Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 218 / Friday, November 12, 2010 / Notices 69453 

SUMMARY: This notice informs the public 

that the Office of Inspector General 

(OIG) intends to update the Special 

Advisory Bulletin on the Effect of 

Exclusion from Participation in Federal 

Health Care Programs (64 FR 52791; 

September 30, 1999) and solicits input 

from the public for OIG to consider in 

developing the updated bulletin. 

DATES: To assure consideration, public 

comments must be delivered to the 

address provided below by no later than 

5 p.m. on January 11, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: In commenting, please refer 

to file code OIG–115–N. Because of staff 

and resource limitations, we cannot 

accept comments by facsimile (FAX) 

transmission. 

You may submit comments in one of 

three ways (no duplicates, please): 

• Electronically. You may submit 

electronic comments on specific 

recommendations and proposals 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

at http://www.regulations.gov. 

(Attachments should be in Microsoft 

Word, if possible.) 

• By regular, express, or overnight 

mail. You may send written comments 

to the following address: Office of 

Inspector General, Department of Health 

and Human Services, Attention: OIG– 

115–N, Room 5541, Cohen Building, 

330 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20201. Please allow 

sufficient time for mailed comments to 

be received before the close of the 

comment period. 

• By hand or courier. If you prefer, 

you may deliver, by hand or courier, 

your written comments before the close 

of the comment period to Office of 

Inspector General, Department of Health 

and Human Services, Cohen Building, 

330 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20201. Because access 

to the interior of the Cohen Building is 

not readily available to persons without 

Federal Government identification, 

commenters are encouraged to schedule 

their delivery with one of our staff 

members at (202) 619–1343. 

For information on viewing public 

comments, please see the 

Supplementary Information section. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patrice Drew, Department of Health and 

Human Services, Office of Inspector 

General, Office of External Affairs, (202) 

619–1368. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Submitting Comments: We welcome 

comments from the public on this 

Special Advisory Bulletin on the Effect 

of Exclusion from Participation in 

Federal Health Care Programs. Please 

assist us by referencing the file code 

OIG–115–N. 

Inspection of Public Comments: All 

comments received before the end of the 

comment period are available for 

viewing by the public. All comments 

will be posted on http:// 

www.regulations.gov as soon as possible 

after they have been received. 

Comments received timely will also be 

available for public inspection as they 

are received at Office of Inspector 

General, Department of Health and 

Human Services, Cohen Building, 330 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20201, Monday 

through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

To schedule an appointment to view 

public comments, phone (202) 401– 

2206. 

Background 

The Special Advisory Bulletin on the 

Effect of Exclusion from Participation in 

Federal Health Care Programs contains 

guidance which has proven to be 

extremely important to excluded 

individuals and to all of those in the 

health care industry who are concerned 

with compliance. The health care 

industry and health care professionals 

have now had more than a decade of 

experience with the ramifications of 

exclusion since OIG first published this 

bulletin in 1999. With time it has 

become even more apparent that 

exclusion has a significant impact, not 

only on those who have been excluded 

but also on entities that have employed 

or contracted with excluded persons 

and been faced with liability for 

overpayments and civil monetary 

penalties as a result. As OIG’s 

compliance and enforcement activities 

in this area have increased, many health 

care providers have discovered that they 

employ excluded individuals and have 

self-disclosed to the OIG. Many health 

care providers have also sought to 

design compliance programs that will 

minimize the risk of submitting claims 

to a Federal health care program for 

items or services furnished, ordered, or 

prescribed by an excluded individual. 

In considering the content of the Special 

Advisory Bulletin, OIG is soliciting 

comments, recommendations, and other 

suggestions from concerned parties and 

organizations on how best to 

supplement the guidance provided in 

the Special Advisory Bulletin to address 

relevant issues and to provide useful 

guidance to the industry. For example, 

OIG seeks comments on areas in which 

clarification and further guidance on the 

effect of exclusion may be helpful. 

Dated: November 5, 2010. 

