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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 18 / Friday, January 29, 2021 / Proposed Rules
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS

Regional Entities.18 The ERO also issues a stakeholder survey every other year to measure the effectiveness of NERC and the Regional Entities in executing program activities.19
13. Based on the examples described above, we believe the ERO should be able to use these existing processes to provide a self-assessment to the Commission on a three-year basis rather than every five years without imposing an undue burden on the ERO. NERC
could leverage the existing tracking mechanisms discussed above, as well as the findings of its required three-year independent audit, its internal audit department, ongoing quarterly and annual assessments of its CMEP and Organization Registration and Certification Program,20 and the processes that lead to NERCs annual filings of the business plan and budgets and those of the Regional Entities,21 all of which NERC already uses to regularly report on its and the Regional Entities activities. For these reasons, we believe a reduction of time from a five-year cycle to a three-year cycle will not impose an undue burden for NERC, the Regional Entities, registered entities, or other interested stakeholders.
14. Next, based on the last three performance assessments NERC has submitted to the Commission as the ERO, where the Commission has directed NERC to submit additional information on further compliance, we propose to revise the Commissions regulations governing what an ERO
must include in its performance assessment. Specifically, we propose to require that the Commission-certified ERO include in its performance assessments a detailed discussion of any areas of the EROs activities and functions, or the Regional Entities delegated functions, beyond those set forth in 39.3c1i, ii, and iii, that the Commission identifies for inclusion at least 90 days prior to the expected performance assessment submission 18 NERC, ERO Enterprise Program Alignment Process, https www.nerc.com/pa/comp/Pages/
EROEnterProAlign.aspx.
19 As required by 18 CFR 39.3c1ii, the EROs performance assessment must address the effectiveness of each Regional Entity, recommendations by the ERO, users, owners, and operators of the Bulk-Power System, and other interested parties for improvement of the Regional Entitys performance of delegated functions.
20 See, e.g., NERC, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program Quarterly Report, Nov. 4, 2020, https www.nerc.com/pa/comp/CE/
ReportsDL/Q3%202020%20
Quarterly%20CMEP%20Report.pdf.
21 See, e.g., NERC, 2021 Business Plan and Budget Preparation Schedule, 2020, https
www.nerc.com/gov/bot/FINANCE/Hidden%20
Documents/2021%20BPB%20Preparation%20
Schedule.pdf.

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date.22 Identifying specific areas of interest in a formal and timely manner prior to NERCs submission of the Performance Assessment may likely result in efficiencies. For example, identifying areas of interest NERC
should address in the filing may reduce the need for the Commission to issue data requests or require informational filings afterwards. We believe the additional information NERC will provide in response to the identified areas of interest will enable the Commission to more efficiently review the performance of the EROs activities and functions, as well as oversight of the Regional Entities delegated functions. We also believe 90 days prior to the submission of each performance assessment provides NERC adequate time to address any Commissionidentified topics in its performance assessment, but we seek comment on whether a different period of time may be more appropriate.
15. Finally, we propose to add a formal requirement for a public comment period to solicit Regional Entities, users, owners, and operators of the Bulk-Power System, and other interested parties for improvement of the EROs operations, activities, oversight and procedures. The intent of the comment period is to inform the content of the EROs draft performance assessment. We anticipate that the ERO
would meet the proposed requirement by issuing notice of a public comment period on its website specifically requesting that interested parties identify areas of improvement. We envision the solicitation of comments would be issued separately and prior to the posting of the draft performance assessment. The posting should be independent of other recurring stakeholder surveys that may have a more limited audience. The ERO would then include the submitted comments, and the EROs responses to such comments, with its performance assessment filing.
16. We believe that the proposed amendments to our regulations will improve our oversight of the ERO. The proposal will better enable the Commission to determine that the ERO
is satisfying the statutory and regulatory criteria continuously,23 and provide the 22 As noted above, a Commission-identified issue may be communicated to the ERO through a Commission order or the Commissions delegated authority to the Director of the Office of Electric Reliability.
23 Order No. 672 interprets the FPA to require that the ERO to comply with the certification criteria on an ongoing basis, and that a violation of a certification criterion constitutes a violation of the FPA. Order No. 672, 114 FERC 61,104 at P 184.

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opportunity for more timely Commission and stakeholder feedback or direction to the ERO should issues arise. Further, consistent with Order No.
672, the shorter cycle for the ERO
performance assessment will provide more timely Commission oversight to assure that the ERO is not only maintaining but improving the quality of its activities and those of the Regional Entities to which it has delegated such activities. 24 We seek comments from NERC and other interested entities on this proposal, including on the burden of this proposal.
III. Information Collection Statement 17. This NOPR proposes to amend the Commissions regulations to require the Commission-certified ERO to submit assessments of its performance every three years instead of the current period of every five years. It also proposes to require the Commission-certified ERO to include in its performance assessments a detailed discussion of any areas of the EROs responsibilities and activities, or the Regional Entities delegated functions, beyond those required by 39.3c1i, ii, and iii, that the Commission identifies for inclusion at least 90 days prior to the expected performance assessment submission date. Finally, this NOPR proposes to formalize the EROs solicitation of recommendations via a formal public comment period from Regional Entities, users, owners, and operators of the Bulk-Power System, and other interested parties for improvement of the EROs operations, activities, oversight and procedures.
18. The Paperwork Reduction Act PRA 25 requires each federal agency to seek and obtain approval by the Office of Management and Budget OMB
before undertaking a collection of information including reporting, record keeping, and public disclosure requirements directed to ten or more persons or contained in a rule of general applicability. OMB regulations 26
require approval of certain information collection requirements contemplated by proposed rules including deletion, revision, or implementation of new requirements. Upon approval of a collection of information, OMB will assign an OMB control number and an expiration date. Respondents subject to the filing requirements of this proposed rule will not be penalized for failing to respond to the collection of information 24 Order
No. 672, 114 FERC 61,104 at P 186.
U.S.C. 35013521.
26 5 CFR part 1320.
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