View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 1840-0864	ICR Reference No: 202304-1840-001
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No:
Agency/Subagency: ED/OPE	Agency Tracking No:
Title: HEERF No Cost Extension (NCE) Request Form
Type of Information Collection: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Emergency	Approval Requested By: 05/03/2023
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 05/03/2023
	Date Received in OIRA: 04/21/2023
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	11/30/2023	6 Months From Approved
Responses	720	0	0
Time Burden (Hours)	360	0	0
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) authorizes the Secretary of Education to allocate formula grant funds to participating institutions of higher education (IHEs) to address impacts of COVID-19. To date, the Department has made over 18,000 awards to over 5,100 IHEs totaling $76.3 billion. In both volume of grants and amount of funding, HEERF is one of the largest grant programs in agency history. On June 30, 2023, the project period for most HEERF grants will end and any remaining unliquidated grant funds will be returned to Treasury. Pursuant to 2 C.F.R. § 200.308(e)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 75.261(a), grantees have the option to receive up to a twelve-month No-Cost Extension (NCE) of their grant project periods. The Department is requesting emergency approval of a new information collection to allow for HEERF grantees to request an extension beyond June 30, 2023 and ensure that grantees have a thought-out plan for using their remaining HEERF grant funds to address the lingering effects and impacts related to COVID-19.

Emergency Justfication: On June 30, 2023, the project period for most HEERF grants will end and any remaining unliquidated grant funds will be returned to Treasury. Pursuant to 2 C.F.R. § 200.308(e)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 75.261(a), grantees have the option to receive up to a twelve-month No-Cost Extension (NCE) of their grant project periods. This option is usually granted pro-forma in the Department’s non-COVID relief programs; however, the regulation in 2 C.F.R. § 200.308(e)(2) requires that any extension must not be “exercised merely for the purpose of using unobligated balances”—that is, just because a grantee has leftover funds does not entitle them to continue using them after the end of the grant project period. With the President’s recent declaration that the COVID-19 national emergency will end on May 11, 2023, the Department feels compelled to assiduously determine if HEERF grantees that request an extension beyond June 30, 2023 have a thought-out plan for using their remaining HEERF grant funds to address the lingering effects and impacts related to COVID-19. Additionally, as of this writing, the Department calculates that over 700 HEERF grantees still have at least $1,000,000 of HEERF grant funds to expend, making individual outreach to such grantees both impracticable and inefficient. The Department is requesting emergency clearance and OMB approval in order to streamline our review and approval process as well as ensure that the reasons for requesting an extension of the HEERF project period beyond June 30, 2023 meet the applicable legal requirements. As such, the Department has created a data collection form for HEERF grantees to provide the information required to request NCEs for up to an additional twelve months to spend their remaining HEERF grant balances. The form requests information that is required under 2 C.F.R. § 200.308(e)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 75.261(a) to grant NCEs. The Department has attempted to reduce burden on grantees by requesting, prospectively, much of the same information that grantees report on in their HEERF annual performance reports. Providing a streamlined process for NCE requests will speed the process of reviewing and approving NCE requests and help ensure grantees are able to spend down their funds in a reasonable timeframe while focusing on the pressing needs of their students and institutions.

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 117 - 2 N/A Name of Law: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	720	720
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	360	360
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: This is a new collection. Therefore, all burden is new. This results in an increase in burden and responses of 360 hours and 720 responses respectively.

Annual Cost to Federal Government:

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Karen Epps 202 453-6337

View ICR - OIRA Conclusion