7884 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 20 / Tuesday, February 2, 2021 / Notices 

region over the course of their 

operational lifetimes. The applicant 

proposes to release a maximum of 150 

Argo floats south of 60°S during the 

permit period. Float dimensions are 75 

inches tall by 9 inches diameter, 

weighing approximately 65 lbs. Each 

float includes 19DD lithium cells, with 

approximately 0.198 gm of lithium. The 

floats would drift at 1000 m depth and 

come to the surface every 10 days. Their 

lifetime is approximately 5 years, after 

which the batteries would be depleted 

and the floats would no longer surface, 

but would remain in the ocean and sink 

to the ocean floor. The Agro floats 

deployed in the Southern Ocean would 

be part of a global array. The Argo array 

provides operational and research data 

that inform nowcast and forecast 

services, contributing to saving lives, 

avoiding property damage, and 

informing the public and government 

responses to environmental variability 

and change. 

Dates of Permitted Activities 

February 1, 2021–October 31, 2025. 

Erika N. Davis, 

Program Specialist, Office of Polar Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2021–02170 Filed 2–1–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Comment Request; National 

Science Foundation Major Facilities 

Guide 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

requirement of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the National 

Science Foundation (NSF) is providing 

opportunity for public comment on 

revisions to the NSF Major Facilities 

Guide (MFG). 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received by April 5, 2021 to be assured 

of consideration. Comments received 

after that date will be considered to the 

extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments 

regarding the information collection and 

requests for copies of the proposed 

information collection request should be 

addressed to Suzanne Plimpton, Reports 

Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Ave., Rm. 

W 18253, Alexandria, VA 22314, or by 

email to splimpto@nsf.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Suzanne Plimpton on (703) 292–7556 or 

send email to splimpto@nsf.gov. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877– 

8339, which is accessible 24 hours a 

day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year 

(including federal holidays). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title of Collection: Major Facilities 

Guide. 

OMB Approval Number: 3145–0239. 

Expiration Date of Approval: 

September 30, 2022. 

Type of Request: Intent to seek 

approval to extend with revision an 

information collection for three years. 

Proposed Project: The primary 

purpose of this revision is to provide 

expectations for construction schedules 

for alignment with good practices, 

minimum competencies for project 

personnel, and guidance on the content 

of Segregation of Funding Plans and 

how to scale earned value management 

systems (EVMS). The draft version of 

the NSF MFG is available on the NSF 

website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/lfo/ 

lfo_documents.jsp. 

To facilitate review, a Change Log 

with brief comment explanations of the 

changes is provided in the guide. NSF 

is particularly interested in public 

comment on the new content provided 

in Section 4.3 Schedule Development, 

Estimating, and Analysis and in Section 

4.6.6 Project Personnel and 

Competencies. 

The National Science Foundation Act 

of 1950 (Pub. L. 81–507) set forth NSF’s 

mission and purpose: 

‘‘To promote the progress of science; 

to advance the national health, 

prosperity, and welfare; to secure the 

national defense.* * *’’ 

The Act authorized and directed NSF 

to initiate and support: 

• Basic scientific research and 

research fundamental to the engineering 

process; 

• Programs to strengthen scientific 

and engineering research potential; 

• Science and engineering education 

programs at all levels and in all the 

various fields of science and 

engineering; 

• Programs that provide a source of 

information for policy formulation; and 

• Other activities to promote these 

ends. 

Among Federal agencies, NSF is a 

leader in providing the academic 

community with advanced 

instrumentation needed to conduct 

state-of-the-art research and to educate 

the next generation of scientists, 

engineers, and technical workers. The 

knowledge generated by these tools 

sustains U.S. leadership in science and 

engineering (S&E) to drive the U.S. 

economy and secure the future. NSF’s 

responsibility is to ensure that the 

research and education communities 

have access to these resources, and to 

provide the support needed to utilize 

them optimally, and implement timely 

upgrades. 

The scale of advanced 

instrumentation ranges from small 

research instruments to shared 

resources or facilities that can be used 

by entire communities. The demand for 

such instrumentation is very high, and 

is growing rapidly, along with the pace 

of discovery. For major facilities and 

shared infrastructure, the need is 

particularly high. This trend is expected 

to accelerate in the future as increasing 

numbers of researchers and educators 

rely on such large facilities, 

instruments, and databases to provide 

the reach to make the next intellectual 

leaps. 

NSF currently provides support for 

facility construction from two accounts: 

The Major Research Equipment and 

Facility Construction (MREFC) account, 

and the Research and Related Activities 

(R&RA) account. The MREFC account, 

established in FY 1995, is an agencywide capital account which provides 

funding for the construction stage of 

major facilities, roughly $100M or 

greater, and mid-scale projects in the 

range of approximately $20–$100M. 

Facilities are defined as shared-use 

infrastructure, instrumentation and 

equipment that are accessible to a broad 

community of researchers and/or 

educators. Facilities may be centralized 

or may consist of distributed 

installations. They may incorporate 

large-scale networking or computational 

infrastructure, multi-user instruments or 

networks of such instruments, or other 

infrastructure, instrumentation and 

equipment having a major impact on a 

broad segment of a scientific or 

engineering discipline. Historically, 

awards have been made for such diverse 

projects as accelerators, telescopes, 

research vessels and aircraft, and 

geographically distributed but 

networked sensors and instrumentation. 

