45076 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 152 / Tuesday, August 8, 2006 / Notices 

John Castanho, International Longshore 

& Warehouse Union. 

Warren Fairley, International 

Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron 

Shipbuilders, Blacksmiths, Forgers 

and Helpers. 

Michael J. Flynn, International 

Association of Machinists and 

Aerospace Workers. 

Robert E. Gleason, International 

Longshoremen’s Association. 

Stephen D. Hudock, National Institute 

for Occupational Safety and Health. 

Charles R. Leon, Washington State 

Department of Labor and Industries. 

Marc MacDonald, Pacific Maritime 

Association. 

Captain Teresa Preston, Atlantic Marine 

Holding Company. 

Donald V. Raffo, General Dynamics. 

Captain Lorne W. Thomas, United 

States Coast Guard. 

James R. Thornton, Northrop Grumman 

Newport News Shipyard. 

David J. Tubman, Jr., Marine Engineers’

Beneficial Association. 

Ernest D. Whelan, International Union 

of Operating Engineers-Local 25, 

Marine Division. 

IV. Future Meetings 

As specified in the MACOSH charter, 

OSHA will convene up to three 

MACOSH committee meetings per year. 

OSHA expects to convene the first 

meeting in September or October of this 

year. As soon as meeting arrangements 

are completed, OSHA will announce the 

specific date and location of the 

meeting, along with a list of topics to be 

discussed, in the Federal Register. 

OSHA encourages the public to attend 

all MACOSH meetings. 

V. Authority 

This notice was prepared under the 

direction of Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., 

Assistant Secretary for Occupational 

Safety and Health. It is issued under the 

authority of Sections 6(b)(1) and 7(b) of 

the Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655, 656), 29 

CFR part 1912 and the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 

2). 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 31st day of 

July, 2006. 

Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., 

Assistant Secretary of Labor. 

[FR Doc. 06–6746 Filed 8–7–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–26–M 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

[Notice Date 06–049] 

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive 

License 

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Grant 

Exclusive License. 

SUMMARY: This notice is issued in 

accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 

37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby 

gives notice of its intent to grant an 

exclusive, worldwide license to practice 

the invention described in Invention 

Disclosure KSC–12983 entitled 

‘‘Mercury Emission Control System’’ to 

Phoenix Systems International, having 

its principal place of business in Pine 

Brook, New Jersey. The patent rights in 

this invention will be assigned to the 

United States of America as represented 

by the Administrator of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

The prospective exclusive license will 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. 

DATES: The prospective exclusive 

license may be granted unless, within 

fifteen (15) days from the date of this 

published notice, NASA receives 

written objections including evidence 

and argument that establish that the 

grant of the license would not be 

consistent with the requirements of 35 

U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. 

Competing applications completed and 

received by NASA within fifteen (15) 

days of the date of this published notice 

will also be treated as objections to the 

grant of the contemplated exclusive 

license. Objections submitted in 

response to this notice will not be made 

available to the public for inspection 

and, to the extent permitted by law, will 

not be released under the Freedom of 

Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. 

ADDRESSES: Objections relating to the 

prospective license may be submitted to 

Patent Counsel, Office of the Chief 

Counsel, Mail Code CC–A, NASA John 

F. Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy 

Space Center, FL 32899. Telephone: 

321–867–7214; Facsimile: 321–867–

1817. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Randall M. Heald, Patent Counsel, 

Office of the Chief Counsel, Mail Code 

CC–A, NASA John F. Kennedy Space 

Center, Kennedy Space Center, FL 

32899. Telephone: 321–867–7214; 

Facsimile: 321–867–1817. Information 

about other NASA inventions available 

for licensing can be found online at 

http://techtracs.nasa.gov/. 

Dated: July 31, 2006. 

Keith T. Sefton, 

Deputy General Counsel, Administration and 

Management. 

[FR Doc. E6–12820 Filed 8–7–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7510–13–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Comment Request: National Science 

Foundation Proposal and Award 

Information—NSF Proposal and Award 

Policies & Procedures Manual 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans 

to request renewed clearance of this 

collection. In accordance with the 

requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

we are providing opportunity for public 

comment on this action. 

