Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 148 / Monday, August 3, 1998 / Notices 41231

1000 Pope Road MSB #213, Honolulu,

HI 96822, has been issued an

amendment to scientific research Permit

No. 969 to import tissue samples from

all species of Cetacea and Pinnipedia

(except walrus).

ADDRESSES: The amendment and related

documents are available for review

upon written request or by appointment

in the following office(s):

Permits and Documentation Division,

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS,

1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705,

Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301/713–

2289);

Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West

Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach,

CA 90802–4213 (310/980–4001); and

Protected Species Program

Coordinator, Pacific Area Office, NMFS,

2570 Dole Street, Room 106, Honolulu,

HI 96822–2396 (808/949–7400).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ruth Johnson or Sara Shapiro 301/713–

2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

January 27, 1998, notice was published

in the Federal Register (63 FR 3881)

that an amendment of Permit No. 969,

issued October 24, 1995 (60 FR 55543),

had been requested by the above-named

individual. The requested amendment

has been granted under the authority of

the Marine Mammal Protection Act of

1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et

seq.), the provisions of § 216.39 of the

Regulations Governing the Taking and

Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR

part 216), the Endangered Species Act of

1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531

et seq.), the provisions of § 222.25 of the

regulations governing the taking,

importing, and exporting of endangered

fish and wildlife (50 CFR 222.23), and

the Fur Seal Act of 1966, as amended

(16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.).

Issuance of this amendment, as

required by the ESA was based on a

finding that such permit (1) was applied

for in good faith, (2) will not operate to

the disadvantage of the endangered

species which is the subject of this

permit, and (3) is consistent with the

purposes and policies set forth in

section 2 of the ESA.

Dated: July 27, 1998.

Ann D. Terbush,

Chief, Permits and Documentation Division,

Office of Protected Resources, National

Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–20636 Filed 7–31–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and

Information Administration

Structured Reporting System (SRS) for

the Telecommunications and

Information Infrastructure Assistance

Program

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment

request.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Commerce, as part of its continuing

effort to reduce paperwork and

respondent burden, invites the general

public and other Federal agencies to

take this opportunity to comment on

proposed and/or continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C.

3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before October 2, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to Linda Engelmeier, Departmental

Forms Clearance Officer, Department of

Commerce—Room 5327, 1401

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington,

DC 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the information collection

instrument and instructions should be

directed to Gay Shrum, NTIA—Room

4892, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20230. (202–482–1056).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The purpose of the

Telecommunications and Information

Infrastructure Assistance Program

(TIIAP) is to promote the widespread

and efficient use of advanced

telecommunications services in the

public and non-profit sectors to serve

America’s communities. It does this by

providing matching funds to public and

non-profit sector organizations to use

information infrastructure to provide

community-wide information, health,

life-long learning, education, public

safety and other public services.

The Program has the following

objectives:

• To increase awareness in public

and non-profit sectors of the National

Information Infrastructure and its

benefits.

• To stimulate public and non-profit

sector organizations to examine

potential benefits of, and plan for,

investments in the information

infrastructure.

• To provide a wide variety of model

information infrastructure projects for

public and non-profit sector

organizations to follow.

• To educate the public and nonprofit sectors about best practices in

implementing a wide variety of

information infrastructure projects.

• To help reduce disparities in access

to, and use of, information

infrastructure.

The National Telecommunications

and Information Administration (NTIA),

in administering TIIAP, awards a

varying number of awards each year, but

there are an average of 2,225 active

grantees involved in some, or all, of the

reporting requirements each year. In

order to ensure that grant recipients are

effectively promoting the efficient and

widespread use of advanced

telecommunications services to serve

American communities and to comply

with the Government Performance and

Results Act, NTIA will collect and

analyze quantitative and qualitative data

relating to start-up documentation,

quarterly and annual progress, and

close-out documentation on TIIAPfunded projects.

NTIA seeks a mechanism whereby it

can evaluate the impacts of its projects

on an ongoing basis, monitor grants

more efficiently and effectively, and

provide timely technical assistance to

grant recipients. Currently, grantees

provide qualitative quarterly progress

reports and close-out documentation.

Grantees also provide evaluation reports

covering a wide array of sophistication

and complexity of design.

To enable the Program to monitor and

to analyze the impacts of the funded

projects, TIIAP seeks to incorporate

standardized quantitative and

qualitative data elements into an online

structured reporting system. The

reporting system will include a set of

core data elements that apply to all

projects and other data elements that are

specific to the applications areas of the

projects.

NTIA is interested in the effects that

the funded projects are having at the

local level and, over the long term, at

the national level. It is NTIA’s intention

to understand the nature and degree of

those effects on the organizations

implementing the projects, other

organizations that are involved with the

projects, the individuals who are served

by the projects, and the community as

a whole.

II. Method of Collection

Data will be collected through the use

of automated collection techniques. The

information collection instrument to be

used for this study will include a webbased structured reporting system for

both quantitative and qualitative project
41232 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 148 / Monday, August 3, 1998 / Notices

information for 50 new projects for

1998.

III. Data

OMB Number: None.

