9286 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 28 / Friday, February 9, 2024 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket No. DOT–OST–2024–0016] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Approval of Information 

Collection 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), 

DOT. 

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice 

announces that the Department of 

Transportation (DOT) is forwarding the 

Information Collection Request (ICR) 

abstracted below to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and comment. The ICR describes 

the information collection and its 

expected burden. On September 6, 2023, 

DOT published a notice providing a 60- 

day period for public comment on the 

ICR. DOT received no comments on this 

notice. This collection is necessary for 

administration of the Reconnecting 

Communities (RCP) and Neighborhood 

Access and Equity (NAE) Discretionary 

Grant Programs and funding 

opportunities. Together, these programs 

are known as ‘‘Reconnecting 

Communities and Neighborhoods 

(RCN)’’ in the combined NOFO. RCN 

provides federal financial assistance for 

surface transportation infrastructure 

projects. Through RCP, this includes 

removing, retrofitting, or mitigating 

transportation facilities such as 

highways and rail lines that create 

barriers to community connectivity 

including to mobility, access, or 

economic development. Through NAE, 

this includes the RCP eligibilities and 

expands eligibility to activities that 

reduce the burdens to communities of 

existing transportation infrastructure, 

including air quality impacts and 

greenhouse gas emissions, urban heat 

islands, gaps in tree canopy coverage, 

and other natural environment 

concerns. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

submitted by March 11, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not 

duplicate your docket submissions, 

please submit them by only one of the 

following means: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery: West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W–12–140 1200, 

New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and 

5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. The telephone number 

is 202–366–9329. 

Instructions: To ensure proper 

docketing of your comment, please 

include the agency name and docket 

number [DOT–OST–2024–0016] at the 

beginning of your comments. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information regarding this 

notice, please contact the Office of the 

Secretary via email at 

ReconnectingCommunities@dot.gov or 

contact Andrew Emanuele at 

andrew.emanuele@dot.gov. A TDD is 

available for individuals who are deaf or 

hard of hearing at 202–366–3993. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: New 

Collection. OMB number will be issued 

after the collection is approved. 

Title: Reconnecting Communities 

Pilot Program and Neighborhood Access 

and Equity Program (Reconnecting 

Communities and Neighborhoods [RCN] 

Program) Discretionary Grants. 

Form Numbers: None. 

Type of Review: New Information 

Collection Request (ICR). 

Background: The Office of the 

Secretary (OST) within the Department 

of Transportation (DOT) provides 

financial assistance for surface 

transportation infrastructure projects, 

including removing, retrofitting, or 

mitigating transportation facilities such 

as highways and rail lines that create 

barriers to community connectivity 

including to mobility, access, or 

economic development. The 

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 

(Pub. L. 117–58, November 15, 2021) 

(Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL) 

provided funds to DOT to invest in 

planning and capital construction grants 

to reduce transportation barriers: the 

Reconnecting Communities Pilot 

Program, found under section 11509 of 

division A. The Inflation Reduction Act 

(Pub. L. 117–169, August 16, 2022) 

(IRA) provided funds to DOT for the 

NAE to invest in planning and 

construction grants to improve 

walkability and safety and provide 

affordable access: the Neighborhood 

Access and Equity grant program, found 

at 23 U.S.C. 177. To help streamline the 

process for applicants, DOT has 

combined the applications for the RCP 

and NAE programs into the RCN 

common application. 

DOT combined these two programs 

into one single Notice of Funding 

Opportunity (NOFO) to provide a more 

efficient application process for project 

sponsors. While they remain separate 

programs for the purposes of award, the 

programs share many common 

characteristics. Because of these shared 

characteristics, it is possible for many 

projects to be eligible and considered for 

multiple programs using a single 

application. 

This notice seeks comments on the 

proposed information collection, which 

will collect information necessary to 

support the ongoing oversight and 

administration of previous awards, a 

Letter of Intent screening tool, the 

evaluation and selection of new 

applications, the funding agreement 

negotiation stage for new awards, and 

the evaluation of the programs. The 

reporting requirements for the program 

is as follows: 

Prior to applying, a project sponsor 

may fill out a ‘‘Letter of Intent’’ 

screening tool to help determine 

eligibility for one or both programs 

within the RCN NOFO or help direct 

them to a more appropriate grant 

program. 

