80 FR 38430 - Notice of Intent To Revise and Extend a Currently Approved Information Collection

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 128 (July 6, 2015)

In accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations that implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) intention to request Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the revision and extension of a currently approved information collection for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 128 (Monday, July 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38430-38432]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16472]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Intent To Revise and Extend a Currently Approved 
Information Collection

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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[[Page 38431]]

SUMMARY: In accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
regulations that implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's 
(NIFA) intention to request Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approval for the revision and extension of a currently approved 
information collection for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education 
Program (EFNEP).

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by September 4, 
2015, to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning this notice and requests for 
copies of the information collection may be submitted by any of the 
following methods: Email: [email protected]; Fax: 202-720-0857; 
Mail: Office of Information Technology (OIT), NIFA, USDA, STOP 2216, 
1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Martin, eGovernment Program 
Leader; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.
    OMB Number: 0524-0044.
    Expiration Date of Current Approval: January 31, 2016.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval for the revision and 
extension of a currently approved information collection for three 
years.
    Abstract: NIFA's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program 
(EFNEP) is a unique program that began in 1969 and is designed to reach 
limited resource audiences, especially youth and families with young 
children. EFNEP is authorized under section 1425 of the National 
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 
U.S.C. 3175) and funded under section 3(d) of the Smith-Lever Act (7 
U.S.C. 343(d)). Extension professionals train and supervise 
paraprofessionals and volunteers who teach food and nutrition 
information and skills to limited resource families and youth. EFNEP 
operates through the 1862 and 1890 Land Grant Universities (LGU) in all 
50 States, the District of Columbia, and in American Samoa, Guam, 
Micronesia, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
    The objectives of EFNEP are to assist limited resource families and 
youth in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed 
behaviors necessary for nutritionally sound diets, and to contribute to 
their personal development and the improvement of the total family diet 
and nutritional well-being.
    NIFA sponsors an integrated data collection process that is used at 
the county, State, and Federal level. The current data collection 
system, the Web-based Nutrition Education Evaluation and Reporting 
System (WebNEERS), captures EFNEP impacts. Its purpose is to gauge if 
the Federal assistance provided has had an impact on the target 
audience. It also enables EFNEP staff to make programmatic improvements 
in delivering nutrition education. Further, the data collected provide 
information for program management decisions and diagnostic assessments 
of participant needs. In order to capture all of EFNEP's reporting 
requirements in one place, EFNEP program plans and budgetary data are 
now submitted, reviewed, and approved through WebNEERS. These EFNEP 
specific reporting requirements are tied to release of Federal EFNEP 
funds.
    Specifications for this system were developed by a committee of 
representatives from across the United States and are in compliance 
with Federal standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting data 
on race and ethnicity and protecting personally identifiable 
information.
    WebNEERS stores information on: (1) Adult program participants, 
their family structure, and dietary practices; (2) youth group 
participants; (3) staff; (4) annual budgets; and (5) annual program 
plans. WebNEERS is one web-based system which operates on three levels: 
The Region level (County), Institution level (university), and the 
Federal level. Data are entered at the regional level. They are 
available in aggregated form at the Institution level in real time. 
University staff generates State-level reports for State-level 
stakeholders and to guide program management decisions (State also 
refers to the District of Columbia and the insular areas; in States 
that have both 1862 and 1890 LGUs, it refers to the individual 
universities). Data are not available to the Federal level until the 
university staff submits them. This process allows for State and 
National assessments of the program's impact. The National data are 
used to create National reports which are made available to the public.
    There are revisions to the currently approved collection. WebNEERS 
is an update to the currently approved NEERS5 system. WebNEERS is a 
secure online system designed, hosted, and maintained by Clemson 
University. WebNEERS is accessed through the Internet via Internet 
Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers. It can also 
be accessed through mobile devices and tablets. It incorporates local, 
university, and Federal components from the NEERS5 system as well as 
new elements such as the EFNEP 5-Year Plan/Annual Update (program 
plan), the EFNEP budget and budget justification, and the social 
ecological framework of the Community Nutrition Education (CNE) logic 
model. Only approved users can access WebNEERS and each user can only 
access data based on his/her defined permissions. The updated system 
also has the capability to export raw data for external analysis. Data 
exported from WebNEERS do not include personally identifiable 
information. Several stakeholder groups provided input on the updated 
system to ensure that EFNEP continues to collect only those data which 
it needs for evaluation and reporting. These groups also gave feedback 
to improve user interfaces and to improve functionality and 
capabilities of the system.
    The evaluation processes of EFNEP remain consistent with the 
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB. The Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62), the GPRA 
Modernization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-352), the Federal Agriculture 
Improvement Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-127), and the 
Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act (AREERA) of 
1998 (Pub. L. 105-185), together with OMB requirements, support the 
reporting requirements requested in this information collection. 
Section 804 of the FAIR act requires the development and implementation 
of a system to monitor and evaluate agricultural research and extension 
activities in order to measure the impact and effectiveness of 
research, extension, and education programs. AREERA requires a 
performance evaluation to be conducted to determine whether Federally 
funded agricultural research, extension, and education programs result 
in public goods that have national or multistate significance.
    Estimate of Burden: The total annual estimated burden for WebNEERS 
is 86,826 hours for this data collection process--for participant 
education and data entry, aggregation, and reporting; and for 
preparation, review, and submission of EFNEP program plans and 
budgetary information. The burden for respondents was estimated through 
feedback from a survey sent by Clemson University to nine EFNEP 
Coordinators and their data managers. Seven surveys were returned. The 
estimate was 1,158 hours per response and annually there are 75 total 
responses. Burden estimates

[[Page 38432]]

are seven percent lower than they were for NEERS5 even with the 
inclusion of the new reporting elements (EFNEP program plans and 
budgets). This indicates that even though additional reporting 
requirements were included in the updated system, the overall burden to 
the users was reduced.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 23rd day of June, 2015.
Ann Bartuska,
Deputy Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 2015-16472 Filed 7-2-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-22-P