2020-08657. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Title: NOAA Space-Based Data Collection System (DCS) Agreements.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0157.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of an existing collection).

Number of Respondents: 225.

Average Hours per Response: 0.5 hours.

Burden Hours: 113.

Needs and Uses: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates two space-based data collection systems (DCS) per 15 CFR part 911: The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) DCS and the Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) DCS, also known as the Argos system. Both the GOES DCS and the Argos DCS are operated to support environmental applications, e.g., meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, ecology, and remote sensing of Earth resources. In addition, the Argos DCS currently supports applications related to protection of the environment, e.g., hazardous material tracking, fishing vessel tracking for treaty enforcement, and animal tracking. Presently, the majority of users of these systems are government agencies and researchers and much of the data collected by both the GOES DCS and the Argos DCS are provided to the World Meteorological Organization via the Global Telecommunication System for inclusion in the World Weather Watch Program.

Current loading on both of the systems does not use the entire capacity of that system, so NOAA is able to make its excess capacity available to other users who meet certain criteria. Applications are made in response to the requirements in 15 CFR 911 (under the authority of 15 U.S. C. 313, Duties of the Secretary of Commerce and others), using system use agreement (SUA) forms. The application information received is used to determine if the applicant meets the criteria for use of the system. The system use agreements contain the following information: (1) The period of time the agreement is valid and procedures for its termination, (2) the authorized use(s) of the DCS, and its priorities for use, (3) the extent of the availability of commercial services which met the user's requirements and the reasons for choosing the government system, (4) any applicable government interest in the data, (5) required equipment standards, (6) standards of operation, (7) conformance with applicable International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreements and regulations, (8) reporting time and frequencies, (9) data formats, (10) data delivery systems and schedules and (11) user-borne costs.

Accepted applicants use the NOAA DCS to collect environmental data and in limited cases, non-environmental data via the Argos DCS, to support other governmental and non-governmental research or operational requirements, such as for law enforcement purposes. The applicants must submit information to ensure that they meet these criteria. NOAA does not approve agreements where there is a commercial service available to fulfill the user requirements (per 15 CFR part 911).

Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions; Federal government; state, local, or tribal government; business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Annual, every 3 years, every 5 years (per regulations).

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or maintain benefits.

Legal Authority: 15 CFR 911.

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 0648-0157.

Sheleen Dumas,

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Commerce Department.