Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 249 / Friday, December 28, 2001 / Notices 67353

NHTSA issued 49 CFR part 566,

Manufacturer Identification. Part 566

requires every manufacturer of motor

vehicles and/or replacement equipment

to file with the agency on a one time

basis, the required information specified

in part 566.

Affected Public: Business or other-forprofit.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 25.

ADDRESS: Send comments, within 30

days, to the Office of Information and

Regulatory Affairs, Office of

Management and Budget, 725–17th

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503,

Attention NHTSA Desk Officer.

Comments are invited on: Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the Department,

including whether the information will

have practical utility; the accuracy of

the Departments estimate of the burden

of the proposed information collection;

ways to enhance the quality, utility and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including the use of

automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology.

A Comment to OMB is most effective if

OMB receives it within 30 days of

publication.

Issued in Washington, DC, on December

21, 2001.

Delmas Johnson,

Acting Associate Administrator for

Administration.

[FR Doc. 01–32015 Filed 12–27–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

Commercial Motor Vehicle Crash Data

Collection and Analysis Improvement

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability—

discretionary grants to assist states in

improving or revising their commercial

vehicle crash data collection

procedures.

SUMMARY: This notice solicits proposals

from States for projects to improve

traffic records, specifically data

collection and analysis on commercial

motor vehicle crashes. Where

deficiencies in reporting or recording of

such crashes are identified, a state may

seek funding to develop new or revised

systems or procedures and/or policies to

improve its reporting and recording

procedures. The NHTSA will provide

grant funds to selected States to carry

out the projects for improvements in

data collection and analysis, in

accordance with section 225 of Public

Law 106–159.

DATES: Proposals must be received at the

office designated below by 3 p.m. on or

before February 26, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Proposals must be

submitted to the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, Office of

Contracts and Procurement (NAD–30),

Attn: Mr. Joe Comella, 400 7th Street

SW., Room 5301, Washington, DC

20590. All applications must include a

reference to NHTSA Program Number

DTNH22–01–G–07083.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Joe Comella, National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, Office of

Contracts and Procurement (NAD–30).

All questions and requests for copies

may be directed by e-mail to

jcomella@nhtsa.dot.gov or by telephone

at 202–366–9568. Those desiring

notification of receipt of their proposal

submission must include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope or

postcard. Technical questions relating to

this program should be directed to

either Kenneth Rutland

(Kenneth.rutland@nhtsa.dot.gov)

NHTSA, Room 6213 (NRD–33) 400 7th

Street SW., Washington, DC 20590, 202–

493–0055, or to John Brophy

(John.Brophy@nhtsa.dot.gov) NHTSA,

Room 6125 (NRD–33) 400 7th Street

SW., Washington, DC 20590, 202–366–

0328.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

In 1999, reports from the General

Accounting Office and the United States

Department of Transportation Inspector

General recommended that

improvements be made in the Federal

Motor Carrier Safety Administration

(FMCSA) crash and enforcement data.

The existing FMCSA crash database, the

Motor Carrier Management Information

System (MCMIS) crash file, is intended

to be a census of all large commercial

truck and bus crashes that result in a

fatality, injury, or towed vehicle.

However, many truck and bus crashes

do not reach the MCMIS data processing

unit, and many of the reports received

are not complete. To address this

situation, section 225 of Public Law

106–159 [H.R. 3419] (49 U.S.C. 31100

note) directs the Secretary of

Transportation to carry out a program to

improve the collection and analysis of

data on crashes involving commercial

motor vehicles, administered through

the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) in cooperation

with the FMCSA. Section 225 requires

the NHTSA to enter into agreements

with the States to collect data and report

it electronically to a central repository.

In accordance with this requirement,

this notice makes funds available to the

states in the form of grants for

improvements in data collection and

analysis of commercial motor vehicle

involved crashes.

