Document ID: EPA-HQ-OARM-2007-0341-0003
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2007-07-20T04:00Z

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1.  IDENTIFICATION OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTION

	The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requests an extension of the
current  approval for information collection activities associated with
contractor conflicts of interest (COI).  The EPA number for this
collection is 1550.07.  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Information Clearance Request (ICR) number is 2030-0023.

	The collection of this information is required to ensure that the
Agency can effectively identify, evaluate, and take appropriate action
concerning contractor COI.  EPA contractors are required to disclose any
actual or potential COI with regard to its employees, corporate
affiliations, and business relationships.  Contractors will be required
to maintain a database of business relationships and report information
to EPA on either an annual basis or when work is ordered under an Agency
contract.   Additionally, under some contracts, the contractor must
request written approval from the contracting officer to enter into a
proposed contract subject to the restrictions of EPA’s Limitation of
Future Contracting Clause.  

2.  NEED FOR AND USE OF THE COLLECTION

	a)  NEED/AUTHORITY FOR THE COLLECTION

	The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Subpart 9.5, requires
contracting officers to analyze acquisitions to identify and evaluate
potential COI, and to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate significant COI
before contract award.  EPA’s information collection is required not
only to fulfill the requirements of FAR, protecting the Government’s
interests at contract award, but also ensure this protection extends
throughout the performance of Agency contracts.  

	EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment.  This
mission involves crosscutting functions such as developing and enforcing
regulations, and performing environmental research.  Since EPA uses
contractor support for all these functions it is imperative that the
Agency maintain rigorous COI standards to protect the integrity and the
public’s trust in our work.  Originally, this ICR was initiated due to
the need to ensure that contractors supporting work under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (CERCLA) or ‘‘Superfund’’ are free from conflict so as not
to prejudice CERCLA clean-up and cost recovery actions.  In the past few
years,  it is clear that the potential for conflict is not limited to
contracts supporting just Superfund activities, but includes other EPA
contracts as well.  Environmental laws,  besides Superfund, that give
the Agency the authority for its programs and regulatory activities
include, but are not limited to, the Clean Water Act (CWA); Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA); Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuary Act
(MPRSA); Clean Air Act (CAA); Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA);  Oil Pollution Act (OPA); Pollution Prevention Act (PPA);
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA); Superfund
Reauthorization and Amendments Act (SARA); Toxic Substance Control Act
(TSCA); Federal Facility Compliance Act (FFCA); National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA); Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Asbestos Hazard Emergency
Response Act (AHERA); and the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable
Battery Management Act (Battery Act). 

	FAR Subpart 2.1 states organizational conflict of interest means
“that because of other activities or relationships with other persons,
a person is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assistance
or advice to the Government, or the person’s objectivity in performing
the contract work is or might be otherwise impaired, or a person has an
unfair competitive advantage.”  Depending on the contract terms, EPA
requires the contractor to either certify annually or certify each time
work is ordered under the contract that to the best of the Contractor's
knowledge and belief, all actual or potential organizational conflicts
of interest have been reported to EPA.  If the contractor cannot so
certify, the firm must provide a disclosure statement describing all
relevant information concerning any past, present, or planned interests
bearing on whether it may have a conflict of interest.  The contracting
officer and advisers will use this information to evaluate potential
conflicts and to determine the appropriate action necessary to avoid,
mitigate, or neutralize the disclosed conflict.

	Several examples of potential COI follow.  Example 1:  A contractor
which may perform clean-up work at a Superfund site must disclose any
business relationship that firm has with potentially responsible parties
(PRP).  Once PRPs are identified for specific sites, the Agency attempts
to recover costs expended for cleanup through either consent agreements
or litigation.  Because EPA has the dual responsibility of cleanup and
enforcement and because its contractors are often involved in both
activities, it is imperative that EPA contractors are free of conflicts
so as not to prejudice CERCLA response and enforcement/cost recovery
actions.  Example 2:  A contractor which is tasked with evaluating radon
measurement devices must disclose any business relationships it has with
firms manufacturing radon measurement devises.  The contractor’s
objectivity would be questioned if the firm evaluated a radon
measurement device manufactured by a company with which the contractor
has an ongoing business relationship.  Example 3:  A contractor
providing peer review services must disclose if contractor employees
assigned to perform peer review which had been substantially involved in
the product under review.  The individual’s impartiality would be
questioned if he or she contributed to the product under review.   