After obtaining and considering 

public comment, NSF will prepare the 

submission requesting OMB clearance 

of this collection for no longer than 3 

years. 

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; 

(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. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received by October 10, 2006 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, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Rm. 

295, Arlington, VA 22230, or by e-mail 

to splimpto@nsf.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Suzanne Plimpton on (703) 292–7556 or 

send e-mail to splimpto@nsf.gov. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 152 / Tuesday, August 8, 2006 / Notices 45077 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time, 

Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title of Collection: ‘‘National Science 

Foundation Proposal and Award 

Information—NSF Proposal and Award 

Policies & Procedures Manual. 

OMB Approval Number: 3145–0058. 

Expiration Date of Approval: July 31, 

2007. 

Type of Request: Intent to seek 

approval to extend with revision an 

information collection for three years. 

Proposed Project: The National 

Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking to 

revise its existing mechanism for 

issuance of proposal and award policies 

and procedures. Previously, these 

policies and procedures were contained 

in two separate issuances; the Grant 

Proposal Guide and the Grant Policy 

Manual. These documents were each 

separately maintained and issued with 

different effective dates and significant 

redundancies between the two 

documents. We have now collapsed 

these two documents into a new policy 

framework: the NSF Proposal and 

Award Policies and Procedures Manual. 

Part I of this document will include 

NSF Proposal Preparation and 

Submission Guidelines, i.e., the Grant 

Proposal Guide (GPG), and Part II will 

include the NSF Award & 

Administration Manual (previously 

known as the GPM). This initial 

issuance of the NSF Proposal and 

Award Policies and Procedures Manual 

will be effective January, 2007. Future 

issuances of this Manual will be 

supplemented with additional 

documents, such as the NSF Grants.gov 

Application Guide. 

We believe that this new policy 

framework will assist both NSF 

customers as well as NSF staff by: 

1. Improving both awareness and 

knowledge of the complete set of NSF 

policies and procedural documents; 

2. Increasing ease of access to the 

policies and procedures that govern the 

entire grant lifecycle; and 

3. Eliminating redundancies between 

coverage in the documents. 

This streamlining process also will 

combine the Grant Proposal Guide 

(OMB Clearance No. 3145–0058) with 

the Proposal Review Process (3145–

0060) to streamline the proposal and 

award management processes for 

applicants and awardees. This will 

allow NSF to better manage 

amendments between the two 

collections due to administrative 

changes. Following OMB approval, this 

information will be available to the 

community via the Internet. 

The National Science Foundation 

(NSF) is an independent Federal agency 

created by the National Science 

Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (42 

U.S.C. 1861–75). The Act states the 

purpose of the NSF is ‘‘to promote the 

progress of science; [and] to advance the 

national health, prosperity, and welfare 

by supporting research and education in 

all fields of science and engineering.’’

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. 

From those first days, NSF has had a 

unique place in the Federal 

Government: It is responsible for the 

overall health of science and 

engineering across all disciplines. In 

contrast, other Federal agencies support 

research focused on specific missions 

such as health or defense. The 

Foundation also is committed to 

ensuring the nation’s supply of 

scientists, engineers, and science and 

engineering educators. 

The Foundation fulfills this 

responsibility by initiating and 

supporting merit-selected research and 

education projects in all the scientific 

and engineering disciplines. It does this 

through grants and cooperative 

agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, 

universities, K–12 school systems, 

businesses, informal science 

organizations and other research 

institutions throughout the U.S. The 

Foundation accounts for about onefourth of Federal support to academic 

institutions for basic research. 

Over the years, NSF’s statutory 

authority has been modified in a 

number of significant ways. In 1968, 

authority to support applied research 

was added to the Organic Act. In 1980, 

The Science and Engineering Equal 

Opportunities Act gave NSF standing 

authority to support activities to 

improve the participation of women and 

minorities in science and engineering. 

Another major change occurred in 

1986, when engineering was accorded 

equal status with science in the Organic 

Act. NSF has always dedicated itself to 

providing the leadership and vision 

needed to keep the words and ideas 

embedded in its mission statement fresh 

and up-to-date. Even in today’s rapidly 

changing environment, NSF’s core 

purpose resonates clearly in everything 

it does: Promoting achievement and 

progress in science and engineering and 

enhancing the potential for research and 

education to contribute to the Nation. 