Project Goal

The goal is to improve the quality,

completeness, timeliness and quantity

of data collected by the States about

commercial motor vehicle crashes. This

data will be used to evaluate program

effectiveness, identify problems and

trends, target spending, and the like. In

addition, this data will be used to

support FMCSA’s enforcement

programs. By capturing more complete

and accurate data, drivers and carriers

of commercial motor vehicles can

appropriately be subjected to reviews of

their operations and cited for violations.

The FMCSA and NHTSA seek to

improve timeliness, completeness,

accuracy and overall quality of data

collected on commercial motor vehicle

involved crashes. These improvements

will facilitate the identification of

problem drivers and carriers and

provide a solid foundation of data on

which safety analyses and program

evaluation can be based. A State seeking

to participate in this effort must be

willing to explore and test new and

proven methodologies and protocols,

allowing for rapid electronic exchange

of crash data. The State’s proposal

should seek to enhance the accuracy,

speed and completeness of commercial

motor vehicle crash information among

the various components of the records

system, including enforcement, driver

licensing agencies, vehicle registration

agencies, State departments of

transportation, the courts, both within

States and across State boundaries.

The scope of potential projects or

plans need not be limited to system

development, changes or enhancements.

A State may have a system that is

technically sound but hampered by

State procedures, policies, laws, or

legislation preventing the State from

utilizing its system in the most efficient

and effective manner. Therefore, the

NHTSA will entertain proposals that

may not involve the system directly, but

would meet the project goals through

indirect effects.

Project Requirements

Grant proposals submitted by the

States must meet certain criteria. The

grant proposal criteria are designed to

67354 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 249 / Friday, December 28, 2001 / Notices

assure maximum flexibility while

ensuring that key State agencies and

organizations participate in approved

grant activities. A thorough evaluation

design is another key requirement.

Proposals must meet the following items

to be considered:

1. Identify a lead Agency for the

project.

2. Identify an interdisciplinary

working group within the State,

including but not limited to the state

motor vehicle licensing agency, the

crash records department, the vehicle

registration agency, State law

enforcement, Governor’s Highway

Safety Representative, and Motor Carrier

Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)

representative.

3. Provide an analysis of existing

systems or procedures, including

discussion of the completeness,

timeliness, quality and accuracy of the

existing data collected in the MCMIS

program.

4. Provide an estimate of the total

number of reportable Commercial Motor

Vehicle Crashes involving a fatality,

injury, or towed vehicle, the total

number reported to police enforcement

(documented on PAR’s and/or PAR

Supplement Forms) and the total

number of Commercial Motor Vehicle

crashes that are entered into MCMIS.

This is the gap (crash occurrence versus

crashes entered into MCMIS) that this

Grant funding targets for reduction.

5. Define new or improved system

requirements to be implemented with

funding under this Grant, including

project scope, whether new technologies

would be tested, and methods of

gathering, integrating, and facilitating

data exchange between various users. If

the project is not system related,

describe existing procedures, the

problems they generate, proposed new

procedures, anticipated outcome, and

the means to measure the success or

impact of the project or program.

6. Provide and submit a project

evaluation plan and timelines for

completion.

7. Define, analyze, and document user

procedures, including projected barriers

to project success.

8. Define the methodology for

implementing the system or procedures.

9. Provide plans for preparing a final

report, including the evaluation findings

and recommendations for other States

regarding the strengths and weaknesses

of this project or program.

10. Provide a budget for the project.

11. Provide Monthly Progress Reports.

The Grantee shall submit monthly

progress reports to the COTR during the

period of performance of this grant.

Eligibility Requirements

The grantee must be a state agency of

one of the fifty States or the District of

Columbia and involved with highway

traffic safety, such as a State Highway

Safety Office, Department of

Transportation or other State agency

with demonstrated activities in the

highway traffic safety area, to ensure

active involvement by highway traffic

safety stakeholders.

Only one application should be

submitted for a state. Because this Grant

program requires extensive

collaboration among the data owners in

order to achieve the program objectives,

it is envisioned that the grantee agency

may need to actively involve the data

owners in the development of the

formal application.