Daniel R. Levinson, 

Inspector General. 

[FR Doc. 2010–28366 Filed 11–10–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4152–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5374–N–21] 

Buy American Exceptions Under the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Public and Indian 

Housing, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111–05, approved 

February 17, 2009) (Recovery Act), and 

implementing guidance of the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), this 

notice advises that certain exceptions to 

the Buy American requirement of the 

Recovery Act have been determined 

applicable for work using Capital Fund 

Recovery Formula and Competition 

(CFRFC) grant funds. Specifically, an 

exception was granted to the Housing 

Authority of the County of Cook (HACC) 

for the purchase and installation of 

through-the-wall air conditioning units 

and Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter 

(GFCI) outlets for the Riverdale Senior 

Apartments project. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Dominique G. Blom, Deputy Assistant 

Secretary for Public Housing 

Investments, Office of Public Housing 

Investments, Office of Public and Indian 

Housing, Department of Housing and 

Urban Development, 451 7th Street, 

SW., Room 4130, Washington, DC, 

20410–4000, telephone number 202– 

402–8500 (this is not a toll-free 

number). Persons with hearing- or 

speech-impairments may access this 

number through TTY by calling the tollfree Federal Information Relay Service 

at 800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

1605(a) of the Recovery Act provides 

that none of the funds appropriated or 

made available by the Recovery Act may 

be used for a project for the 

construction, alteration, maintenance, or 

repair of a public building or public 

work unless all of the iron, steel, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

are produced in the United States. 

Section 1605(b) provides that the Buy 

American requirement shall not apply 

in any case or category in which the 

head of a Federal department or agency 

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69454 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 218 / Friday, November 12, 2010 / Notices 

1To the extent that a state does not submit 

information about an existing program that provides 

substantially similar assistance to homeowners or 

such submission does not meet the requirements 

outlined below, the state’s allocation described in 

Schedule A will be administered in that state by the 

Department of Housing and Urban Development in 

accordance with HUD’s Emergency Homeowners’ 

Loan program. 

finds that: (1) Applying the Buy 

American requirement would be 

inconsistent with the public interest; (2) 

iron, steel, and the relevant 

manufactured goods are not produced in 

the U.S. in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities or of satisfactory 

quality, or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, 

and manufactured goods will increase 

the cost of the overall project by more 

than 25 percent. Section 1605(c) 

provides that if the head of a Federal 

department or agency makes a 

determination pursuant to section 

1605(b), the head of the department or 

agency shall publish a detailed written 

justification in the Federal Register. 

In accordance with section 1605(c) of 

the Recovery Act and OMB’s 

implementing guidance published on 

April 23, 2009 (74 FR 18449), this notice 

advises the public that, on October 20, 

2010, upon request of the HACC, HUD 

granted an exception to applicability of 

the Buy American requirements with 

respect to work, using CFRFC grant 

funds, in connection with the Riverdale 

Senior Apartments project. The 

exception was granted by HUD on the 

basis that the relevant manufactured 

goods (GFCI outlets and through-thewall air conditioning units) are not 

produced in the U.S. in sufficient and 

reasonably available quantities or of 

satisfactory quality. 

Dated: November 4, 2010. 

Deborah Hernandez, 

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public 

and Indian Housing. 

[FR Doc. 2010–28417 Filed 11–10–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5454–N–01] 

Emergency Homeowners’ Loan 

Program: Notice of Allocation of 

Funding for Substantially Similar State 

Programs 

AGENCY: Office of Assistant Secretary for 

Housing—Federal Housing 

Commissioner, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Emergency Homeowners’ 

Loan program, originally authorized by 

a 1975 statute, was reauthorized and 

revised by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 

Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 

which also made $1 billion in funding 

available for this program. This 

program, as recently revised, authorizes 

the Secretary to allow funds to be 

administered by a state that has an 

existing program that provides 

substantially similar assistance to 

homeowners, as determined by the 

Secretary. 