While NSF’s vision of the future and the 

mechanisms it uses to carry out this 

charges have evolved significantly over 

the last four decades, its ultimate 

mission remains the same. 

Use of the Information: The regular 

submission of proposals to the 

Foundation is part of the collection of 

information and is used to help NSF 

fulfill this responsibility by initiating 

and supporting merit-selected research 

and education projects in all the 

scientific and engineering disciplines. 

NSF receives more than 40,000 

proposals annually for new projects, 

and makes approximately 10,500 new 

awards. 

Support is made primarily through 

grants, contracts, and other agreements 

awarded to more than 2,000 colleges, 

universities, academic consortia, 

nonprofit institutions, and small 

businesses. The awards are based 

mainly on evaluations of proposal merit 

submitted to the Foundation (proposal 

review is cleared under OMB Control 

No. 3145–0060). 

The Foundation has a continuing 

commitment to monitor the operations 

of its information collection to identify 

and address excessive reporting burdens 

as well as to identify any real or 

apparent inequities based on gender, 

race, ethnicity, or disability of the 

proposed principal investigator(s)/ 

project director(s) or the co-principal 

investigator(s)/co-project director(s). 

Proposal Evaluation Process 

The Foundation relies heavily on the 

advice and assistance of external 

advisory committees, ad-hoc proposal 

reviewers, and to other experts to ensure 

that the Foundation is able to reach fair 

and knowledgeable judgments. These 

scientists and educators come from 

colleges and universities, nonprofit 

research and education organizations, 

industry, and other Government 

agencies. 

In making its decisions on proposals 

the counsel of these merit reviewers has 

proven invaluable to the Foundation 

both in the identification of meritorious 

projects and in providing sound basis 

for project restructuring. 

Review of proposals may involve 

large panel sessions, small groups, or 

use of a mail-review system. Proposals 

are reviewed carefully by scientists or 

engineers who are expert in the 

particular field represented by the 

proposal. About 50% are reviewed 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
45078 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 152 / Tuesday, August 8, 2006 / Notices 

exclusively by panels of reviewers who 

gather, usually in Arlington, VA, to 

discuss their advice as well as to deliver 

it. About 35% are reviewed first by mail 

reviewers expert in the particular field, 

then by panels, usually of persons with 

more diverse expertise, who help the 

NSF decide among proposals from 

multiple fields or sub-fields. Finally, 

about 15% are reviewed exclusively by 

mail. 

Use of the Information 

The information collected is used to 

support grant programs of the 

Foundation. The information collected 

on the proposal evaluation forms is used 

by the foundation to determine the 

following criteria when awarding or 

declining proposals submitted to the 

Agency: (1) What is the intellectual 

merit of the proposed activity? (2) What 

are the broader impacts of the proposed 

activity? 

The information collected on reviewer 

background questionnaire (NSF 428A) is 

used by managers to maintain an 

automated database of reviewers for the 

many disciplines represented by the 

proposals submitted to the Foundation. 

Information collected on gender, race, 

and ethnicity is used in meeting NSF 

needs for data to permit response to 

Congressional and other queries into 

equity issues. These data also are used 

in the design, implementation, and 

monitoring of NSF efforts to increase the 

participation of various groups in 

science, engineering, and education. 

Confidentiality 

When a decision has been made 

(whether an award or a declination), 

verbatim copies of reviews, excluding 

the names of the reviewers, and 

summaries of review panel 

deliberations, if any, are provided to the 

PI. A proposer also may request and 

obtain any other releasable material in 

NSF’s file on their proposal. Everything 

in the file except information that 

directly identifies either reviewers or 

other pending or declined proposals is 

usually releasable to the proposer. 

While listings of panelists’ names are 

released, the names of individual 

reviewers, associated with individual 

proposals, are not released to anyone. 

Because the Foundation is committed 

to monitoring and identifying any real 

or apparent inequities based on gender, 

race, ethnicity, or disability of the 

proposed principal investigator(s)/ 

project director(s) or the co-principal 

investigator(s)/co-project director(s), the 

Foundation also collects information 

regarding race, ethnicity, disability, and 

gender. This information also is 

protected by the Privacy Act. 

