In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (AS-IA) is proposing to renew an information collection.

Send written comments on this information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget's Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior by email at OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov; or via facsimile to (202) 395-5806. Please provide a copy of your comments to R. Lee Fleming, Director, Office of Federal Acknowledgment, Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street NW, MS-4071 MIB, Washington, DC 20240; facsimile: (202) 219-3008; email: Lee.Fleming@bia.gov. Please reference OMB Control Number 1076-0104 in the subject line of your comments.

Abstract: Submission of this information allows the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA), within the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, to review groups' documented petitions for the Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe. The acknowledgment regulations at 25 CFR 83 contain seven criteria that unrecognized groups seeking Federal acknowledgment as Indian tribes must demonstrate that they meet. Information collected from petitioning groups under these regulations provide anthropological, genealogical and historical data used by the AS-IA to establish whether a petitioning group has the characteristics necessary to be acknowledged as a continuously existing Indian tribe. Federal acknowledgment establishes a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Respondents are not required to retain copies of the information submitted to OFA but will probably maintain copies for their own use; therefore, there is no recordkeeping requirement included in this information collection.