51170 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 2014 / Notices 

B. Annual Reporting Burden 

Supplies: 

FAR Clause 52.225–2, Buy American 

Certificate (formerly OMB Control No. 

9000–0024), requires the offeror to 

identify in its proposal supplies that do 

not meet the definition of domestic end 

product. The Buy American Act no 

longer applies to acquisitions of 

commercial information technology. 

Respondents: 3,480. 

Responses per Respondent: 10. 

Total Responses: 34,800. 

Hours per Response: .25. 

Total Burden Hours: 8,700. 

FAR Clause 52.225–4, Buy 

American—Free Trade Agreements— 

Israeli Trade Act Certificate (formerly 

OMB Control No. 9000–0130), requires 

separate listing of foreign products that 

are eligible under a trade agreement, 

and listing of all other foreign end 

products. 

Respondents: 2,550. 

Responses per Respondent: 10. 

Total Responses: 25,550. 

Hours per Response: .25. 

Total Burden Hours: 6,375. 

FAR Clause 52.225–6, Trade 

Agreements Certificate (formerly OMB 

Control No. 9000–0025), requires the 

offeror to certify that all end products 

are either U.S.-made or designated 

country end products, except as listed 

in paragraph (b) of the provision. 

Offerors are not allowed to provide 

other than a U.S.-made or designated 

country end product, unless the 

requirement is waived. 

Respondents: 320. 

Responses per Respondent: 3. 

Total Responses: 960. 

Hours per Response: .25. 

Total Burden Hours: 240. 

Construction provisions and clauses 

(formerly OMB Control No. 9000–0141) 

provide that an offeror/contractor 

requesting to use foreign construction 

material due to unreasonable cost of 

domestic construction material shall 

provide adequate information to permit 

evaluation of the request. 

—52.225–9, Buy American Act 

Construction Materials 

—52.225–10, Notice of Buy American 

Act Requirements—Construction 

Materials 

—52.225–11, Buy American Act 

Construction Materials—Trade 

Agreements 

—52.225–12, Notice of Buy American 

Act requirements—Construction 

Materials under Trade Agreements 

—52.225–21, Required Use of American 

Iron, Steel and Manufactured Goods— 

Buy American Act—Construction 

Materials 

—52.225–23, Required Use of American 

Iron, Steel and Manufactured Goods— 

Buy American Act—Construction 

Materials 

Under Trade Agreements 

Respondents: 1,000. 

Responses per Respondent: 2. 

Total Responses: 2,000. 

Hours per Response: 2.5. 

Total Burden Hours: 5,000. 

C. Public Comments 

Public comments are particularly 

invited on: Whether this collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of functions of the FAR, 

and whether it will have practical 

utility; whether our estimate of the 

public burden of this collection of 

information is accurate, and based on 

valid assumptions and methodology; 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and ways in which we can 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, through the use of appropriate 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Obtaining Copies Of Proposals: 

Requesters may obtain a copy of the 

information collection documents from 

the General Services Administration, 

Regulatory Secretariat Division (MVCB), 

1800 F Street NW., Washington, DC 

20405, telephone 202–501–4755. Please 

cite OMB Control No. 9000–0024, Buy 

American Act Certificate, in all 

correspondence. 

Dated: August 22, 2014. 

Edward Loeb, 

Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy 

Division, Office of Government-Wide 

Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition 

Policy, Office of Government-Wide Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2014–20364 Filed 8–26–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

Interagency Task Force on 

Antimicrobial Resistance (ITFAR) 

Public Meeting Cancellation 

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Cancellation of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The meeting of the 

Interagency Task Force on 

Antimicrobial Resistance (ITFAR) is 

cancelled. The purpose of the meeting 

was to communicate the strategic 

direction of ITFAR in the fight against 

antimicrobial resistance, centering on 

current work and future direction in this 

area. This meeting will be rescheduled 

at a future date. 

DATES: The public meeting cancelled by 

this notice was to be held at the Ronald 

Reagan Building and International 

Trade Center in Washington, DC, on 

Thursday, September 4, 2014, from 1:00 

p.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stephanie Gumbis, Office of 

Antimicrobial Resistance, National 

Center for Emerging and Zoonotic 

Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 

Road NE., Mailstop A–28, Atlanta, GA 

30329; Telephone 404–639–4000; Email 

ITFAR@cdc.gov. 