	b)  USE AND USERS OF THE DATA

	If contractors submit a certification stating they have no conflicts of
interest, they contracting officer reviews the certificate and retains
the information in the official contract file.  If contractors disclose
information showing they have an actual or potential conflict of
interest, the contracting officers and advisers (subject matter or
technical experts, legal advisors, and procurement analysts) carefully
review and analyze the disclosure to determine the appropriate course of
action.  EPA staff will use the conflict of interest plan and
certifications as a means to ensure contractors are complying with EPA's
requirements for detecting and avoiding conflicts of interest.

	Contracting officers document their determinations in the official
contract file.  This is also where they retain the original information
collected.  

In general, the information collected and the determinations made will
be used by the Agency to ensure that contractors and the EPA are
adequately addressing conflict of interest concerns, and that the Agency
is making determinations consistent with the exercise of common sense,
good judgment, and sound discretion, to protect its programs.

3.   THE RESPONDENTS AND THE INFORMATION REQUESTED

a)	RESPONDENTS/NAICS CODES

Respondents to this information collection activity are Agency
contractors performing work for the Agency which requires protection
from conflicts of interest.  The number of EPA contractors who will be
required to provide information under this collection is approximately
135.  

The respondents represent a variety of industries such as: remediation
services (NAICS #56910); environmental consulting services (NAICS
#56920); engineering services (NAICS #541330); research and development
(NAICS #541710); administrative management and general management
consulting services (NAICS #541611); and computer related services
(NAICS #541519).

	b)  INFORMATION REQUESTED

		(i)  DATA ITEMS  

	Data to be collected includes: (1) certification on either an annual
basis or when work is ordered that conflicts have been disclosed or that
none exist; (2) disclosure of actual and potential conflicts of interest
under the contract; and (3) requests for authorization to enter into a
certain future contract work, cited in the "Limitation of Future
Contracting Clause” in the applicable contract.

The recordkeeping requirements associated with this request include
corporate recordkeeping consistent with a contractor's system for
identifying, mitigating, and preventing conflicts of interest as
described in its conflict of interest plan submitted to EPA.  This
conflict of interest recordkeeping includes maintaining a database of
corporate clients and contracts in order to identify potential conflicts
and maintaining records of disclosures of conflicts to demonstrate
compliance with a contractor's conflict of interest plan. NOTE: The term
"database" as used in this section includes any system which permits a
contractor to search its records for conflicts of interest and may be
either manual or automated. The critical function of any database is
that it gives the respondent the capability to identify any past,
present, and future work which may be in conflict.

	(ii)  RESPONDENT ACTIVITIES

To properly respond to EPA’s conflict of interest disclosure requests
requires the contractor to first maintain a list of all current
contracts they are working under and the nature of the work they are
performing under the contract.  Then, the contractor must analyze
interrelations between the work the firm will be performing under the
current contract and any work performed under other contracts which may
cause the contractor to be unable to render impartial assistance or
advice to EPA, impair the firm’s objectivity, or give the firm an
unfair competitive advantage.  For example, if EPA wants the contractor
to assist with research on pesticide products, the contractor would
check the work they currently perform to ensure it doesn’t involved
work for pesticide manufactures.  A third party would question the
objectivity of the contractor’s research if the contractor’s work
involved a pesticide manufactured by a firm with which the contractor
does a significant amount of business  If the firm discovers no
conflicts of interest, then it certifies this fact to the contracting
officer.  If the firm discovers an actual or potential problem, then the
facts of the situation will be reported to the contracting officer for
his or her response.  The steps involved in this process would include:

	1)  Create information

		(a)  prepare conflict of interest plan; (CBP = 50%)  

	2)  Gather information; (CBP = 80%)  

		(a) create a database

	

	3)  Process, compile, and review information;

		(a)  search database and records (CBP = 25%) and

		(b)  maintain records

		

	4)  Complete written forms or other paperwork;

		(a)  prepare annual certification, or

		(b)  prepare certification when work is ordered

	5)  Identify a potential conflict of interest;

		(a) make decision and notify EPA contracting officer (CBP = 10%)

	6)  Record disclosure or display information; (CBP = 10%) and

	7)  Request approval to enter a future contract that may have a
conflict of interest.

