Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Notices 4107 

4 85 FR 50035 (Aug. 17, 2020). The Attorney 

General, in consultation with the Chairman of the 

Federal Trade Commission, made the required 

finding that the purpose of the voluntary agreement 

may not reasonably be achieved through an 

agreement having less anticompetitive effects or 

without any voluntary agreement and published the 

finding in the Federal Register on the same day. 85 

FR 50049 (Aug. 17, 2020). 

5See 85 FR 78869 (Dec. 7, 2020). See also 85 FR 

79020 (Dec. 8, 2020). 

6See 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(7). 

7 ‘‘[T]he individual designated by the President in 

subsection (c)(2) [of section 708 of the DPA] to 

administer the voluntary agreement, or plan of 

action.’’ 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(7). 

8Under 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(8), the Sponsor 

generally must publish in the Federal Register prior 

notice of any meeting held to carry out a voluntary 

agreement or plan of action. However, when the 

Sponsor finds that the matters to be discussed at 

such meeting fall within the purview of matters 

described in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c), notice of the meeting 

may instead be published in the Federal Register 

within ten days of the date of the meeting. See 50 

U.S.C. 4558(h)(8). 

Respond to a Pandemic’’ (Voluntary 

Agreement).4 Unless terminated prior to 

that date, the Voluntary Agreement is 

effective until August 17, 2025, and may 

be extended subject to additional 

approval by the Attorney General after 

consultation with the Chairman of the 

Federal Trade Commission. The 

Agreement may be used to prepare for 

or respond to any pandemic, including 

COVID–19, during that time. 

On December 7, 2020, the first plan of 

action under the Voluntary 

Agreement—the Plan of Action to 

Establish a National Strategy for the 

Manufacture, Allocation, and 

Distribution of Personal Protective 

Equipment (PPE) to Respond to COVID– 

19 (Plan of Action)—was finalized.5 The 

Plan of Action established several subcommittees under the Voluntary 

Agreement, focusing on different 

aspects of the Plan of Action. 

The meetings were chaired by the 

FEMA Administrator or his delegate, 

and attended by the Attorney General or 

his delegate and the Chairman of the 

Federal Trade Commission or his 

delegate. In implementing the Voluntary 

Agreement, FEMA adheres to all 

procedural requirements of 50 U.S.C. 

4558 and 44 CFR part 332. 

Meeting Objectives: The objectives of 

the meetings were to: 

(1) Establish priorities for COVID–19 

PPE under the Voluntary Agreement; 

(2) Identify tasks that should be 

completed under specific subcommittees; and 

(3) Identify information gaps and 

areas that merit sharing (from both 

FEMA to private sector and vice versa). 

Meetings Closed to the Public: By 

default, the DPA requires meetings held 

to implement a voluntary agreement or 

plan of action be open to the public.6

However, attendance may be limited if 

the Sponsor 7 of the voluntary 

agreement finds that the matter to be 

discussed at a meeting falls within the 

purview of matters described in 5 U.S.C. 

552b(c). The Sponsor of the Voluntary 

Agreement, the FEMA Administrator, 

found that these meetings to implement 

the Voluntary Agreement involved 

matters which fell within the purview of 

matters described in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) 

and were therefore closed to the public.8

Specifically, the meetings to 

implement the Voluntary Agreement 

could have required participants to 

disclose trade secrets or commercial or 

financial information that is privileged 

or confidential. Disclosure of such 

information is a basis for closing 

meetings pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

552b(c)(4). In addition, the success of 

the Voluntary Agreement depends 

wholly on the willing and enthusiastic 

participation of private sector 

participants. Failure to close these 

meetings could have had a strong 

chilling effect on participation by the 

private sector and caused a substantial 

risk that sensitive information would be 

prematurely released to the public, 

resulting in participants withdrawing 

their support from the Voluntary 

Agreement and thus significantly 

frustrating the implementation of the 

Voluntary Agreement. Frustration of an 

agency’s objective due to premature 

disclosure of information allows for the 

closure of a meeting to pursuant to 5 

U.S.C. 552b(c)(9)(B). 

Pete Gaynor, 

Administrator, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00893 Filed 1–14–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–19–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

[Docket Number DHS–2021–0004] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: COVID–19 Contact Tracing, 

COVID–19 Contact Tracing Scripts, 

COVID–19 Contact Tracing Form 

AGENCY: Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS). 

ACTION: 60-day notice and request for 

comments; extension without change of 

a currently approved collection, 1601– 

0027. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland 

Security, 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. 

DATES: Comments are encouraged and 

will be accepted until March 16, 2021. 

