This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

54955 

Vol. 79, No. 178 

Monday, September 15, 2014 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Economic Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Request Renewal of 

a Currently Approved Information 

Collection 

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice invites the general public and 

other public agencies to send comments 

regarding any aspect of this information 

collection. This notice announces the 

intention of the Economic Research 

Service to request a renewal to a 

currently approved information 

collection, namely a pilot generic 

clearance for experimental economic 

research. 

DATES: Written comments on this notice 

must be received on or before November 

14, 2014 to be assured of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments 

concerning this notice to Nathaniel 

Higgins, Resource and Rural Economics 

Division, Economic Research Service, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW., Mail Stop 

1800, Room 6–135B, Washington, DC 

20250–0002. Comments may also be 

submitted via fax to the attention of 

Nathaniel Higgins at 202–245–4847 or 

via email to nhiggins@ers.usda.gov. 

All written comments will be open for 

public inspection at the office of the 

Economic Research Service during 

regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 

p.m., Monday through Friday) at 355 E 

St. SW., Room 6–135B, Washington, DC 

20024–3221. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for Office of Management and Budget 

approval. All comments and replies will 

be a matter of public record. Comments 

are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) 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; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Nathaniel 

Higgins at the mailing address in the 

preamble. Tel. 202–694–5602. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: A Pilot Generic Clearance for 

Experimental Economic Research. 

OMB Number: 0536–0070. 

Expiration Date: November 30, 2014. 

Type of Request: Renewal of a 

currently approved information 

collection. 

Abstract: The Economic Research 

Service (ERS) of the United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

requests approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

renewal of a pilot generic clearance that 

allows ERS to conduct experimental 

economic research into the costeffectiveness of alternative policy 

mechanisms. ERS offers policy-relevant 

research to its stakeholders, including 

other agencies of the USDA, but does 

not offer recommendations or make 

policy decisions itself. Research 

conducted under the expected clearance 

will be used to assess features of 

alternative policy mechanisms, but will 

not be used for the purposes making 

regulatory decisions; ERS does not 

intend to use the information collected 

under this approval for the purposes of 

developing or evaluating specific 

policies. ERS will not conduct any 

experiments which alter a government 

program. ERS has no regulatory or 

program authority with which to 

conduct such an experiment. 

The primary mission of ERS is to 

provide economic and other social 

science information and analysis for 

public and private decisions on 

agriculture, food, natural resources, and 

rural America. ERS has constructed a set 

of key strategic goals in support of this 

mission. Research conducted under this 

generic clearance will further an 

ongoing initiative that would use 

insights from behavioral economics to 

provide economic intelligence, research, 

and analysis to inform agricultural 

resource and conservation policies. 

Information collected from these 

experiments will allow ERS to develop 

and implement state-of-the-art research 

methodologies to better inform and 

advance scientific understanding for its 

customers in response to both specific 

requests and in anticipation of future 

need. 

ERS envisions using a number of 

research techniques, as appropriate to 

the individual investigation. These 

include laboratory and field techniques, 

exploratory interviews, pilot 

experiments, and respondent debriefing. 

Laboratory and field techniques are two 

methodologies based on comparison of 

outcomes over groups that have been 

randomized into different treatments. 

This request is being sought as a 

continuing pilot of the concept of using 

a generic approval mechanism for those 

types of experiments. As such, 

experiments will be limited to two topic 

areas: Conservation and nutrition. 

Following standard OMB 

requirements ERS will submit to OMB 

individually for review of each specific 

experiment it undertakes under this 

generic clearance and provide OMB 

with all materials associated with the 

experiment. 

Authority: Legislative authority for the 

planned information collection are 7 U.S.C. 

2204(a) and 7 U.S.C. 2026(a)(1). 

ERS intends to protect respondent 

information under the Privacy Act of 

1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002. 

ERS has decided not to invoke the 

Confidential Information Protection and 

Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 

(CIPSEA). The complexity and cost 

necessary to invoke CIPSEA is not 

justified given the nature of the 

collection; the collections would 

generally be designed to be hosted in 

university computer labs, where 

CIPSEA compliance could not be 

assured. 

Consistent with the Privacy Act and 

the E-Government Act, a Systems of 

Records Notice (SORN) and a Privacy 

Impact Assessment (PIA) will be 

submitted for approval, as appropriate. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
54956 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 178 / Monday, September 15, 2014 / Notices 

The SORN and PIA will document the 

ways in which participant personally 

identifiable information will be 

collected, stored, and accessed. Data 

will be managed for research purposes 

only. 

Specific details regarding information 

handling will be specified in individual 

submissions under this generic 

clearance, but will conform to these 

broad guidelines. 