"Customary and usual business practice" (CBP) efforts identified above
were based on analysis of interviews with Agency contractors, Agency
contracting staff, and historical data on handling conflicts of
interest.

Public Notice

	In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.), the Agency notified the public through a Federal Register notice
on the submission of this ICR on April 25, 2007 (72 FR 20534) with
comments due on June 25, 2007.  One nonsubstantial comment was received.

4.   THE INFORMATION COLLECTED--AGENCY ACTIVITIES, COLLECTION
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

(a)  AGENCY ACTIVITIES

The Agency anticipates performing the information collection activities
listed below, in conjunction with conflict of interest requirements. 
(See 6(b) for calculations of the Agency's cost estimates.)

(1)  Analyzing the contract scope and inserting appropriate conflict of
interest clauses in contracts;

(2)  Collecting conflict of interest certifications or disclosures, or
requests to review future contracts from the contractor;

(3)  When a conflict is disclosed or a request for a future contract is
made, analyzing the information provided and determining the appropriate
measures to avoid, neutralize or mitigate the conflict; and 

(4)  Filing certifications of no conflict or documenting action on
potential conflict of interests disclosures in the in the contract file.
 

					

		(b) COLLECTION METHODOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

		The original information collected will go directly to the Contracting
Officer who has responsibility for making conflict of interest
determinations.  The information and determinations will be filed in the
specific contract files as the official record of the Agency decision. 
Most respondents will prepare their submissions electronically. 
Submissions are accepted in any format so long as the required
information is provided.  

		(c) SMALL ENTITY FLEXIBILITY

	

	Based on fiscal year 2006 figures, roughly one third of the Agency’s
contracts are awarded to small businesses.  Only the minimum information
necessary to ensure that conflicts of interest do not exist is
requested.  Because the information requested is vital to monitoring
contractor performance under Agency contracts, separate or simplified
procedures cannot be developed for small businesses.

	

	EPA considered alternatives to the information collection, such as
establishing different compliance or reporting requirements or
simplifying the requirements for small entities. EPA also considered
exempting small entities from all or part of the rule.  However separate
or further simplified requirements are not practical, because the stated
objectives cannot be met under such alternatives.  An undisclosed
conflict of interest poses the same risk to EPA whether it is a conflict
involving a large or small business contractor.  EPA believes the
information collection, along with other established internal controls
within the Agency, will prevent conflicts of interest that may
jeopardize future actions.

		Although the information collection requirements for small and large
business are the same, we anticipate that the burden will be less for
small businesses because they generally have less complex organizational
structures and less data to maintain and search than large businesses.

	(d) COLLECTION SCHEDULE AND EFFECT OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION

		This information collection requires contractors to certify, either
annually or when EPA orders work under their contract, that they have no
conflict of interest.  If the contractor detects an actual or potential
conflict, then the firm must disclose the nature of the conflict.  The
annual certification requirement is possible where the nature of the
work the contractor is performing is sufficiently known in advance to
allow certifying for an entire year.  More frequently, EPA requires its
contractors to certify or disclose with each order for work under the
contract.  This requirement for reporting when specific work is ordered
is essential under contracts with a wide scope where it is not possible
to know in advance the exact type of work needed or the exact location
the work will be performed.  For example, most Superfund contracts are
performed at multiple sites and there is little or no advance notice of
where such work will be assigned because of our changing cleanup
priorities.  Therefore, a contractor is in a better position to identify
its conflicts or potential contracts when work is ordered compared to
when the basic contract is awarded.  We are unable to further reduce
this requirement without handicapping our ability to ensure our
contractors do not work in areas where their objectivity may be
impaired, or where their contractors actions may adversely affect
enforcement actions or cost recovery from polluters. 

	There is also no set schedule for submission of requests for
authorization to enter into a contract for non-EPA work cited in the
"Limitation of Future Contracting Clause."  This clause identifies
outside work that could pose a significant conflict of interest with
work performed for EPA and may impair EPA contractor performance or harm
enforcement actions.  These requests are required to be submitted if and
when a contractor wants to request authorization to enter into such high
risk contracts.  Such requests are essential in order that EPA has the
opportunity to protect its enforcement actions from an unacceptable risk
of prejudice before it occurs.  This is essential to protecting the
Government interests.

