Lead Agencies are required to spend a
certain percent of their Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)
awards on activities to improve the quality of child care. Lead
Agencies are also required to invest in at least one of 10
allowable quality activities included in the Child Care and
Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014. In order to ensure
that States and Territories are meeting these requirements, the
CCDBG Act and the CCDF final rule require Lead Agencies to submit
an annual report, identified as the Quality Progress Report (QPR),
in the CCDF final rule. The report must describe how quality funds
were expended, including what types of activities were funded and
measures used to evaluate progress in improving the quality of
child care programs and services. The QPR replaces the Quality
Performance Report that was previously an appendix to the CCDF
Plan. The QPR increased transparency on quality spending and will
continue to gather detailed information on how States and
Territories are spending their quality funds, as well as more
specific data points to reflect the requirements in the CCDBG Act
and the CCDF final rule. The QPR is being published in the Federal
Register for a 30-day comment period to provide an opportunity for
the public to summit comments to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB). The first 60-day comment period on the QPR closed on
June 11, 2017. The Office of Child Care (OCC) has given thoughtful
consideration to the comments received during the 60-day Public
Comment Period and has revised the QPR to better align with the new
program requirements made under the CCDBG Act of 2014 and the final
rule. The revised document also contains additional guidance and
clarification where appropriate in order to improve the quality of
information that is being collected. Note: A correction was also
made to the burden hours.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.