2133-0504 Supporting Statement_Final V2 2.27.2022

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Regulations for Making Excess or Surplus Federal Property Available to the US Merchant Marine Academy, and the State Maritime Academies & Non-Profit Maritime Training Facilities.

INTRODUCTION

This is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) three-year approval clearance for the information collection entitled, Regulations for Making Excess or Surplus Federal Property Available to the US Merchant Marine Academy, and the State Maritime Academies and Non-Profit Training Facilities (OMB Control No. 2133-0504), which is currently due to expire on September 30, 2022. There were no program changes or adjustments were reported in items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I; therefore, MARAD is requesting renewal of a previously approved collection without change.

JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances that make collection of information necessary.
   
   

46 U.S.C. states that excess or surplus property can be made available only to approved maritime training institutions for specific purposes. This information collection provides a justification for the intended use of the property by the maritime training institution in compliance with the statute.

Maritime schools (except for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) were unable to obtain excess/surplus property expeditiously through the government’s General Services Administration (GSA) acquisition procedures until special authority was granted to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) by the Congress with the enactment of PL 96-453.

Now that the maritime training schools may acquire surplus property (particularly vessels) expeditiously, they are better able to support the National Security and Economic Growth and Trade goals identified in the DOT Strategic Plan. The maritime schools can effectively train men and women for the dual roles of supporting commercial fleet demands in peacetime and of providing sealift support to our Armed Forces as the “fourth arm of defense” in time of war or national emergency.

2. How, by whom, and for what purpose is the information used.

The application letter submitted by the maritime training institution, informs MARAD’s Office of Sealift Support of the need for an excess or surplus property item that is critical to the training needs of the maritime institution. The Office of Sealift Support enters the request for a property item in a database and proceeds to locate and acquire the item commensurate with the procedures which have been established. A Standard Form 122 (Transfer Order Excess Personal Property) is completed by the property owner on behalf of the requesting institution and mailed to the appropriate GSA office, in accordance with Federal Property Management Regulations. When GSA has approved the transfer request and all other MARAD transfer agreements have been signed (by the institution and MARAD), the documents are retained in MARAD, and the institution is sent a copy of the transfer agreement for their records. The requesting institution is notified by MARAD that the excess/surplus property is available for pick-up. The cost of packaging, handling, and transporting the property is the sole responsibility of the requesting institution as is maintenance, indemnification, liability for property damage, death, personal injury arising from the use of the Government property and adherence to environmental concerns.

3. Extent of automated information collection.

The method devised by MARAD to collect information is simple and does not constitute an appreciable information burden. We encourage the academies and nonprofit organizations to provide their letters of application to the Maritime Administration electronically to expedite the process of handling their request.

4. Efforts to identify duplication.

MARAD routinely examines GSA regulations pertaining to the disposal of excess and surplus property. Public Law 96-453 specifically exempts MARAD from standard GSA property disposal regulations to facilitate the acquisition and transfer of excess or surplus property to approved maritime institutions. A review of relevant sections in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance did not reveal a maritime program similar to this one.

The authority in Section 1308 (b) of PL 96-453 permits MARAD to acquire excess/ surplus property outside the normal GSA property disposal system and independent of its data requirements. Therefore, MARAD has devised its own method to collect information which requires specific data not found in any other agency information collection forms.

5. Efforts to minimize the burden on small businesses.

The time required to complete an application for excess surplus property is one hour or less. The application is in the form of a letter containing only the information, which is required to process it such as name, address, description of property requested, its location, and an indication of how the property will be used to satisfy maritime training requirements.

6. Impact of less frequent collection of information.

The intent of PL 96-453 is that property should be requested only when there is a legitimate need for an item related to a specific maritime training purpose. There is no schedule or required collection frequency. There would be no technical or legal obstacles if the use of improved information technology to reduce burden was considered necessary.

7. Special Circumstances.

There are no special circumstances that would require this collection of information to be conducted in a manner described above.

8. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.8:

MARAD published a 60-day notice and request for comments on this information collection in the Federal Register on August 16, 2022 (87 FR 50372), indicating comments should be submitted on or before September 15, 2022. In addition, a 30-day notice and request for comments was published in the Federal Register (87 FR 58180) on September 22, 2022, indicating comments should be submitted on or before October 21, 2022.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents.

No payment or gift is given to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality:

No specific assurance of confidentiality has been provided to respondents.

11. Justification for collection of sensitive information:

The agency does not request any information which is considered to be of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of burden hours for information requested:

The number of respondents is ten (10). This number includes the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, six state academies and other approved non-profit maritime training institutions. The time required to submit each application letter to the Federal Government is estimated as one hour; no more than four applications per year times 1 hour per application.

Number of Respondents		Responses Per Respondent		Total Responses Annually		Hours Per Response		Total Annualized Burden Hours
10		4		40		1		40
Estimated Annual Cost Per Respondent – Professional Salary GS-13 Step 7	*	Total Burden Hours	=	Total Per Response Before Multiplier	*	Benefits Multiplier	=		Total Annualized Cost Burden
$54.93		40		$2,192.20		1.4			$3,076.08

Note: The reporting burden for all maritime institutions is similar because despite the varying size of their student populations, their training needs are virtually the same. Salary Amount is listed at 2022 OPM Salaries & Wages.

13. Estimate of total annual costs to respondents.

(a) Total Capital and Start-Up Costs Estimate: There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collection.

2. Total Operation and Maintenance and Purchase of Services Estimate: There are no operational and maintenance associated with this information collection. However, there is a cost for mailing the “Agreement for Donation of Federal Property” to MARAD after the requesting institution has signed. The cost for mailing is $24.00. (40 agreements times .60 postage).

14. Estimate of cost to the Federal government.

The total annual cost to the Federal Government for processing the collection is estimated as follows:

Number of Employees	Hourly Wage	Project Time	Excess/Surplus Property Requests	Total Project Time Annually	Cost Per Application
1 (GS-13 Step 4)	$51	2 Hours Per Request	40	80 Hours	$102
			Cost Per Application	Benefits Multiplier of 1.4	Total Cost to Government
			$102	$142.80	$5,712

Hourly wage was taken from the 2022 Wage table for GS-13 step 4 (rounded up to the nearest dollar); https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/22Tables/html/BN%20(LEO)_h.aspx

15. Explanation of program changes or adjustments.

Due to a slight increase in the cost of postage from .55 cents since the last renewal om 2020, to .60 cents currently, the total cost to respondents have increased from $22 annually to $24 currently.

16. Publication of results of data collection.

There are no plans to publish the results of the information collection for statistical purposes.

17. Approval for not displaying the expiration date of OMB approval.

No approval to not display the expiration date is being requested.

18. Exceptions to certification statement.

There are no exceptions.