5.  NONDUPLICATION, CONSULTATIONS & OTHER COLLECTION CRITERIA

		(a) NONDUPLICATION

		The collection of information is not duplicative of information
otherwise accessible to the Agency.  The data is unique to each firm’s
contract or order for work under a contract and is not available from
any other source.  EPA provisions have the same general objectives of
identifying, mitigating and avoiding conflicts of interest as FAR
Subpart 9.5.  However, unlike the FAR, the EPA provisions include
reporting and certification requirements to ensure that actual and
potential conflicts of interest are reviewed not only prior to contract
award, but also during the period of contract performance and after
contract performance to ensure enforcement actions are not prejudiced. 
It is only in this way that EPA can evaluate whether a contractor's work
efforts, which may be initiated during the EPA contract performance
period or in some cases, after contract completion, may present an
unacceptable risk to the Agency.

	(b)   CONSULTATIONS

	For this ICR, informal consultations were conducted with the following
EPA contractors who provide information under EPA's conflict of interest
disclosure requirements.

The firms contacted were:

	Name			Phone				Affiliation

	Ed Greutert  		206-587-3165  		Booz, Allen, & Hamilton

	Ules Jackson		614-424-5447			Battelle  

	Leigh Roller  		703-633-1678			ERG  

	Ed Sussenguth 	415-222-8345 			Tetra Tech

	

The process each firm used for tracking contract work, reviewing the
scope of work, and certifying there are no conflicts or disclosing the
nature of an actual or potential conflict were virtually identical.  The
amount of effort involved varied on the size of the business, the number
of affiliates, and the amount of contracting they do.  

		

(c) CONFIDENTIALITY AND SENSITIVE QUESTIONS

	Some of the information submitted in response to our information
request is confidential business information (CBI).  The Agency will
protect CBI from release, and will disclose it only to the extent
consistent with 40 CFR part 2, subpart B, Agency regulations, and the
contract terms.

	This information collection complies with the Privacy Act of 1978 and
OMB Circular A-108, as revised and incorporated into OMB Circular A-130.
 We have identified no sensitive questions.

(d) Public notice required prior to ICR Submission to OMB: The Federal
Register document required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments in
this collection of information was published on April 25, 2007.  One,
nonsubstantial comment was received.  

6.  ESTIMATING THE BURDEN AND COST OF THE COLLECTION

	

	(a)  ESTIMATING THE RESPONDENT BURDEN AND COSTS

		(i) General Notes

Respondent burden in complying with the COI information collection is
broken down into the following tasks.  Each task will be separately
addressed in the narrative, and the all tasks will be summarized in the
table at the end of this section:

	1.  Prepare  Conflict of Interest Plan (one-time burden)

	2.  Create a Database (one-time burden)

	3.  Storage and Maintenance of Records  (recurring burden)  	 

	4.  Search Data Base Records for Possible COI  (recurring burden)

5.  Identify Potential COI, Record Decision, and Notify EPA (recurring
burden)

6.  Request Approval for Future Contract (recurring) 

EPA’s conflict of interest information requirements have been in
effect since 1994.  Additionally, the Federal Acquisition Regulation
(FAR) Subpart 9.5 also has rules and procedures in place to identifying,
evaluating, and resolving organizational and consultant conflicts of
interest.  Firms doing business with the Federal Government as prime
contractors or subcontractors must meet the FAR requirements for
identifying conflicts of interest.  Given EPA’s long history with
requiring conflict of interest information, the vast majority of EPA
contractors have established systems for tracking the work they perform
and identifying areas which may raise issues concerning the
contractors’ impartiality or objectivity

One time costs, such as COI plan development and creation of a database
were discussed in prior requests and continue to apply to only to
contractors who have never done any work as either a prime contractor or
subcontractor on a Government contract involving a potential for
conflict of interest.  

EPA’s initial request for information collection clearance, which was
submitted in 1994, utilized a seven year period to allocate one time,
non-recurring costs associated with COI plan development and database
creation.  The seven year period was chosen because most Agency
Superfund contracts average seven years.  Now that the seven years has
passed, and burden hours for the seven years were covered in EPA’s
initial and first renewal ICR, none of the original allocation of
one-time costs remain.  Any burden associated with tasks 1 and 2 will
only be incurred by contractors and subcontractors who have never
contracted with EPA. 

