[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3280-3281]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00399]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 2017 /
Notices
[[Page 3280]]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Agency: National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Title: Community Connectivity Initiative Self-Assessment Tool.
OMB Control Number: None.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular submission; new collection.
Number of Respondents: 500.
Average Hours Per Response: Annually: 12 hours.
Burden Hours: 6,000.
Needs and Uses:
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) launched BroadbandUSA in January 2015 in response to demand from
communities that realized broadband access and use are vital to their
economic development, innovation, education, and healthcare needs.
BroadbandUSA provides technical assistance, guidance, and resources to
communities across the country that want to expand their broadband
capacity and promote broadband adoption. BroadbandUSA brings
stakeholders together to solve problems, contribute to emerging
policies, link communities to other federal agencies and funding
sources, and address barriers to collaboration across agencies.
In March 2015, President Obama created the Broadband Opportunity
Council (Council), an interagency collaboration among 25 federal
agencies co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, to
determine what actions the federal government could take to eliminate
regulatory barriers to broadband deployment and to encourage investment
in broadband networks and services.\1\ The Community Connectivity
Initiative is one of NTIA's commitments outlined in the Council's
report released in September 2015.\2\
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\1\ The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Presidential
Memorandum--Expanding Broadband Deployment and Adoption by
Addressing Regulatory Barriers and Encouraging Investment and
Training (March 23, 2015), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/23/presidential-memorandum-expanding-broadband-deployment-and-adoption-addr.
\2\ Id. at 19. The report tasked NTIA, in collaboration with the
National Economic Council, to ``convene stakeholders to design and
launch a community connectivity index.''
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The purpose of the Community Connectivity Initiative is to support
communities with tools and resources to attract broadband investment
and promote meaningful use. NTIA and the National Economic Council
conducted outreach to more than 200 stakeholders and communities to
seek input on the implementation of the Community Connectivity
Initiative. The initial findings of that outreach resulted in
collaborators and communities assisting in the creation of the
framework for the community connectivity self-assessment tool. The
questions developed for the community connectivity self-assessment tool
reflect extensive input from stakeholders in communities, businesses,
and nonprofits across America. Throughout 2016, NTIA conducted more
than 20 webinars and workshops where individuals and groups served as
collaborators in shaping the Community Connectivity framework,
assessment, and resources. That stakeholder input is the foundation of
the Community Connectivity Initiative.
The objectives of the Community Connectivity Initiative are to: (1)
Support communities as they convene, assess, and act to promote local
priorities and advance broadband access, adoption, policies, and use;
and (2) increase the number of communities actively assessing
connectivity impacts and investing to improve broadband outcomes. The
Community Connectivity Initiative includes three resources for
communities, including the community connectivity framework, an online
self-assessment tool, and resources that support local planning and
action. The community connectivity framework provides a structure to
engage local stakeholders in conversations about broadband access and
community priorities.
The online self-assessment tool will provide local leaders with a
means for assessing broadband needs in their communities. The tool will
enable them to record findings and integrate assessments with national
datasets on community broadband by providing users with data and asking
questions covering three specific categories: access, adoption, and
community. Initially, at the time of the 60-day Federal Register
Notice, NTIA intended to collect input through the community
connectivity self-assessment tool across four major categories: access,
adoption, policy, and use. However, in response to stakeholder
engagement in clarifying the framework, NTIA decided to combine the
policy and use categories into one category called community.
The community connectivity self-assessment tool will collect input
on the same information outlined in the 60-day Federal Register Notice.
Since the Notice, NTIA has also decided to reorganize the tool's
categories and sub-categories. The reorganized approach does not change
the information that NTIA intends to collect, only the order in which
NTIA collects the information.
Upon completion of the self-assessment tool, communities will
receive a report that combines input from the self-assessment tool with
other data sources, along with resources that communities could use to
improve their broadband capabilities. Through this effort, the
community connectivity self-assessment tool will produce improved
broadband planning assets for communities, thereby increasing the
number of communities actively investing to improve broadband access
and digital inclusion.
Affected Public: State, regional, local, and tribal government
organizations.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
NTIA published a Notice in the Federal Register on June 28, 2016
soliciting comments on this information collection, with a 60-day
public comment period. NTIA did not receive comments on this Notice.
This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov or
http://federalregister.gov/a/2016-15149. Follow the instructions to
view
[[Page 3281]]
Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Departmental Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-00399 Filed 1-10-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P