35140 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 124 / Thursday, July 1, 2021 / Notices 

iZuckerman, B.J. Doyle, A. Mudd, T. Jones, and 

G. Davis. ‘‘Assessment of the Feasibility of Tracking 

Participants from the National Science 

Foundation’s Research Experience for 

Undergraduates (REU) Sites Program.’’ Final report 

Washington, DC: STPI, 2016. 

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. This is the 

second notice for public comment; the 

first was published in the Federal 

Register and one comment was 

received. NSF is forwarding the 

proposed renewal submission to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for clearance simultaneously 

with the publication of this second 

notice. 

DATES: Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ 

PRAmain. Find this particular 

information collection by selecting 

‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance 

Officer, National Science Foundation, 

2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, 

VA 22314, 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 this information collection 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 

NSF received one comment in 

response to the First Federal Register 

notice published on April 1, 2021, at 86 

FR 17207. The comment and summary 

responses are included in the 

supporting statement for the 

information collection request. 

Title of Collection: National Science 

Foundation’s Education and Training 

Application Pilot. 

OMB Approval Number: 3145–0248. 

Type of Request: Intent to seek 

approval to extend with revision an 

information collection for three years. 

The National Science Foundation 

(NSF) seeks to develop and pilot test an 

electronic data collection system that 

supports applications to education and 

training opportunities funded by NSF 

and allows tracking of participants’ 

program experiences and career 

outcomes over time. The pilot aims to 

provide NSF with information to inform 

decisions in developing an effective and 

low-burden approach to collect data 

needed to monitor programs, report to 

NSF leadership, and comply with 

congressional requirements. 

The main goal of the current project 

is to build upon a system originally 

developed for the NSF Research 

Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) 

program. The work involves revising 

and enhancing the system based on the 

lessons from the initial REU pilot and 

conducting further testing to prepare it 

for adoption for the REU program and 

other education and training programs 

at NSF. The original REU data system 

was designed to collect data required by 

Congress in the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act of 2010, which 

states that students in the REU program 

must ‘‘be tracked, for employment and 

continued matriculation in STEM fields, 

through receipt of the undergraduate 

degree and for at least three years 

thereafter’’ (Section 514[a][6] of Pub. L. 

111–358). A study conducted by the 

Science and Technology Policy Institute 

determined the need for NSF to create 

new data collection because ‘‘the status 

quo of [REU] participants providing 

demographic information to NSF’s 

Research Performance Report System, 

coupled with voluntary tracking of 

participants’ career choices by the REU 

[principal investigators], was clearly 

insufficient to meet the [congressional] 

mandate’’ i

. To respond to the America 

COMPETES mandate, NSF 

commissioned a data system for the 

REU program. The current project is the 

evolution of this early test that 

originated with the REU program to 

leverage the system and scale its pilot 

test to include other NSF programs that 

similarly invest in human capital 

development. The new system—The 

Education and Training Application 

(ETAP)—supports NSF’s learning 

agenda and is in alignment with the 

Foundations for Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115– 

435), which requires NSF to collect, use, 

or acquire data to support decision 

making. 

In addition to developing and 

enhancing the system, the present study 

will pilot test collecting data from a 

sample of Sites that volunteer to 

participate. (A Site is an instance of an 

NSF award offering an education and 

training opportunity at a given point in 

time.) By participating in this study, 

principal investigators (PIs) from these 

Sites will experience the data 

collections firsthand and provide 

feedback to help NSF improve the 

system before expanding its use. For 

example, PIs will have an opportunity 

to determine whether the system 

facilitates managing applications more 

efficiently than the usual process, 

comment on whether the system is user 

friendly, assess the usefulness of data 

reports the system produces, and 

suggest enhancements to the system. 

Four key activities define the pilot: 

1. Testing a web-based approach to 

obtain basic background and 

participation information while 

supporting applications to individual 

Sites. Specifically, PIs choose whether 

they will be running a competitive 

application process for their Site (for 

example, an REU Site award recruiting 

participants nationally) or 

noncompetitive application (for 

example, an REU Supplement award 

that invites its participants). Data 

collected from applicants will therefore 

depend on the type of application 

process for their Sites of interest. The 

system will include the following: 

• Common registration form. All 

applicants will need to register to apply 

and participate in an NSF-funded 

opportunity participating in the pilot. 

Individuals who are participating in 

awards that do not have a competitive 

application process will only need to 

complete a profile with basic 

demographic and contact information 

and provide other information not 

captured in the profile but that is 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 124 / Thursday, July 1, 2021 / Notices 35141 

required for program monitoring and 

evaluation purposes, such as students’ 

current enrollment or class standing (if 

applicable). 

• Additional application 

requirements. Individuals wishing to 

apply for awards that run competitive 

applications will be able to use the 

ETAP to apply to multiple NSF awards 

through a fully operational electronic 

application. They will first complete the 

common registration form (described 

above), which collects basic 

demographic and contact information 

needed for analysis and tracking 

purposes. Next, they will proceed to the 

application form, through which they 

will submit additional information that 

competitive Sites require as part of their 

applications, such as resume, 

transcripts, and contact information for 

their references. PIs and other 

authorized staff will use the system to 

provide information needed by 

prospective applicants (such as the 

application deadline), retrieve applicant 

information, record application 

decisions and participation status 

among admitted applicants, and 

produce reports of data submitted by 

applicants to their Sites. 

2. Gathering program experiences and 

satisfaction. After participating in the 

NSF program, participants will be 

administered an exit survey to capture 

program experiences and participants’ 

attitudes and opinions. 

3. Obtaining and integrating 

educational and employment 

information. Following a sample of 

students who had used the predecessor 

system (REU data system) to apply to 

the NSF award, this study will do the 

following: 

• Obtain information on educational 

outcomes from administrative data 

(National Student Clearinghouse) that 

NSF can purchase at low cost to the 

government and no burden to students 

• Administer a short survey to obtain 

information on employment outcomes 

• Obtain information on research 

productivity outcomes (such as 

publications or patents) from Web of 

Science, Scopus, and the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. (NSF 

already subscribes to these 

administrative databases, so they are 

accessible through NSF systems.) 

4. Conducting usability testing and 

gathering user feedback. This testing 

will focus on new system enhancements 

or functionality and seeks to obtain indepth feedback from users on the 

common registration form, additional 

application requirements, and data 

reports available. 

Estimate of Burden: At present, most 

education and training opportunities 

funded by NSF use applications that are 

submitted directly to each Site, if such 

applications are required as is the case 

with the REU Sites program. Sites might 

run competitive and noncompetitive 

applications to select their program 

participants. We estimate that 

individuals applying for noncompetitive 

Sites will spend 3.25 hours submitting 

information through the ETAP system; 

for competitive Sites, this estimate is 7 

hours. We estimate that individuals 

writing letters of reference for students 

will spend 0.5 hours drafting a letter in 

support of a student’s application to a 

competitive Site. We estimate that PIs 

(or their designated users) will spend 

4.7 hours using the system to track and 

manage applications to their Site. 

Respondents: Individuals. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

66,499. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 146,710 hours. 

Frequency of Responses: Three 

rounds of data collection. 

Dated: June 28, 2021. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

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POSTAL SERVICE 

Product Change—Priority Mail 

Negotiated Service Agreement 

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Postal Service gives 

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Regulatory Commission to add a 

domestic shipping services contract to 

the list of Negotiated Service 

Agreements in the Mail Classification 

Schedule’s Competitive Products List. 

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