Dated: August 22, 2014. 

Ron A. Otten, 

Acting Deputy Associate Director for Science, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2014–20393 Filed 8–26–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[CMS–4132–FN] 

Medicare and Medicaid Programs; 

Renewal of Deeming Authority of the 

Accreditation Association for National 

Committee for Quality Assurance 

(NCQA) 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. 

ACTION: Final notice. 

SUMMARY: This final notice announces 

our decision to renew the Medicare 

Advantage ‘‘deeming authority’’ of the 

National Committee for Quality 

Assurance (NCQA) for a period of 6 

years. This new term of approval would 

begin October 19, 2014 and end October 

18, 2020. 

DATES: This final notice is effective 

October 19, 2014 through October 18, 

2020. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jennifer Bates, 410–786–6258 or 

Milonda Mitchell, 410–786–1644. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Under the Medicare program, eligible 

beneficiaries may receive covered 

services through a Medicare Advantage 

(MA) organization that contracts with 

the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services (CMS). The regulations 

specifying the Medicare requirements 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 2014 / Notices 51171 

that must be met for a Medicare 

Advantage Organization (MAO) to enter 

into a contract with CMS are located at 

42 CFR part 422. These regulations 

implement Part C of Title XVIII of the 

Social Security Act (the Act), which 

specifies the services that an MAO must 

provide and the requirements that the 

organization must meet to offer an MA 

contractor. Other relevant sections of 

the Act are Parts A and B of Title XVIII 

and Part A of Title XI pertaining to the 

provision of services by Medicarecertified providers and suppliers. Under 

§ 422.400, one significant prerequisite 

for an entity to be an MA organization 

is that the organization be licensed by 

the state as a risk bearing organization, 

unless a waiver is authorized for a 

provider-sponsored organization 

pursuant to § 422.370. In addition, 

MAOs and MA plans must meet 

requirements related to access to 

services, antidiscrimination, 

confidentiality and accuracy of 

beneficiary records, provider 

participation, advance directives, and 

quality assurance programs. 

As a method of assuring compliance 

with certain Medicare requirements, an 

MA organization may choose to become 

accredited by a CMS approved 

accrediting organization (AO). In 

addition to their CMS-recognized 

deemed status accreditation program, 

approved AOs offer other accreditation 

programs that are not recognized by 

CMS. For Medicare participation 

purposes, the MA organization may be 

‘‘deemed’’ compliant in one or more of 

six requirements set forth in section 

1852(e)(4)(B) of the Act and 

§ 422.156(b). For an AO to be able to 

‘‘deem’’ an MA plan as compliant with 

these MA requirements, the AO must 

demonstrate that it meets the 

requirements outlined in § 422.157, 

including demonstrating that its 

standards are at least as stringent as 

Medicare requirements with respect to 

the standards in the deemable area. 

Therefore, for example, MA 

organizations that are licensed as health 

maintenance organizations (HMOs) or 

preferred provider organizations (PPOs) 

and are accredited by an approved 

accrediting organization may receive, at 

the MA organization’s request, deemed 

status for CMS requirements in the 

following six MA areas: Quality 

Improvement, Antidiscrimination, 

Access to Services, Confidentiality and 

Accuracy of Enrollee Records, 

Information on Advanced Directives, 

and Provider Participation Rules. (See 

§ 422.156(b).) Organizations that apply 

for MA deeming authority are generally 

recognized by the health care industry 

as entities that accredit HMOs and 

PPOs. As specified at § 422.157(b)(2)(ii), 

the term for which an AO may be 

approved by CMS may not exceed 6 

years. For continuing approval, the AO 

must renew its application with CMS. 

The National Committee for Quality 

Assurance (NCQA) was approved as an 

accrediting organization for MA 

deeming of HMOs on October 19, 2010, 

and that term will expire on October 18, 

2014. On January 30, 2014, NCQA 

submitted an application to renew its 

deeming authority. On that same date, 

NCQA submitted materials requested 

from CMS which included updates and/ 

or changes to items listed in § 422.158(a) 

that are prerequisites for receiving 

deeming program approval by CMS, and 

which were furnished to CMS by NCQA 

as a part of its renewal applications for 

HMOs and PPOs. 

