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Supporting Statement for a Request for OMB Review under

The Paperwork Reduction Act

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTION

1(a) Title and Number of the Information Collection

Title: Request for Contractor Access to TSCA Confidential Business Information

EPA ICR No.: 1250.09 OMB Control No.: 2070-0075

1(b) Short Characterization

EPA procures contract support to facilitate the performance of certain duties. EPA may

require contractors to handle Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Confidential Business 

Information (CBI). Each contractor employee who will use TSCA CBI in the performance of his 

or her duties must be authorized for access to TSCA CBI through a multi-step process. The 

TSCA CBI Protection Manual (EPA Publication 7700 A2, revised October 2003; see Attachment 

C) provides Federal and contractor employees with guidelines and operating procedures for 

handling TSCA CBI while performing their official duties, as well as the procedures to obtain 

authorization for access to TSCA CBI. 

Specifically, for purposes of this information collection, contractor personnel must submit 

to EPA the EPA form titled “TSCA CBI Access Request, Agreement, and Approval” (EPA Form 

7740-6) (Attachment A). The Information Management Division (IMD), Office of Pollution 

Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), uses EPA Form 7740-6 to collect information about contractor 

personnel so that the Agency can evaluate their suitability for access to TSCA CBI. EPA stores 

the information on the OPPT Confidential Business Information Tracking System (CBITS).

2. NEED FOR AND USE OF THE COLLECTION

2(a) Need/Authority for the Collection

This information collection request is necessary to protect information under provisions 

of TSCA section 14 (Attachment B). It is necessary for EPA to provide guidance to its 

employees, other Federal agencies and contractors on the proper handling of CBI submitted to 

EPA under TSCA.

This information collection activity is necessary to protect confidential information

submitted to the Agency as mandated by TSCA section 14 and is consistent with 5 CFR 1320.6. 

The consequences of not collecting these data could be monumental to private industry. Under 

TSCA, industry is required to submit data that may be deemed to be confidential, such as 

formulas and financial information related to chemicals companies plan to produce. EPA is 
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obligated to protect these data as outlined by TSCA section 14. In addition, the Agency could 

possibly harm businesses if these data were released to competitors.

The information collected by this request will be used to evaluate contractor personnel 

who will be authorized for access to TSCA CBI. Therefore the collection of information is 

necessary to provide the protection mandated by TSCA.

2(b) Use/Users of the Data

The information will be maintained within OPPT in paper copy files and in an automated 

security access tracking system (CBITS, AXCON module) with access limited to the OPPT 

TSCA Security Officer and Document Control Officers (DCOs) in OPPT, other parts of EPA, in 

Regional Offices and at contractor firms.

The information will also be used to generate a monthly TSCA Authorized Access List 

for distribution to DCOs for verification of Federal and contractor employees authorized access 

to TSCA CBI. The information provided by contractor employees will not be released to sources 

who do not have a valid “need to know.” Information submitted by one contractor will not be 

shared with another EPA contractor. If this information is not collected by the Agency, EPA will 

not be able to evaluate the suitability of its contractor employees for TSCA CBI access.

3. NON-DUPLICATION, CONSULTATIONS, AND OTHER COLLECTION 

CRITERIA

3(a) Non-Duplication

No other Federal agency or department could provide the information necessary for EPA 

to authorize contractor personnel for access to TSCA CBI. The data being collected are not 

available from any other sources and can only be collected from individuals themselves.

3(b) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB

Prior to submission to OMB, this ICR will be made available to the public for comment 

through a Federal Register notice. The public will have 60 days to provide comments. Any

comments received will be given consideration when completing the supporting statement that is 

submitted to OMB.

3(c) Consultations

Under 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1) OMB requires agencies to consult with potential ICR 

respondents and data users about specific aspects of ICRs before submitting an original or 

renewal ICR to OMB for review and approval. In accordance with this regulation, EPA will 

pursue additional consultations with interested parties during the development of the renewal of 

this collection.
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3(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection

This is a one-time information collection, if the clearance is renewed annually. When a 

clearance lapses, then a repeat of the initial collection is required. 

3(e) General Guidelines

This information collection complies with the general guidelines found at 5 CFR 1320.5.