Burden on the Public: For the Grant 

Proposal Guide, NSF estimates that an 

average of 120 hours is expended for 

each proposal submitted. An estimated 

40,000 proposals are during the course 

of one year for a total of 4,800,000 

public burden hours annually. 

For the proposal review process, NSF 

estimates that anywhere from one hour 

to twenty hours may be required to 

review a proposal. It is estimated that 

approximately five hours are required to 

review an average proposal. Each 

proposal receives an average of 6.3 

reviews, with a minimum requirement 

of three reviews for an estimated total of 

600,000 hours. The estimated burden for 

the Reviewer Background Information 

(NSF 428A) is estimated at 5 minutes 

per respondent with up to 10,000 

potential new reviewers for a total of 83 

hours. The estimated total is 600,083 for 

the reviewer process and the reviewer 

background information. 

The estimated aggregated total for 

both the Grant Proposal Guide and the 

proposal review process is 5,400,083 

hours. 

Dated: August 3, 2006. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 06–6761 Filed 8–7–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–M 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act; Federal Register Notice 

DATE: Weeks of August 7, 14, 21, 28; 

September 4, 11, 2006. 

PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference 

Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

STATUS: Public and Closed. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Week of August 7, 2006 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the Week of August 7, 2006. 

Week of August 14, 2006—Tentative 

Thursday, August 17, 2006 

10 a.m.—Affirmation Session (Public 

Meeting) (Tentative). 

a. Louisiana Energy Services, LP 

(National Enrichment Facility) 

Docket No. 70–3103–ML, Petitions 

for Review of LBP–06–15. 

(Tentative). 

b. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. (Diablo 

Canyon ISFSI), Docket No. 72–26–

ISFSI ‘‘Motion by San Luis Obispo 

Mothers for Peace, Sierra Club, and 

Peg Pinard for Declaratory and 

Injunctive Relief with respect to 

Diablo Canyon ISFSI’’ (Tentative). 

c. AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 

(License Renewal for Oyster Creek 

Nuclear Generating Station) Docket 

No. 50–0219, Legal challenges to 

LBP–06–07 and LBP–06–11 

(Tentative). 

Week of August 21, 2006—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the Week of August 21, 2006. 

Week of August 28, 2006—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the Week of August 28, 2006. 

Week of September 4, 2006—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the Week of September 4, 2006. 

Week of September 11, 2006—Tentative 

Monday, September 11, 2006 

9:30 a.m.—Discussion of Security Issues 

(Closed—Ex. 1). 

1:30 p.m.—Discussion of Security Issues 

(Closed—Ex. 1 & 3). 

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 

9:30 a.m.—Meeting with Organization of 

Agreement States (OAS) and 

Conference of Radiation Control 

Program Directors (CRCPD) (Public 

Meeting) (Contact: Shawn Smith, 

(301) 414–2620). 

This meeting will be webcast live at 

the Web address—http://www.nrc.gov. 

1 p.m.—Discussion of Security Issues 

(Closed—Ex. 1). 

*The schedule for Commission 

meetings is subject to change on short 

notice. To verify the status of meetings 

call (recording)—(301) 415–1292. 

Contact person for more information: 

Michelle Schroll, (301) 415–1662. 

The NRC Commission Meeting 

Schedule can be found on the Internet 

at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/ 

policy-making/schedule.html. 

The NRC provides reasonable 

accommodation to individuals with 

disabilities where appropriate. If you 

need a reasonable accommodation to 

participate in these public meetings, or 

need this meeting notice or the 

transcript or other information from the 

public meetings in another format (e.g., 

braille, large print), please notify the 

NRC’s Disability Program Coordinator, 

Deborah Chan, at (301) 415–7041, TDD: 

(301) 415–2100, or by e-mail at 

DLC@nrc.gov. Determinations on 

requests for reasonable accommodation 

will be made on a case-by-case basis. 

This notice is distributed by mail to 

several hundred subscribers; if you no 

longer wish to receive it, or would like 

to be added to the distribution, please 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES