Date: April 20, 2015 

From: Brian Clapp/DC/USEPA/US 

To (bcc): Mark Rossolo, UL mark.rossolo@ul.com

 Jessica Evans, NSF jevans@nsf.org

 Mark Petruzzi, Green Seal mpetruzzi@greenseal.org

 Brad Miller, BIFMA bmiller@bifma.org

 Dean Thompson, Resilient Floor Coverings dean.thompson@rfci.com

 Bridgett Luther, Cradle to Cradle bridgett@c2certified.org

 Robert Frisbee, Green Electronics Council rfrisbee@greenelectronicscouncil.org

 Steve Mawn, ASTM smawn@astm.org

 Anne Calas, ANSI acaldas@ansi.org

 

Subject: Request for Assistance; “Assessment of Environmental Performance 

Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Procurement” ICR

 

On March 19, 2015, EPA published a Notice in the Federal Register (80 FR 06275) titled 

“Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Assessment 

of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Procurement; EPA ICR No. 

2516.01, OMB Control No. 2070-new.” (See 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2014-0838-0001) This Notice 

refers to EPA's intention to request new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance of 

an information collection related to the assessment of environmental performance standards and 

ecolabels for Federal procurement.

In addition to public notice and comment requirement that the above Notice initiates, OMB 

regulations at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1)) require agencies to consult with potential respondents and 

data users about specific aspects of an information collection request (ICR) before submitting it 

to OMB for review and approval, regardless, in the case of ICR renewals, of whether changes 

have or have not been made to the collection activity.

As part of this required consultation, I am contacting you to solicit your input. Please note that if 

you take this opportunity to provide input, your name, affiliation, e-mail address, phone number 

and any information you provide (e.g., copies of e-mails) will be incorporated and attached to the 

ICR supporting statement, which will be a public document. In addition, the OMB Desk 

Examiner for the ICR in question may contact you to verify the accuracy of any comments EPA 

identifies in the ICR.

EPA solicits your input on the following questions:

Are the data that EPA seeks under this ICR available from any public source, or already 

collected by another EPA office or by another agency? If so, where can the data be found?
Is it clear what is required for data submission? If not, are there any suggestions for clarifying 

instructions?

Would you be interested in an electronic/data submission option? What type of alternative 

would you be most likely to utilize – web form, diskette, CD-ROM? 

For electronic submission, how should signature requirements be handled – Private Key

Infrastructure, PINS and passwords, signed paper cover sheet?

Do you agree with EPA's estimated burden and costs (the ICR addresses only the costs 

associated with paperwork)? Are the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) labor rates accurate? If 

you have any reason to consider the BLS labor rates as used by EPA inaccurate or inappropriate, 

explain your rationale.

To access the Federal Register Notice, the ICR supporting document, and any public comments 

received to date, go to: 

o www.regulations.gov/

o enter EPA-HQ-OPPT-2014-0838 in the Enter Keyword or ID field

o click on "Search"

o then click on any of the documents listed within the docket to read the document; you will be 

most interested in the Supporting Statement, identified by its title beginning "Information 

Collection Request..."

Your response will be greatly appreciated. If you have any comments in response to the above 

questions, or with respect to any other part of the information collection, please respond by 

return e-mail by May 18, 2015. EPA will consider those responses, as well as any public 

comment received in response to the Federal Register Notice identified above, in preparing a 

final document for OMB review.

Thank you for your assistance. 

Sincerely yours,

Brian Clapp, Environmental Protection Specialist

Chemistry, Economics, and Sustainable Strategies Division

Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics/Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention 

Environmental Protection Agency

Washington, DC 20460

202-564-8838