ombrocisDISABILITY2021supportstatement

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission
Semi-annual Progress Report for the Education and Technical Assistance Grants
to End Violence Against Women with Disabilities Program (Disability Grant
Program)
A. Justification
1.

Statutorily-Mandated Need for Information

The Violence Against Women Act of 2000 (VAWA 2000) authorized the Attorney General
to award grants to provide funds for education and technical assistance in the form of training,
consultations, and information to organizations and programs that provide services to individuals
with disabilities and to domestic violence programs providing shelter or related assistance. The
Education and Technical Assistance Grants to End Violence Against Women with Disabilities
Program (Disability Program) establishes and strengthens multidisciplinary collaborative
relationships and increases organizational capacity to provide accessible, safe, and effective
services to individuals with disabilities and Deaf individuals who are victims of sexual assault,
domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Eligible applicants are states, units of local
governments, Indian tribal governments or tribal organizations, victim services providers, and
nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations serving individuals with disabilities.
Currently, there are different statutory and regulatory reporting requirements that affect
Disability Program grantees. VAWA 2000 requires all VAWA grantees, including Disability
Program grantees, to report on the effectiveness of their programs to the Attorney General who,
in turn, must report to Congress every two years. Section 1003 of VAWA 2000 states that
(a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENTS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of
Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall require grantees under any
program authorized or reauthorized by this division or an amendment made by
this division to report on the effectiveness of the activities carried out with
amounts made available to carry out that program, including number of persons
served, if applicable, numbers of persons seeking services who could not be
served and such other information as the Attorney General or Secretary may
prescribe.
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of
Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall report biennially to the
Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the
Senate on the grant programs described in subsection (a), including the
information contained in any report under that subsection.
34 U.S.C. 10238.
OVW must also comply with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
(GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62) which was enacted to increase Congressional and Administrative focus
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on the results from government programs and activities. To meet its GPRA reporting obligations
and elicit more meaningful information about grantee performance, OVW has recently
developed performance measures, including output measures, regarding which the Disability
Program grantees must report on a semi-annual basis.
2.

Use of Information

OVW uses data from the information collection 1 in different ways. OVW will use the
information collected from Disability Program grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities
and qualitatively assess those activities. In particular, OVW is seeking data that includes baseline
information to review activities supported with Disability Program funds, including, for example,
an increase in the number of trainings or an increase in the number of victims served. OVW will
review each semi-annual progress report to monitor individual grantee’s performance, including
the grant-funded activities and to ensure that the goals and objectives set forth in applications for
funding and award documents are met.
The Disability Program grantees collect information that addresses the following grantfunded activities (different sections on the reporting form): planning and development, staff,
statutory purpose areas, training, community coordinated responses, education, policies,
technical assistance, product development, and victim services. Narrative questions at the end of
these different sections enable grantees to give more detailed qualitative information about their
grant-funded activities. In addition, Disability Program grantees must answer narrative questions
on the status of the grant goals and objectives, the most significant areas of remaining need with
regard to obstacles faced by individuals with disabilities and what Disability Program funding
has allowed the grantee to do that it could not do prior to receiving the funding. There are also
optional narrative questions addressing additional information on the Disability Program grant
and/or the effectiveness of the grant and on additional information on the data submitted.
In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of
other techniques to assess the performance of Disability Program grantees. These may include
OVW staff attendance at site visits, grant-funded training and technical assistance events, staff
review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff.
OVW will aggregate data from all grantees’ progress reports to assess the performance of
the Disability Program as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice, and
other inquiries about how Disability Grant Program funds are being used. In addition,
information collected from grantees will support the following performance measures:
1 Under a cooperative agreement between OVW and the University of Southern Maine’s
Muskie School of Public Service, data collected from OVW grantees on all of OVW’s progress
report forms is transmitted to the Muskie School for analysis. For the analysis of the data,
standard descriptive statistics (frequency, sum, percentage, mean, etc.) are used to describe the
characteristics of the grantees and report basic findings. All analyses are conducted in SPSS
13.0.
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Number of policies developed /revised;
Number of communities with improved CCR (community coordinated responses);
Number of grant funded multidisciplinary training events;
and
Number of professionals trained to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault
and stalking.
Information collected from Disability Program grantees will enable OVW to respond to statutory
requirements to report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities. . OVW has submitted the
2018 Measuring Effectiveness Report to Congress, which includes information about how funds
were expended and an assessment of the effectiveness of funded programs. This report is based
on data submitted by grantees reflecting Disability Program awards made from July 1 2015 June 30, 2017.
The data that OVW collects on the semi-annual progress reporting forms is currently not
used in connection with an evaluation of the Disability Program. OVW is currently exploring the
development of a multi-layered evaluation agenda for its grant programs.
It is important that OVW collect this information from Disability Program grantees on a
semi-annual basis so that OVW can ensure that they are performing within the statutory
limitations of the program in a timely manner. Because OVW is not able to perform site visits
with every Disability Program grantee, the review of progress reports every six months enables
OVW to monitor grantees in timely manner. It is easier to identify a potential resolution for a
matter that needs correction or modification if the issue is identified sooner rather than later. An
annual report would increase the potential for grantees, unintentionally or intentionally, to spend
grant funds inappropriately for a longer period of time. Semi-annual reporting periods allow for
more frequent course corrections and interaction between the grantee and OVW.
3.