Form Number: None.

Type of Review: Regular Submission.

Affected Public: State and Local

Government and Non-Profit Institutions.

Burden Hours Calculations/Reporting

The total estimated response burden

for the grant recipients that receive

TIIAP funding in FY 1998 is 8,400 hours

(the overall burden on any given grant

recipient would be approximately 168

hours (21 days) over their participation

in the TIIAP project). This estimate is

based on the following assumptions:

• Start-Up Documentation. Each of

the 50 initiatives will spend an average

of 40 hours on the following activities:

(accessing and learning the web-based

system: (2) developing answers to the

items; and (3) verifying the accuracy

and completeness of the data that are to

be submitted (50 projects × 40 hours

equals 2,000 hours).

• Quarterly Reports. Each of the 50

initiatives will spend an average of 8

hours developing answers to the items

contained in the quarterly report (50

projects × 8 hours × 10 quarterly reports

equals 4,000 hours).

• Annual Reports. Each of the 50

initiatives will spend an average of 4

hours developing answers to the items

contained in the annual report (50

projects × 4 hours × 2 reports equals 400

hours).

• Final Closeout Reports. Each of the

50 initiatives will spend an average of

40 hours developing answers to the

items contained in the final closeout

report (50 projects × 40 hours equals

2,000 hours).

Estimated Total Annual Cost: Cost to

respondents is consistent with their

normal administrative overhead. No

material or equipment will need to be

purchased to provide information.

IV. Request for Comments

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the agency, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden

(including hours and cost) of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

or other forms of information

technology.

Comments in response to this notice

will be summarized and/or included in

the request for OMB approval of this

information collection; they also will

become a matter of public record.

Dated: July 28, 1998.

Linda Engelmeier,

Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office

of the Chief Information Officer.

[FR Doc. 98–20583 Filed 7–31–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–60–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

The Department of Commerce (DOC)

has submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

clearance the following proposal for

collection of information under the

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

Agency: Patent and Trademark Office

(PTO).

Title: Patent Application

Bibliographic Data Entry Format

(Proposed Addition to the Initial Patent

Application).

Form Numbers: None.

OMB Approval Number: 0651–0032.

Type of Request: Revision of a

currently approved collection.

Burden: 1,915,500 hours.

Number of Respondents: 243,100.

Avg. Hours Per Response: The PTO

estimates that it will take an average of

7.88 hours to complete a patent

application using the Patent Application

Data Entry Format. This figure is an

average based on the number of each

type of application received by the PTO

per year times the amount of time that

it takes an applicant to complete each

type of application. This total is then

divided by the total number of

applications submitted per year. The

bibliographic takes approximately 12

minutes to complete.

Needs and Uses: The Patent and

Trademark Office (PTO) plans to accept

from applicants, on a voluntary basis,

papers containing the bibliographic

information for a patent application in

a specific format termed a ‘‘Patent

Application Data Entry Format.’’ This

format groups the bibliographic

information into different information

sections composed of headings and

labels. Providing the bibliographic

information for a patent application to

the PTO in the Patent Application Data

Entry Format will enable the PTO to

automate the data entry process for the

application. The purpose of the program

is three fold. First, the system will

improve the quality of Filing Receipt

information mailed by the PTO to

applicants. Second, the program will

provide the PTO with experience in

establishing a simplified system that

completely captures the bibliographic

information for all patent applications.

Third, the system will accurately and

directly feed this bibliographic

information into the Patent Application

Locating and Monitoring (PALM)

system, an automated electronic

information management system.

Although use of the Patent

Application Data Entry Format is

strictly voluntary, there are definite

benefits for applicants if they do submit

their bibliographic data in this format.

The applicant is benefited because it

takes less time to process a filing receipt

when the bibliographic information is

provided using the Patent Application

Data Entry Format.

It must also be noted that the Patent

Application Data Entry Format is not a

PTO form, but rather a specific format

that the public can use to submit their

bibliographic information. This format

may be created either by typing the

bibliographic information directly onto

blank sheets of paper in the specified

format (using a typewriter or word

processor), or by using electronic

templates in a word processor. Since

using the Patent Application Data Entry

Format is strictly voluntary, applicants

will be encouraged, but not required, to

provide bibliographic information in

this format.

When this program is implemented,

the PTO will provide a copy of the

Patent Application Data Entry Format

Guide for Preparing Bibliographic Data

for Electronic Capture to users who

request one. This user guide will

provide instructions for the format,

guidelines for a variety of requirements,

such as paper size, font, font sizes, etc.,

designed to minimize errors in the

scanning and text conversion, and

examples of various formats. The user

guide, as well as electronic templates of

the various formats for Microsoft Word

and WordPerfect word processing

programs, can be accessed by the public

on the PTO’s Internet Web site or by

requesting (by mail or telephone) a copy

from the PTO.

Affected Public: Individuals or

households, businesses or other forprofit, not-for-profit institutions, farms,

federal government, and state, local, or

tribal governments.

Frequency: On occasion.

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.

OMB Desk Officer: Maya A. Bernstein,

(202) 395–3785.