarding the use of recovered materials. Additionally, agencies use the information in the annual review and monitoring of the effectiveness of the affirmative procurement programs required by RCRA.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

Respondents: 64,350.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Annual Responses: 64,350.

Hours per Response: .325.

Total Burden Hours: 20,914.

Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the information collection documents from the General Services Administration, Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20405, telephone [phone]. Please cite OMB control No. 9000-0134, Environmentally Sound Products, in all correspondence.

Dated: July 1, 2011.

Laura Auletta,

Acting Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy.