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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 147 (Wednesday, July 31, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46326-46328]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18411]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket ID DoD-2013-OS-0169]

Proposed Collection: Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and 
Engineering, DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

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    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Research and Engineering announces a proposed public information 
collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. 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 
information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 
the burden of the information collection on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by 
September 30, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and 
title, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 4800 Mark 
Center Drive,

[[Page 46327]]

East Tower, Suite 02G09, Alexandria, VA 22350-3100.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency 
name, docket number and title for this Federal Register document. The 
general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the 
public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the 
Internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without 
change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on this 
proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and 
associated collection instruments, please write to the Office of the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering), Basic 
Research Office, Mark Center 17C08, 4800 Mark Center Dr., Alexandria, 
VA 22311-1882, ATTN: Dr. Mark Herbst, or call 571-372-6547.
    Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Title: Research Performance 
Progress Report (RPPR). OMB Control Number: 0704-TBD.
    Needs and Uses: DoD research grants and cooperative agreements 
require recipients to periodically report on progress made towards 
achieving the objectives of their awards, and to document 
accomplishments and identify reasons for failure to meet planned 
objectives. This periodic reporting is required by section 32.51 of 32 
CFR part 32, the DoD implementation of OMB Circular A-110. In April 
2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science 
and Technology (OSTP) issued a policy memorandum to the heads of 
Executive Departments and Agencies on usage of a new format--the 
Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)--for doing interim progress 
reporting (e.g., annual reports during the award performance period, 
other than the final report that is due after the end of that period). 
The information collection requirement under this Notice is part of the 
Department's implementation of the RPPR, usage of which will 
consolidate interim progress reporting requirements of the multiple DoD 
offices that award research grants and cooperative agreements. DoD's 
implementation of the RPPR will:
     Make DoD research offices' requirements for grants and 
cooperative agreements more uniform with each other, as each office has 
historically specified its reporting requirements separately from other 
awarding offices.
     Make DoD offices' reporting requirements more common with 
those of other Federal agencies that make research awards, as each of 
them implements the guidance from OMB and OSTP.
     Enable broadening of RPPR usage to basic research 
contracts awarded by DoD offices, any of which may adopt the RPPR 
format for basic research contract progress reporting in lieu of their 
existing basic research contract reporting requirements. This will 
benefit entities having both research grant and contract awards, and is 
consistent with the joint OMB and OSTP policy memorandum.
    Affected Public: Colleges and universities, nonprofit 
organizations, business and industry.
    Annual Burden Hours: 72,000.
    Number of Respondents: 2,000.
    Responses per Respondent: 6.
    Average Burden per Response: 6 hours.
    Frequency: On occasion.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summary of Information Collection

    The RPPR is a uniform format for use by federal agencies to obtain 
interim progress reports from recipients of research and research 
training grants and cooperative agreements. DoD intends to adopt the 
RPPR in lieu of existing progress reports for interim progress 
reporting on its research grants and cooperative agreements, and, for 
some DoD awarding offices, interim progress reporting on basic research 
contracts. Background information on the RPPR may be found at the 
National Science Foundation Web site http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/.
    The RPPR consists of a required ``Cover Page'' and multiple 
optional components. For DoD, the ``Cover Page'' and 
``Accomplishments'' component will be mandatory, however DoD awarding 
offices may require recipients to complete fields in one or more of the 
optional RPPR reporting components, as specified in the terms and 
conditions of their awards. DoD awarding offices will implement the 
RPPR through means such as web portals or fillable electronic forms.
    Some DoD awarding offices have identified supplemental reporting 
elements for use within the Cover Page and other RPPR components in 
addition to the standard RPPR elements. DoD awarding offices will 
individually determine which optional RPPR fields will be requested 
from recipients. Therefore, not all of the DoD supplemental data 
elements will be required for all DoD awards using the RPPR. The 
following are the supplemental reporting elements that some DoD 
awarding offices may require for their interim reporting purposes, 
listed under the applicable RPPR reporting component.

Cover Page--Report Information

     Distribution Statement. A one-character code that 
indicates what type of limitations there are, if any, on the release of 
the report to the general public. Required by DoD Instruction 5230.24 
``Distribution Statements on Technical Documents'', dated 23 August 
2012.

