17294 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 59 / Monday, March 28, 2022 / Notices 

Control No. 9000–0069, Indirect Cost 

Rate Proposals, Payments to Small 

Business Subcontractors, and 

Bankruptcy Notifications. 

Janet Fry, 

Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, 

Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, 

Office of Acquisition Policy, Office of 

Governmentwide Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06479 Filed 3–25–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[60Day–22–0850; Docket No. CDC–2022– 

0039] 

Proposed Data Collection Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice with comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC), 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, Laboratory Response Network 

(LRN). The LRN is created to maintain 

an integrated national and international 

network of laboratories that can respond 

to suspected acts of biological, 

chemical, or radiological terrorism and 

other public health emergencies. 

DATES: CDC must receive written 

comments on or before May 27, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No. CDC–2022– 

0039 by either 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 H21–8, Atlanta, 

Georgia 30329. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

Docket Number. CDC 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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Information Collection Review Office, 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS 

H21–8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 

404–639–7570; Email: omb@cdc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), federal agencies 

must obtain approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for each 

collection of information they conduct 

or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also 

requires federal agencies to provide a 

60-day notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each new 

proposed collection, each proposed 

extension of existing collection of 

information, and each reinstatement of 

previously approved information 

collection before submitting the 

collection to the OMB for approval. To 

comply with this requirement, we are 

publishing this notice of a proposed 

data collection as described below. 

The OMB is particularly interested in 

comments that will help: 

1. Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; 

4. 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, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses; and 

5. Assess information collection costs. 

Proposed Project 

Laboratory Response Network (LRN) 

(OMB Control No. 0920–0850, Exp. 

4/30/2022)—Revision—National Center 

for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious 

Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Background and Brief Description 

The Laboratory Response Network 

(LRN) was established by the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS), Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC) in 

accordance with Presidential Decision 

Directive 39, which outlined national 

anti-terrorism policies and assigned 

specific missions to federal departments 

and agencies. The LRN’s mission is to 

maintain an integrated national and 

international network of laboratories 

that can respond to suspected acts of 

biological, chemical, or radiological 

terrorism and other public health 

emergencies. 

Federal, state and local public health 

laboratories join the LRN voluntarily. 

When laboratories join, they assume 

specific responsibilities and are 

required to provide information to the 

LRN Program Office at CDC. Each 

laboratory must submit and maintain 

complete information regarding the 

testing capabilities of the laboratory. 

Biennially, laboratories are required to 

review, verify and update their testing 

capability information. This information 

is needed so that the LRN Program 

Office can determine the ability of the 

Network to respond to a biological or 

chemical terrorism event. The 

sensitivity of all information associated 

with the LRN requires that CDC obtain 

personal information about all 

individuals accessing the LRN website. 

Since CDC must be able to contact all 

laboratory personnel during an event, 

each laboratory staff member who 

obtains access to the restricted LRN 

website must provide his or her contact 

information to the LRN Program Office. 

As a requirement of membership, LRN 

laboratories must report all biological 

and chemical testing results to the LRN 

Program using a CDC developed 

software tool called the LRN Results 

Messenger, or through their laboratory 

information management system (LIMS) 

which CDC refers to as Data Integration. 

CDC migrated laboratories to a 

centralized cloud-based LRN Results 

Messenger that is accessed through CDC 

Secure Access Management Services 

(SAMS). This new LRN Data Portal 

Results Messenger (LDPRM) can be 

rapidly modified for a new or emerging 

threat, and the burden of maintenance is 

removed from the member laboratory. 

This information obtained from LRN 

laboratories is essential for surveillance 

of anomalies, to support response to an 

event that may involve multiple 

agencies, and to manage limited 

resources. 

LRN laboratories are also required to 

participate in Challenge Panels or 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 59 / Monday, March 28, 2022 / Notices 17295 

Validation Studies and report their 

results to CDC. LRN laboratories 

participate in multiple Challenge 

Panels, Exercises and/or Validation 

Studies every year. These activities 

consist of 5–21,000 simulated samples 

provided by CDC. These challenges are 

necessary to verify the testing capability 

of the LRN laboratories. Because 

biological or chemical agents perceived 

to be of bioterrorism concern can occur 

rarely, some LRN laboratories have 

difficulty maintaining proficiency in 

certain testing methods as a result of 

day-to-day testing. Thus, simulated 

samples are distributed to ensure 

proficiency across LRN member 

laboratories. LRN laboratories also enter 

the results of these simulated samples 

into the LRN Results Messenger or 

through Data Integration for evaluation 

by CDC. 