The customary and usual business practices (CBP) in this ICR are based
on knowledge of the business practices of anticipated respondents and
from a review of information received from EPA contractors (potential
respondents) who provided data in response to our consultations.  In our
burden calculations, the CBP is subtracted from the overall total burden
to show the new estimated burden anticipated for this requirement.  The
calculations for CBP are described below for each category of effort.

In accordance with the provisions of FAR Part 31, EPA anticipates that
costs incurred in complying with this information collection request
will be chargeable to Government contracts.			

	(ii) Labor Costs:  	For all tasks below, the hours are allocated among
labor categories in the same manner as the original ICR hours: 25%
Management, 50% Technical, and 25% Clerical.    	

(1)  Prepare Conflict of Interest (COI) Plan. (Non-recurring one-time
effort) In its initial request, EPA estimated 1,170 hours per plan as a
non-recurring one-time cost, because once contractors have prepared a
COI Plan, it will only be necessary to update and/or modify it.   We
continue to utilize the estimate of 1,170 hours per plan for any firms
who have never previously done business with EPA or been a prime or
subcontractor on a Federal Government contract involving conflict of
interest provisions.  For new respondents, we retain the original CBP of
50%.  This results in an estimate of 585 hours for each of the 10 new
respondents.  In order to allocate the 585 hours across the seven year
period of performance, we have divided the 585 by 7 to arrive at an
average 84 hours per respondent per year to prepare the initial COI
plan.  Total burden per year for the 10 new respondents is 840.  	

		 	BURDEN:	84 hours X 10 new respondents = 840 hours 

(2)  Create Data Base.  (Non-recurring one-time effort) Our estimate of
700 hours reflects EPA's best estimate based on information received
from respondents.  The CPB for this line item is 80%, resulting in total
hours of 140.  This line item is also a non-recurring one-time burden. 
Also, as described in task 1 above, these hours are allocated over a
seven year period of performance. The Agency anticipates approximately
10 new respondents per year.  This is lower from 15 in the previous ICR
because many contractors now have experience meeting  Federal and EPA
conflict of interest requirements.  Therefore, our estimate includes 140
hours per response for new respondents, divided by 7 years which equals
20 hrs per year, times 10 respondents or 200 hours total for new
respondents.

			BURDEN:	20 hours X 10 new respondents = 200 hours 

(3)  Storage and Maintenance of Records.  The previous estimate was
1,100 hours.  Our revised estimate is 484 hours.  The CBP for this line
item remains at is 80% to reflect that most firms routinely keep lists
of their contract work and have experience in keeping conflict of
interest records for Federal contracts.  Therefore, a total of 154 hours
of storage and maintenance of records activity is associated with this
collection request.  

			BURDEN:   154 hours

(4)  Search Data Base Records for Possible COI   The number of times
work is ordered under an EPA contract varies greatly; however, for
purposes of this ICR we retain the estimate that 75 work orders will be
issued in a given year.  Of this number, approximately 16% will be for
the same Superfund site for which a previous work order has been issued.
 Since contractors are not required to submit more than one
certification or disclosure per Superfund site, then contractors will
only do certifications or disclosures for 63 work orders.  

The average time required to perform each search is estimated to be 8
hours.    The previous ICR estimated 14 hours.  In our interviews with
contractors, we found firms typically perform a key word search (key
words such as type of work, location, names of affiliates) in an
automated database.  The database search would take less than an hour;
however,  an employee with the appropriate expertise must review the
search findings for accuracy.  Eight hours includes the database search
time, ensuring the findings are appropriate, and possibly querying
contractor project staff as well as records.  Based on interviews with
contractors, the CBP for this line item is reduced from 25% to 10%.  Few
public sector contracts require searching the previous conflict of
interest records; however, some state or local contracts may require it.
Therefore, the hours associated with this collection request for data
base searches is 7 hours.

								

			BURDEN:	7 x 63 = 441 hours	

(5)  Identify Potential COI, Record Decision. Execute Work Order or the
Annual Certification, and Notify the EPA of the Decision.  This category
reflects the management and technical activity in the search and
certification effort that a contractor must perform. In accordance with
the contract terms, the contractor is required to submit either a one
time certification or individual certifications when work is ordered
under the contract. Of the 63 worker orders requiring certification or
disclosure, approximately 17% of cases (11 work orders per year), only
an annual certification is required.  The remaining 52 order will
require individual certification or disclosure.