A single organization within any state

or area may not have all of the required

data capabilities; the application should

demonstrate methods to improve

collaborative agreements with the data

owners to facilitate the collection of

commercial motor vehicle crash data.

This Grant is a parallel effort with the

NHTSA’s Commercial Vehicle Analysis

Reporting System (CVARS) pilot effort

with certain states. Those States that

have been selected to participate in the

CVARS pilot effort are ineligible for this

Grant award.

Submission of Proposals

Proposals responding to this notice

must remain valid for 90 days from the

due date for submission of proposals,

and may be funded at any time during

that period. Submit one original and

two copies of your application package

to: The National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, Office of Contracts and

Procurement (NAD–30), Attn: Joe

Comella, 400 7th Street SW., Room

5301, Washington, DC 20590.

Applications must be typed on one side

of page only.

An additional two (2) copies will

facilitate the review process, but are not

required. Only complete application

packages received on or by 3 p.m. on

February 26, 2002, will be considered.

Application Contents

The application package must be

submitted with OMB Standard Form

424 REV. 7–97, including 424A and

424B), Application for Federal

Assistance, with the required

information filled in and assurances

signed (SF 424B). While the Form 424A

deals with budget information and

Section B identifies Budget Categories,

the available space does not permit a

level of detail which is sufficient to

provide for a meaningful evaluation of

the proposed total costs. A

supplemental sheet shall be provided

which presents a detailed breakdown of

the proposed costs (direct labor,

including labor category, level of effort,

and rate; direct materials including

itemized equipment; travel and

transportation, including projected trips

and number of people traveling;

subcontractors/subgrants, with similar

detail, if known; and overhead), as well

as any costs the applicant proposes to

contribute or obtain from other sources

in support of the project.

Evaluation of Proposals and Award

Initially, all application packages will

be reviewed to confirm that the

applicant is an eligible recipient and to

ensure that the application contains all

of the items specified in the Project

Requirement and Application Content

section of this announcement. Each

complete application from an eligible

recipient will then be evaluated by an

Evaluation committee comprised of

representatives from the NHTSA,

FMCSA, and other traffic records

experts. The panel will evaluate each

proposal, based on the following factors:

1. The technical competency of the

proposal and the likeliness of reducing

the gap between the number of CMV

crashes occurring and number entered

into MCMIS and the amount of the

reduction. (50%)

2. The reasonableness and adequacy

of the cost and personnel resources

proposed to complete the requirements

in a timely manner. (30%)

3. The potential for this state (and

potentially the portability of this

improvement to other states) to utilize

the improvements in the full-scale

CVARS project. (20%)

Project Funding

NHTSA’s intent is to provide up to

$2,600,000 funding in FY 2002. States

are invited to submit proposals

outlining their projects to the NHTSA.

This program will not require matching

funds. However, States are encouraged

to explore other funding sources in both

the private and public sectors to

implement improved data collection

and analysis of commercial motor

vehicle involved crashes and traffic

records in general. NHTSA

contemplates making eight to fifteen

multiple awards from the proposals

submitted.

Terms and Conditions of the Award

Prior to award, each grantee must

comply with the certification

requirements of 49 CFR part 20,

Department of Transportation New

Restrictions on Lobbying, and 49 CFR

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 249 / Friday, December 28, 2001 / Notices 67355

part 29, Department of Transportation

Government-wide Debarment and

Suspension (Non-procurement) and

Government wide Requirements for

Drug Free Workplace (Grants).

During the effective performance

period of Cooperative Agreements

awarded as a result of this

announcement, the agreement shall be

subject to the National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration’s General

Provisions for Assistance Agreements.

Reporting Requirements and

Deliverables

1. Detailed Action Plan and Schedule.

Within 30 days after award, the grantee

shall deliver a detailed action plan

which details the existing state

procedures for reporting CMV crash

data; and a schedule outlining the

methods that will be employed to

improve reporting. This detailed action

plan will be subject to the approval of

NHTSA.

