83 FR 25066 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 105 (May 31, 2018)
Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 105 (May 31, 2018)
| Page Range | 25066-25068 | |
| FR Document | 2018-11595 |
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 105 (Thursday, May 31, 2018)] [Notices] [Pages 25066-25068] From the Federal Register Online [www.thefederalregister.org] [FR Doc No: 2018-11595] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request Upon Written Request Copies Available From: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-2736. Extension: OWMI Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion; SEC File No.270-666, OMB Control No. 3235-0725 Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities [[Page 25067]] and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') a request for extension of the previously approved collection of information discussed below. Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the Dodd-Frank Act) provided that certain agencies, including the Commission, establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI).\1\ Section 342(c)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act requires the OMWI Director to include in the Commission's procedures for evaluating contract proposals and hiring service providers a written statement that the contractor shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the fair inclusion of women and minorities in the workforce of the contractor and, as applicable, subcontractors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ 12 U.S.C. 5452. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition, section 342(c)(3)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act requires the OMWI Director to establish standards and procedures for determining whether an agency contractor or subcontractor ``has failed to make a good faith effort to include minorities and women'' in its workforce. Section 342(c)(3)(B)(i) provides that if the OMWI Director determines that a contractor has failed to make good faith efforts, the Director shall recommend to the agency administrator that the contract be terminated. Upon receipt of such a recommendation, section 342(c)(3)(B)(ii) provides that the agency administrator may terminate the contract, make a referral to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Department of Labor, or take other appropriate action. To implement the acquisition-specific requirements of Section 342(c) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Commission adopted a Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion (Contract Standard). The Contract Standard, which is included in the Commission's solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more, contains a ``collection of information'' within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Contract Standard requires that a Commission contractor provide documentation, upon request from the OMWI Director, to demonstrate that it has made good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities in its workforce and, as applicable, to demonstrate its covered subcontractors have made such good faith efforts. The documentation requested may include, but is not limited to: (1) The total number of employees in the contractor's workforce, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title or EEO-1 job category (e.g., EEO-1 Report(s)); (2) a list of covered subcontract awards under the contract that includes the dollar amount of each subcontract, date of award, and the subcontractor's race, ethnicity, and/or gender ownership status; (3) the contractor's plan to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce, including outreach efforts; and (4) for each covered subcontractor, the information requested in items 1 and 3 above. The OMWI Director will consider the information submitted in evaluating whether the contractor or subcontractor has complied with its obligations under the Contract Standard. The information collection is mandatory. Estimated number of respondents: The Commission estimates that 190 contractors would be subject to the Contract Standard.\2\ Approximately 115 of these contractors have 50 or more employees, while 75 have fewer than 50 employees. Since the last approval of this information collection, we adjusted the estimated number of contractors from 170 contractors to 190 contractors based on the number of contractors awarded contracts during the last two years that were subject to the Contract Standard. In addition, we adjusted the number of contractors that have 50 or more employees and the number that have fewer than 50 employees to reflect the percentages of contractors meeting these workforce size thresholds among all contractors reviewed by OMWI for compliance with the Contract Standard during the last two years. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \2\ Unless otherwise specified, the term ``contractors'' refers to contractors and subcontractors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimate of recordkeeping burden: The information collection under the Contract Standard imposes no new recordkeeping burden on the estimated 115 contractors that have 50 or more employees. Such contractors are generally subject to recordkeeping and reporting requirements under the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act \3\ and Executive Order 11246 (``E.O. 11246'').\4\ Their contracts and subcontracts must include the clause implementing E.O. 11246--FAR 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity. In addition, contractors that have 50 or more employees (and a contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more) are required to maintain records on the race, ethnicity, gender, and EEO-1 job category of each employee under Department of Labor regulations implementing E.O. 11246.\5\ The regulations implementing E.O. 11246 also require contractors that have 50 or more employees (and a contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more) to demonstrate that they have made good faith efforts to remove identified barriers, expand employment opportunities, and produce measurable results,\6\ and to develop and maintain a written program, which describes the policies, practices, and procedures that the contractor uses to ensure that applicants and employees receive equal opportunities for employment and advancement.\7\ In lieu of developing a separate plan for workforce inclusion, a contractor may submit its existing written program prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations as part of the documentation that demonstrates the contractor's good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. Thus, approximately 115 contractors are already required to maintain the information that may be requested under the Contract Standard. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \3\ 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq. \4\ Executive Order 11246, 30 FR 12,319 (Sept. 24, 1965). \5\ See 41 CFR 60-1.7. \6\ See 41 CFR 60-2.17(c). \7\ See 41 CFR part 60-2. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The estimated 75 contractors that employ fewer than 50 employees are required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246 to maintain records showing the race, ethnicity and gender of each employee. We believe that these contractors also keep job title information during the normal course of business. However, contractors that have fewer than 50 employees may not have the written program prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations or similar plan that could be submitted as part of the documentation to demonstrate their good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of women and minorities in their workforces. Accordingly, contractors with fewer than 50 employees may have to develop a plan to ensure workforce inclusion of minorities and women. In order to estimate the burden on contractors associated with developing a plan for ensuring the inclusion of minorities and women in their workforces, we considered the burden estimates for developing the written programs required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246.\8\ We also [[Page 25068]] revised the estimated time required to develop and update a plan for workforce inclusion of minorities and women since the last approval of this information collection. Based on OMWI's review of the plans and other documentation submitted by contractors with fewer than 50 employees to demonstrate compliance with the Contract Standard, we believe such contractors would require approximately 25 percent of the hours that contractors of similar size spend on developing the written programs required under the E.O. 11246 regulations. Accordingly, we estimate that contractors would spend about 18 hours of employee resources to develop a plan for workforce inclusion of minorities and women. This one-time implementation burden annualized would be 450 hours. After the initial development, we estimate that each contractor with fewer than 50 employees would spend approximately 8 hours each year updating and maintaining its plan for workforce inclusion of minorities and women. The Commission estimates that the annualized recurring burden associated with the information collection would be 375 hours. Thus, the Commission estimates the annual recordkeeping burden for such contractors would total 825 hours. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \8\ According to the Supporting Statement for the OFCCP Recordkeeping and Requirements--Supply Service, OMB Control No. 1250-0003 (``Supporting Statement''), it takes approximately 73 burden hours for contractors with 1-100 employees to develop the initial written program required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246. We understand the quantitative analyses prescribed by the Executive Order regulations at 41 CFR part 60-2 are a time- consuming aspect of the written program development. As there is no requirement to perform these types of quantitative analyses in connection with the plan for workforce inclusion of minorities and women under the Contract Standard, we believe the plan for workforce inclusion will take substantially fewer hours to develop. The Supporting Statement is available at reginfo.gov. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Contract Standard requires contractors to maintain information about covered subcontractors' ownership status, workforce demographics, and workforce inclusion plans. Contractors would request this information from their covered subcontractors, who would have an obligation to keep workforce demographic data and maintain plans for workforce inclusion of minorities and women because the Contract Standard is included in their subcontracts. Based on data describing recent Commission subcontractor activity, we believe that few subcontractors will have subcontracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more under Commission service contracts.\9\ These subcontractors may already be subject to similar recordkeeping requirements as principal contractors. Consequently, we believe that any additional requirements imposed on subcontractors would not significantly add to the burden estimates discussed above. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \9\ A search of subcontract awards on the usaspending.gov website showed that three subcontractors in FY 2016 and six subcontractors in FY 2017 had subcontracts of $100,000 or more. See data on subcontract awards available at http://usaspending.gov. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimate of Reporting Burden: With respect to the reporting burden, we estimate that it would take all contractors on average approximately one hour to retrieve and submit to the OMWI Director the documentation specified in the proposed Contract Standard. We expect to request documentation from up to 100 contractors each year and therefore we estimate the total annual reporting burden to be 100 hours. On March 19, 2018, the Commission published a notice in the Federal Register (83 FR 12042) of its intention to request an extension of this currently approved collection of information, and allowed the public 60 days to submit comments. The Commission received no comments. Written comments continue to be invited on: (a) Whether this 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 imposed by the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. The public may view the background documentation for this information collection at the following website, www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, or by sending an email to: [email protected]; and (ii) Pamela Dyson, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 or send an email to: [email protected]. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice. Dated: May 24, 2018. Eduardo A. Aleman, Assistant Secretary. [FR Doc. 2018-11595 Filed 5-30-18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
![25066 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 105 / Thursday, May 31, 2018 / Notices
FINRA further believes that the C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s All submissions should refer to File