This process is conducted in accordance 

with 5 CFR 1320.1 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by docket number Docket # 

DHS–1601–0027, at: 

Æ Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Please follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number Docket # DHS–1601– 

0027. All comments received will be 

posted without change to http://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

COVID–19 Contact Tracing 

information is necessary to support the 

President’s National Guidelines for all 

phases of Opening Up America Again. 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) M–20–23Memorandum for 

Heads of Executive Department requires 

employers to develop and implement 

policies and procedures for workforce 

contact tracing following an employee’s 

COVID–19 positive test. The M–20–23 

Memorandum requires symptomatic 

Federal employees and contractors to 

follow their Agency’s process if they are 

symptomatic or test positive for COVID– 

19. It specifies that the agency processes 

should protect the anonymity and 

privacy of Federal employees and 

contractors, to the extent possible, while 

disclosing only the information 

necessary for agencies to take 

appropriate actions of notifying 

potentially affected employees and 

cleaning the facility. Additionally, per 

the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention guidance entitled Get and 

Keep America Open, COVID–19 Contact 

Tracing is essential to reduce the spread 

of COVID–19. Furthermore, in response 

to the Coronavirus Pandemic, public 

health leaders are calling for 

communities around the country to 

ramp up capacity and implement a 

massive contact tracing effort to control 

spread of the Coronavirus. The response 

and recovery from the effect of COVID– 

19 will continue to present Federal 

agencies with unprecedented 

challenges, as well as opportunities for 

improvement, that require new 

processes and practices such as COVID– 

19 Contact Tracing to keep the 

workforce and the public safe. As DHS 

plans to reconstitute the workforce, it is 

4108 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Notices 

essential to have an internal DHS 

Contact Tracing Program that protects 

the workforce and our families by 

preventing further spread of COVID–19. 

Note: In the following responses the 

term employee is used to include 

federal employee, contractor, detailee, 

volunteer, and intern. 

Authority 

DHS is authorized to collect the 

information pursuant to Section 319 of 

the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 

U.S.C. 274d); DHS Chief Medical 

Officer’s authorities pursuant to 6 U.S.C. 

350 and 6 U.S.C. 597; 6 U.S.C. 464; 21 

U.S.C. 360bbb-3; 40 U.S.C. 1315; 42 

U.S.C. 97; American with Disabilities 

Act, including 42 U.S.C. 12112(d)(3), 29 

CFR 1630.2(r), 1630.14(b), (c) Workforce 

safety federal requirements, including 

the Occupational Safety and Health Act 

of 1970, Executive Order 12196, 5 

U.S.C. 7902; 29 U.S.C. Chapter 15 (e.g., 

29 U.S.C. 668), 29 CFR part 1904, 29 

CFR 1910.1020, and 29 CFR 1960.66. 

This is a new collection for the 

agency. The contract tracing process is 

triggered when an employee voluntarily 

self-reports to their supervisor that they 

are COVID–19 positive. The supervisor 

will provide the employee’s name and 

contact information to a DHS 

Supervisory Contact Tracer. The 

Supervisory Contact tracer will assign a 

Contact Tracer to contact and interview 

the COVID–19 positive employee and 

obtain a list of employees the COVID– 

19 positive employee was in close 

contact with, as well as locations in the 

DHS worksite that the COVID–19 

positive employee visited for 15 

minutes or more. The Contact Tracer 

will call the exposed employees to 

inform them that were exposed by a 

DHS COVID–19 positive employee so 

they can take appropriate precautions in 

minimizing exposure to other DHS 

personnel and speak with their 

supervisor to discuss their work status. 

The contact tracer will not disclose the 

name or any other personally 

identifiable information regarding the 

COVID–19 positive employee to the 

exposed employees. The contact tracer 

will inform the exposed employee to 

notify their supervisor, contracting 

company (contractors only), medical 

provider, and local public health 

authorities to get instructions. The 

purpose of contact tracing is to control 

the spread of COVID–19 in the 

workforce. 

The following information will be 

collected from the respondent: 

—Name (first and last) 

—COVID–19 lab test result 

—Component Name 

—Office address 

—Personal phone number (Mobile or 

Home) 

—Work phone number 

—Work email address 

—Where is your primary site of work 

(e.g., department, floor, field desk 

location) 

—Supervisor Name (First and Last) 

—Supervisor’s Phone Number 

—Supervisor’s Email 

—All activities, floors visited in the 

DHS work site, meeting attended 

(including lunches, etc.) that the 

COVID–19 positive employee 

participated in starting 48 hours 

before their first COVID–19 symptoms 

began 

—Last date worked in a DHS worksite 

—Names (first and last) of federal 

employees, contractors, detailees, 

interns, volunteers who the COVID– 

19 positive employee was in close 

contact with, along with the close 

contacts’ work email addresses, work 

phone numbers, and the last dates of 

contact. 

