This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

1233 

Vol. 83, No. 7 

Wednesday, January 10, 2018 

1FSIS can bill basetime, overtime and holiday 

rates on the quarter hour. Accordingly, the 2018 

overtime and holiday rates were rounded down so 

that rates can be equally divided by four—to two 

decimal places. 

2 Ibid. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket Number FSIS–2017–0054] 

2018 Rate Changes for the Basetime, 

Overtime, Holiday, and Laboratory 

Services Rates 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing 

the 2018 rates it will charge meat and 

poultry establishments, egg products 

plants, and importers and exporters for 

providing voluntary, overtime, and 

holiday inspection and identification, 

certification, and laboratory services. 

The 2018 basetime, overtime, holiday, 

and laboratory services rates will be 

applied on the first FSIS pay period 

approximately 30 days after the 

publication of this notice, which begins 

on January 21, 2018. 

DATES: FSIS will charge the rates 

announced in this notice beginning 

January 21, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Michael 

Toner, Director, Budget Division, Office 

of Management, FSIS, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Room 2159, South 

Building, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW, Washington, DC 20250–3700; 

Telephone: (202) 690–8398, Fax: (202) 

690–4155. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On April 12, 2011, FSIS published a 

final rule amending its regulations to 

establish formulas for calculating the 

rates it charges meat and poultry 

establishments, egg products plants, and 

importers and exporters for providing 

voluntary, overtime, and holiday 

inspection and identification, 

certification, and laboratory services (76 

FR 20220). 

In the final rule, FSIS stated that it 

would use the formulas to calculate the 

annual rates, publish the rates in 

Federal Register notices prior to the 

start of each calendar year, and apply 

the rates on the first FSIS pay period at 

the beginning of the calendar year. This 

notice provides the 2018 rates, which 

will be applied starting on January 21, 

2018. 

2018 Rates and Calculations 

The following table lists the 2018 

Rates per hour, per employee, by type 

of service: 

Service 

2018 Rate 

(estimates 

rounded to 

reflect billable 

quarters) 

Basetime ................................. $57.52 

Overtime ................................. 72.24 

Holiday .................................... 86.88 

Laboratory ............................... 73.20 

The regulations state that FSIS will 

calculate the rates using formulas that 

include the Office of Field Operations 

(OFO) and Office of International Affairs 

(OIA) inspection program personnel’s 

previous fiscal year’s regular direct pay 

and regular hours (9 CFR 391.2, 391.3, 

391.4, 590.126, 590.128, 592.510, 

592.520, and 592.530). In 2013, an 

Agency reorganization eliminated the 

OIA program office and transferred all 

of its inspection program personnel to 

OFO. Therefore, inspection program 

personnel’s pay and hours are identified 

in the calculations as ‘‘OFO inspection 

program personnel’s’’ pay and hours. 

FSIS determined the 2018 rates using 

the following calculations: 

Basetime Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the Office of Field Operations 

(OFO) inspection program personnel’s 

previous fiscal year’s regular direct pay 

by the previous fiscal year’s regular 

hours, plus the quotient multiplied by 

the calendar year’s percentage of cost of 

living increase, plus the benefits rate, 

plus the travel and operating rate, plus 

the overhead rate, plus the allowance 

for bad debt rate. 

The calculation for the 2018 basetime 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2017 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by the previous fiscal year’s 

Regular Hours ($482,251,621/ 

16,745,333)] = $28.80 + ($28.80 * 

1.9% (calendar year 2018 Cost of 

Living Increase)) = $29.35 + $10.07 

(benefits rate) + $1.51 (travel and 

operating rate) + $16.61 (overhead 

rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance 

rate) = $57.54 (rounded to $57.52).1

Overtime Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the Office of Field Operations 

(OFO) inspection program personnel’s 

previous fiscal year’s regular direct pay 

by the previous fiscal year’s regular 

hours, plus that quotient multiplied by 

the calendar year’s percentage of cost of 

living increase, multiplied by 1.5 (for 

overtime), plus the benefits rate, plus 

the travel and operating rate, plus the 

overhead rate, plus the allowance for 

bad debt rate. 

The calculation for the 2018 overtime 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2017 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by previous fiscal year’s 

Regular Hours ($482,251,621/ 

16,745,333)] = $28.80 + ($28.80 * 

1.9% (calendar year 2018 Cost of 

Living Increase)) = $29.35 * 1.5 = 

$44.03 + $10.07 (benefits rate) + 

$1.51 (travel and operating rate) + 

$16.61 (overhead rate) + $0.00 (bad 

debt allowance rate) = $72.22 

(rounded to $72.24).2

Holiday Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the OFO inspection program 

personnel’s previous fiscal year’s 

regular direct pay by the previous fiscal 

year’s regular hours, plus that quotient 

multiplied by the calendar year’s 

percentage of cost of living increase, 

multiplied by 2 (for holiday pay), plus 

the benefits rate, plus the travel and 

operating rate, plus the overhead rate, 

plus the allowance for bad debt rate. 

The calculation for the 2018 holiday 

rate per hour per program employee 

calculation is: 

[FY 2017 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by Regular Hours 

($482,251,621/16,745,333)] = 

$28.80 + ($28.80 * 1.9% (calendar 

year 2018 Cost of Living Increase)) 

= $29.35 * 2.0 = $58.70 + $10.07 

(benefits rate) + $1.51 (travel and 

operating rate) + $16.61 (overhead 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
1234 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 10, 2018 / Notices 

3 Ibid. 

4 Ibid. 

rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance 

rate) = $86.90 (rounded to $86.88).3

Laboratory Services Rate = The 

quotient of dividing the Office of Public 

Health Science (OPHS) previous fiscal 

year’s regular direct pay by the OPHS 

previous fiscal year’s regular hours, plus 

the quotient multiplied by the calendar 

year’s percentage cost of living increase, 

plus the benefits rate, plus the travel 

and operating rate, plus the overhead 

rate, plus the allowance for bad debt 

rate. 

