Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 50 / Monday, March 16, 2015 / Notices 13635 

2. NCUA’s Rules and Regulations, 

Ownership of Fixed Assets. 

RECESS: 10:45 a.m. 

TIME AND DATE: 11:00 a.m., Thursday, 

March 19, 2015. 

PLACE: Board Room, 7th Floor, Room 

7047, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 

22314–3428. 

STATUS: Closed. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

1. Personnel Action. Closed pursuant 

to Exemptions (2) and (6). 

2. Personnel Action. Closed pursuant 

to Exemptions (2) and (6). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gerard Poliquin, Secretary of the Board, 

Telephone: 703–518–6304. 

Gerard Poliquin, 

Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06055 Filed 3–12–15; 04:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7535–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Comment Request 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) has submitted the 

following information collection 

requirement to OMB for review and 

clearance under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104–13. 

This is the second notice for public 

comment; the first was published in the 

Federal Register at 79 FR 66419, with 

a corrected notice published at 79 FR 

68728, along with a notice published at 

79 FR 78497 requesting comments on 

management fees for large facilities, and 

48 comments were received. NSF is 

forwarding the proposed submission to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for clearance simultaneously 

with the publication of this second 

notice. The full submission may be 

found at: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/ 

do/PRAMain. 

Comments regarding (a) whether the 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of burden including 

the validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility and clarity of the 

information to be collected; (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology should be 

addressed to: Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: 

Desk Officer for National Science 

Foundation, 725—17th Street NW., 

Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, 

and to Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports 

Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, 

Suite 1265, Arlington, Virginia 22230 or 

send email to splimpto@nsf.gov. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877– 

8339, which is accessible 24 hours a 

day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year 

(including federal holidays). 

Comments regarding these 

information collections are best assured 

of having their full effect if received 

within 30 days of this notification. 

Copies of the submission(s) may be 

obtained by calling 703–292–7556. 

NSF may not conduct or sponsor a 

collection of information unless the 

collection of information displays a 

currently valid OMB control number 

and the agency informs potential 

persons who are to respond to the 

collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summary of Comments on the National 

Science Foundation Proposal and 

Award Policies and Procedures Guide 

and NSF’s Responses 

The draft Large Facilities Manual was 

made available for review by the public 

on the NSF Web site at http://

www.nsf.gov/bfa/lfo/NSF_Large_

Facilities_Manual_110414_1700–WM_

(for_OMB).pdf. In response to the 

Federal Register notice published 

December 30, 2014, at 79 FR 78497, NSF 

received 48 comments from 6 different 

institutions/individuals. This notice 

was published to receive comments for 

a revised subsection of the Large 

Facilities Manual, 4.2.2.2, ‘‘Management 

Fee.’’ This management fee subsection 

will be incorporated into the revised 

NSF Large Facility Manual, which will 

be released following OMB approval of 

this information collection request. A 

summary of the comments is as follows: 

48 responses were received from six 

different institutions/individuals, 

broken down by the following: 

• 7 responses questioned alignment 

with an existing Federal Regulation/

Policy/Guideline 

• 25 suggested changes to the NSFproposed Policy/Procedures; and 

• 16 provided general observations 

The full comments and NSF’s 

response may be found via: http://

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title of Collection: ‘‘Large Facilities 

Manual’’. 

OMB Approval Number: 3145–NEW. 

Expiration Date of Approval: Not 

applicable. 

Type of Request: Intent to seek 

approval to establish an information 

collection for three years. 

Proposed Project 

The National Science Foundation Act 

of 1950 (Pub. L. 81–507) set forth NSF’s 

mission and purpose: 

‘‘To promote the progress of science; 

to advance the national health, 

prosperity, and welfare; to secure the 

national defense. . . .’’ 

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. 

Among Federal agencies, NSF is a 

leader in providing the academic 

community with advanced 

instrumentation needed to conduct 

state-of-the-art research and to educate 

the next generation of scientists, 

engineers and technical workers. The 

knowledge generated by these tools 

sustains U.S. leadership in science and 

engineering (S&E) to drive the U.S. 

economy and secure the future. NSF’s 

responsibility is to ensure that the 

research and education communities 

have access to these resources, and to 

provide the support needed to utilize 

them optimally, and implement timely 

upgrades. 

The scale of advanced 

instrumentation ranges from small 

research instruments to shared 

resources or facilities that can be used 

by entire communities. The demand for 

such instrumentation is very high, and 

is growing rapidly, along with the pace 

of discovery. For large facilities and 

shared infrastructure, the need is 

particularly high. This trend is expected 

to accelerate in the future as increasing 

numbers of researchers and educators 

rely on such large facilities, 


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13636 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 50 / Monday, March 16, 2015 / Notices 

instruments, and databases to provide 

the reach to make the next intellectual 

leaps. 

NSF currently provides support for 

facility construction from two accounts: 

the Major Research Equipment and 

Facility Construction (MREFC) account, 

and the Research and Related Activities 

(R&RA) account. The MREFC account, 

established in FY 1995, is a separate 

budget line item that provides an 

agency-wide mechanism, permitting 

directorates to undertake large facility 

projects that exceed 10% of the 

Directorate’s annual budget; or roughly 

$100M or greater. Smaller projects 

continue to be supported from the 

R&RA Account. 

