Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 169 / Wednesday, August 31, 2011 / Notices 54243 

According to Federal Procurement 

Data System-Next Generation (FPDS– 

NG) the number of Post-Contract award 

information has increased each year 

over the past two years in annual 

respondent and burden hours. This 

increase is the result of a new estimate 

of awards, which contributes to the 

Post-Award information that is 

collected. This collection was 

previously approved by OMB on 

January 26, 2009. This collection will be 

submitted to OMB for review to request 

approval to extend the collection past 

the current expiration date of January 

31, 2011. There are no proposed 

changes to the information being 

collected, instructions, frequency of the 

collection or the use of the information 

being collected. 

The Office of Management and Budget 

is particularly interested in comments 

which: 

1. Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

4. Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses. 

Analysis 

Agency: Office of Chief Procurement 

Officer, DHS. 

Title: Post-Award Contract 

Information. 

OMB Number: 1600–0003. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Affected Public: Private sector. 

Number of Respondents: 8,000. 

Estimated Time per Respondent: 14 

hours. 

Total Burden Hours: 336,000. 

Dated: August 22, 2011. 

Richard Spires, 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2011–22236 Filed 8–30–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–9B–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Solicitation of Proposal 

Information for Award of Public 

Contracts 

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Procurement 

Officer, DHS. 

ACTION: 60-Day Notice and request for 

comments; Extension without change of 

a currently approved collection. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland 

Security, Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer, will submit the 

following Information Collection 

Request (ICR) to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and clearance in accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 

35). 

DATES: Comments are encouraged and 

will be accepted until October 31, 2011. 

This process is conducted in accordance 

with 5 CFR 1320.1. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

questions about this Information 

Collection Request should be forwarded 

to the Office of Chief Procurement 

Officer, Acquisition Policy and 

Legislation Office, DHS Attn.: Camara 

Francis, Department of Homeland 

Security, Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer, Room 3114, 

Washington, DC 20528, 

Camara.Francis@hq.dhs.gov, 202–447– 

5904. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) and the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer (OCPO) collect 

information when inviting firms to 

submit bids, proposals, and offers for 

public contracts for supplies and 

services. The information collection is 

necessary for compliance with the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR); 

48 CFR chapter 1, the Federal Property 

and Administrative Services Act 

(Division C of Title 41), under the Small 

Business Innovative Research (SBIR) 

and Small Business Technology 

Transfer (STTR) programs 15 U.S.C. 

628. 

For solicitations to contract made 

through a variety of means, whether 

conducted orally or in writing, 

contracting officers normally request 

information from prospective offerors 

such as pricing information, delivery 

schedule compliance, and whether the 

offeror has the resources (both human 

and financial) to accomplish 

requirements. Examples of the kinds of 

information collected can be found in 

the FAR at FAR 13.106–1, 13.106–3, 

13.302–1, –3, –5, subpart 13.5, subpart 

14.2, subpart 15.2, subpart 6.1, and 

subpart 35. 

Examples where collections of 

information occur in soliciting for 

supplies/services include the issuance 

of draft Requests for Proposal (RFP), 

Requests for Information (RFI), and 

Broad Agency Announcements (BAA). 

The Government generally issues an 

RFP using the uniform contract format 

(FAR 15.204–1) with the intent of 

awarding a contract to one or more 

prospective offerors. The RFP can 

require those interested in making an 

offer to provide information in the 

following areas: schedule (FAR 15.204– 

2); contract clauses (FAR 15.204–3); list 

of documents, exhibits and other 

attachments (FAR 15.204–4) or 

representations and instructions 

(15.204–5). 

FAR 15.201(e) authorizes agencies to 

issue RFIs when an agency ‘‘does not 

presently intend to award a contract, but 

wants to obtain price, delivery, other 

market information, or capabilities for 

planning purposes’’. RFIs solicit 

responses from the public. Similarly, 

FAR 35.106 authorizes Federal agencies 

to use BAAs to ‘‘fulfill their 

requirements for scientific study and 

experimentation directed toward 

advancing the state-of-the-art or 

increasing knowledge or understanding 

rather than focusing on a specific 

system or hardware solution.’’ 

The DHS Science and Technology 

(S&T) Directorate issues BAAs soliciting 

white papers and proposals from the 

public. DHS S&T evaluates white papers 

and proposals received from the public 

in response to a DHS S&T BAA using 

the evaluation criteria specified in the 

BAA through a peer or scientific review 

process in accordance with FAR 

35.016(d). White paper evaluation 

determines those research ideas that 

merit submission of a full proposal and 

proposal evaluation determines those 

proposals that merit selection for 

contract award. Unclassified white 

papers and proposals are typically 

collected via the DHS S&T BAA secure 

Web site, while classified white papers 

and proposals must be submitted via 

proper classified courier or proper 

classified mailing procedures as 

described in the National Industrial 

Security Program Operating Manual 

(NSPOM). 

Federal agencies with an annual 

extramural research and development 

(R&D) budget exceeding $100 million 

are required to participate in the SBIR 

Program. Similarly, Federal agencies 

with an extramural R&D budget 


jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
54244 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 169 / Wednesday, August 31, 2011 / Notices 

exceeding $1 billion are required to 

participate in the STTR Program. 