The calculation for the 2018 

laboratory services rate per hour per 

program employee is: 

[FY 2017 OPHS Regular Direct Pay/ 

OPHS Regular hours ($24,212,593/ 

548,265)] = $44.16 + ($44.16 * 1.9% 

(calendar year 2018 Cost of Living 

Increase)) = $45.00 + $10.07 

(benefits rate) + $1.51 (travel and 

operating rate) + $16.61 (overhead 

rate) + $0.00 (bad debt allowance 

rate) = $73.19 (rounded to $73.20).4

Calculations for the Benefits, Travel 

and Operating, Overhead, and 

Allowance for Bad Debt Rates 

These rates are components of the 

basetime, overtime, holiday, and 

laboratory services rates formulas. 

Benefits Rate: The quotient of 

dividing the previous fiscal year’s direct 

benefits costs by the previous fiscal 

year’s total hours (regular, overtime, and 

holiday), plus that quotient multiplied 

by the calendar year’s percentage cost of 

living increase. Some examples of direct 

benefits are health insurance, 

retirement, life insurance, and Thrift 

Savings Plan basic and matching 

contributions. 

The calculation for the 2018 benefits 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2017 Direct Benefits/(Total Regular 

hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) ($196,498,002/ 

19,876,608)] = $9.89 + ($9.89 * 

1.9% (calendar year 2018 Cost of 

Living Increase) = $10.07. 

Travel and Operating Rate: The 

quotient of dividing the previous fiscal 

year’s total direct travel and operating 

costs by the previous fiscal year’s total 

hours (regular, overtime, and holiday), 

plus that quotient multiplied by the 

calendar year’s percentage of inflation. 

The calculation for the 2018 travel 

and operating rate per hour per program 

employee is: 

[FY 2017 Total Direct Travel and 

Operating Costs/(Total Regular 

hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) ($29,685,824/ 

19,876,608)] = $1.49 + ($1.49 * 

1.0% (2018 Inflation) = $1.51. 

Overhead Rate: The quotient of 

dividing the previous fiscal year’s 

indirect costs plus the previous fiscal 

year’s information technology (IT) costs 

in the Public Health Data 

Communication Infrastructure System 

Fund plus the previous fiscal year’s 

Office of Management Program cost in 

the Reimbursable and Voluntary Funds 

plus the provision for the operating 

balance less any Greenbook costs (i.e., 

costs of USDA support services prorated 

to the service component for which fees 

are charged) that are not related to food 

inspection by the previous fiscal year’s 

total hours (regular, overtime, and 

holiday) worked across all funds, plus 

the quotient multiplied by the calendar 

year’s percentage of inflation. 

The calculation for the 2018 overhead 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2017 Total Overhead/(Total Regular 

hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) or 

($326,888,606/19,876,608)] = 

$16.45 + ($16.45 * 1.0% (2018 

Inflation) = $16.45. 

Allowance for Bad Debt Rate = 

Previous fiscal year’s total allowance for 

bad debt (for example, debt owed that 

is not paid in full by plants and 

establishments that declare bankruptcy) 

divided by previous fiscal year’s total 

hours (regular, overtime, and holiday) 

worked. 

The 2018 calculation for bad debt rate 

per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2017 Total Bad Debt/(Total Regular 

hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) = ($49,980/ 

19,876,608)] = $0.00. 

Additional Public Notification 

Public awareness of all segments of 

rulemaking and policy development is 

important. Consequently, FSIS will 

announce this Federal Register 

publication online through the FSIS 

web page located at: http://

www.fsis.usda.gov/federal-register. 

FSIS also will make copies of this 

publication available through the FSIS 

Constituent Update, which is used to 

provide information regarding FSIS 

policies, procedures, regulations, 

Federal Register notices, FSIS public 

meetings, and other types of information 

that could affect or would be of interest 

to our constituents and stakeholders. 

The Update is available on the FSIS web 

page. Through the web page, FSIS is 

able to provide information to a much 

broader, more diverse audience. In 

addition, FSIS offers an email 

subscription service which provides 

automatic and customized access to 

selected food safety news and 

information. This service is available at: 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/subscribe. 

Options range from recalls to export 

information, regulations, directives, and 

notices. Customers can add or delete 

subscriptions themselves, and have the 

option to password protect their 

accounts. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Statement 

No agency, officer, or employee of the 

USDA shall, on the grounds of race, 

color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity, sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family/ 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, or political 

beliefs, exclude from participation in, 

deny the benefits of, or subject to 

discrimination any person in the United 

States under any program or activity 

conducted by the USDA. 

How To File a Complaint of 

Discrimination 

To file a complaint of discrimination, 

complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, which 

may be accessed online at http://

www.ocio.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ 

docs/2012/Complain_combined_6_8_

12.pdf, or write a letter signed by you 

or your authorized representative. 

Send your completed complaint form 

or letter to USDA by mail, fax, or email: 

Mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410. 

Fax: (202) 690–7442. 

Email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.), 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). 

Done at Washington, DC, on: January 5, 

2018. 

Paul Kiecker, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00283 Filed 1–9–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P 


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