[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84338-84340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24384]


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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, 
and Approvals

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely 
Disabled.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or 
Severely Disabled operates as the U.S. AbilityOne Commission 
(Commission). This notice announces the Commission's intent to submit 
the Information Collection Request (``ICR'') described below to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under applicable 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice provides an 
opportunity to interested members of the public and affected agencies 
to comment on a proposed form, previously titled Participating Employee 
Eligibility form, and now renamed Disability Qualification 
Determination.

DATES: Submit comments on or before November 16, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5626393a3f352f1637343f3a3f222f39383378313920"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="09796665606a7049686b6065607d7066676c276e667f">[email protected]</span></a>.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Stewart, Compliance and 
Enforcement Attorney, Office of General Counsel, U.S. AbilityOne 
Commission, 355 E Street SW, Suite 325, Washington,

[[Page 84339]]

DC 20024; telephone: (703) 254-6172; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#accfdfd8c9dbcdded8eccdcec5c0c5d8d5c3c2c982cbc3da"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7b18080f1e0c1a090f3b1a191217120f0214151e551c140d">[email protected]</span></a>. If 
you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and wish to 
access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Overview of ICR: This notice pertains to an ICR the Commission 
intends to submit to OMB to approve the form that an AbilityOne-
participating nonprofit agency employer will fill out to document its 
determination of an individual's eligibility to be a qualified direct 
labor employee for purposes of meeting the statutory requirements of 
the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act, 41 U.S.C. 8501-8506. The form is an 
updated and modified version of the Commission's Individual Eligibility 
Evaluation (IEE) form (OMB Control #3037-0012). The purpose of the IEE 
was to determine and document an individual's disability eligibility by 
identifying the individual's barriers to employment as well as the job 
supports the individual needs to perform their job.
    This ICR is consistent with OMB regulations at 5 CFR part 1320, 
which implement provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) These regulations require the Commission to 
provide an opportunity to interested members of the public and affected 
agencies to comment on information collection and recordkeeping 
activities (see 5 CFR 1320.8(d)) such as those proposed to be 
implemented through this form.
    The Commission is responsible for implementing the JWOD Act. In 
doing so, the Commission oversees the AbilityOne Program, an employment 
program in which individuals who are blind or have significant 
disabilities provide products and services to Federal agencies, thereby 
creating employment opportunities for such individuals. The Commission 
maintains a Procurement List of mandatory source products and services 
provided by approximately 400 qualified nonprofit agencies (NPAs). In 
order to qualify for the Program, an NPA must show that 75% of all 
direct labor hours are performed by individuals who are blind or 
significantly disabled, regardless of whether the hours relate to work 
done on AbilityOne contracts or work done on other contracts held by 
the NPA. Effective program stewardship requires collection of 
information to ensure that NPAs are only counting the hours of 
individuals with qualifying disabilities toward their 75% statutory 
minimum.
    The proposed data collection form in this ICR is consistent with 
the Commission's responsibilities and ensures that the Commission will 
collect the most pertinent data to inform its oversight and decision 
making.
    A version of the Disability Qualification Determination form is 
available at www.abilityone.gov.
    The form described in this ICR is the first of two forms intended 
to modernize the existing IEE form and align it with the Commission's 
strategic plan and updated approach to determining qualifying 
disability eligibility. A draft version of this form accompanies this 
notice. The Commission has outlined the criteria for such eligibility 
in its revised Policy 51.403.
    As outlined in Policy 51.403, and reflected in the proposed form, a 
significant change in the Commission's approach to determining 
qualifying disability eligibility is the Commission's acceptance of 
other governmental agency determinations of disability. For example, 
individuals deemed eligible for Social Security disability benefits are 
now automatically deemed as having a qualifying disability for purposes 
of meeting the statutory direct labor hour ratio. This ICR will 
establish a form that enables NPAs to certify that an individual has a 
determination of disability from a governmental agency, and in so 
doing, streamlines the process of establishing a qualifying disability.
    The Commission published a sixty-day notice for this ICR on 
November 17, 2023. The Commission received eleven comments from various 
stakeholders in response to the notice. Comments were received from 
NPAs, CNAs and other stakeholders. The comments requested instructions 
for the form, instructions for each individual section, and definitions 
for various terms to be made clearer. Some commenters requested that 
changes be made to the various supports and accommodations listed in 
the form. Additionally, some commenters expressed concerns regarding 
potential confusion caused by introducing a new approach and/or system 
and how that might work with legacy disability documentation or 
determinations.
    Further, commenters expressed concern that the form did not 
necessarily permit a reviewer to discern how a significantly disabled 
individual is precluded from engaging in ``normal competitive 
employment,'' as required by the JWOD Act. While commenters recognized 
that this requirement is generally out of line with the current 
understanding of the ability of people with significant disabilities to 
achieve employment, the Commission has a duty to fulfill its 
responsibilities to administer the JWOD Act. For that reason, the 
Commission has concluded that a determination of eligibility for Social 
Security benefits or for eligibility for Medicaid based on a disability 
is sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute. In contrast, the 
Commission has concluded that a determination of the extent of an 
individual's disability(ies), and the impact of the disability(ies) on 
the individual's ability to work, is necessary to meet the statutory 
requirement if the certification of disability derives from other 
sources, governmental or otherwise.
    To that end, the Commission has added a narrative section to the 
form. By requiring that the reason that an individual needs a 
significant job support, as well as the extent the individual needs the 
support, is articulated on the form, an official reviewing the form 
will be able to reach a conclusion as to the qualifying nature of the 
individual's disability.
    Comments were received from one of the CNAs pointing out that the 
initial number of individuals for whom this form will need to be filled 
out was understated in the sixty-day notice. The Commission revised 
that number to reflect the total number of blind or significantly 
disabled individuals performing direct labor across all qualified NPAs. 
The Commission used data from fiscal year 2023 for this calculation, as 
reflected in the updated burden analysis below.
    Many commenters praised the Commission's move toward a streamlined 
process for establishing disability eligibility. Furthermore, 
commenters noted that the Commission's implementation of presumptive 
disability qualification is responsive to recommendations made by the 
panel established by Section 898 of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for fiscal year 2017, Public Law 114-328, more often referred to as 
``the 898 Panel.'' A draft version of the form NPAs will complete 
accompanies this notice. The final form will be electronic.
    For individuals who meet the eligibility requirements under either 
Part A or Part B of the proposed form, the Commission estimates that 
completing the form will take approximately 5 minutes. For individuals 
who meet the eligibility requirements under Part C or Part D of the 
proposed form, the Commission estimates that completing the form will 
take approximately 30 minutes. NPAs completing Part C or Part D of the 
form will need to complete Part E, as well, which is included in the 
estimated 30 minutes.
    In accordance with these and other changes reflected in Policy 
51.403, the

