45240 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Notices 

public interest does not require the 

matter to be open. 

General Counsel Certification 

The General Counsel has certified that 

Matter Number Two may properly be 

closed, citing the following relevant 

exemptive provision: 5 U.S.C. 

552b(c)(10). 

Expected Attendees 

Expected to attend the closed meeting 

are the Commissioners themselves, an 

advisor to one of the Commissioners, 

and such other Commission staff as may 

be appropriate. 

By direction of the Commission, 

Commissioner Ohlhausen not participating. 

Donald S. Clark, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19226 Filed 9–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

[OMB Control No. 3090–0317 

Docket No. 2018–0001; Sequence No. 15] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Notarized Document Submittal for 

System for Award Management 

Registration 

AGENCY: Office of Acquisition Policy, 

General Services Administration (GSA). 

ACTION: Notice of request for comments 

regarding an extension to an existing 

OMB clearance. 

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, the 

Regulatory Secretariat Division will be 

submitting to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) a request to review 

and approve an existing OMB clearance 

regarding a notarized document 

submittal for System for Award 

Management (SAM) Registration. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

October 9, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments regarding 

this burden estimate or any other aspect 

of this collection of information, 

including suggestions for reducing this 

burden to: Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: 

Desk Officer for GSA, Room 10236, 

NEOB, Washington, DC 20503. 

Additionally submit a copy to GSA by 

any of the following methods: 

• Regulations.gov: http://

www.regulations.gov. Submit comments 

via the Federal eRulemaking portal by 

searching for the OMB Control number 

3090–0317. Select the link ‘‘Comment 

Now’’ that corresponds with 

‘‘Information Collection 3090–0317; 

Notarized Document Submittal for 

System for Award Management 

Registration’’. Follow the instructions 

on the screen. Please include your 

name, company name (if any), and 

‘‘Information Collection 3090–0317; 

Notarized Document Submittal for 

System for Award Management 

Registration’’ on your attached 

document. 

• Mail: General Services 

Administration, Regulatory Secretariat 

Division (MVCB), 1800 F Street NW, 

Washington, DC 20405–0001. ATTN: 

Ms. Mandell/IC 3090–0317; Notarized 

Document Submittal for System for 

Award Management Registration. 

Instructions: Please submit comments 

only and cite Information Collection 

3090–0317; Notarized Document 

Submittal for System for Award 

Management Registration, in all 

correspondence related to this 

collection. Comments received generally 

will be posted without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal and/or business confidential 

information provided. To confirm 

receipt of your comment(s), please 

check www.regulations.gov, 

approximately two-to-three days after 

submission to verify posting (except 

allow 30 days for posting of comments 

submitted by mail). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Curtis E. Glover, Sr. Procurement 

Analyst, Federal Acquisition Policy 

Division, GSA, telephone number 202– 

501–1448, or via email to curtis.glover@

gsa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Federal Acquisition Regulation 

(FAR) Subpart 4.11 prescribes policies 

and procedures for requiring contractor 

registration in the System for Award 

Management (SAM) database to: (1) 

Increase visibility of vendor sources 

(including their geographical locations) 

for specific supplies and services; and 

(2) establish a common source of vendor 

data for the Government. 

In the past, the GSA Office of 

Inspector General (OIG) conducted an 

investigation into fraudulent activities 

discovered within SAM. Certain bad 

actors have, through electronic means, 

used public information to impersonate 

legitimate entities and established new 

entity registrations for those entities in 

SAM. By establishing fraudulent entity 

registrations, bad actors submitted bids 

in certain U.S. Government 

procurement systems or shipped 

deficient or counterfeit goods to the U.S. 

Government. 

GSA established a new Information 

Collection Request (ICR) to collect 

additional information to support 

increased validation of entities 

registered and registering in the System 

for Award Management (SAM). This 

additional information is contained in a 

notarized letter in which an officer or 

other signatory authority of the entity 

formally appoints the Entity 

Administrator for the entity registering 

or recertifying in SAM. The original, 

signed letter is mailed to the Federal 

Service Desk for SAM prior to the 

registration’s activation or reregistration. 

The new ICR expires September 30, 

2018, without authority for an 

extension. GSA is actively pursuing 

technical alternatives to the collection 

of this information for all non-federal 

entities. GSA seeks to refine the 

requirement and adopt a risk-based 

approach. This notice for an extension 

of the ICR lays the groundwork for the 

authority to continue collection of the 

information provided GSA is still 

pursuing the technical alternative 

beyond the ICR expiration date. In the 

interim, the collection of the notarized 

letter information is essential to GSA’s 

acquisition mission to meet the needs of 

all federal agencies, as well as the needs 

of the grant community. A key element 

of GSA’s mission is to provide efficient 

and effective acquisition solutions 

across the Federal Government. SAM is 

essential to the accomplishment of that 

mission. In addition to federal contracts, 

federal assistance programs also rely 

upon the integrity and security of the 

information in SAM. Without 

assurances that the information in SAM 

is protected and, is at minimal risk of 

compromise, GSA would risk losing the 

confidence of the federal acquisition 

and assistance communities which is 

serves. As a result, some entities may 

prefer not to do business with the 

Federal Government. 

B. Discussion and Analysis 

A 60-day notice was published in the 

Federal Register at 83 FR 24312 on May 

25, 2018. Two comments were received. 