The growth and diversification of 

large facility projects require that NSF 

remain attentive to the ever-changing 

issues and challenges inherent in their 

planning, construction, operation, 

management, and oversight. Most 

importantly, dedicated, competent NSF 

and awardee staff are needed to manage 

and oversee these projects; giving the 

attention and oversight that good 

practice dictates and that proper 

accountability to taxpayers and 

Congress demands. To this end, there is 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 20 / Tuesday, February 2, 2021 / Notices 7885 

also a need for consistent, documented 

requirements and procedures to be 

understood and used by NSF program 

managers and awardees for all such 

large projects. 

Use of the Information: Facilities are 

an essential part of the science and 

engineering enterprise, and supporting 

them is one major responsibility of the 

National Science Foundation (NSF). 

NSF makes awards to external entities— 

primarily universities, consortia of 

universities or non-profit 

organizations—to undertake 

construction, management, and 

operation of facilities. Such awards 

frequently take the form of cooperative 

agreements. NSF does not directly 

construct or operate the facilities it 

supports. However, NSF retains 

responsibility for overseeing their 

development, management, and 

successful performance. The Major 

Facilities Guide is intended to: 

• Provide guidance for NSF staff and 

awardees to carry out effective project 

planning, management and oversight of 

major facilities while considering the 

varying requirements of a diverse 

portfolio; 

• Clearly state the policies, processes, 

and procedures pertinent at each stage 

of a facility’s life cycle from 

development through design, 

construction, operations, and 

divestment; and 

• Document and disseminate ‘‘good 

practices’’ identified over time so that 

NSF and awardees can carry out their 

responsibilities more effectively. 

This version of the Major Facilities 

Guide adds sections for development of 

construction schedules and minimum 

competencies for project personnel; 

updates sections related to legislation 

and NSF policy on research 

infrastructure, content of segregation 

funding plans, and earned value 

management; and clarifies requirements 

to transition through the design phases, 

construction monthly reporting, and 

property management terminology. The 

Guide does not replace existing formal 

procedures required for all NSF awards, 

which are described in the, Proposal & 

Award Policies and Procedures Guide 

(PAPPG). Instead, it draws upon and 

supplements it for the purpose of 

providing detailed guidance regarding 

NSF policy and procedures related to 

the planning, management, and 

oversight of Major Facilities. All 

facilities projects require merit and 

technical review, as well as approval of 

certain deliverables. The level of review 

and approval varies substantially from 

standard grants, as does the level of 

oversight needed to ensure appropriate 

and proper accountability for federal 

funds. The requirements, recommended 

procedures, and best practices presented 

in the Guide apply to any facility 

significant enough to require close and 

substantial interaction with the 

Foundation and the National Science 

Board. 

This Guide will be updated 

periodically to reflect changes in 

requirements, policies and/or 

procedures. Award Recipients are 

expected to monitor and adopt the 

requirements and best practices 

included in the Guide which are aimed 

at improving management and oversight 

of major facilities projects and at 

enabling the most efficient and costeffective delivery of tools to the research 

and education communities. 

The submission of proposals and 

subsequent project documentation to 

the Foundation related to the 

development, construction and 

operations of Major Facilities is part of 

the collection of information. This 

information is used to help NSF fulfill 

this responsibility in supporting meritbased research and education projects in 

all the scientific and engineering 

disciplines. The Foundation also has a 

continuing commitment to provide 

oversight on facilities development and 

construction which must be balanced 

against monitoring its information 

collection so as to identify and address 

any excessive reporting burdens. 

NSF has approximately twenty-four 

(24) Major Facilities in various stages of 

development, design, construction, 

operations, and divestment. Facilities 

undergoing a major upgrade may be 

classified in both design or construction 

and operations at the same time. Two to 

four (2 to 4) new construction awards 

are made approximately every five (5) 

years based on science community 

infrastructure needs and availability of 

funding. Among the twenty-four major 

facilities, there are approximately seven 

(7) facilities annually that are either in 

design or construction. These stages 

require the highest level of reporting 

and management documentation per the 

Major Facilities Guide. NSF estimates 

there will be four (4) mid-scale projects 

in progress at a given time. 

Burden to the Public: The Foundation 

estimates that approximately five (5) 

Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s) are 

necessary for each major facility project 

in design or construction to respond to 

NSF performance and financial 

reporting and project management 

documentation requirements on an 

annual basis; or 10,400 hours per year. 

The Foundation estimates 

approximately one and half (1.5) FTE 

for a major facility in operations to 

respond to NSF performance and 

financial reporting on an annual basis; 

or 3,120 hours per year. For mid-scale 

projects, the Foundation estimates 

approximately one (1) Full Time 

Equivalent (FTE’s) is necessary for each 

mid-scale project to respond to NSF 

project management documentation 

requirements on an annual basis; or 

2,080 hours per year. With seven (7) 

major facilities in design or construction 

and twenty-one (21) in operations and 

four (4) mid-scale projects, this equates 

to roughly 150,000 public burden hours 

annually. 

Comments: In addition to the type of 

comments identified above, comments 

are also 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; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology; 

and (d) ways to minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

After obtaining and considering public 

comment, NSF will prepare the 

submission requesting OMB clearance 

of this collection for no longer than 3 

years. 

Dated: January 27, 2021. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 2021–02140 Filed 2–1–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2021–0020] 

Applications and Amendments to 

Facility Operating Licenses and 

Combined Licenses Involving 

Proposed No Significant Hazards 

Considerations and Containing 

Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards 

Information and Order Imposing 

Procedures for Access to Sensitive 

Unclassified Non-Safeguards 

Information 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: License amendment request; 

notice of opportunity to comment, 

request a hearing, and petition for leave 


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