47300 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 

The original public comment period 

for the Draft PEIS was scheduled to 

close on August 24, 2021. In response to 

written and verbal requests from 

members of the public including 

representatives of the Alaska whaling 

community, NOS is extending the 

public comment period by 90 days to 

November 22, 2021. The comment 

period extension will ensure adequate 

time for review of the Draft PEIS by all 

interested parties and will accommodate 

the Alaskan subsistence hunting and 

fishing community which is particularly 

busy during the start of the fall whaling 

season from August to October. NOS 

recognizes that Alaskan communities 

have valuable regional expertise in 

oceanography, marine mammals and 

other resources, and the subsistence 

patterns and needs of their community. 

NOS invites affected government 

agencies, non-governmental 

organizations, tribes and tribal 

organizations, and interested members 

of the public to participate in the Draft 

PEIS process and provide comments on 

the structure, contents, and analysis in 

the Draft PEIS. Please visit the project 

web page for additional information 

regarding the program: https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/about/ 

environmental-compliance/surveyingmapping.html. 

Authority: The preparation of the 

Draft PEIS was conducted in accordance 

with the requirements of NEPA, the 

Council on Environmental Quality’s 

Regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq. 

(1978)), other applicable regulations, 

and NOAA’s policies and procedures for 

compliance with those regulations. 

While the CEQ regulations 

implementing NEPA were revised as of 

November 14, 2020 (85 FR 43304, Jul. 

16, 2020), NOS prepared this Draft PEIS 

using the 1978 CEQ regulations because 

this environmental review began on 

December 19, 2016, when NOS 

published a Notice of Intent to conduct 

scoping and prepare a Draft 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment. Written comments must be 

received on or before November 22, 

2021. 

Nicole R. LeBoeuf, 

Assistant Administrator, National Ocean 

Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18207 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–JE–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Notice of Indirect Cost Rates 

AGENCY: Office of Response and 

Restoration (OR&R), National Ocean 

Service (NOS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice of indirect cost rates for 

the Damage Assessment, Remediation, 

and Restoration Program for Fiscal Year 

2019. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given to 

announce new indirect cost rates on the 

recovery of indirect costs for its 

component organizations involved in 

natural resource damage assessment and 

restoration activities for fiscal year (FY) 

2019. The indirect cost rates for this 

fiscal year and date of implementation 

are provided in this notice. More 

information on these rates and the 

Damage Assessment, Remediation, and 

Restoration Program (‘‘DARRP’’) policy 

can be found at the DARRP website at 

www.darrp.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact: LaTonya 

Burgess at (240) 533–0428, 

LaTonya.Burgess@noaa.gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The mission of the DARRP is to 

restore natural resource injuries caused 

by releases of hazardous substances or 

oil under the Comprehensive 

Environmental Response, 

Compensation, and Liability Act 

(‘‘CERCLA’’) 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq., and 

the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (‘‘OPA’’) 

33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., and to support 

restoration of physical injuries to 

National Marine Sanctuary resources 

under the National Marine Sanctuaries 

Act (‘‘NMSA’’) 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq. 

The DARRP consists of three component 

organizations: The Office of Response 

and Restoration (‘‘ORR’’) within the 

National Ocean Service; the Restoration 

Center within the National Marine 

Fisheries Service; and the Office of the 

General Counsel Natural Resources 

Section (‘‘GCNRS’’). The DARRP 

conducts Natural Resource Damage 

Assessments (‘‘NRDAs’’) as a basis for 

recovering damages from responsible 

parties, and uses the funds recovered to 

restore injured natural resources. 

Consistent with federal accounting 

requirements, the DARRP is required to 

account for and report the full costs of 

its programs and activities. Further, the 

DARRP is authorized by law to recover 

reasonable costs of damage assessment 

and restoration activities under 

CERCLA, OPA, and the NMSA. Within 

the constraints of these legal provisions 

and their regulatory applications, the 

DARRP has the discretion to develop 

indirect cost rates for its component 

organizations and formulate policies on 

the recovery of indirect cost rates 

subject to its requirements. 