This notice sets out the key features 

of HUD’s emergency assistance program 

for homeowners, and solicits 

applications from states that have 

programs offering assistance 

substantially similar to this program. 

DATES: Deadline Date: The submission 

deadline date is December 13, 2010 (the 

‘‘Deadline Date’’). Information must be 

submitted to 

EHLStateFundingProgram@hud.gov, no 

later than 11:59 a.m. on the Deadline 

Date. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Office of Housing Counseling, Office of 

Housing, Department of Housing and 

Urban Development, 451 7th Street, 

SW., Washington, DC 20410; telephone 

number 202–708–0317 (this is not a tollfree number). Persons with hearing or 

speech impairments may access this 

number through TTY by calling the tollfree Federal Information Relay Service 

at 800–877–8339. 

Overview Information: 

A. Federal Agency Name: Department 

of Housing and Urban Development, 

Office of Emergency Homeowners’ Loan 

Assistance. 

B. Funding Opportunity Title: 

Emergency Homeowners’ Loan program: 

Funding of Comparable State Programs. 

C. Announcement Type: Initial 

Announcement. 

D. Funding Opportunity Number: The 

Federal Register number for this notice 

is FR–5454–N–01. 

E. Dates: The Deadline Date is 

December 13, 2010. Information must be 

submitted to 

EHLStateFundingProgram@hud.gov, no 

later than 11:59 a.m. on the Deadline 

Date. 

F. Additional Overview Information: 

1. Available Funds. Funds are 

available to administer existing state 

programs comparable to the Emergency 

Homeowners’ Loan program. 

2. Eligible Applicants. States that are 

included on the attached Schedule A 

are eligible to apply for funding under 

this notice provided that they are 

administering existing programs 

comparable to the Emergency 

Homeowners’ Loan program. 

Full Text of Announcement 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

A. Program Description. The 

Emergency Housing Act of 1975 (12 

U.S.C. 2701), signed into law on July 2, 

1975, conferred on HUD, through title I 

of this statute, entitled the ‘‘Emergency 

Homeowners’ Relief Act,’’ standby 

authority to insure or make loans to 

homeowners to defray mortgage 

expenses so as to prevent widespread 

mortgage foreclosures and distress sales 

of homes resulting from the temporary 

loss of employment and income. The 

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act (Pub. L. 111– 

203, approved July 21, 2010) revised 

and reauthorized this 1975 statute, and 

provided $1 billion to HUD to 

implement the program authorized by 

the Emergency Homeowners’ Relief Act, 

referred to by HUD in 2010 as the 

Emergency Homeowners’ Loan program. 

B. Authority. Title I (Emergency 

Homeowners’ Relief Act) of the 

Emergency Housing Act of 1975, as 

amended (12 U.S.C. 2701). 

II. Award Information 

A. Available Funds. Through this 

notice, $1 billion is made available to 

states in accordance with the state 

allocations provided in Schedule A, and 

HUD solicits applications from the 

states in Schedule A having comparable 

state programs.1 The HUD allocation 

formula in Schedule A targets funds to 

states based on their population and 

share of unemployed homeowners with 

a mortgage. The amounts listed on 

Schedule A include reasonable 

administrative costs to administer the 

assistance made available through the 

Emergency Homeowners’ Loan program. 

HUD’s Emergency Homeowners’ Loan 

program is intended to complement the 

Department of the Treasury’s Hardest 

Hit Fund by providing assistance to 

homeowners—who are at risk of 

foreclosure and have experienced a 

substantial reduction in income due to 

involuntary unemployment, 

underemployment, or a medical 

condition—in states that are not 

included in the Hardest Hit target states. 

Through its Hardest Hit Fund, the 

Department of the Treasury is providing 

targeted support to 18 states, and the 

District of Columbia, struggling with the 

highest unemployment rates. Together, 

these two sources of funds form a 

national effort to help unemployed and 

underemployed homeowners meet their 

mortgage obligations. 

B. Type of Assistance instrument. 

Funds will be awarded through a 

cooperative agreement. 

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