										

		Our previous estimate for this task was 40 hours.  Our revised
estimate is 28 hours to complete an annual certification (in 11 cases)
and 4 hours to complete a per work order review (in 52 cases).  The CBP
factor for this task is very low because most of this effort is
associated solely with EPA requirements. The estimate of 10% for CBP is
associated with an identification of a conflict of interest on a private
contract which requires management attention but may not require the
documentation and certification process required by EPA. 

			BURDEN:	11 x 28 = 308 (annual certification)

					52 x 4   = 208 (work order certifications)

				       		    516 hours

(6)  Request Approval to Contract.  The estimate utilized is identical
to that provided in the ICR for the proposed rule and for previous
renewals.  It is based upon an average estimate of five requests per
respondent per year with an associated effort of 20 hours per request,
or 100 hours per respondent.  This review and approval  time has
remained fairly constant over the years, and is not expected to change
during  the three year period covered by this renewal.  This is
exclusively a requirement for the Federal Government and therefore no
CBP is assigned.

			BURDEN:	100 hours 

Summary of Annual Time Burden

Total annual respondent burden for new respondents, which includes all
tasks, is 2,251 hours times 10 new respondents for a total of 22,510
hours.

Total annual respondent burden for respondents which are not new, i.e.,
performing only tasks 3 through 6, is 1,211 hours times 125 respondents
for a total of 151,375 hours

Annual time burden for all respondents, all tasks, is 153,626 hours. 
Estimated burden is (total hours divided by all 135 respondents) is
1,138.

Breakdown of Costs Burden

The following chart shows the labor costs associated with the burden
hours discussed in the previous section.  The base hourly labor rates
are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  For business/financial
management the rate was $51.25; for natural resource professionals
(technical) the rate was $29.35; and service industry (administrative)
the rate was $15.51.  To calculate a fully loaded rate, an overhead of
100% was added to the hourly rate.  As discussed in the previous
section, for each task it is calculated 25% of the effort would be
managerial, 50% would be technical, and 25% would be administrative.	

	

		        

Hourly		Effort 		Cost 

					Rate		(Hours)			

New Respondents Only

	

Task I 	Prepare COI Plan									

Management			$102.50	21		$2,152.50					

	Technical			$58.70		42		$2,465.40	

	Administrative			$31.02		21		$   651.42  

					Subtotal	84		$5,269.32

Task 2 	Create Database	

Management			$102.50	5		$512.50					

	Technical			$58.70		10		$587.00	

	Administrative			$31.02		5		$155.10

					Subtotal	20	          $1,254.60							

All Respondents

	

Task 3	Storage & Maintenance	$102.50	38.5		$3,946.25					

	Management			$58.70		77		$4,519.90	

	Technical			$31.02		38.5		$1,194.27

	Administrative			Subtotal	154		$9,660.42

Task 4 	Search Database	

Management			$102.50	110.25		$11,300.63					

	Technical			$58.70		220.5		$12,943.35	

	Administrative			$31.02		110.25		$  3,419.96

					Subtotal	441		$27,663.94

Task 5	Certify/Disclose		$102.50	129		$13,222.50					

	Management			$58.70		258		$15,144.60	

	Technical			$31.02		129		$  4,001.58

	Administrative			Subtotal	516		$32,368.68

Task 6 	Request Approval to Contract	

Management			$102.50	25		$2,562.50					

	Technical			$58.70		50		$2,935.00

	Administrative			$31.02		25		$   775.50

					Subtotal	100		$6,273.00

New respondent costs for tasks 1 and 2 are  $6,523.92 x 10 responses=
$65,239.20

For respondents performing tasks 3 through  6, the total annual costs
are $75,966.04, times 125 responses is 9,495,575.  The total cost for
all respondents is $9,560,994.20.  For each respondent, the cost is
$70,822.18.

	     ii) Capital/Start-up Costs

Because it will not be necessary for respondents to acquire any capital
goods to provide the requested information, EPA has estimated no
incurred capital/start-up costs.

(iii) Operating and Maintenance Costs

Operating and maintenance costs, which include such items as file
storage, photo copying, and postage, are negligible.