Federal agencies who participate in 

the SBIR and STTR programs must 

collect information from the public to: 

(1) Meet their reporting requirements 

under 15 U.S.C. 638 (b)(7), (g)(8), (i), 

(j)(1)(E), (j)(3)(C), (l), (o)(10), and (v); (2) 

Meet the requirement to maintain both 

a publicly accessible database of SBIR/ 

STTR award information and a 

government database of SBIR/STTR 

award information for SBIR and STTR 

program evaluation under 15 U.S.C. 638 

g(10), (k), (o)(9), and (o)(15); and (3) 

Meet requirements for public outreach 

under 15 U.S.C. 638 (j)(2)(F), (o)(14), 

and (s). 

DHS is not asking for anything 

outside of what is already required in 

the FAR. Should anything outside the 

FAR arise, DHS will submit a request for 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) approval. The prior information 

collect request for OMB No. 1600–005 

was approved through October 31, 2011 

by OMB in a Notice of OMB Action. 

The information being collected is 

used by the Government’s contracting 

officers and other acquisition personnel, 

including technical and legal staffs to 

determine adequacy of technical and 

management approach, experience, 

responsibility, responsiveness, expertise 

of the firms submitting offers, 

identification of members of the public 

(i.e., small businesses) who qualify for, 

and are interested in participating in, 

the DHS SBIR Program, facilitate SBIR 

outreach to the public, and provide the 

DHS SBIR Program Office necessary and 

sufficient information to determine that 

proposals submitted by the public to the 

DHS SBIR Program meet criteria for 

consideration under the program. 

Failure to collect this information 

would adversely affect the quality of 

products and services DHS receives 

from contractors. Potentially, contracts 

would be awarded to firms without 

sufficient experience and expertise, 

thereby placing the Department’s 

operations in jeopardy. Defective and 

inadequate contractor deliverables 

would adversely affect DHS’s 

fulfillment of the mission requirements 

in all areas. Additionally, the 

Department would be unsuccessful in 

identifying small businesses with 

research and development (R&D) 

capabilities, which would adversely 

affect the mission requirements in this 

area. 

Many sources of the requested 

information use automated word 

processing systems, databases, emails, 

and, in some cases, web portals to 

facilitate preparation of material to be 

submitted and to post and collect 

information. It is commonplace within 

many of DHS’s Components for 

submissions to be electronic as a result 

of implementation of e-Government 

initiatives. 

DHS S&T uses information technology 

(i.e., electronic web portals) in the 

collection of information to reduce the 

data gathering and records management 

burden. DHS S&T uses a secure Web site 

which the public can propose SBIR 

research topics and submit proposals in 

response to SBIR solicitations. In 

addition, DHS uses a web portal to 

review RFIs and register to submit a 

white paper or proposal in response to 

a specific BAA. The data collection 

forms standardize the collection of 

information that is necessary and 

sufficient for the DHS SBIR Program 

Office to meet its requirements under 15 

U.S.C. 638. 

According to Federal Procurement 

Data System (FPDS) and Federal 

Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps), 

the number of competitive solicitations 

and award actions has increased each 

over the past three years, thereby 

increasing the universe of possible 

respondents to DHS and its 

Components’ solicitations. However, an 

increase in the information collection 

burden associated with the gathering of 

additional information to support the 

evaluation of solicitation responses has 

been offset, by the use of electronic web 

portals, such as CCR, FAPIIS, those used 

to submit SBIR research topics and 

submit response to DHS SBIR 

solicitations. Additionally, electronic 

web portals are used to collect 

unclassified white papers and proposals 

to reduce the data gathering and records 

management burden for BAAs. 

In addition to issuance of solicitations 

over the Internet or electronic systems; 

increased use of oral presentations in 

lieu of written proposals, permitted 

under FAR 15.102; and increased use of 

combined contract action notices/ 

requests for proposals, as encouraged by 

FAR 12.603, are contributing to the 

relative stability of DHS’s information 

collection burden to the public. There is 

no change in the information being 

collected. 

The Office of Management and Budget 

is particularly interested in comments 

which: 

1. Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

4. Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses. 

Analysis: 

Agency: Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer, DHS. 

Title: Solicitation of Proposal 

Information for Award of Public 

Contracts. 

OMB Number: 1600–0005. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Affected Public: Private sector. 

Number of Respondents: 17,180. 

Estimated Time per Respondent: 13 

hours. 

Total Burden Hours: 721,560. 

Dated: August 22, 2011. 

Richard Spires, 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2011–22237 Filed 8–30–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–9B–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

[Docket No. DHS–2011–0043] 

Telecommunications Service Priority 

System 

AGENCY: National Protection and 

Programs Directorate, DHS. 

ACTION: 30-Day Notice and request for 

comments; Extension, without change, 

of a currently approved collection. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS), National Protection and 

Programs Directorate (NPPD), Office of 

Cybersecurity and Communications 

(CS&C), National Communications 

System (NCS) will submit the following 

information collection request (ICR) to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and clearance in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–13, 

44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). DHS is soliciting 

comments concerning Extension, 

without change, of a currently approved 

collection: 1670–0005, 

Telecommunications Service Priority 

(TSP) System. DHS previously 

published this information collection 

request (ICR) in the Federal Register, 76 

FR 2011–13953 (June 7, 2011), for a 60- 

day public comment period. No 


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