Comments: One respondent stated 

that it is already time-consuming and 

frustrating for our grantees to use the 

SAM registration process. If the process 

was simple, it would not be a problem; 

however, having to submit notarized 

documents in addition to an already 

difficult process affects our ability to 

nimbly respond to programmatic 

initiatives through small grants to 

organizations or individuals who we 

know and want to partner with to 

achieve our goals. The other respondent 

stated that the new procedure creates 

another challenge for our grantees in 

that mailing the notarized document 

requires extra effort, but also finding a 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Notices 45241 

reliable courier service will be costly 

and requires a considerable amount of 

time to complete the registration 

process. 

Response: GSA has taken several 

actions to address alleged fraudulent 

activity in the System for Award 

Management (SAM). The measures GSA 

has put in place to help prevent 

improper activity in SAM include 

masking specific data elements in the 

entity registration even for authorized 

entity users; requiring ‘‘parent’’ 

approval of new registrations for their 

‘‘child’’ entities; multi-factor 

authentication using login.gov and 

notifying Entity Administrators when 

there is a change in the entity’s bank 

account information. Requiring the 

formal appointment of the Entity 

Administrator by original, signed 

notarized letter ensures that the 

individual(s) reporting for their entity 

are associated with the entity and 

provides a validation of the letter 

submitter’s identity by the notary. GSA 

is actively pursuing technical 

alternatives to replace and/or 

supplement the collection of notarized 

letters. 

C. Annual Reporting Burden 

Respondents: 686,400. 

Responses per Respondent: 1. 

Total Annual Responses: 686,400. 

Hours per Response: 2.25. 

Total Burden Hours: 1,544,400. 

The information collection allows 

GSA to request the notarized letter, and 

apply this approach to new registrants 

(an average of 7,200 per month) and to 

existing SAM registrants (an average of 

50,000 re-register per month). 

Entities registered and registering in 

SAM are provided the template for the 

requirements of the notarized letter. It is 

estimated that the Entity Administrator 

will take on average 0.5 hour to create 

the letter and 0.25 hour to mail the hard 

copy letter. GSA proposes that an Entity 

Administrator equivalent to a GS–5, 

Step 5 Administrative Support person 

within the Government would perform 

these tasks. The estimated hourly rate of 

$24.70 (Base + Locality + Fringe) was 

used for the calculation. 

Based on historical data of the ratio of 

small entities to other than small 

entities registering in SAM, GSA 

approximates 32,200 of the 57,200 new 

and existing entities (re-registrants) will 

have in-house resources to notarize 

documents. GSA proposes that the 

entities with in-house notaries will 

typically be large businesses where the 

projected salary of the executive or 

officer responsible for signing the 

notarized letter is on average 

approximately $150 per hour. The 

projected time for signature and 

notarizing the letter internally is 0.5 

hour. 

The other remaining 25,000 new and 

existing entities (re-registrants) per 

month are estimated to be small entities 

where the projected salary of the 

executive or officer responsible signing 

the notarized letter is on average 

approximately $100 per hour. These 

entities will more than likely have to 

obtain notary services from an outside 

source. The projected time for signature 

and notarizing the letter externally is 1 

hour. The estimate includes a nominal 

fee ($5.00) usually charged by thirdparty notaries. 

D. Public Comments 

Public comments are particularly 

invited on: Whether this collection of 

information is necessary, whether it will 

have practical utility; whether our 

estimate of the public burden of this 

collection of information is accurate, 

and based on valid assumptions and 

methodology; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and ways in 

which we can minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on those 

who are to respond, through the use of 

appropriate technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Obtaining Copies of Proposals: 

Requesters may obtain a copy of the 

information collection documents from 

the General Services Administration, 

Regulatory Secretariat Division (MVCB), 

1800 F Street NW, Washington, DC 

20405. ATTN: Information Collection 

3090–0317; Notarized Document 

Submittal for System for Award 

Management Registration. Please cite 

OMB Control No. 3090–0317; Notarized 

Document Submittal for System for 

Award Management Registration, in all 

correspondence. 

Dated: August 22, 2018. 

David A. Shive, 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19324 Filed 9–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry 

[60Day–18–18ARO; Docket No. ATSDR– 

2018–0007] 

Proposed Data Collection Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

AGENCY: Agency for Toxic Substances 

and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice with comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Agency for Toxic 

Substances and Disease Registry 

(ATSDR), as part of its continuing effort 

to reduce public burden and maximize 

the utility of government information, 

invites the general public and other 

Federal agencies the opportunity to 

comment on a proposed and/or 

continuing information collection, as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995. This notice invites 

comment on a proposed information 

collection project titled ‘‘Prenatal 

Assessment of Environmental Risk 

(PAER)’’. This web-based data collection 

will provide information on behavioral 

risks for environmental exposures for 

patients seeking preconception and 

prenatal care, and for their reproductive 

health care clinicians (RHCCs). 

DATES: ATSDR must receive written 

comments on or before November 5, 

2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No. ATSDR–2018– 

0007 by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information 

Collection Review Office, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 

Clifton Road NE, MS–D74, Atlanta, 

Georgia 30329. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

Docket Number. ATSDR will post, 

without change, all relevant comments 

to Regulations.gov. 

Please note: Submit all comments 

through the Federal eRulemaking portal 

(regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 

address listed above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request more information on the 

proposed project or to obtain a copy of 

the information collection plan and 

instruments, contact Jeffery M. Zirger, 

Information Collection Review Office, 

Centers for Disease Control and 


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