Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection:

Comment Request

In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public

comment on proposed data collection projects (section 3506(c)(2)(A) of

Title 44, United States Code, as amended by the Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995, Public law 104-13), the Health Resources and Services

Administration (HRSA) publishes periodic summaries of proposed projects

being developed for submission to OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995. To request more information on the proposed project or to

obtain a copy of the data collection plans and draft instruments, call

the HRSA Reports Clearance officer on (301) 443-1891.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of

information is necessary for the proper performance on the functions of

the agency, including whether the information shall have practical

utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information;

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(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 respondents, including through the use of

automated collection techniques or other forms of information

technology.

Proposed Project: HRSA Competing Training Grant Application,

Instructions and Related Regulations (OMB No. 0915-0060)--Revision

The Health Resources and Services Administration uses the

information in the application to determine the eligibility of

applicants for awards, to calculate the amount of each award, and to

judge the relative merit of applications. The form is distributed

electronically via the Internet. The budget is negotiated for all years

of the project period based on this application and program-specific

instructions that include greater standardization of content for the

project summary and the detailed description of the project.

The Bureau of Health Professions is planning to remove from the

Code of Federal Regulations the existing training grant regulations

under 42 CFR parts 57 and 58. It is the intent of the Department to

operate under the new statute for compliance, implementation, and

administration of the training grant programs under titles VII and VIII

of the PHS Act. The existing regulations are fundamentally and

extensively inconsistent with the new law which takes an

interdisciplinary approach (and thus inhibits the achievement of the

statute's objectives). Program specific guidance and information for

preparing applications are now provided in the grant application

materials (which makes them now self-contained).

The estimated annual burden for the application is as follows:

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Number of Responses per Hours per Total burden

Requirement respondents respondent response hours

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Application................................. 1,190 1 56.25 66,938

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Send comments to Susan G. Queen, Ph.D., HRSA Reports Clearance

Officer, Room 14-33, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville,

MD 20857. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this

notice.

Dated: August 26, 1999.

James J. Corrigan,

Associate Administrator for Management and Program Support.

[FR Doc. 99-22803 Filed 8-31-99; 8:45 am]

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