(b) ESTIMATING AGENCY BURDEN AND COST

	

	The Agency based it burden estimates on actual experience in
collecting, reviewing, and approving contractors’ conflict of interest
submissions.  EPA has recognized a need to collect conflict of interest
information from more than just our Superfund contracts.  This resulted
in an increase in the number of respondents from 80 in the last ICR to
135 for this ICR.  Additionally, we note in this ICR that EPA does not
keep conflict of interest certifications or disclosures centrally.  This
information is collected, reviewed, and documented in the contract file
by the cognizant contracting officer.  

	Due to the complexity of the task, as well as the experience and skill
required in reviewing contractors’ conflict of interest submissions,
it is estimated that the this effort will be performed by Grade 14
contracting personnel.  The contracting personnel who review the
submissions also document their findings in the contracting file. 
Contract files contains CBI, so there are no additional measures
required for the conflict of interest information collected.  No
administrative support is used in this effort.  The first task,
reviewing the contractor’s conflict of interest plan is done before
the contract is awarded on a one time basis.  (In Section 6 of this ICR,
this was task one for contractors.)  Tasks 2 and 3 below are recurring
efforts.  The second task, reviewing certifications and disclosures,
includes annual and by work order certifications and disclosures as well
as requests.  (This was task 5 for contractors.)  The third task is
reviewing requests for approval of future contract.  (This was task 6
for contractors.)

	The hourly rate for a step five, GS-14 is $42.24 (according the Office
of Personnel Management Salary Table 2006-GS) a rate of 65% or $27.46,
was added to cover overhead costs.  The loaded rate equals $69.70 per
hour.  

  

	

ANNUAL AGENCY BURDEN/COST ESTIMATES

Collection Activity				Burden Hours per year		Cost (based 

										on rate of $69.70)

					 						

 

1.  Answer Respondent Questions			250			$17,425

2.  Reviewing the contractor’s conflict of		240			$16, 728

	interest plan 										

									      

3.  	a.  Reviewing annual certifications or 	22			   $1,533

	disclosures and documenting the file	

	(11x2=22)			

		

	b.  Reviewing work order certifications or 	14,040			$978,588

	disclosures and documenting the file	

	52x135=7,020 responses

	7020x2 hours		

4.  Reviewing requests for approval for future 	100			$6,970

contracting and documenting the contract file			

		

					TOTAL:	14,652			$1,021,244						             

	

		

	c)  REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

	The last information collection clearance request approved by OMB
contained 145,640 burden hours for 80 responses for an estimated average
of 1,821 hours per respondent.  This ICR contains 153,626 burden hours
for 135 responses for an average burden of 1,138.  Overall, the
respondent burden has increased by 7,986 hours.  The total burden has
increased because EPA expanded conflict of interest information
collection from just Superfund contracts to any EPA contract which may
have conflict of interest issues.  The average burden per respondent has
decreased due to efficiencies resulting for experience in collecting,
retrieving, and reviewing conflict of interest data and the use of
automated systems.    

	d)  BURDEN STATEMENT

									

         Burden Statement:  The annual public reporting and
recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to
average 1,138 hours per response.  Burden means the total time, effort,
or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain,
retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. 
This includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire,
install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of
collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information;
adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable
instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to
a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review
the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the
information.  An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.  The OMB control numbers for EPA's
regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15.     

	To comment on the Agency's need for this information, the accuracy of
the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing
respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques,
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID Number
EPA-HQ-OARM-2007-0341, which is available for online viewing at  
HYPERLINK "http://www.regulations.gov"  www.regulations.gov , or in
person viewing at the Office of Environmental Information in the EPA
Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue,
NW, Washington, D.C.  The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays.  The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744,
and the telephone number for the Office of Environmental Information is
(202) 566-1752.  An electronic version of the public docket is available
at   HYPERLINK "http://www.regulations.gov"  www.regulations.gov .  This
site can be used to submit or view public comments, access the index
listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those
documents in the public docket that are available electronically.  When
in the system, select “search,” then key in the Docket ID Number
identified above.  Also, you can send comments to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725
17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for
EPA.  Please include the EPA Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OARM-2007-0341 and
OMB Control Number 2030-0023 in any correspondence.

 

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