II. Deeming Applications Approval 

Process 

Section 1852(e)(4)(c) of the Act 

provides a statutory timetable to ensure 

that our review of deeming applications 

is conducted in a timely manner. The 

Act provides us with 210 calendar days 

after the date of receipt of an application 

to complete our survey activities and 

application review process. In 

accordance with our policy for 

providers and suppliers, within 60 days 

of receiving a completed application, we 

must publish a notice in the Federal 

Register that identifies the national 

accreditation body making the request, 

describes the request, and provides no 

less than a 30-day public comment 

period. At the end of the 210-day 

period, we must publish an approval or 

denial of the application. 

III. Proposed Notice 

In the March 25, 2014, Federal 

Register (79 FR 16338), we published a 

proposed notice announcing NCQA’s 

request for continued CMS approval of 

its deeming authority for MA HMOs and 

PPOs. In the proposed notice, we 

detailed our evaluation criteria. Under 

section 1852(e)(4) of the Act and our 

regulations at § 422.158 (Federal review 

of accrediting organizations), we 

conducted a review of NCQA’s 

application in accordance with the 

criteria specified by our regulations, 

which include, but are not limited to the 

following: 

• The types of MA plans that it would 

review as part of its accreditation 

process. 

• A detailed comparison of the AO’s 

accreditation requirements and 

standards with the Medicare 

requirements (for example, a crosswalk). 

• Detailed information about the 

organization’s survey process, including 

the following— 

++ Frequency of surveys and whether 

surveys are announced or unannounced. 

++ Copies of survey forms, and 

guidelines and instructions to 

surveyors. 

++ Descriptions of— 

— The survey review process and the 

accreditation status decision making 

process; 

— The procedures used to notify 

accredited MA organizations of 

deficiencies and to monitor the 

correction of those deficiencies; and 

— The procedures used to enforce 

compliance with accreditation 

requirements. 

• Detailed information about the 

individuals who perform surveys for the 

accreditation organization, including 

the following— 

++ The size and composition of 

accreditation survey teams for each type 

of plan reviewed as part of the 

accreditation process; 

++ The education and experience 

requirements surveyors must meet; 

++ The content and frequency of the 

in-service training provided to survey 

personnel; 

++ The evaluation systems used to 

monitor the performance of individual 

surveyors and survey teams; and 

++ The organization’s policies and 

practice with respect to the 

participation, in surveys or in the 

accreditation decision process by an 

individual who is professionally or 

financially affiliated with the entity 

being surveyed. 

• A description of the organization’s 

data management and analysis system 

with respect to its surveys and 

accreditation decisions, including the 

kinds of reports, tables, and other 

displays generated by that system. 

• A description of the organization’s 

procedures for responding to and 

investigating complaints against 

accredited organizations, including 

policies and procedures regarding 

coordination of these activities with 

appropriate licensing bodies and 

ombudsmen programs. 

• A description of the organization’s 

policies and procedures with respect to 

the withholding or removal of 

accreditation for failure to meet the 

accreditation organization’s standards or 

requirements, and other actions the 

organization takes in response to 

noncompliance with its standards and 

requirements. 

• A description of all types (for 

example, full, partial) and categories (for 

example, provisional, conditional, 

temporary) of accreditation offered by 

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51172 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 2014 / Notices 

the organization, the duration of each 

type and category of accreditation and a 

statement identifying the types and 

categories that would serve as a basis for 

accreditation if CMS approves the 

accreditation organization. 

• A list of all currently accredited MA 

organizations and the type, category, 

and expiration date of the accreditation 

held by each of them. 

• A list of all full and partial 

accreditation surveys scheduled to be 

performed by the accreditation 

organization. 

• The name and address of each 

person with an ownership or control 

interest in the accreditation 

organization. 

• CMS’s analysis of NCQA’s past 

performance in the deeming program 

and the results of recent deeming 

validation reviews, or look-behind 

audits conducted as part of continuing 

federal oversight of the deeming 

program under § 422.157(d). 

