SUPPORTING STATEMENT
CRIME VICTIM ASSISTANCE STATE PERFORMANCE REPORT
A. JUSTIFICATION
Necessity of Information Collection
The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) as amended, was signed into law in 1984. VOCA established the Crime Victims Fund. Each year, millions of dollars are deposited into this Fund from criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds, penalty fees and special assessments collected by U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Courts, and the Bureau of Prisons. VOCA delegates the authority to make formula grant awards to states from this Fund for the Victims Compensation and Assistance programs to the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).
States receiving crime victim assistance grant awards must comply with the conditions and eligibility criteria set forth in Section 1404 of VOCA. The implementing Program Guidelines clarify these requirements in greater detail relative to the legislative history of VOCA and recent amendments.
Section 1407(g) of VOCA requires that the Director shall prepare a biennial report to the President and the Congress on the effectiveness of the activities supported by the Act. To accomplish this task, Section 1407(b) of VOCA gives the Director of OVC authority to collect performance data from recipients of VOCA grant funds.
Each recipient of sums under this chapter shall keep such records as the Director shall prescribe, including records that fully disclose the amount and disposition by such recipient of such sums, the total cost of the undertaking for which sums are used, and that portion of the cost of the undertaking supplied by other sources, and such other records as will facilitate an effective audit.
The Program Reporting Requirement section of the Program Guidelines (which were developed by OVC and published in the Federal Register, April 22, 1997) further delineates the reporting requirements for VOCA victim assistance grant recipients. To assist the states and OVC with programmatic reporting requirements, OVC has developed the Performance Report form to collect and analyze the use of VOCA victim assistance grant funds.
Needs and Uses
VOCA and the Program Guidelines require each state victim assistance grantee to report to OVC on the impact of the Federal funds, to certify compliance with the eligibility requirements of VOCA, and to provide a summary of proposed activities. This information will be aggregated and serve as supporting documentation for the Director’s biennial report to the President and to the Congress on the effectiveness of the activities supported by these grants (Section 1407(g)). Every effort has been made to keep these reporting requirements to a minimum. If this information was not collected and reported 90 days after the completion of the grant, OVC could not assess the impact or effectiveness of the grant funds on each recipient’s state crime victim assistance program, and could not submit the required report to the President and the Congress.
Use of Information Technology
The VOCA Crime Victim Assistance State Performance Report data is submitted electronically via the web-based Grants Management System (GMS). Since all grantees current access GMS, no additional sophisticated information technology is necessary.
Efforts to Identify Duplication
Information about victim services exists only at the subrecipient project level. Numerous contacts with a wide variety of victim services and assistance agencies indicate that the total number of victims served is the only commonly collected data. Other than a specific type of victim assistance agency (i.e., rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, etc.) the type of crime or services provided is unrecorded and unavailable. The other informational elements requested by OVC are not collected by state victim assistance organizations or Federal agencies. There is no alternative source for the information and statistics necessary to assess and report on the impact of these Federal grants.
The information being requested by OVC is specifically designed to enable OVC to measure the impact of the monies collected in the Crime Victims Fund and awarded to local programs, through state designated agencies. Other data that may be available in victim service programs is not specifically related to this Federal funding program. Current reporting channels in states will be utilized and information compatible with these proposed reporting requirements will be accepted. If one or more of the reporting categories are not presently collected, states will be required to add to their present information collection instrument. In any event, these states will be required to report their statewide aggregated information on the OVC-supplied reporting form.
Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Business
Collection of information does not pertain to small business or other small entities.
Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
The collection of information has been minimized to the least number of submissions possible. If information were collected less frequently it would be outdated and would not be available in time for the biennial preparation of the report to the President and the Congress on the impact of this Federal assistance program.
Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances.
Public Comments and Consultations
OVC has on a continuous basis requested input from VOCA victim assistance administrators and staff via telephone contacts, training and technical assistance conferences and working groups on the implementation of the crime victim assistance program. The state VOCA administrators recognize that performance reporting is critical to the successful implementation of the Act and the continued support of the Federal assistance program by the Congress and have complied, for the most, with OVC’s request for information.
Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents
The information OVC request is specifically designed to enable OVC to measure the impact of the monies deposited into the Crime Victims Fund and awarded to state programs. No payment of gift is provided to a grantee for providing this information.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
The nature of the information is non-personal, non-specific to individual persons, aggregated program information or narrative information that is based on observation and project monitoring; therefore no assurance of confidentiality is necessary.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
There are no questions of a sensitive nature. No information commonly considered private is included in the proposed requested information.
Estimated of Respondent’s Burden
Each of the 56 respondents (grantees) will submit annually to OVC a report on each grant(s) activities and services performed during the Federal fiscal year (October 1 – September 30). This report will be due December 30th of each year.
The information to compile these reports will be drawn from victim service program data to the state (respondent). The number of victim assistance programs varies widely from state to state. A state could be responsible for compiling subgrant data for as many as 436 programs (California) to as few as 12 programs (District of Columbia). The total estimated hourly burden of this collection is 1,176.
Calculation: 20 hours per response (estimated mean) + 1 hour per respondent for record keeping x 56 respondents = 1,176 hours
Estimate of Cost Burden
The estimated cost to respondents is based on the time required of one GS-6 (equivalent) statistical clerk’s time to review, identify and record program performance data at $14 per hour. As stated, the number of victim assistance programs varies widely from state to state. Since the cost varies from state to state, a mean estimated cost was determined. The estimated mean cost to a respondent for the report is $16,464 ($14 per burden hour x a total of 1176 burden hours)..
Cost to Federal Government
The estimated annualized cost to the Federal government for reviewing, compiling, and processing the State Performance Report forms from 56 respondents is no more than 2 hours per form. The estimate is based on the time required for a GS-9 Program Assistance to record this information into a nationwide database and generate an aggregate report. The estimate total cost to the Federal government is $1,904.
Calculation: 112 hours x $17.00 per hour = $1,904
There are no other anticipated costs in complying with request.
Reason for Change in Burden
The decrease is due to a decrease in the number of respondents.
Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule
The results of this collection of information are not planned to be published for statistical purposes. This collection of information does not require the employment of statistical methods.
17. Display of Expiration Date
OVC has no objection to displaying the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.
18. Exception to the Certification Statement
None. There are no exceptions identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission,” of OMB Form 83-I.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Supporting Statement |
| Author | Delano Foster |
| Last Modified By | chadlallemand |
| File Modified | 2009-07-31 |
| File Created | 2009-07-31 |