2011-24636. Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Application for Training, National Conservation Training Center

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

We (U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2011. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB.

DATES:

You must submit comments on or before October 27, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

Send your comments and suggestions on this information collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at OMB-OIRA at [phone] (fax) or [e-mail] (e-mail). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 042-PDM, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail), or [e-mail] (e-mail). Please include “1018-0115” in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at [e-mail] (e-mail) or 703-358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the Interior collections under review by OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Control Number: 1018-0115.

Title: Application for Training, National Conservation Training Center.

Service Form Number: 3-2193.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Description of Respondents: Persons who wish to participate in training given at or sponsored by the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC).

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.

Frequency of Collection: On occasion when applying for training at NCTC.

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 500.

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 500.

Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 84.

Abstract: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, provides natural resource and other professional training for Service employees, employees of other Federal agencies, and other affiliations, including State agencies, private individuals, not-for-profit organizations, and university personnel. FWS Form 3-2193 (Training Application) is a quick and easy method for prospective non-Department of the Interior students to request training. We encourage applicants to use FWS Form 3-2193 and to submit their requests electronically. However, we do not require applicants to complete both a training form required by their agency and FWS Form 3-2193. NCTC will accept any single training request as long as each submission identifies the name, address, and phone number of the applicant, sponsoring agency, class name, start date, and all required financial payment information.

NCTC uses data from the form to generate class rosters, class transcripts, and statistics, and as a budgeting tool for projecting training requirements. It is also used to track attendance, mandatory requirements, tuition, and invoicing for all NCTC-sponsored courses both on- and off-site.

Comments: On December 16, 2010, we published in the Federal Register (75 FR 78731) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew approval for this information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 days, ending on February 14, 2011. We received one comment. The comment was directed to the subject matter, validity, and necessity of the training and not to the information collection requirements. The commenter believes that employees should obtain training prior to employment and that further training is unnecessary. We have not made any changes to the collection in response to this comment.

We again invite comments concerning this information collection on:

• Whether or not the collection of information is necessary, including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
• The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection of information;
• Ways toenhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask OMB in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it will be done.

Dated: September 21, 2011.

Tina A. Campbell,

Chief, Division of Policy and Directives Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.