To be considered to receive an RCN 

grant, a project sponsor must submit an 

application to DOT containing standard 

forms, a key information table, a project 

narrative, and budget description, as 

detailed in the NOFO. These materials 

should include the information 

necessary for DOT to determine that the 

project satisfies eligibility requirements 

as warranted by law. 

Following the announcement of a 

funding award, the recipient and DOT 

will negotiate and sign a funding 

agreement with awardees. In the 

agreement, the recipient must describe 

the project that DOT agreed to fund, 

which is the project that was described 

in the RCN application or a reducedscope version of that project. The 

agreement also includes project 

schedule milestones, a budget, and 

project-related climate change, equity, 

and workforce planning and policies. 

To fulfill evaluation requirements, 

DOT will conduct interviews with 

stakeholders associated with each 

awarded capital construction grant. 

These interviews will be used to inform 

case studies that will be developed for 

each funded capital construction 

project. 

During the project monitoring stage, 

grantees will submit reports on the 

financial condition of the project and 

the project’s progress. Grantees will 

submit progress and monitoring reports 

to DOT on a quarterly basis until 

completion of the project. The progress 

reports will include an SF–425, Federal 

Financial Report, and other information 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 28 / Friday, February 9, 2024 / Notices 9287 

determined by the administering DOT 

Operating Administration. This 

information will be used to monitor 

grantees’ use of Federal funds, ensuring 

accountability and financial 

transparency in the RCN programs. 

For Post Construction Reporting, the 

DOT will evaluate the program for 

recipients of capital construction grants 

and include the outcomes and impacts 

of the completed projects. The reporting 

will document any changes in the 

overall level of mobility, congestion, 

access, and safety in the project areas, 

and environmental impacts and 

economic development opportunities in 

project areas. Performance reporting 

continues for five years after project 

construction is completed, during 

which DOT will not provide grant 

funding specifically for performance 

reporting. 

DOT received 682 applications in 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. For the purposes 

of estimating the information collection 

burden below for new applicants and 

awardees, DOT expects to receive 600 

applications in FY 2024 and 435 

applications in FY 2025, with the 

expected depletion of NAE funds. DOT 

is negotiating 45 funding agreements in 

FY 2023 and estimates that for FY 2024 

and FY 2025, it will negotiate 100 

funding agreements per year. Quarterly 

project monitoring will occur for the 45 

RCP projects awarded in FY 2022 and 

in the following year, for both FY 2022 

and 2023 awards. DOT will conduct 

interviews with 30 stakeholders (five for 

each of the six capital construction 

grants awarded in the FY 2022 round) 

in FY 2024 and 175 stakeholders (five 

for each of the estimated 35 capital 

construction grants awarded in the FY 

2023 round) in FY 2025. DOT estimates 

that 600 respondents will use the Letter 

of Intent tool in FY 2024 and 250 

respondents will use it in FY 2025. For 

a detailed breakdown of burden hours, 

please see Table 1. 

TABLE 1 

Respondent 

Year 1 

(2023) 

Year 2 

(2024) 

Year 3 

(2025) Total hrs. 

# Hrs. Freq. # Hrs. Freq. # Hrs. Freq. 

Letter of Intent ................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ........................

Applicants .......................................... 682 100 1 ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 68,200 

Awardee Funding Agreements ......... 45 6 1 ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 270 

Quarterly Monitoring .......................... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ........................