3(f) Confidentiality

The information collected is stored at EPA Headquarters in paper files and in a secured 

local area network, the Confidential Business Information Tracking System (CBITS) AXCON 

module. Any hard-copy information that is discarded from the system is shredded. The EPA 

form used to collect these data contains a Privacy Act statement that complies with the Privacy

Act and OMB Circular 108.

3(g) Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions contained in this information collection.

4. THE RESPONDENTS AND THE INFORMATION REQUESTED

4(a) Respondents and NAICS Codes

Respondents affected by this activity are found mainly under NAICS codes 514 

(Information Services) and 561 (Administrative and Support Services).

4(b) Information Requested

(i) Data Items

To complete the form, the contractor employee must: describe why access to TSCA CBI

is necessary for the successful performance of his or her duties under the contract; identify, by

section of TSCA, the types of CBI to which access is needed; and provide personal identification 

information. Justification statements are provided on the form and the employee only has to 

designate which statement (A, B, C, D or Other) is applicable.

In addition, the contractor must appoint an employee to serve as a liaison (DCO) between 

EPA and the contractor to handle issues relating to employee access to TSCA CBI. Contractor 

responsibilities for maintaining the access list are explained under Chapter 2.D.l.f of the TSCA 

Confidential Business Information Security Manual. Contractor DCOs must ensure that 

contractor employees read the security manual and attend a security briefing. The DCO is 
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responsible for conducting a review, on a monthly basis, of the TSCA CBI Authorized Access 

List to determine whether any names should be added to or deleted from the list or whether any

employee’s access authority should be broadened or narrowed. Any changes to the list require 

approval by the EPA Project Officer and the OPPT DCO.

(ii) Respondent Activities

The process that contractor employees must go through in order to be authorized access to 

TSCA CBI entails the following:

(1) Read EPA Form 7740-6.

(2) Gather required information and complete the form.

(3) Submit the form to the contractor DCO for processing, compilation and review.

(4) The contractor DCO files an in-house reference copy of the form.

(5) The contractor DCO forwards the form to the EPA Project Officer (or Delivery

Order Project Officer) for signature and to forward on to the OPPT DCO for 

further review and processing.

(6) The contractor employee views the TSCA CBI security video.

5. THE INFORMATION COLLECTED - AGENCY ACTIVITIES, COLLECTION 

METHODOLOGY, AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

5(a) Agency Activities -- Inventory

The contractor DCO forwards the EPA Form 7740-6 submitted by a contractor employee 

to the EPA Project Officer. The Project Officer then signs the form (Section V) and forwards the 

form to the OPPT DCO. OPPT DCO staff review the form for completeness. The form is 

processed by the DCO staff and appropriate authorizing signatures are obtained; the OPPT DCO 

is the final approval authority. The information on the form is then entered into the CBITS 

AXCON module.

The information is retained within OPPT in paper copy files. The information is entered 

into CBITS with access limited to the OPPT Security Staff and other Agency and Regional 

Office DCOs. Current plus one year of contractor information is maintained in the paper files. 

Paper files are destroyed by shredding after a contractor employee has relinquished his/her 

access.

5(b) Collection Methodology and Management

Once processed within OPPT, each EPA Form 7740-6 is reviewed by an EPA Project 

Officer and the OPPT DCO, and the data are entered into CBITS. The monthly TSCA CBI

Access List, which acts as a quality check on data entry accuracy, is produced, published and 

distributed to TSCA DCOs. There is no public access to the TSCA CBI Authorized Access List, 

nor to any of the information stored in the CBITS AXCON module.
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CBITS is housed on a secured Local Area Network with OPPT internal access only. The 

system is available to CBI-cleared users exclusively.

5(c) Small Entity Flexibility

All contractors regardless of company size are treated in the same manner. The collection 

process is simple and straightforward and can be completed quickly.

5(d) Collection Schedule

The information is collected once per each individual contractor employee requesting 

access authorization to TSCA CBI, provided there is no lapse in clearance and the individual 

does not relinquish his or her TSCA CBI access authorization.

