[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 203 (Monday, October 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84141-84142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24192]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-0319; Docket No. 2024-0001; Sequence No. 8]


Submission for OMB Review; CDP Supply Chain Climate Change 
Information Request

AGENCY: Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP), General Services 
Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), GSA will invite the public 
to comment on a renewal and extension concerning the CDP Supply Chain 
Climate Change Information Request.

DATES: GSA will consider all comments received by November 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for Public 
Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jed Ela, Sustainability Advisor, 
Office of Government-wide Policy, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9df7f8f9b3f8f1fcddfaeefcb3faf2eb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="ed878889c388818cad8a9e8cc38a829b">[email protected]</span></a>, 202-854-8804.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    The CDP Supply Chain Climate Change Information Request is an 
electronic questionnaire designed to collect information that is widely 
used by large private and public sector organizations to understand, 
assess, and mitigate potentially disruptive and costly supply chain 
risks, investment risks, and environmental impacts. The questionnaire 
is administered by CDP North America, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit 
organization (``CDP''). CDP administers the questionnaire annually on 
behalf of over 700 institutional investors, 300 major corporations, and 
several large governmental purchasing organizations in addition to GSA. 
CDP's most recent annual survey was directed to over 40,000 companies, 
with over 23,000 electing to respond.
    Under previously approved information collection requests, GSA has 
directed CDP since 2017 to include several hundred major Federal 
contractors annually among its potential survey respondents. In 
accordance with 31 U.S. Code 3512(c)(1)(b), GSA uses information 
received from these companies via CDP to inform and develop purchasing 
policies and contract requirements necessary to safeguard Federal 
assets against waste, loss, and misappropriation resulting from 
unmitigated exposure to physical, market, regulatory, legal, and other 
types of risks in Federal supply chains. GSA also uses the information 
in accordance with Executive Orders 13990, 14008, 14030, and 14057 to 
inform development of policies and programs to reduce similar risks and 
environmental impacts associated with federal procurement activities.
    For example, GSA has used CDP information in recent years to 
perform critical market research in connection with multi-billion-
dollar strategic contracting efforts. In one case, GSA determined that 
data center facilities used by potential network infrastructure 
providers could be at risk due to flooding, extreme heat, or lack of 
available cooling water sources, placing Federal client operations at 
risk. In another case, GSA used information from the CDP survey to 
research potential contractors' existing risk mitigation and greenhouse 
gas reduction practices and to design appropriate contract requirements 
to ensure that contractors assess and mitigate these risks and reduce 
greenhouse gasses associated with their federal contract activities. In 
another case, GSA determined that energy savings practices available to 
potential information technology service providers could significantly 
lower their overhead costs and that this would likely reduce contract 
costs for GSA and other Federal agencies. GSA uses the information 
collected to research development of similar policies and programs and 
to verify contractor compliance with existing programs.

B. Annual Burden Hours

    GSA expects to direct CDP to request voluntary survey responses 
from up to 1000 large and medium-sized businesses per year. Estimates 
of response time per respondent vary greatly depending on whether each 
requested respondent (a) elects not to respond; (b) responds, but would 
have responded to CDP regardless of GSA's request (because the 
respondent was also requested to respond to CDP by other customer and/
or investor stakeholders); or (c) responds to CDP because of GSA's 
request. Analysis of total response time is thus based on estimates for 
each of these categories.
    (a) Requested respondents who elect not to respond. Based on 
historical CDP response rates and GSA's intended recipients, GSA 
estimates that 680 out of 1000 annual requested respondents will be in 
this category. Hour burden for this category: 680 non-responses; time 
per respondent 0; total time 0.
    (b) Respondents who would have responded to CDP regardless of GSA's 
request. These respondents will complete some or all of the collection 
instrument, but would have done so regardless of GSA's request. In 
addition, some of these respondents will answer a small number of 
additional questions (requiring a small fraction of their overall 
response time to CDP) based on GSA's request. In addition, all of these 
respondents will need to complete one additional question in order to 
direct CDP to share their responses with GSA. Based on historical CDP 
response rates and GSA's intended recipients, GSA estimates that 250 
out of 1000 annual requested respondents will be in this category. Hour 
burden for this category: 250 responses; average time per respondent 5 
minutes; total burden 21 hours.
    (c) Respondents who respond to CDP because of GSA's request. These 
respondents may need to invest significant time drafting their 
responses and gathering facts, including searching and compiling 
existing data sources such as utility bills, and completing and 
reviewing the collection instrument. Based on historical CDP response 
rates and GSA's intended recipients, GSA estimates that 70 out of 1000 
annual requested respondents will be in this category. Based on 
discussions with several dozen previous respondents to CDP's 
questionnaire, as well as public input received in response to a 
related information collection request notice (see 82 FR 3794), time 
burden for this collection is estimated to average 120 hours per 
response. Hour burden for this category: 70 responses; average time per 
respondent 120 hours; total burden 8400 hours.
    Based on the individual category response times above, the total 
estimated response burden for all 1000 requested respondents is 
summarized below.

Frequency: Annual
Affected Public: Federal contractors
Number of Respondents: 1000
Responses per Respondent: 1
Total Annual Responses: 320
Estimated Time per Respondent: 26.3

[[Page 84142]]

Total Burden Hours: 8421

C. Public Comments

    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 89 FR 
59100 on July 22, 2024. Two comments were received.
    Comment: One commenter supported GSA's use of the CDP Supply Chain 
Questionnaire, and further suggested sharing aggregate information from 
the surveys with federal agencies working on climate change issues; 
linking GSA's efforts with other federal and non-federal efforts to 
bolster supply chain resilience; and considering administering the 
survey on a voluntary basis to large federal grantees such as state 
agencies that receive considerable federal funding.
    Response: GSA appreciates this commenter's support. GSA already 
shares aggregate information from this survey with other federal 
agencies and collaborates with other federal and non-federal efforts to 
bolster supply chain resilience, and expects to continue to do so. GSA 
does not administer significant grants, and notes that CDP Supply Chain 
questionnaires were developed for use by private sector respondents and 
are not commonly used by public sector respondents, which would 
increases the potential burdens and decrease the utility of information 
collected from this type of respondents.
    Comment: One commenter asserted that climate change does not exist, 
and requested that GSA ``reimburse the taxpayer for this hoax.''
    Response: The existence and impacts of climate change, including 
risks to the economy and efficiency of federal procurement and supply 
chains, are well supported by the Fifth National Climate Assessment 
(``NCA5,'' https://nca2023.globalchange.gov), the US Government's 
preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. The 
NCA5 was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 
and authored by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a 
collaboration between at least fifteen U.S. Federal agencies. The NCA5 
was based on a comprehensive review and assessment of information 
sources determined to meet the standards and documentation required 
under the Information Quality Act and the Foundations for Evidence-
Based Policymaking Act of 2018, including peer-reviewed literature, 
other literature, Indigenous Knowledge, other expert and local 
knowledge, and climate data processed and prepared for authors by 
NOAA's Technical Support Unit. NCA5 was thoroughly reviewed by Federal 
Government experts, external experts, and the public multiple times 
throughout the report development process. An expert external review 
was performed by an ad hoc committee of the National Academies of 
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Even if climate change were a 
``hoax,'' GSA lacks authorities or mechanisms for general 
reimbursements to taxpayers.

Lois Mandell,
Director, Regulatory Secretariat Division, General Services 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-24192 Filed 10-18-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-14-P


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