Accomplishments

     Honors and Awards. A text field where the recipient 
describes any project-related honors and awards that were received 
during the reporting period. Project-related honors and awards are 
often used as markers or indicators of the significance of the 
research. They are a natural extension of the list of accomplishments 
that funded research may yield but should be reported separate from the 
actual research accomplishments.
     Regulatory Protocol and Activity Status. A text field for 
use in awards involving human and/or animal subjects to describe 
changes in research protocol or problems. This information is required 
by DoD Instruction 3216.01, Use of Animals in DoD Programs, or DoD 
Instruction 3216.02, Protection of Human Subjects and Adherence to 
Ethical Standards in DoD-Supported Research, so that changes can be 
reviewed and approved by a DoD Animal Care and Use Review Official or a 
DoD Human Research Protection Official.

Products--Publications: Journal Articles

     Keywords. A text field to provide keywords related to each 
publication. Awarding offices will provide public access to these 
publications by means such as posting on agency Web sites, providing 
links to other Web sites containing the publications, and/or providing 
these publications to the Defense Technical Information Center. The use 
of keywords for categorizing the content of the publication assists 
members of the public in searching for and finding the document, and 
relating it to the original research, which helps to ensure the best 
cross-discipline use of the science.
     Abstract. A text field that summarizes the journal 
article. Awarding offices will provide public access to these 
publications by means such as posting on agency Web sites, providing 
links to other Web sites containing the publications, and/or providing 
these publications to the Defense Technical Information Center.

[[Page 46328]]

An abstract of the article helps members of the public find articles of 
interest, which helps to ensure the best cross-discipline use of the 
science.
     Distribution Statement. A text field that describes how 
distribution of the article should be restricted, if applicable. 
Required by DoD Instruction 5230.24 dated August 23, 2012.
     Submitted Date. A date field that indicates when the 
author submitted the article for publication, whether or not 
publication actually took place. Funded research yields products of 
many forms. Some are submitted for publication but may not be 
published. Unpublished articles may be available from the DoD awarding 
office. The submitted date provides a useful time context for the 
unpublished research when members of the public are searching for 
research on DoD public-facing web portals.

Products--Publications: Conference Papers and Presentations

     Publication Date. A date field indicating the publication 
date of the conference proceedings. If a conference is funded, the 
proceedings and resulting published records may have dates that are 
subsequent to the conference. For the fullest use of the funded 
research, the publication date provides timeframe context for 
application of the science in the future.

Intellectual Property--Inventions

    The following three fields supplement the existing RPPR data fields 
on invention reporting and will be used only if the awarding office 
elects to use the RPPR for interim contract reporting. These fields 
support certain invention reporting requirements for contracts awarded 
under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 27, Patents, Data, and 
Copyrights, and Defense FAR Supplement Part 227, Patents, Data, and 
Copyrights. The RPPR may be used to collect these data fields in lieu 
of collecting them on other existing reporting mechanisms used for 
contracts, such as the DD Form 882, Report of Inventions and 
Subcontracts.
     Name of Employer. A text field indicating the name of the 
inventor's employer.
     Address of Employer. A text field indicating the address 
of the inventor's employer.
     Confirmatory Instrument. A Yes/No field indicating if a 
confirmatory instrument or assignment was forwarded to the DoD 
Contracting Officer.

Participants

     National Academy Member. A Yes/No field to indicate if a 
participant on the project is, or became, a National Academy of Science 
member during the reporting period. This data is used for statistical 
purposes to determine the number of National Academy members 
participating in the funded research.

Special Reporting Requirements

     Clinical trial(s) issues. A text field for use in awards 
involving clinical trials to describe any enrollment issues, retention 
problems, and adverse event/unanticipated problems involving risks to 
subjects or others, and actions or plans for mitigation. DoD 
Instruction 3216.02, Protection of Human Subjects and Adherence to 
Ethical Standards in DoD-Supported Research, requires that any changes 
to previously-approved clinical trials be reported for review by the 
DoD Human Research Protection Official.
    The following two fields are for awards to Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI), 
to help evaluate the outcomes of HBCU/MI investments:
     Number of undergraduate and graduate student Science, 
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) participants. A numeric 
field to indicate the number of student participants enrolled in STEM 
disciplines during the reporting period. This data will be useful in 
assessing the impact of DoD funding on STEM education at HBCU/MI.
     Number of student participants that received a STEM 
degree. A numeric field to indicate the number of student participants 
that received a STEM degree during the reporting period. This data will 
be useful in assessing the impact of DoD funding on STEM education at 
HBCU/MI.

    Dated: July 26, 2013.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2013-18411 Filed 7-30-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-P
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