The collection of information will be 

automated using Service Now, the 

existing DHS Information Technology 

Help desk ticketing platform. Service 

Now will be modified to be used as the 

COVID–19 reporting tool. The COVID– 

19 positive employee will voluntarily 

inform their supervisor that they are 

COVID–19 positive. The COVID–19 

positive employee or their supervisor 

will create a new ticket in the COVID– 

19 reporting tool and include locations 

in the office that they were in for 15 

minutes or more (to initiate facility 

cleaning) and names of employees they 

were in close contact with for 15 

minutes or more (to identify exposed 

individuals to notify). The COVID–19 

reporting tool will create a ticket and 

route this to the employee’s supervisor 

and the supervisory contract tracer. The 

supervisory contact tracer will assign 

the case (ticket) to the contact tracer. 

The contact tracer will call the COVID– 

19 positive employee to verify 

information submitted by the employee. 

The Contact Tracer will call the exposed 

employees to inform them that were 

exposed to a DHS COVID–19 positive 

employee so they can take appropriate 

precautions in minimizing exposure to 

other DHS personnel and speak with 

their supervisor to discuss their work 

status as detailed in response #2. 

The basis of the decision for adopting 

Service Now as a contact tracing 

reporting/collection tool are: Service 

now is an existing operating system 

with an approved Authority to Operate 

and is in accordance with DHS IT 

policies, procedures, and controls. 

Using information technology helps to 

streamline the process, adds uniformity, 

and reduces the burden on the contact 

tracer. The system includes an active 

directory for all DHS personnel, and 

contains the data collection, routing, 

reporting, and tracking capability 

required to automate contact tracing 

reporting, case (ticket) assignment and 

disposition. 

This information collection request 

will not impact small businesses or 

other small entities. 

In response to the Coronavirus 

Pandemic, public health leaders are 

calling for communities around the 

country to ramp up capacity and 

implement a massive contact tracing 

effort to control spread of the 

Coronavirus. The response and recovery 

from the effect of COVID–19 will 

continue to present Federal agencies 

with unprecedented challenges, as well 

as opportunities for improvement, that 

require new processes and practices 

such as COVID–19 Contact Tracing to 

keep the workforce and the public safe. 

As DHS plans to reconstitute the 

workforce, it is essential to have an 

internal DHS Contact Tracing Program 

that protects the workforce and our 

families. It is also essential to comply 

with requirements in the President’s 

National Guidelines for all phases of 

Opening Up America Again, the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) M– 

20–23 Memorandum for Heads of 

Executive Department, the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention 

guidance entitled Get and Keep America 

Open, and for DHS to fulfill its overall 

mission. If DHS does not establish an 

internal COVID–19 Contact Tracing 

program capable of quickly identifying, 

isolating, tracking, and being aware of 

potential office outbreaks and workforce 

exposures, COVID–19 can unknowingly 

spread throughout the DHS workspace 

and negatively impact mission readiness 

and National Security. 

As required by the COVID–19 Contact 

Tracing Script, the Contact Tracer is 

required to read the following statement 

at the beginning of the call with each 

respondent: 

‘‘Before we begin, I would like to provide 

you with the following privacy notice: 

DHS is requesting information as part of 

this call for the purpose of maintaining 

and ensuring a healthy workforce and a 

safe DHS workspace. Further, this 

information will help the Department in 

slowing down the spread of COVID–19 

by notifying those individuals who may 

have been exposed to the disease so that 

they can take appropriate precautions 

in minimizing exposure to other DHS 

personnel and DHS-affiliated personnel. 

As such, DHS may use the information 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Notices 4109 

I collect from you to provide 

notifications to other potentially 

exposed personnel. No personally 

identifiable information will be shared 

on you to those personnel in an 

identifiable format. However, 

information contained from this call 

may be shared with my supervisory 

contact tracer to ensure data is 

appropriately collected. In addition, if 

you report symptoms of COVID–19, this 

information may be shared with your 

supervisor so that he or she may work 

with you on your work status. Further, 

no personally identifiable information 

collected from this call will be shared 

outside of DHS. This collection is 

voluntary. However, your participation 

is requested because contact tracing is 

a key strategy for preventing further 

spread of COVID–19.’’ 