The DARRP’s Indirect Cost Effort 

In December 1998, the DARRP hired 

the public accounting firm Rubino & 

McGeehin, Chartered (‘‘R&M’’) to: 

Evaluate the DARRP cost accounting 

system and allocation practices; 

recommend the appropriate indirect 

cost allocation methodology; and 

determine the indirect cost rates for the 

three organizations that comprise the 

DARRP. A Federal Register notice on 

R&M’s effort, their assessment of the 

DARRP’s cost accounting system and 

practice, and their determination 

regarding the most appropriate indirect 

cost methodology and rates for Fiscal 

Years (‘‘FYs’’) 1993 through 1999 was 

published on December 7, 2000 (65 FR 

76611). 

R&M continued its assessment of 

DARRP’s indirect cost rate system and 

structure for FYs 2000 and 2001. A 

second federal notice specifying the 

DARRP indirect rates for FYs 2000 and 

2001 was published on December 2, 

2002 (67 FR 71537). 

In October 2002, DARRP hired the 

accounting firm of Cotton and Company 

LLP (‘‘Cotton’’) to review and certify 

DARRP costs incurred on cases for 

purposes of cost recovery and to 

develop indirect rates for FY 2002 and 

subsequent years. As in the prior years, 

Cotton concluded that the cost 

accounting system and allocation 

practices of the DARRP component 

organizations are consistent with federal 

accounting requirements. Consistent 

with R&M’s previous analyses, Cotton 

also determined that the most 

appropriate indirect allocation method 

continues to be the Direct Labor Cost 

Base for all three DARRP component 

organizations. The Direct Labor Cost 

Base is computed by allocating total 

indirect cost over the sum of direct labor 

dollars, plus the application of NOAA’s 

leave surcharge and benefits rates to 

direct labor. Direct labor costs for 

contractors from ERT, Inc. (‘‘ERT’’), 

Freestone Environmental Services, Inc. 

(‘‘Freestone’’), and Genwest Systems, 

Inc. (‘‘Genwest’’) were included in the 

direct labor base because Cotton 

determined that these costs have the 

same relationship to the indirect cost 

pool as NOAA direct labor costs. ERT, 

Freestone, and Genwest provided onVerDate Sep<11>2014 16:43 Aug 23, 2021 Jkt 253001 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\24AUN1.SGM 24AUN1

lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 47301 

site support to the DARRP in the areas 

of injury assessment, natural resource 

economics, restoration planning and 

implementation, and policy analysis. 

Subsequent federal notices have been 

published in the Federal Register as 

follows: 

• FY 2002, published on October 6, 

2003 (68 FR 57672) 

• FY 2003, published on May 20, 2005 

(70 FR 29280) 

• FY 2004, published on March 16, 

2006 (71 FR 13356) 

• FY 2005, published on February 9, 

2007 (72 FR 6221) 

• FY 2006, published on June 3, 2008 

(73 FR 31679) 

• FY 2007 and FY 2008, published on 

November 16, 2009 (74 FR 58948) 

• FY 2009 and FY 2010, published on 

October 20, 2011 (76 FR 65182) 

• FY 2011, published on September 17, 

2012 (77 FR 57074) 

• FY 2012, published on August 29, 

2013 (78 FR 53425) 

• FY 2013, published on October 14, 

2014 (79 FR 61617) 

• FY 2014, published on December 17, 

2015 (80 FR 78718) 

• FY 2015, published on August 22, 

2016 (81 FR 56580) 

Empirical Concepts developed the 

DARRP indirect rates for FY 2016 and 

2017. Empirical reaffirmed that the 

Direct Labor Cost Base is the most 

appropriate indirect allocation method 

for the development of the FY 2016, 

2017, and 2018 indirect cost rates. The 

federal notice for these rates can be 

found at the following: 

• FY 2016 and FY 2017, published on 

October 16, 2019 (84 FR 55283) 

• FY 2018, published on August 5, 2020 

(85 FR 47358) 

Empirical Concepts developed the 

DARRP indirect rates for FY 19 and 

reaffirmed the Direct Labor Cost Base as 

the most appropriate indirect allocation 

for the development of the FY 2019 

indirect cost rates. 

