SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on August 12, 2026, at [91 FR 52108]. The notice received two comments. The comments and FHWA's responses are below:

The comments received by the recipient include (1) Is the collection necessary?; (2) Is the burden estimate accurate?; (3) Ways to enhance the quality and clarity of the collected information; and (4) Ways to limit burden without reducing the quality of the collected information.

FHWA appreciates the feedback and understands that this could require extra work from the States. Unfortunately, because of the complexity of our programs, we rely heavily on the States to provide the requested information. Since each State operates differently, the grant accrual calculation and process consolidate all State responses and FHWA uses a standardized process to calculate the quarterly grant accrual to compensate for the differences.

The burden is our best guess at how much time it takes a State to complete the annual survey. However, burden on the States depends on several factors. Several factor examples include State personnel (new vs seasoned employee), familiarity with completing the annual survey (1st time versus 7th time), and knowledge of the Federal grants management process and procedures. However, we have taken steps to reduce the burden by States to research variances. The steps taken by FHWA include providing the States with the program and projects that make up the variance.

We are continuously enhancing our grants process so that the estimate on our financial statements is conservative, yet appropriate for the fiscal year end reporting to meet the Departmental, financial statement auditors, and Federal government-wide expectations. This estimate is required per the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as well as other accounting authoritative sources.

We do welcome and value your feedback. We will keep your comments in mind when we further enhance our quarterly grant accrual process.

Title: Annual Grants State Survey & Quarterly Lookback Analysis.

Background: Respondents are required to answer 29 questions regarding Federal-aid grant payments and billing cycles. FHWA reviews the prior fiscal year (FY) survey questions to determine if updates are required based on the Departmental OIG external financial statement audit and/or process changes and improvements. The survey is sent out annually to the division offices/States in the May/June timeframe. The survey responses are due from the division offices/States to FHWA in the July/August timeframe.

The responses from the annual survey are key inputs to calculating the quarterly grant accrual for the Federal-aid program by States. The responses are updated in the grant accrual data analytics Excel workbook file by State, program, project, and other data attributes. The estimated quarterly grant accrual is compared to the subsequent quarter's disbursements to validate the effectiveness of the quarterly grant accrual calculation referred to as the lookback analysis. States with a $50 million dollar variance and at least +/− 20% variance or more are required to provide FHWA with an explanation. FHWA reviews the responses from the division offices/States for adequacy, and if required, and sends a follow-up email to the division offices/States to provide additional information. Approximately seven States are required to provide a variance explanation. FHWA identifies the programs and projects that make up the variance. States are only required to provide explanations for the programs and projects that make up the variance. The number of required explanations is approximately ten per quarter per State. In total, FHWA reviews approximately 70 variance explanations per quarter.

The quarterly lookback analysis and the data analytics are used to analyze payment trends, make enhancements to the grant accrual process, provide reasonable estimates for the grant liabilities and expenses, satisfy accounting principles and guidance requirements, and provide support for internal and external audits. The quarterly grant accrual calculations and the lookback analyses are performed for quarters 1-4.

Respondents: 50 State DOTs and District of Columbia.

Frequency: Annually for the Grants State Survey and Quarterly for the Lookback Analysis.

Estimated Average Burden per Response: 5.32 hours per respondent per application per form.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: The total burden hours for States are 1,951.15 hours (271.15 hours for annual grants State survey and 1,680 hours for four lookback analysis quarters).

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.