6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection

6(a) Estimating Respondent Burden

Eligible contractors were directly contacted in the development of earlier versions of this 

ICR to determine the amount of time that would be required by them to complete the tasks 

outlined in section 3 of this ICR. Because the requirements for this ICR have not changed from 

the time the earlier estimates were made, the same estimates are used in this analysis. Currently

30 companies are under contract to EPA and have a need to clear employees for access to TSCA 

CBI. Those firms have a total of 375 such employees cleared for access for an average of 12.5 

CBI cleared employees per firm. 

The per-employee burdens are given in table 6.1 and the total annual respondent burden is 

shown in table 6.2. In previous ICRs, the breakdown of employees among managerial, technical 

and clerical employees was approximately 33%, 58% and 9% respectively. This same 

breakdown was used in this analysis resulting in an estimate of 124 managerial, 217 technical, 

and 34 clerical employees. The total annual burden for all firms is estimated to be 601 hours.
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Table 6.1: EMPLOYEE BURDEN ESTIMATES

Collection Activities Per Employee Burden Hours

Management Technical Clerical

1.Contractor employee can either view the TSCA CBI security video; 

complete the TSCA CBI On-line Briefing via the EPA Intranet; or 

use the supplied CD-ROM for those the cannot access the intranet

0.5000 0.5000 0.5000

2. Read EPA Form 7740-6 0.1630 0.1630 0.1630

3. Gather required information and complete form. 0.2240 0.1975 0.5280

4. Contractor Document Control Officer processes, compiles and 

reviews form.

0.0961 0.0367 1.5480

5. Store, file, or maintain copy of form for in-house reference. 0.1089 0.0086 3.0190

6. Complete written form, obtain signatures, forward to EPA 

Information Management Division

0.2275 0.0558 0.971

Table 6.2: TOTAL ANNUAL RESPONDENT (CONTRACTOR) BURDEN ESTIMATES

Collection Activities Burden Hours (per year) Total 

Hours

Management Technical Clerical

1.Contractor employee can either view the TSCA CBI 

security video; complete the TSCA CBI On-line Briefing 

via the EPA Intranet; or use the supplied CD-ROM for 

those the cannot access the intranet.

62.0 108.5 17.0 187.5

2. Read EPA Form 7740-6 20.2 35.4 5.5 61.1

3. Gather required information and complete form. 27.8 42.9 18.0 88.7

4. Contractor Document Control Officer processes, 

compiles and reviews form.

11.9 8.0 52.6 72.5

5. Store, file, or maintain copy of form for in-house 

reference.

13.5 1.9 102.6 118.0

6. Complete written form, obtain signatures, forward to

EPA Information Management Division.

28.2 12.1 33.0 73.3

Totals 163.6 208.8 228.7 601.1

6(b) Estimating Respondent Costs

Respondent hourly costs in this ICR have been updated using the data sources that have 

been used for this purpose in the past. The underlying data come from the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics’ Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Supplementary Tables: Historical Data 
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December 2006 – December 2008, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 12 2009. These hourly

cost estimates include wages, fringe benefits, and overhead. The wage and fringe benefit 

numbers are from the BLS data, and the overhead allowance is calculated at 17% of the hourly

wage.

Category Hourly wage Fringe benefits Overhead Total hourly cost

Managerial $43.22 $19.46 $7.35 $70.03

Technical $35.29 $17.55 $6.00 $58.84

Clerical $17.22 $8.33 $2.93 $28.48

Estimated total annual costs to the respondents are equal to $30,253 and are presented in 

table 6.3. There are no capital costs for the contractors associated with this collection.

Table 6.3: ANNUAL RESPONDENT (CONTRACTOR) COST ESTIMATES

Labor category Hourly cost Number of clearances Labor hours Labor Cost Total

Managerial $70.03 124 163.6 $11,457

Technical $58.84 217 208.7 $12,280

Clerical $28.48 34 228.8 $ 6,516

Totals 601.1 $30,253

6(c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost

The costs and burdens to the Federal Government are presented in the table 6.4. The 

Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics bases its burden hour estimates on prior experience in 

gathering and processing information associated with other information collections. Hourly

wages for clerical support are based upon the salary for a GS-7, step1 ($19.75). Hourly costs for 

managerial and technical support are based upon the salary for GS-15, step 1 ($57.90) and GS12, step 1 ($35.03), respectively. The hourly rates were taken from the U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management’s 2009 General Schedule for workers with the Washington DC locality payment. 