The following Privacy Notice is 

Imprinted on the COVID–19 Contact 

Tracing Script and Form 

WARNING: This document is FOR 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY (FOUO). It 

contains information that may be 

exempt from public release under the 

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 

552) and the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C 552a). 

It is to be controlled, stored, handled, 

transmitted, distributed, and disposed 

of in accordance with DHS policy 

relating to FOUO information and is not 

to be released to the public or other 

personnel who do not have a valid 

‘‘need-to-know’’ without prior approval 

of an authorized DHS official. 

The Following Privacy Act Statement Is 

for the Service Now COVID–19 Contact 

Tracing Reporting Tool 

Contact Tracing Privacy Act Statement 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(3), this 

Privacy Act Statement serves to inform 

you of why DHS is requesting the 

information that will be collected by 

this information system. 

Authority 

DHS is authorized to collect the 

information pursuant to Section 319 of 

the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 

U.S.C. 274d); DHS Chief Medical 

Officer’s authorities pursuant to 6 U.S.C. 

350 and 6 U.S.C. 597; 6 U.S.C. 464; 21 

U.S.C. 360bbb-3; 40 U.S.C. 1315; 42 

U.S.C. 97; American with Disabilities 

Act, including 42 U.S.C. 12112(d)(3)(B), 

29 CFR 602.14, 1630.2(r), 1630.14(b)(1), 

(c)(1), (d)(4); Medical Examinations for 

Fitness for Duty Requirements, 

including 5 CFR part 339; Genetic 

Information Nondiscrimination Act 

(GINA), including 42 U.S.C. Chapter 

21f, 29 CFR part 1635; Workforce safety 

federal requirements, including the 

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 

1970, Executive Order 12196, 5 U.S.C. 

7902; 29 U.S.C. Chapter 15 (e.g., 29 

U.S.C. 668), 29 CFR part 1904, 29 CFR 

1910.1020, and 29 CFR 1960.66. 

Purpose 

DHS will be collecting the 

information for the purpose of 

maintaining and ensuring a healthy 

workforce and a safe DHS workspace. 

This information will help the 

Department to prevent the spread of 

infectious disease by notifying those 

individuals who may have been 

exposed so they can take appropriate 

precautions in minimizing exposure to 

other DHS personnel and DHS-affiliated 

personnel. 

Routine Uses 

The information will not be shared 

externally or with any third parties. It 

will only be used by the DHS 

Component or Office who employs the 

individual about whom the information 

will be collected. Further, no personally 

identifiable information will be shared 

with anyone other than the individual’s 

supervisor and the assigned contact 

tracer. A complete list of routine uses 

for the information this system will 

collect can be found in the system of 

records notice associated with the 

system ‘‘Office of Personnel 

Management/GOVT—10—Employee 

Medical File System Records.’’ The 

Department’s full list of system of 

records notices can be found on the 

Department’s website at http://

www.dhs.gov/system-records-noticessorns. 

Consequences of Failure To Provide 

Information 

Providing information via this system 

is completely voluntary and no adverse 

action will be taken against individuals 

who refuse to participate. However, 

participation is requested because 

contact tracing is a key strategy in 

preventing further spread of infectious 

disease among the DHS workforce. 

The Contact Tracer is required to sign 

a DHS non-Disclosure Agreement and 

take the following DHS Training— 

Privacy and Protecting Personal 

Information, IT Security Awareness and 

Rules of Behavior, Cybersecurity 

Awareness and one of the following 

Contact Tracer Trainings offered by the 

Michigan Department of Public Health 

Michigan Department of Public Health 

https://www.train.org/wv/course/ 

1091008/. Additional contact tracing 

will be available from the Association of 

State and Territorial Health Officials 

https://learn.astho.org/p/ContactTracer 

and Johns Hopkins University https://

www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19- 

contact-tracing?action=

enroll&edocomorp=covid-19-contacttracing. 

The Supervisory Contact Tracer is 

required to review a minimum of 10% 

of interview calls with Contact Tracers 

to ensure comprehensive and highquality interviews and compliance with 

privacy and confidentiality. 

Explain the reasons for any program 

changes or adjustments reporting in 

Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83–I. 

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: Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS). 

Title: COVID–19 CONTACT 

TRACING. 

OMB Number: 1601–0027. 

Frequency: Annually. 

Affected Public: Affected Public. 

Number of Respondents: 500. 

Estimated Time Per Respondent: 1. 

Total Burden Hours: 167. 

Robert Dorr, 

Acting Executive Director, Business 

Management Directorate. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00927 Filed 1–14–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9112–FL–P