In accordance with section 

1865(a)(3)(A) of the Act, the March 25, 

2014 proposed notice (79 FR 16338) also 

solicited public comments regarding 

whether NCQA’s requirements met or 

exceeded the Medicare conditions of 

participation as an accrediting 

organization for MA HMOs and PPOs. 

We received no public comments in 

response to our proposed notice. 

IV. Provisions of the Final Notice 

A. Differences Between NCQA’s 

Standards and Requirements for 

Accreditation and Medicare’s 

Conditions and Survey Requirements 

We compared the standards and 

survey process contained in NCQA’s 

application with the Medicare 

conditions for accreditation. Our review 

and evaluation of NCQA’s application 

for continued CMS-approval were 

conducted as described in section III of 

this final notice, and yielded the 

following: 

• To meet the requirements at 

§ 422.158(a)(1), NCQA provided CMS 

with documentation listing its types of 

MA plans that it would review as part 

of its accreditation process. In addition, 

AO provided clarification and 

documentation to demonstrate how it 

distinguishes its CMS-recognized 

deemed status accreditation program 

from its other accreditation programs 

that are not recognized by CMS. 

• AO revised its ‘‘Grounds of 

Revocation’’ policy to meet the 

requirements at § 422.158(a)(3)(iii)(C) by 

revising its requirements to include 

non-compliance with ‘‘State, Federal, or 

other duly authorized regulatory or 

judicial action restricts or limits the 

organization’s operations.’’ 

• To comply with the requirements at 

§ 422.158(a)(6), AO revised its processes 

for responding to and investigating 

complaints against accredited 

organizations by requiring the reporting 

of any serious problems identified with 

an MA plan to the designated CMS MA 

deeming representative. 

B. Term of Approval 

Based on the review and observations 

described in section III of this final 

notice, we have determined that 

NCQA’s accreditation program 

requirements continue to meet or 

exceed our requirements. Therefore, we 

renew NCQA as a national accreditation 

organization with deeming authority for 

MA HMOs and PPOs, effective October 

19, 2014 through October 18, 2020. 

V. Collection of Information 

Requirements 

This document does not impose any 

new or revised information collection or 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Consequently, it need not be reviewed 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget under the authority of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

Dated: August 15, 2014. 

Marilyn Tavenner, 

Administrator, Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. 2014–20446 Filed 8–26–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Title: Personal Responsibility 

Education Program (PREP) MultiComponent Evaluation—Data Collection 

Related to the Design and 

Implementation Study. 

OMB No.: 0970–0398. 

Description: The Office of Data 

Analysis, Research, and Evaluation 

(HHS/ACF/ACYF/ODARE) in the 

Administration for Children, Youth and 

Families (ACYF) and the Office of 

Planning, Research, and Evaluation 

(HHS/ACF/OPRE) in the Administration 

for Children and Families (ACF) 

propose a data collection activity as part 

of the Personal Responsibility Education 

Program (PREP) Multi-Component 

Evaluation. 

The goals of the PREP MultiComponent Evaluation are to document 

how PREP programs are designed and 

implemented in the field, collect 

performance measure data for PREP 

programs, and assess the effectiveness of 

selected PREP-funded programs. 

The PREP Multi-Component 

Evaluation contains three components: 

The ‘‘Design and Implementation 

Study,’’ the ‘‘Performance Analysis 

Study,’’ and the ‘‘Impact and In-Depth 

Implementation Study.’’ This notice is 

specific to data collection activities for 

the implementation portion of the 

Design and Implementation Study. 

The goals of this portion of the study 

are to document how States and subawardees actually implemented their 

PREP programs, given their program 

designs. In order to meet this goal, both 

State PREP Administrators and a 

selection of sub-awardee program 

providers will be interviewed. The 

interviews will be used to understand 

important aspects of implementation, 

such as training, technical assistance 

and program fidelity monitoring. 

Respondents: State grantee staff; State 

training and technical assistance staff; 

State program evaluator staff program 

providers. 

Instrument Total number 

of respondents 

Annual 

number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden hours 

per response 

Total annual 

burden hours 

Implementation Survey Interview Topic Guide: State-level 

Respondents .................................................................... 16 6 1 1 6 

Implementation Survey Interview Topic Guide: Providerlevel Respondents ............................................................ 16 6 1 1 6 

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