proposed rule change is consistent with Statement on Comments on the Number SR–FINRA–2018–021. This file
Section 15A(b)(8) of the Act,47 which Proposed Rule Change Received From number should be included on the
requires, among other things, that Members, Participants, or Others subject line if email is used. To help the
FINRA rules must be designed to Written comments were neither Commission process and review your
provide a fair procedure for the solicited nor received on the proposed comments more efficiently, please use
disciplining of members and persons rule change. As noted above, in March only one method. The Commission will
associated with members. The proposed 2017, FINRA issued a Special Notice on post all comments on the Commission’s
rule change maintains the necessary engagement, which solicited comment internet website (http://www.sec.gov/
eligibility requirements to ensure that regarding FINRA’s engagement rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
programs, including the District submission, all subsequent
the pool of potential panelists is
Committees generally, and, in response, amendments, all written statements
composed of qualified members. In with respect to the proposed rule
addition, by reducing the number of several commenters discussed the
change that are filed with the
committee members in the West and District Committees.48
Commission, and all written
South Regions from 21 to 18 and in the III. Date of Effectiveness of the communications relating to the
Midwest, North, and New York Regions Proposed Rule Change and Timing for proposed rule change between the
from 14 to 12, the proposed rule change Commission Action Commission and any person, other than
only reduces by 12 the maximum those that may be withheld from the
Because the foregoing proposed rule
number of eligible panelists who would change does not: (i) Significantly affect public in accordance with the
be current committee members. FINRA the protection of investors or the public provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
is exploring options to enlarge the pool interest; (ii) impose any significant available for website viewing and
of panelists and better educate the burden on competition; and (iii) become printing in the Commission’s Public
Regional Committees about the critical operative for 30 days from the date on Reference Room, 100 F Street NE,
function of serving on hearing panels in which it was filed, or such shorter time Washington, DC 20549 on official
FINRA disciplinary proceedings. as the Commission may designate, it has business days between the hours of
become effective pursuant to Section 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s filing also will be available for
Statement on Burden on Competition 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 49 and Rule 19b–
4(f)(6) thereunder.50 inspection and copying at the principal
At any time within 60 days of the office of FINRA. All comments received
FINRA does not believe that the will be posted without change. Persons
proposed rule change will result in any filing of the proposed rule change, the
Commission summarily may submitting comments are cautioned that
burden on competition that is not we do not redact or edit personal
necessary or appropriate in furtherance temporarily suspend such rule change if
it appears to the Commission that such identifying information from comment
of the purposes of the Act. The submissions. You should submit only
proposed rule change will not impose action is necessary or appropriate in the
public interest, for the protection of information that you wish to make
any direct costs or additional regulatory available publicly. All submissions
investors, or otherwise in furtherance of
obligations on members. FINRA will should refer to File Number SR–FINRA–
the purposes of the Act. If the
continue its practice of covering Commission takes such action, the 2018–021, and should be submitted on
committee meeting costs and expenses Commission shall institute proceedings or before June 21, 2018.
committee members incur by attending to determine whether the proposed rule For the Commission, by the Division of
meetings in person. should be approved or disapproved. Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.51
The proposed rule change will reduce
IV. Solicitation of Comments Eduardo A. Aleman,
representation within each Regional
Committee from seven seats to six seats Interested persons are invited to Assistant Secretary.
per district. However, FINRA does not submit written data, views, and [FR Doc. 2018–11728 Filed 5–30–18; 8:45 am]
believe that it reduces overall arguments concerning the foregoing, BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
opportunities for members to interact including whether the proposed rule
with FINRA staff or serve on change is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
committees. As noted in Special Notice,
the following methods: COMMISSION
FINRA has over 30 advisory and ad hoc
committees that include member Electronic Comments Submission for OMB Review;
representatives who routinely provide • Use the Commission’s internet Comment Request
input and feedback on regulatory comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ Upon Written Request Copies Available
initiatives, proposed rule changes, and rules/sro.shtml); or From: U.S. Securities and Exchange
emerging regulatory issues. FINRA • Send an email to rule-comments@ Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
regularly engages with the industry sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
through its public comment process on FINRA–2018–021 on the subject line. 20549–2736.
proposed rule changes. In addition, Paper Comments Extension:
FINRA conducts member outreach
• Send paper comments in triplicate OWMI Contract Standard for Contractor
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
through a number of regularly Workforce Inclusion; SEC File No.270–
scheduled events, including member to Secretary, Securities and Exchange
666, OMB Control No. 3235–0725
meetings, round tables, district Commission, 100 F Street NE,
Washington, DC 20549–1090. Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
compliance meetings, and conferences. to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
48 See supra notes 5 and 6. (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
49 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
47 15 U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(8). 50 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 51 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).
