U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Order |
Subject |
FHWA Directives Management Program Handbook: Chapter 3 |
Classification Code |
Date |
Office of Primary Interest |
H 1321.1B |
April 10, 2000 |
HAIM-10 |
Clearance Requirements
- What is the purpose of the clearance process? The purpose of
the clearance process is to coordinate viewpoints and identify and
resolve differences, procedural conflicts, or duplications before a
directive is submitted for final concurrence and approval. Substantive
guidance relative to the FHWA clearance process for proposed directives,
regulations, and other issuances is provided in FHWA Order 1300.5, FHWA
Coordination Guidelines.
- Should directives get priority treatment? Yes. Since delays
in clearance can delay action and create unnecessary workloads, the
coordinating office provides a deadline for completing the review on the
Record of Coordination and Approval, Form DOT F 1321.1. The amount of
time provided for review varies with each directive, but normally allows
a minimum of 7 calendar days and does not exceed 30 calendar days for
field clearances and 15 calendar days for Washington Headquarters
clearances.
- What about internal clearances?
- Determining necessary clearances. Initiating offices should
forward a proposed directive to FHWA offices that are:
(1) responsible for standards, criteria, or procedures included or
referenced in the proposed issuance,
(2) affected by the proposed issuance, and those required to take action
or modify activities as a result of the proposed issuance,
(3) responsible for programs or activities that would be materially
affected, or
(4) administratively or legally responsible for making a review of the
proposed issuance.
- Clearing directives
(1) The Record of Coordination and Approval form is sometimes used to
coordinate draft directives within FHWA. Concurrences in the final directive are shown on the official copy.
(2) All proposed directives are reviewed by the DCP before signature or
approval. To minimize the review time, directives in the draft stage
should be e-mailed to the DCP for review.
- What about external clearances?
- General
(1) The external clearance process provides organizations such as OST,
other DOT administrations, and other Federal agencies, the opportunity to
comment, concur, or both, on an FHWA directive.
(2) Normally, a directive is circulated within the FHWA to obtain a
coordinated FHWA position before external coordination. Originating
offices must not make commitments during clearance discussions with
external organizations before the establishment of a coordinated FHWA
position.
- Clearance with the Office of the Secretary. Proposed FHWA
directives are cleared with OST before issuance when (1) required by
departmental directives or regulations, (2) an issue of special interest
to an OST office is involved, or (3) requested by OST.
- Clearance with DOT modal administrations. Directives issued
jointly with or that involve another modal administration are cleared with
that administration before issuance.
(1) NHTSA and FTA. All directives requiring NHTSA or FTA
clearance are submitted by the FHWA Executive Secretariat to the NHTSA/FTA
Executive Secretariat, and returned via the FHWA Secretariat. As a general
rule, every effort should be made to obtain NHTSA/FTA clearance of joint
directives developed by FHWA staff, before submission to the Administrator
for signature.
(2) Other administrations. The appropriate clearance with other
DOT administrations is based on the subject matter in the proposed
issuance.
- What about information collection requirements?
- Some directives may require FHWA to collect information from the
public. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 requires OMB approval when a
Federal agency imposes information collection requirements (i.e.,
reporting and recordkeeping) on 10 or more non-Federal respondents,
including State and local governments.
- Agencies cannot begin to collect information until OMB approves the
collection, generally for 3 years, and assigns a collection number.
- The originating office should contact the Management Programs and
Analysis Division (HAIM-10) early in the directive development process for
advice and assistance in determining the need for OMB clearance, and
preparing the required clearance documents. Sufficient lead time should be
allowed for the OMB clearance process, which takes approximately 5 months.
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