During a surge event resulting from a 

bioterrorism or chemical terrorism 

attack, or during an emerging infectious 

disease outbreak, LRN Laboratories 

must submit all testing results using 

LRN Results Messenger or through Data 

Integration. CDC uses these results to 

track the progression of a bioterrorism 

event, respond in the most efficient and 

effective way possible, and share this 

data with other federal partners 

involved in the response. Data is 

collected via two primary avenues, the 

program LRN Results Messenger or 

through Electronic Laboratory Reporting 

(ELR), and results include details about 

the type and source of samples as well 

as the tests performed and the 

numerical and empirical results of those 

tests. 

An LRN laboratory must provide its 

testing capabilities, physical and 

shipping addresses, United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) and 

Select Agent Permits, and specified 

responsible individuals’ names, phone 

numbers and email addresses. After 

registering with the LRN website, a user 

must provide his/her first and last 

name, work phone number, alternate 

phone number, email address, and 

month and day of birth. During 

reporting of results, sample details, tests 

performed, results obtained, and 

conclusions of tests are required. 

The LRN website has remained 

virtually the same and has only 

undergone routine maintenance since 

2015 to keep it in working order. There 

have been many improvements to the 

LRN website over the course of the past 

three years: (1) The LRN website 

migrated to CDC Secure Access 

Management Services (SAMS) servers to 

provide a more secured login and user 

authentication, (2) A new CDC template 

was implemented to support 508 

compliance and responsive designs, (3) 

LRN user role structures were upgraded 

to provide more efficient administrative 

and user maintenance workflow, and (4) 

The website database and code was 

restructured to prepare the system for 

future modernization efforts. 

CDC also conducted LRN–B Challenge 

Panels (CP) and LRN–C Proficiency 

Testing (PT). The purpose of CP and PT 

is to simulate real samples for labs that 

would not have regularly performed 

some of the LRN procedures. Having the 

ability to conduct LRN CPs and PTs has 

led to improved laboratory performance 

and better preparedness. In FY18 the 

LRN–B CP passing rate was 97%. In 

FY19 and FY20, the passing rate was 

88% and 90%. In FY18 the LRN–C PT 

passing was 96%. In FY19 and FY20, 

the passing rate was 95% and 96%, 

respectively. 

This data collection is authorized 

under the Public Health Service Act, (42 

U.S.C. 241) Section 301. 

CDC requests OMB approval for an 

estimated 422,716 annual burden hours. 

There is no cost to respondents other 

than their time to participate. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Respondents Forms Number of 

respondents 

Average 

number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(hours) 

Total burden 

hours 

Public Health Laboratories ................ Biennial Requalification .................... 130 1 2 260 

Routine Testing Results (LRN–B) .... 130 25 4 13,000 

Challenge Panel/Validation Testing 

Results (LRN–B).

130 2 12 3,120 

Surge Event Testing Results (LRN– 

B).

130 625 4 325,000 

BioFire Inventory Records (LRN–B) 16 1 2 32 

Proficiency Testing/Characterization 

Results (LRN–C).

44 4 392 68,992 

Surge Event Testing Results/Exercises (LRN–C: SPaSE, Surge, 

ERE).

57 3 72 12,312 

Total ........................................... ........................................................... ........................ ........................ ........................ 422,716 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06432 Filed 3–25–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[30Day–22–21HI] 

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork 

Reduction Act Review 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

has submitted the information 

collection request titled Red Carpet 

Entry (RCE) Program Implementation 

Project to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and approval. 

CDC previously published a ‘‘Proposed 

Data Collection Submitted for Public 

Comment and Recommendations’’ 

notice on August 20, 2021 to obtain 

comments from the public and affected 

agencies. CDC received one comment 

related to the previous notice. This 

notice serves to allow an additional 30 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1