The DARRP’s Indirect Cost Rates and 

Policies 

The DARRP will apply the indirect 

cost rates for FY 2019 as recommended 

by Empirical for each of the DARRP 

component organizations as provided in 

the following table: 

DARRP component organization 

FY 2019 

indirect rate 

(percent) 

Office of Response and Restoration 

(ORR) .......................................... 142.15 

Restoration Center (RC) ................. 76.99 

General Counsel Natural Resources Section (GCNRS) ........... 65.95 

The FY 2019 rates will be applied to 

all damage assessment and restoration 

case costs incurred between October 1, 

2018 and September 30, 2019 effective 

October 1, 2021. DARRP will use the FY 

2019 indirect cost rates for future fiscal 

years, beginning with FY 2020, until 

subsequent year-specific rates can be 

developed. 

For cases that have settled and for 

cost claims paid prior to the effective 

date of the fiscal year in question, the 

DARRP will not re-open any resolved 

matters for the purpose of applying the 

revised rates in this policy for these 

fiscal years. For cases not settled and 

cost claims not paid prior to the 

effective date of the fiscal year in 

question, costs will be recalculated 

using the revised rates in this policy for 

these fiscal years. Where a responsible 

party has agreed to pay costs using 

previous year’s indirect rates, but has 

not yet made the payment because the 

settlement documents are not finalized, 

the costs will not be recalculated. 

Scott Lundgren, 

Director, Office of Response and Restoration, 

National Ocean Service, National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18113 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–JE–P 

CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND 

COMMUNITY SERVICE 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Emergency Comment Request 

AGENCY: Corporation for National and 

Community Service. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection. 

SUMMARY: The Corporation for National 

and Community Service, operating as 

AmeriCorps, has submitted a public 

information collection request (ICR) 

entitled AmeriCorps Diversity 

Questionnaire for review and approval 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted to the individual and office 

listed in the ADDRESSES section by 

September 23, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: 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: 

Copies of this ICR, with applicable 

supporting documentation, may be 

obtained by calling AmeriCorps, Amy 

Borgstrom, at 202–606–6930 or by email 

to aborgstrom@cns.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The OMB 

is particularly interested in comments 

which: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of CNCS, including whether 

the information will have practical 

utility; 

• 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; 

• Propose ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and 

• Propose 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. 

Comments 

Because this is an emergency request 

for comments, no 60-day notice 

requesting public comment has been 

published in the Federal Register. 

Title of Collection: AmeriCorps 

Diversity Questionnaire. 

OMB Control Number: 3045–0035 

Type of Review: New Information 

Collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: Eligible 

organizations that are applying for 

AmeriCorps grants. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 750. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 375 hours. 

Abstract: The information provided 

by the survey will enable AmeriCorps to 

better understand the demographic 

characteristics of current grantees and 

potential grantees to further 

AmeriCorps’ efforts to take into account 

the diversity of communities and 

participants in its grantmaking. This is 

a requirement per the American Rescue 

Plan Act. Additionally, it will enable 

AmeriCorps to better target training, 

technical assistance, and outreach to 

potential grantees with the goal of 

creating programs that represent and 

serve the full diversity of our nation’s 

communities. 

AmeriCorps is proposing embedding 

this questionnaire into the existing grant 

application via the online system, 

eGrants, as a way to minimize the 

burden of the collection of the 

information. The questionnaire will be 

submitted annually per applicant for 

funding and estimated time for 


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