SSA - Formative Data Collections for ARP Act Supplemental Funding Program Support

Formative Data Collections for American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Supplemental Funding Program Support

OMB Information Collection Request

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

June 2023

Submitted By:

Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4^th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building

330 C Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

A1. Necessity for the Data Collection

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval to collect feedback on workforce capacity building and service implementation to inform training and technical assistance to grantees implementing American Rescue Plan (ARP) supplemental funding. This request includes a feedback survey, which will be administered to states, territories, tribes, coalitions, and discretionary grantees who received funding as part of the ARP Act in March 2021.

Background

The Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (OFVPS) administers the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (42 U.S.C. § et seg) (FVPSA) funding and FVPSA grant programs to implement the statutorily required federal response system that ensures vital crisis services and shelters are available to individuals experiencing domestic or dating violence and their dependents.

FVPSA is required to collect and report data on the provision of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence services, including assistance and programs supported by Federal funds (42 USC 10404 (b)(3)(B)) and establish reporting requirements (42 U.S.C. 10404 (a)(3)). ACF collects this information through the FVPSA Performance Progress Reports (PPRs) (OMB#: 0970-0280).

One of OFVPS priorities is to monitor the implementation of the $1 billion in American Rescue Plan supplemental grant funding for states, tribes, coalitions, hotlines, resource centers, children’s grantees, sexual assault programs, and culturally specific programs. OFVPS needs additional feedback related to the ARP Supplemental grantee’s workforce capacity building and service implementation to plan adequate training and support. This information collection does not duplicate information requested on the annual PPR.

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection

There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures

Overview of Purpose and Use

The purpose of this request under ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531) is to inform effective and efficient program support, training, and technical assistance to grantees implementing ARP supplemental funding. OFVPS needs additional feedback not collected in the annual PPR related to their workforce capacity building and service implementation to plan adequate training and support.  The request includes narrative stories, which will be used as peer support technical assistance models/examples to help FVPSA grantees learn from their peers and refine their implementation of FVPSA grants. These stories will always adhere to FVPSA privacy requirements and will not include any personally identifiable information.  OFVPS may feature grantee implementation stories as part of our grantee meetings and webinars as examples of promising practices.

The results will not be disseminated to the public. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

Processes for Information Collection

Information will be collected through an online questionnaire/survey hosted by Grant Solutions. Respondents will include ARP supplemental formula and discretionary grantees including FVPSA State/Territory Administrators, primarily executive level staff at state domestic violence coalitions, and programs administrators at tribal domestic violence programs. OFVPS will send an email to respondents requesting their participation.

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden

OFVPS will employee technology to reduce the burden to respondents who agree to participate. The questionnaire/survey will be completed online.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This questionnaire does not include duplicative items nor will items include requests for information. We have reviewed information that is currently requested as part of the annual PPR to ensure this collection does not request information we could access through that.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

To minimize the burden on small entities, the data collection will be online to allow respondents to participate at times that are convenient for them.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

This is a one-time data collection.

A7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.

A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation

Federal Register Notice and Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection request to extend approval of the umbrella generic with minor changes. The notice was published on January 28, 2022, (87 FR 4603), and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any comments on the first notice. A second notice was published, allowing a thirty-day period for public comment, in conjunction with submission of the request to OMB. ACF did not receive any comments on the second notice.

Consultation with Outside Experts

OFVPS consultation has and will continue to include discussion with the Grant Solutions team.

A9. Tokens of Appreciation for Respondents

No tokens of appreciation for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.

A11. Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.

A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden

Burden Estimates

Responses will be completed by existing grantee staff using data collection and reporting procedures currently in place for grant recipients.  Most grantees will spend no more than 1 hour developing and answering the questionnaire in the online system.  The FVPSA Program has 252 formula grantee and 40 discretionary grantee respondents. 

Cost Estimates

The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Child and Family Social Workers [21-1021] and wage data from May 2022, which is $27.25 per hour.  To account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate was multiplied by two which is $54.50 per hour. The total burden and cost estimate is $16,173. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm

Instrument	Total Number of Respondents	Total Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Cost
Questionnaire/Survey 252 Formula Grantees 40 Discretionary Grantees	292	1	1	292	$54.50	$16,173

A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There are no additional costs to respondents.

A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost for the data collection activities under this current request will be $2,500.00.

A15. Change in Burden

This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).

A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication

The questionnaire/survey will be distributed on or about August 5, 2023, pending OMB approval. Information will be collected and used internally by OFVPS for informing future training and technical assistance provided to ARP Supplemental Grant recipients. OFVPS may feature grantee implementation stories as part of our grantee meetings and webinars as examples of promising practices.

A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date

All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

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