Affected Public: Respondents will 

include individuals and households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents 

and Respondent Burden: In all cases, 

participation will be voluntary and time 

commitments will be minimal (15–90 

minutes). No experiments will put 

participants at risk of physical, 

monetary, or psychological harm. No 

data collection is estimated to take 

longer than 90 minutes per respondent, 

including the time required for 

respondents and non-respondents to 

review instructions and participate in 

the data collection. 

The estimated number of respondents 

participating in data collections under 

this generic clearance over an eighteen 

months period is 6,900. The maximum 

total estimated response burden for all 

of those participating in the study is 

7,025 hours. 

Type of research instrument 

Estimated 

number of 

respondents 

Estimated 

number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden-hours 

per response 

Estimated total 

burden hours 

requested 

Laboratory study ........................................................................................... 4,240 1 1.5 (90 mins) .... 6,360 

Field study .................................................................................................... 2,660 1 ≤1 (15 mins) ..... 665 

Total ....................................................................................................... 6,900 ........................ ........................... 7,025 

Dated: September 4, 2014. 

Mary Bohman, 

Administrator, Economic Research Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–21904 Filed 9–12–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Foreign Agricultural Service 

Notice of Request for Approval of a 

New Information Collection 

AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice 

announces the intention of the Foreign 

Agricultural Service to request approval 

for a new information collection for 

General Administrative Policy for CostReimbursable Agreements. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by November 14, 2014 to be 

assured of consideration. 

Additional Information or Comments: 

Contact: Chris Coppenbarger, Grants 

Management Officer, Office of the Chief 

Operating Officer, MS–3118, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW., Washington, 

DC 20250; Tel: (202) 720–2568, Fax: 

(202) 690–4029, Email: 

christopher.coppenbarger@fas.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Foreign Agricultural Service 

(FAS) of the United States Department 

of Agriculture (USDA) intends to 

establish uniform guidelines for the use, 

award and administration of costreimbursable agreements entered into 

under the authority of 7 U.S.C. 3319a 

and subsequently to publish regulations 

on the use, award, and administration of 

such agreements. The intended effect is 

to issue agency regulations to reflect 

current statutory authority and longheld agency business practices. 

Title: General Administrative Policy 

for Cost-Reimbursable Agreements. 

OMB Number: 0551–New. 

Expiration Date of Approval: Three 

years from approval date. 

Type of Request: New information 

collection. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average 4.0 hours per 

response. 

Type of Respondents: U.S. institutions 

of higher education. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

250. 

Estimated Number of Responses: 750. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 3,000. 

Copies of this information collection 

can be obtained from Connie Ehrhart, 

the Agency Information Collection 

Coordinator, at (202) 690–1578 or email 

at Connie.Ehrhart@fas.usda.gov. 

Abstract: This information collection 

is required to support the planned FAS 

guidelines and regulations regarding 

‘‘General Administrative Policy for Costreimbursable Agreements’’ for 

agreements entered into under 7 U.S.C. 

3319a. These guidelines establish the 

requirements for participation in the 

following FAS programs listed in the 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: 

10.613, Faculty Exchange Program; 

10.614, Scientific Cooperation Exchange 

Program with China; 10.777, Norman E. 

Borlaug International Agricultural 

Science and Technology Fellowship; 

10.960, Technical Agricultural 

Assistance; 10.961, Scientific 

Cooperation and Research Program; 

10.962, Cochran Fellowship ProgramInternational Training-Foreign 

Participant. This information collection 

is necessary for FAS to manage, plan, 

and evaluate these programs and to 

ensure the proper and judicious use of 

government resources. Without the 

information collection, FAS would not 

be able to conduct any of the activities 

falling under the authorities and 

instruments listed above (i.e., the 

agency would not be able to develop 

projects, make or receive payments, 

monitor projects, identify financial and 

accounting errors, report to 

www.usaspending.gov, etc.). 

FAS will determine the specific 

means of collection that will be used 

based on the availability of technology 

and, as applicable, (1) an informal 

agreement of FAS and the respondent, 

(2) the terms of a signed agreement 

between FAS and the respondent, or (3) 

the provision of written, procedural 

rules made publicly available by FAS to 

the respondent. The information will be 

collected via phone calls, emails, fax, 

postal mail, person-to-person meetings, 

as data entry into grant management 

system(s), and/or any other commonly 

used means of communication available 

to both parties. FAS will encourage the 

respondent to use modern information 

technology to reduce the administrative 

burden whenever possible. Respondents 

that meet user criteria and choose to 

utilize the FAS’s electronic grants 

management system will not be required 

to provide duplicate information for 

subsequent or current transactions. Any 

party may initiate a conversation at any 

time to discuss the possibility of 

entering into a non-assistance 

cooperative agreement. 

FAS uses the following forms to 

obtain information from respondents 


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