Facilities are defined as shared-use 

infrastructure, instrumentation and 

equipment that are accessible to a broad 

community of researchers and/or 

educators. Facilities may be centralized 

or may consist of distributed 

installations. They may incorporate 

large-scale networking or computational 

infrastructure, multi-user instruments or 

networks of such instruments, or other 

infrastructure, instrumentation and 

equipment having a major impact on a 

broad segment of a scientific or 

engineering discipline. Historically, 

awards have been made for such diverse 

projects as accelerators, telescopes, 

research vessels and aircraft, and 

geographically distributed but 

networked sensors and instrumentation. 

The growth and diversification of 

large facility projects require that NSF 

remain attentive to the ever-changing 

issues and challenges inherent in their 

planning, construction, operation, 

management and oversight. Most 

importantly, dedicated, competent NSF 

and awardee staff are needed to manage 

and oversee these projects; giving the 

attention and oversight that good 

practice dictates and that proper 

accountability to taxpayers and 

Congress demands. To this end, there is 

also a need for consistent, documented 

requirements and procedures to be 

understood and used by NSF program 

managers and awardees for all such 

large projects. 

Use of the Information: Facilities are 

an essential part of the science and 

engineering enterprise, and supporting 

them is one major responsibility of the 

National Science Foundation (NSF). 

NSF makes awards to external entities— 

primarily universities, consortia of 

universities or non-profit 

organizations—to undertake 

construction, management and 

operation of facilities. Such awards 

frequently take the form of cooperative 

agreements. NSF does not directly 

construct or operate the facilities it 

supports. However, NSF retains 

responsibility for overseeing their 

development, management and 

successful performance. The Large 

Facilities Manual is intended to: 

• Provide step-by-step guidance for 

NSF staff and awardees to carry out 

effective project planning, management 

and oversight of large facilities while 

considering the varying requirements of 

a diverse portfolio; 

• Clearly state the policies, processes 

and procedures pertinent at each stage 

of a facility’s life cycle from 

development through construction, 

operations, and termination; and 

• Document and disseminate ‘‘best 

practices’’ identified over time so that 

NSF and awardees can carry out their 

responsibilities more effectively. 

This version of the Large Facilities 

Manual reflects recent changes in 

organization and formatting to improve 

readability and facilitate period 

revision. It also up-dates sections 

related to contingency and cost 

estimating requirements. The Manual 

does not replace existing formal 

procedures required for all NSF awards, 

which are described in the Grant 

Proposal Guide and The Award and 

Administration Guide. Instead, it draws 

upon and supplements them for the 

purpose of providing detailed guidance 

regarding NSF management and 

oversight of facilities projects. All 

facilities projects require merit and 

technical review, as well as approval of 

certain deliverables. The level of review 

and approval varies substantially from 

standard grants, as does the level of 

oversight needed to ensure appropriate 

and proper accountability for federal 

funds. The requirements, recommended 

procedures and best practices presented 

in the Manual apply to any facility 

significant enough to require close and 

substantial interaction with the 

Foundation and the National Science 

Board. 

This Manual will be updated 

periodically to reflect changes in 

requirements, policies and/or 

procedures. Award Recipients are 

expected to monitor and adopt the 

requirements and best practices 

included in the Manual which are 

aimed at improving management and 

oversight of large facilities projects and 

at enabling the most efficient and costeffective delivery of tools to the research 

and education communities. 

The submission of proposals and 

subsequent project documentation to 

the Foundation related to the 

development, construction and 

operations of Large Facilities is part of 

the collection of information. This 

information is used to help NSF fulfill 

this responsibility in supporting meritbased research and education projects in 

all the scientific and engineering 

disciplines. The Foundation also has a 

continuing commitment to provide 

oversight on facilities development and 

construction which must be balanced 

against monitoring its information 

collection so as to identify and address 

any excessive reporting burdens. 

NSF has approximately twenty-two 

(22) Large Facilities in various stages of 

development, construction, operations 

and termination. One to two (1 to 2) 

new awards are made approximately 

every five (5) years based on science 

community infrastructure needs and 

availability of funding. Of the twentytwo large facilities, there are 

approximately eight (8) facilities 

annually that are either in development 

or construction. These stages require the 

highest level of reporting and 

management documentation per the 

Large Facilities Manual. 

Burden to the Public: The Foundation 

estimates that an average of three (3) 

Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) are 

necessary for each facility project in 

development or construction (Total 

Project Cost of $200–$500M) to respond 

to NSF routine reporting and project 

management documentation 

requirements on an annual basis; or 

6240 hours per year. The Foundation 

estimates an average of one (1) FTE for 

a facility in operations; or 2080 hours 

per year. Assuming an average of eight 

(8) facilities in construction and the 

balance in operations, this equates to 

roughly 80,000 public burden hours 

annually. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 2015–05875 Filed 3–13–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–483; NRC–2012–0001] 

License Renewal for Callaway Plant, 

Unit 1 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: License renewal and record of 

decision; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) has issued renewed 

facility operating license No. NPF–30 to 

Union Electric Company (dba Ameren 

Missouri or the licensee), the operator of 

the Callaway Plant, Unit 1 (Callaway). 

Renewed facility operating license No. 


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