Letter of Intent ................................... ................ ................ ................ 600 0.5 1 ................ ................ ................ 300 

Applicants .......................................... ................ ................ ................ 600 100 1 ................ ................ ................ 60,000 

Awardee Funding Agreements ......... ................ ................ ................ 100 6 1 ................ ................ ................ 600 

Interviews .......................................... ................ ................ ................ 30 2 1 ................ ................ ................ 60 

Quarterly Monitoring (FY 2022) ........ ................ ................ ................ 45 5 4 ................ ................ ................ 900 

Letter of Intent ................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 250 0.5 1 125 

Applicants .......................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 435 100 1 43,500 

Awardee Funding Agreements ......... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 100 6 1 600 

Interviews .......................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 175 2 1 350 

Quarterly Monitoring (FY 2022 and 

2023) .............................................. ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 145 5 4 2900 

Grand Total ................................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ 177,805 

DOT’s estimated burden for this 

information collection is the following: 

For Letter of Intent Screening Tool 

Expected Number of Respondents: 

Approximately 600 in Year 2. DOT 

expects 250 in Year 3 with depletion of 

NAE funding, reducing those using the 

tool. 

Frequency: Once. 

Estimated Average Burden Per 

Response: 0.5 hours per respondent. 

For Applications 

Expected Number of Respondents: 

DOT received 682 applications in Year 

1 and expects to receive 600 

applications in Year 2 and 435 in Year 

3 with the expected depletion of NAE 

funds. 

Frequency: Once. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 100 hours for each 

application. 

For Funding Agreements 

Expected Number of Respondents: 

DOT awarded 45 grants in Year 1 and 

expects to award approximately 100 in 

Years 2 and 3. 

Frequency: Once. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 6 hours for each funding 

agreement. 

For Program Evaluation 

Expected Number of Respondents: 

Estimated 30 in Year 2 (five interviews 

per capital construction grant awarded) 

and 175 in Year 3 (five interviews per 

an estimated 35 capital construction 

grants awarded. 

Frequency: Once. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 2 hours for each interview. 

For Quarterly Monitoring 

Expected Number of Respondents: 

Approximately 45 in Year 2 and 145 in 

Year 3. 

Frequency: Quarterly. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 5 hours for each Quarterly 

Monitoring Report. 

For Post-Construction Project 

Monitoring 

Because RCN expect no projects to 

complete construction by 2025, postconstruction monitoring hours and cost 

are not computed in this document. 

Estimated Total 3-Year Burden on 

Respondents: 177,805 Hours 

• Letter of Intent [425 hours] 

• Applicants [171,700 hours] 

• Awardee Funding Agreements [1,470 

hours] 

• Interviews [410 hours] 

• Prior Awardee Quarterly Project 

Monitoring [3,800 hours] 

The following is detailed information 

and instructions regarding the specific 

reporting requirements for each report 

identified above: 

Letter of Intent Screening Stage 

To help applicants determine their 

eligibility for the RCN combined grant 

opportunity, DOT will develop and use 

the ‘‘Letter of Intent’’ tool to help 

applicants determine eligibility, direct 

them to a more appropriate grant 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
9288 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 28 / Friday, February 9, 2024 / Notices 

program if applicable, and identify 

application materials they may be 

missing. The tool will save potential 

applicants hundreds of hours of 

application development time if the 

project has a ‘‘fatal flaw’’ that would 

render it ineligible. The tool will consist 

of 10–20 questions and takes 0.5 hour to 

complete. 

Application Stage 

To be considered for an RCN grant 

award, a project sponsor must apply to 

DOT, providing standard forms, a key 

information table, a project narrative, 

and budget description, as detailed in 

the NOFO. These materials should 

include the information necessary for 

DOT to determine that the project 

satisfies eligibility requirements. 

Applications must be submitted 

through www.valideval.com. 

Instructions for submitting planning or 

capital construction grant applications 

can be found at https://

usg.valideval.com/teams/rcn_planning/ 

signup or https://usg.valideval.com/ 

teams/rcn_capitalconstruction/signup, 

respectively. The application must 

include the Standard Form 424 

(Application for Federal Assistance), 

Standard Form 424a (Budget 

Information for Non-Construction 

Programs) or 424c (Budget Information 

for Construction Programs), Standard 

Form 424b (Assurances—NonConstruction Programs) or 424d 

(Assurances—Construction Programs), a 

Key Information Table, narrative, and 

budget. 

