Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 47299 

robot workcell end-users to detect 

degradation of process accuracy prior to 

it impacting product quality or 

operational productivity. 

There are numerous potential benefits 

to the participating MEP Center teams 

including: 

a. Acquisition of a research license of 

NIST’s PVS technology to practice the 

invention to explore its commercial 

feasibility 

b. Feedback on the deployment, 

integration, usage, and maintenance (as 

necessary) of the sensor within relevant 

operational environments to determine 

if/where/how to make the technology 

more viable for commercialization 

c. Identification of the use cases and 

scenarios that the sensor and test 

method can be reasonably deployed 

d. Acquire advanced knowledge of 

potential degradations to process 

accuracy prior to degradations 

negatively impacting product quality or 

operational productivity 

e. If the sensor became commercially 

available, this could lead to the 

development of services using the 

sensor to improve the operations and 

efficiency of small and medium 

manufacturers. 

Participation Process 

Eligibility will be determined by NIST 

based on the information provided by 

prospective participants in response to 

this notice on a first-come, first-serve 

basis. In accordance with the 

Consortium objectives, collaborators 

must be MEP Centers. Collaborator 

project teams must be entirely 

composed of MEP Centers or, if a project 

team includes non-MEP Center team 

members, the project team must be led 

by an MEP Center Collaborator. All 

participants will be required to sign the 

Cooperative Research and Development 

Agreement (CRADA) for this 

Consortium, and each participant will 

be bound to the same terms and 

conditions in consideration of 

participation in the Consortium. 

Participants will not be required to 

contribute any funds or pay any fee. 

NIST will evaluate the submitted 

responses from prospective participants 

to determine eligibility to participate in 

this Consortium. Prospective 

participants should provide a Letter of 

Interest with the following information 

to NIST’s Consortium Manager: 

(1) A description of the MEP Center 

team’s technical experience in 

integrating robot workcells and/or 

sensor technology into manufacturing 

facilities. 

(2) A description of the manufacturing 

use cases and deployments of robotic 

workcells that the MEP Center team 

would target for NIST test method and 

PVS deployment. 

(3) A description of services, if any, 

that the MEP Center team has provided 

in the domains of robotic 

manufacturing, predictive maintenance, 

or sensors. 

(4) List of interested MEP Center’s 

anticipated team members. 

Letter of interest must not include 

business proprietary information. NIST 

will not treat any information provided 

in response to this Notice as proprietary 

information. NIST will notify each 

organization of its eligibility. NIST does 

not guarantee participation in the 

Consortium to any organization 

submitting a Letter of interest. 

Alicia Chambers, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18129 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Draft Programmatic Environmental 

Impact Statement for Surveying and 

Mapping Projects in U.S. Waters for 

Coastal and Marine Data Acquisition, 

Extension of Public Comment Period 

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Department of 

Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice; extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

National Ocean Service (NOS) is 

extending the public comment period 

by 90 days for the Draft Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) 

for Surveying and Mapping Projects in 

U.S. Waters for Coastal and Marine Data 

Acquisition. The end of the public 

comment period is extended from 

August 24, 2021 to November 22, 2021. 

DATES: The public comment period is 

extended by 90 days to November 22, 

2021. Comments must be received by 

November 22, 2021, as specified under 

ADDRESSES. Comments received after 

this date may not be accepted. 

ADDRESSES: The Draft PEIS can be 

viewed or downloaded from the NOS 

website at https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/about/ 

environmental-compliance/surveyingmapping.html. Written comments on 

NOS’s Draft PEIS may be submitted by 

one of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NOS–2021–0055 in the Search 

box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Please direct written 

comments to DOC/NOAA/NOS 

Environmental Compliance Coordinator, 

SSMC4-Station 13612, 1305 East West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 

• Email: nosaa.ec@noaa.gov. 

• Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NOAA. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NOAA will 

accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/ 

A’’ in the required fields if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Giannina DiMaio, DOC/NOAA/NOS, 

Environmental Compliance Coordinator, 

SSMC4-Station 13612, 1305 East West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; 

Phone: 240–533–0918; or Email 

nosaa.ec@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 

25, 2021, NOS published a Notice of 

Availability of a Draft PEIS for 

Surveying and Mapping Projects in U.S. 

Waters for Coastal and Marine Data 

Acquisition. 86 FR 33663 (June 25, 

2021). The Draft PEIS was prepared in 

accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (NEPA), to analyze the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with NOS’s recurring data 

collection projects to characterize 

submerged features (e.g., habitat, 

bathymetry, marine debris). The ‘‘action 

area’’ for these projects encompasses 

United States (U.S.) rivers, states’ 

offshore waters, the U.S. territorial sea, 

the contiguous zone, the U.S. Exclusive 

Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ), and coastal 

and riparian lands. As a part of the 

Proposed Action, NOS may use active 

acoustic equipment such as sub-bottom 

profilers, single beam and multibeam 

echo sounders, side-scan sonars, and 

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers. The 

Draft PEIS analyzes NOS data collection 

projects for a time period of six years. 

Please refer to the original Notice of 

Availability for additional summary 

information. 


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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

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