2. Monthly progress reports. During

the performance, the grantee will

provide letter-type written reports to the

NHTSA COTR. These reports will

compare what was proposed in the Plan

of Action with actual accomplishments

during the past month; what

commitments have been generated;

what follow-up and state-level support

is expected; what problems have been

experienced and what may be needed to

overcome the problems; and what is

specifically planned to be accomplished

during the next reporting period. These

reports will be submitted ten days after

the end of each month.

3. Project Report. The grantee shall

deliver to NHTSA, at the end of the

project, a final report that describes the

results of activities undertaken to

improve CMV crash data collection.

This report should include: the initial

state of CMV reporting at the state level;

methods, procedures, or technologies

employed to improve reporting,

obstacles encountered, improvements

initiated, evaluation findings and

recommendations for other States

regarding the strengths and weaknesses

of this project or program. The grantee

shall supply the NHTSA COTR one

camera read versions of the documents,

as printed and one copy on appropriate

media (diskette, Syquest disk, etc.) of

the document in the original program

format that was used for the printing

process. Each of these component parts

should be available on disk, properly

labeled with the program format and the

file names. A complete version of the

assembled document shall be provided

in portable document format (PDF) for

placement of the report on the World

Wide Web (WWW). This will be a file

usually created with the Adobe

Exchange program of the complete

assembled document. The document

must be completely assembled with all

colors, charts, sidebars, photographs,

and graphics. This shall be delivered to

NHTSA on appropriate media. The

grantee shall provide four additional

hard copies of the final document.

An electronic copy of this document

may be downloaded by accessing the

Federal Register home page at http://

www.nara.gov/nara/fedreg and the

Government Printing Office database at

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs

Issued on: December 20, 2001.

Raymond R. Owings,

Associate Administration for Research and

Development.

[FR Doc. 01–32022 Filed 12–27–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–12–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs

Administration

Actions on Exemption Applications

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of actions on exemption

applications.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

procedures governing the application

for, and the processing of, exemptions

from the Department of Transportation’s

Hazardous Materials Regulations (49

CFR Part 107, Subpart B), notice is

hereby given of the actions on

exemption applications in

SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2000. The

modes of transportation involved are

identified by a number in the ‘‘Nature

of Application’’ portion of the table

below as follows: 1—Motor vehicle, 2—

Rail freight, 3—Cargo vessel, 4—Cargo

aircraft only, 5—Passenger-carrying

aircraft. Application numbers prefixed

by the letters EE represent applications

for Emergency Exemptions. It should be

noted that some of the sections cited

were those in effect at the time certain

exemptions were issued.

Issued in Washington, DC, on December

21, 2001.

J. Suzanne Hedgepeth,

Director, Office of Hazardous Materials,

Exemptions and Approvals.

Application

No. Exemption No. Applicant Regulation(s) affected Nature of exemption thereof

MODIFICATION EXEMPTIONS

3187–M ........ DOT–E 3187 PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA.49 CFR 173.21(f),

173.225(b)(6),

173.225(b)(7),

173.225(d)(2).

To authorize alternative packaging and the use of

common carriers in exclusive use for the transportation of Division 5.2 materials.

8299–M ........ DOT–E 8299 Pacific Scientific, Duarte,

CA.

49 CFR 173.304(a)(1),

175.3, 178.44.

To modify the exemption to increase the service life

limit to 24 years of the non-DOT specification

pressure vessels for the transportation of certain

Division 2.2 compressed gases.

8757–M ........ DOT–E 8757 YZ Systems, Inc., Conroe,

TX.

49 CFR 173.302(a)(1),

173.304(a)(1),

173.302(b)(1), 175.3,

178.42.

To modify the exemption to allow for the transportation of additional Division 2.3 and Class 3 materials in non-DOT specification stainless steel cylinders; editorial corrections to paragraph 6 of the

exemption.

9149–M ........ DOT–E 9149 Ethyl Corporation, Richmond, VA.49 CFR 173.354,

174.63(b), 178.245.

To modify the exemption to authorize the transportation of Class 3 and additional division 6.1 materials in non-DOT specification IMD Type I portable

tanks.