Use of Information Technology

The collection of information will involve the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. OVW
grantees are required to submit semi-annual progress reports through the Grants Management
System (GMS).
4.

Duplication of Information Request

There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded
activities including number of victims served, victims seeking services who could not be served,
or persons trained.
5.

Impact on Small Entities
There is no impact on small entities as the collection of this type of information is
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routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds under the Disability Program.
6.

Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy

By statute, Congress has mandated that Disability Program grantees report to the
Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA. If OVW was not
able to collect the information necessary to complete these reports on behalf of the Attorney
General, not only would it be failing to meet a statutorily required reporting mandate, but also
the existence of this important and necessary grant program could be jeopardized. The Disability
Grant Program supports important programs that provide critical training to address violence
against individuals who are individuals with disabilities and provide valuable support to
coordinated community responses to such crimes.
7.

Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances as identified in the specific instructions for a
supporting statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
8.

Federal Register Publication

OVW has consulted with persons outside the agency who have advised that the data
proposed to be collected is available, the semi-annual collection of such data is not burdensome,
the form is clear, and that the information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds
under the Disability Program. OVW has solicited public comment on this form in accordance
with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act. A 60 day notice was published in the
Federal Register on August 13, 2021 (Federal Register, Volume 86, page 44750) and a 30-day
was notice was published in the Federal Register on November 26, 2021 (Federal Register,
Volume 86, page 67496).
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents
There will no payment or gift to respondents.

10.

Confidentiality

Although this information is needed for a public report to Congress, it will not involve
any personal information about victims that could identify them as specific individuals.
However, anecdotal, non-identifying information about the effectiveness of individual programs
may be included in the report. There is no assurance to confidentiality.
11.

Specific Questions

The semi-annual progress report will not contain any questions of a personal, sensitive
nature such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are
commonly considered private.
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12.

Hour Burden of the Collection of Information

This semi-annual progress report is not overly burdensome. The data collection tool will
be completed by approximately 18 Disability Program grantees twice a year. There will be 36
semi-annual responses and it is estimated that it will take grantees no more than 1 hour to
complete the progress report form. Thus, the seni- annual reporting and recordkeeping hour
burden is 36 hours. Disability Program grantees are informed about the reporting requirements
during the grant solicitation process and during the grant award process.
OVW is seeking basic information that is routinely kept by the grantees in the normal
course of their operations. Thus, the requirement that grantees complete this progress report
within a period of less than 30 days after receipt of it is not overly burdensome. OVW estimates
that it will take approximately 1 hour for a grantee to complete the form. OVW developed this
estimate based on the fact that information of this nature is already kept by grantees receiving
funds under the Disability Program and that the grantees have been apprized of these reporting
requirements during the solicitation process and reminded throughout the grant award process.
The progress report is divided into sections that pertain to the different types of activities that
grantees may engage in, i.e. training, product development, victim services. Grantees will only
have to complete the sections of the form that relate to their specific grant-funded activities.
13.

Cost Burden of the Collection of Information

OVW does not believe that there is any semi-annual cost burden on respondents or
recordkeepers resulting from the collection of this information.
14.

Annualized Costs to the Federal Government

The annualized costs to the Federal Government resulting from the OVW staff review of
the progress reports submitted by grantees are estimated to be $2016.
15.

Program Changes or Adjustments

There are no program changes or adjustments for the estimates identified in Section 13
and in Section 14. This is a information collection that is necessary for OVW and its Disability
Program grantees to comply with the statutory reporting requirements and the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).
16.

Published Results of Information Collections
There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication

of
information collected under the request. Information will be gathered once a year at the end of
the reporting periods. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of all
grant-funded activities on a biennial basis.
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17.

Display of the Expiration Date of OMB Approval

OVW will display the Expiration Date of OMB Approval in the upper right hand corner
of the Progress Report.
18.

Exception to the Certification Statement

OVW is not seeking any exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19,
Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions, of OMB Form 83-I.

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