[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 147 (Monday, August 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45804-45805]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-19323]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[Document Identifier: OS-0990-New; 60-day Notice]


Agency Information Collection Request; 60-Day Public Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

    In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the Office of the Secretary 
(OS), Department of Health and Human Services, is publishing the 
following summary of a proposed information collection request for 
public comment. Interested persons are invited to send comments 
regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection 
of information, including any of the following subjects: (1) The 
necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the 
proper performance of the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the 
estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (4) the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology to 
minimize the information collection burden.
    To obtain copies of the supporting statement and any related forms 
for the proposed paperwork collections referenced above, e-mail your 
request, including your address, phone number, OMB number, and OS 
document identifier, to [email protected], or call the 
Reports Clearance Office on (202) 690-6162. Written comments and 
recommendations for the proposed information collections must be 
directed to the OS Paperwork Clearance Officer at the above e-mail 
address within 60 days.
    Proposed Project: Descriptive information of solutions provided to 
the Federal government in response to Challenge and Competition 
solicitations posted on Challenge.gov.-- OMB No. 0990-New-Immediate 
Office of the Secretary.
    Abstract: This request is to seek generic clearance for the 
collection of routine information requested of responders to 
solicitations the Federal government makes during the issuance of 
challenges and competitions posted on the General Service 
Administration (GSA)'s Challenge.gov Web site. Since passage of the 
America COMPETES Act of 2011, challenge competitions are increasingly 
being used by Federal agencies to solve complex problems and obtain 
innovative solutions. In this role, the Federal government places a 
description of a problem and parameters of the solution on the 
Challenge.gov Web site. The solutions are evaluated by the submitting 
agency and typically prizes (monetary and non-monetary) are awarded to 
the winning entries.
    This clearance applies to challenges posted on Challenge.gov which 
uses a common platform for the solicitation of challenges from the 
public. Each agency designs the criteria for its solicitations based on 
the goals of the challenge and the specific needs of the agency. There 
is no standard submission format for solution providers to follow.
    We anticipate that approximately 100 challenges would be issued 
each year by HHS, with an average of 15 submissions to each challenge 
solicitation. It is expected that other federal agencies will issue a 
similar number of challenges. There is no set schedule for the issuance 
of challenges; they are developed and issued on an ``as needs'' basis 
in response to issues the federal agency wishes to solve. The 
respondents to the challenges, who are participating voluntarily, are 
unlikely to reply to more than one or several of the challenges.
    Although in recent memoranda the GSA and Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) described circumstances whereby OMB approval of a PRA 
request is not needed, program officials at HHS have identified several 
sets of information that will typically need to be requested of 
solution providers to enable the solutions to be adequately evaluated 
by the federal agency issuing the challenge. These requests for 
additional information have been suggested to require a PRA review as 
they represent structured data requests.
    There are three types of additional data that will be routinely 
requested by the federal agencies. These include the following:

    Title of the submission. Due to the nature of the submission and 
evaluation processes, it is important that a title be requested and 
submitted for each submission in order to ensure the solution is 
correctly identified with its provider.
    Identification of data resources. In many cases, the solution to 
a problem will require the solution provider to use data resources. 
Often, the nature of the data sets will be derived from Federal data 
resources, such as data.gov. Evaluations of solutions will often 
depend on the understanding of the selection of the data resource(s) 
used in the solution.

[[Page 45805]]

    Description of methodology. For effective judging and 
evaluation, a description of the development methods for the 
solution to the challenge will be requested. For instance, a prize 
may be awarded to the solution of a challenge to develop an 
algorithm that enables reliable prediction of a certain event. A 
responder could submit the correct algorithm, but without the 
methodology, the evaluation process could not be adequately 
performed.


                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Table
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      No. of      Average burden
             Forms                   Type of          No. of       responses per  (in hours) per   Total burden
                                   respondent       respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenge Template A..........  Individuals or               500               1           10/60            83.3
                                 Households.
Challenge Template A..........  Organizations...             500               1           10/60            83.3
Challenge Template A..........  Businesses......             500               1           10/60            83.3
Challenge Template A..........  State,                        30               1           10/60               5
                                 territory,
                                 tribal or local
                                 governments.
Challenge Template A..........  Federal                       30               1           10/60               5
                                 government.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................           1,560  ..............  ..............           255.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mary Forbes,
Paperwork Reduction Act Clearance Officer, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-19323 Filed 7-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-03-P