The application should include a 

table of contents, maps, and graphics, as 

appropriate, to make the information 

easier to review. DOT recommends that 

the application be prepared with 

standard formatting preferences (i.e., a 

single-spaced document, using a 

standard 12-point font such as Times 

New Roman, with 1-inch margins). The 

only substantive portions that may 

exceed the page limit are documents 

supporting assertions or conclusions 

made in the project narrative. If 

possible, website links to supporting 

documentation should be provided 

rather than copies of these supporting 

materials. If supporting documents are 

submitted, applicants should clearly 

identify within the project narrative the 

relevant portion of the project narrative 

that each supporting document refers to. 

At the applicant’s discretion, relevant 

materials provided previously to a 

modal administration in support of a 

different DOT financial assistance 

program may be referenced and 

described as unchanged. 

DOT estimates that it takes 

approximately 100 person-hours to 

compile an application package for an 

RCN application. 

Funding Agreement Stage 

DOT enters into a funding agreement 

with each grant recipient. In the 

agreement, the recipient describes the 

project that DOT agreed to fund, which 

is typically the project that was 

described in the RCN application or a 

reduced-scope version of that project. 

The agreement also includes a project 

schedule, budget, and project related 

climate change and equity planning and 

policies. 

DOT estimates that it takes 

approximately 6 person-hours to 

provide the information necessary for 

funding agreements. 

Program Evaluation Stage (Interviews) 

To fulfill evaluation requirements, 

DOT will conduct interviews with 

stakeholders associated with each 

awarded capital construction grant. 

These interviews will be used to inform 

case studies that will be developed for 

each funded capital construction 

project. 

Project Monitoring Stage 

DOT requires each grant recipient to 

submit quarterly reports during the 

project period to ensure the proper and 

timely expenditure of federal funds 

under the grant. 

The requirements comply with 2 CFR 

part 200 and are restated in the funding 

agreement. During the project 

monitoring stage, the grantee will 

complete quarterly progress reports to 

allow DOT to monitor the project budget 

and schedule. 

DOT estimates that it takes 

approximately 5 person-hours to 

develop and submit a quarterly progress 

report. 

Post Construction Monitoring Stage 

For Post Construction Reporting, DOT 

will evaluate the program for recipients 

of capital construction grants and 

include the outcomes and impacts of the 

completed projects, The reporting will 

document any changes in the overall 

level of mobility, congestion, access, 

and safety in the project areas, and 

environmental impacts and economic 

development opportunities in project 

areas. Because RCN expect no projects 

to complete construction by 2025, postconstruction monitoring hours and cost 

are not computed in this document. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as 

amended; and 49 CFR 1:48. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 5, 

2024. 

John Augustine, 

Director of the Office of Infrastructure 

Finance and Innovation, Office of the Under 

Secretary for Transportation Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02671 Filed 2–8–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

Meeting of the Electronic Tax 

Administration Advisory Committee 

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Electronic Tax 

Administration Advisory Committee 

(ETAAC) will hold a public meeting via 

telephone conference line on 

Wednesday, March 20, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Alec Johnston, Office of National Public 

Liaison, at (202) 317–4299, or send an 

email to publicliaison@irs.gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, that a public meeting 

via conference call of the ETAAC will 

be held on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 

at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The purpose of the 

ETAAC is to provide continuing advice 

regarding the development and 

implementation of the IRS 

organizational strategy for electronic tax 

administration. ETAAC is an organized 

public forum for discussion of 

electronic tax administration issues 

such as prevention of identity theft and 

refund fraud. It supports the overriding 

goal that paperless filing should be the 

preferred and most convenient method 

of filing tax and information returns. 

ETAAC members convey the public’s 

perceptions of IRS electronic tax 

administration activities, offer 

constructive observations about current 

or proposed policies, programs, and 

procedures, and suggest improvements. 

Please call or email Alec Johnston to 

confirm your attendance. Mr. Johnston 

can be reached at 202–317–4299 or 

PublicLiaison@irs.gov . Should you wish 

the ETAAC to consider a written 

statement, please call 202–317–4299 or 

email: PublicLiaison@irs.gov. 

Dated: February 6, 2024. 

John A. Lipold, 

Designated Federal Official, Office of 

National Public Liaison, Internal Revenue 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02726 Filed 2–8–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1