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![25068 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 105 / Thursday, May 31, 2018 / Notices
revised the estimated time required to may already be subject to similar Dated: May 24, 2018.
develop and update a plan for workforce recordkeeping requirements as principal Eduardo A. Aleman,
inclusion of minorities and women contractors. Consequently, we believe Assistant Secretary.
since the last approval of this that any additional requirements [FR Doc. 2018–11595 Filed 5–30–18; 8:45 am]
information collection. Based on imposed on subcontractors would not BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
OMWI’s review of the plans and other significantly add to the burden
documentation submitted by contractors estimates discussed above.
with fewer than 50 employees to SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
demonstrate compliance with the Estimate of Reporting Burden: With
COMMISSION
Contract Standard, we believe such respect to the reporting burden, we
contractors would require estimate that it would take all [Release No. 34–83323; File No. SR–ISE–
approximately 25 percent of the hours contractors on average approximately 2018–47]
that contractors of similar size spend on one hour to retrieve and submit to the
developing the written programs OMWI Director the documentation Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq
required under the E.O. 11246 specified in the proposed Contract ISE, LLC; Notice of Filing and
regulations. Accordingly, we estimate Standard. We expect to request Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
that contractors would spend about 18 documentation from up to 100 Rule Change To Memorialize Its Order
hours of employee resources to develop contractors each year and therefore we and Execution Information Into ISE
a plan for workforce inclusion of estimate the total annual reporting Rule 718, Entitled ‘‘Data Feeds’’
minorities and women. This one-time burden to be 100 hours. May 24, 2018.
implementation burden annualized On March 19, 2018, the Commission Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the
would be 450 hours. After the initial published a notice in the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934
development, we estimate that each Register (83 FR 12042) of its intention (‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2
contractor with fewer than 50 notice is hereby given that on May 14,
to request an extension of this currently
employees would spend approximately 2018, Nasdaq ISE, LLC (‘‘ISE’’ or
approved collection of information, and
8 hours each year updating and ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the Securities
allowed the public 60 days to submit
maintaining its plan for workforce and Exchange Commission
inclusion of minorities and women. The comments. The Commission received no
comments. (‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule
Commission estimates that the change as described in Items I and II
annualized recurring burden associated Written comments continue to be
below, which Items have been prepared
with the information collection would invited on: (a) Whether this collection of by the Exchange. The Commission is
be 375 hours. Thus, the Commission information is necessary for the proper publishing this notice to solicit
estimates the annual recordkeeping performance of the functions of the comments on the proposed rule change
burden for such contractors would total agency, including whether the from interested persons.
825 hours. information will have practical utility;
The Contract Standard requires (b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
contractors to maintain information of the burden imposed by the collection Statement of the Terms of Substance of
about covered subcontractors’ of information; (c) ways to enhance the the Proposed Rule Change
ownership status, workforce quality, utility, and clarity of the The Exchange proposes to
demographics, and workforce inclusion information collected; and (d) ways to memorialize its order and execution
plans. Contractors would request this minimize the burden of the collection of information into ISE Rule 718, entitled
information from their covered information on respondents, including ‘‘Data Feeds.’’
subcontractors, who would have an through the use of automated collection The text of the proposed rule change
obligation to keep workforce techniques or other forms of information is available on the Exchange’s website at
demographic data and maintain plans http://ise.cchwallstreet.com/, at the
technology.
for workforce inclusion of minorities principal office of the Exchange, and at
and women because the Contract The public may view the background
the Commission’s Public Reference
Standard is included in their documentation for this information
Room.
subcontracts. Based on data describing collection at the following website,
recent Commission subcontractor www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
activity, we believe that few directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the Statement of the Purpose of, and
subcontractors will have subcontracts Securities and Exchange Commission, Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule
for services with a dollar value of Office of Information and Regulatory Change
$100,000 or more under Commission Affairs, Office of Management and In its filing with the Commission, the
service contracts.9 These subcontractors Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Exchange included statements
Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, concerning the purpose of and basis for
the regulations implementing E.O. 11246. We or by sending an email to: Shagufta_ the proposed rule change and discussed
understand the quantitative analyses prescribed by
the Executive Order regulations at 41 CFR part 60–
Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Pamela any comments it received on the
2 are a time-consuming aspect of the written Dyson, Director/Chief Information proposed rule change. The text of these
program development. As there is no requirement Officer, Securities and Exchange statements may be examined at the
to perform these types of quantitative analyses in Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, places specified in Item IV below. The
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
connection with the plan for workforce inclusion of
minorities and women under the Contract Standard, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 Exchange has prepared summaries, set
we believe the plan for workforce inclusion will or send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@ forth in sections A, B, and C below, of
take substantially fewer hours to develop. The sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to the most significant aspects of such
Supporting Statement is available at reginfo.gov. statements.
9 A search of subcontract awards on the
OMB within 30 days of this notice.
usaspending.gov website showed that three
1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
subcontractors in FY 2016 and six subcontractors in data on subcontract awards available at http://
FY 2017 had subcontracts of $100,000 or more. See usaspending.gov. 2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
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Document Created: 2018-05-31 00:48:52
Document Modified: 2018-05-31 00:48:52
| Category | Regulatory Information | |
| Collection | Federal Register | |
| sudoc Class | AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106: | |
| Publisher | Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration | |
| Section | Notices | |
| FR Citation | 83 FR 25066 |
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