These hourly estimates were then multiplied by 1.6 to account for benefits (EPA Instructions for 

Preparing Information Collection Requests, 1992). The hourly cost estimates adjusted for 

benefits are $92.64 for managers, $56.05 for technical workers, and $31.60 for clerical workers. 

Also included is an estimated $6,500 cost for equipment. The total cost to the Agency to 

maintain the collection system is $57,604 per annum and the total Agency burden is estimated at 

1172 hours.
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Table 6.4: ANNUAL AGENCY BURDEN/COST ESTIMATES

Collection Activities Burden Hours (per year) Total 

Hours

Total Cost

Management 

@ $92.64 

Technical 

@ $56.05

Clerical

@ $31.60

1. Read EPA Form 7740-6 35.5 40.0 18.5 94.0 $6,115

2. Gather required information 

and complete form.

16.5 44.5 122.0 162.5 $7,878

3. EPA Document Control 

Officer processes, compiles 

and reviews form.

19.0 44.5 175.0 238.5 $9,784

4. Complete written form and 

obtain appropriate signatures.

18.0 12.5 47.0 77.5 $3,853

5. Store, file or maintain copy 

of form for in-house reference.

5.0 30.5 160.5 196.0 $7,245

6. DCO forwards form to 

Information Management 

Division

2.5 0.0 50.5 53.0 $1,827

7. Systems operations 5.0 150.0 175.0 330.0 $14,401 (labor), 

$6,500 (equipment)

Totals 101.5 322.0 748.5 1,172.0 $57,604

6(d) Total Burden Estimates

Table 6.5 displays the annual burdens and costs borne by respondents and EPA, 

respectively, associated with preparing, filing and reviewing a reporting form resulting from this 

information collection.

Table 6.5. TOTAL COST AND BURDEN SUMMARY

Annual Burden Hours Annual Costs

Industry 601.1 $30,2523

Agency 1,172.0 $57,604

6(e) Reasons for Change in Burden

The estimated annual burden to contractors has increased by 155 hours (from 446 

hours to 601 hours) in total estimated respondent burden compared with that identified in 

the information collection most recently approved by OMB. This reflects an increase in 

the number of contractor employees that needed clearance. This increase represents an 

adjustment. Also, the costs to the industry respondents increased by $9,786, because more 

employees needed clearance and because of increases in wage rates.
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6(f) Burden Statement

The annual public burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1.6 

hours per response. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act, “burden” means the total time, 

effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or 

provide information to or for a Federal agency. For this collection it includes the time needed to 

review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes 

of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and 

disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously

applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of 

information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and transmit 

or otherwise disclose the information. An agency 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. The OMB control number for this information collection appears on page 1 of 

this document. The OMB control numbers for EPA’s regulations in title 40 of the CFR, after 

appearing in the Federal Register, are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and included on the related 

collection instrument or form, if applicable.

To comment on the Agency’s need for this information, the accuracy of the provided 

burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the 

use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under 

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPPT-2009-0929, which is available for public viewing at the Pollution 

Prevention and Toxics Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 

1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room is open 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone 

number for the EPA/DC Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for 

the Pollution Prevention and Toxics Docket is (202) 566-0280. An electronic version of the 

public docket is available through the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at 

www.regulations.gov. Use the federal government-wide electronic docket and comment system 

at www.regulations.gov to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the 

contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are 

available electronically. Once in the system, select “advance search,” then key in the docket ID 

number identified above. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 

20503, Attention: Desk Office for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPPT2009-0929 and OMB control number 2070-0075 in any correspondence.
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ATTACHMENTS TO THE SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Attachments to the supporting statement are available in the public docket established for this 

ICR under docket identification number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2006-0807. These attachments are 

available for online viewing at www.regulations.gov or otherwise accessed as described in 

section 6(f) of the supporting statement.

Attachment A: Section 14 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2613) – Disclosure of 

data. Also available electronically at 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title15/chapter53_subchapteri_.html

Attachment B: EPA Form EPA Form 7740-6 - TSCA CBI Access Request, Agreement, and 

Approval.

Attachment C: TSCA Confidential Business Information Security Manual, available 

electronically at http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pubs/tsca-cbi-protection-manual.pdf