[[Page 84340]]

Commission estimates that the time and financial burden to the NPAs in 
completing the proposed form will be significantly lower than required 
by the corresponding sections of the existing IEE form. Over time, this 
form will further substantially reduce the burden on NPAs because, in 
most cases, it will be filled out only once per employee--i.e., when an 
employee is onboarded--and not on an annual basis as required by the 
existing IEE form. For employees with a non-permanent disability, the 
form will be completed on a recurring, seven-year basis. The Commission 
estimates that approximately 10% of employees with qualifying 
disabilities will have non-permanent disabilities.
    To calculate the burden for completion of the proposed form, the 
Commission considered an estimate from the Society for Human Resource 
Management that the average annual turnover across all industries is 
approximately 18 percent. Using this number, the Commission estimated 
that NPAs may need to complete this form for approximately 18 percent 
of their total employees each year. However, AbilityOne employers may 
experience lower turnover than employers in the general economy. The 
Commission acknowledges that net AbilityOne job growth may result in 
NPAs completing additional forms for new employees.
    The table below shows the Commission's estimate for the average 
amount of time per employee for whom the NPAs complete a form, both in 
the first year of implementation (``Year 1'') and in the following 
years of implementation (``Years 2+''). The Commission recognizes that 
NPAs vary widely in total number of employees. Therefore, an NPA can 
apply this analysis based on their individual employment totals.

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                                                                                         Total time
                                     Annual turnover/    Maximum                         burden for  Annual form
  Number of employees for whom NPA     entry rate of    responses   Annual form burden      all      cost burden
         must complete form                 18%          for this    (hours/employee)    employees    (dollars)
                                                           form                           (hours)
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62,798 (Year 1)....................            11,304       74,102                 0.5       37,051  1,144,134.9
11,304 (Years 2+)..................             2,035       13,339                 0.5      6,669.5    205,954.2
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    NPAs can calculate their overall time burden (in hours) by 
multiplying the number of qualified direct labor employees they have by 
0.5. The cost burden is based upon national average pay data from the 
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, using the May 2022 National 
Occupational Employment and Wage Estimate of $30.88 as the median 
hourly wage for a Human Resources Specialist (OC 13-1070). (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#11-0000).
    With respect to this collection of information via the proposed 
form, the Commission welcomes comments on the following:
    1. The necessity to collect this information to support the 
Commission's mission and oversight responsibilities;
    2. Methodology to improve the accuracy of the estimated time 
burden; i.e., specific year-over-year employee turnover rates for NPAs 
or number of additional employee hires above turnovers, expressed as a 
percentage of the NPAs' total number of qualified direct labor 
employees;
    3. Methodology to determine the percentage of individuals with 
qualifying disabilities who will have non-permanent disabilities;
    4. Suggestions or methods to minimize the burdens associated with 
collecting the information described in this ICR.

Michael R. Jurkowski,
Director, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2024-24384 Filed 10-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P


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