FEMA Grant ICRs Re-filed with OMB 09-23-10

Earlier this week I noted that a number of FEMA grant information collection requests (ICRs) had been rejected by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) because they had not adequately explained that the information was currently being collected without an approved ICR. The Paperwork Reduction Act requires that any collection of information from the public must be pre-approved by OMB via the ICR process.

According to the OMB web site yesterday the seven ICR’s that were of potential interest to the chemical security community were resubmitted on Thursday. The new submission specifically notes that the “Existing collection in use without an OMB Control Number”. I think that we can safely assume that the ICR submitting folks at FEMA talked with the folks at OMB to insure that the wording was adequate. I expect that the ICRs will probably be approved this next week; well in time for the FY 2011 grant application process.