SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report
Part A. Justification:
1. Necessity of Information Collection.
On September 13, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-322). Title I of the "crime bill," the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994 (the ct), authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to states, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, other public and private entities, and multi-jurisdictional or regional consortia thereof to increase police presence, to expand and improve cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies and members of the community, to address crime and disorder problems, and otherwise to enhance public safety.
As part of this grant making process, the Attorney General has the authority to establish grant programs, as well as any procedures necessary to administer grants under these programs. These grants must be monitored, and one way of doing so is to collect status reports.
The COPS Office revised the currently approved collection “Regional Community Policing Institute Quarterly Progress Report” in a number of ways. The name of the report was changed to “Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report” to include all awardees that have training and technical assistance grants (both Regional Community Policing Institutes and all other agencies that receive training and technical assistance awards). The format of the report was also updated and streamlined, resulting in a report with reduced burden time and fewer required questions.
2. Needs and Uses
The “Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report” will be used for COPS Training and Technical Assistance programs. The two-page report allows awardees to report on the status of their grant or cooperative agreement activities. This information will be used to determine whether the awardee has made adequate progress in completing the community policing development goals outlined in the cooperative agreement. Examples of such goals include the development of community policing curriculum to deliver to law enforcement agencies and developing police-community partnerships. The report provides a summary of critical information: grant number, staffing updates, budget, deliverables, partnership involvement, and outreach. This collection will provide substantive information to help the COPS Office best manage these awards.
3. Efforts to Minimize Burden
The proposed Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report is agency-specific and can be submitted via e-mail. COPS has minimized the burden on the awardees by significantly decreasing the number of questions on the report and requesting only the information needed to determine the status of the awardee’s grant or cooperative agreement. The frequency of collection has been reduced from four times a year to two.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
There is no duplicative effort.
5. Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Business
This collection instrument will have no significant impact on small business.
6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
The awardee must report to the COPS Office on a regular basis to determine the status on award activity. Less frequent collection would not allow for careful monitoring of award/deliverable activity.
7. Special Circumstances Influencing Collection
There are no special circumstances that would influence the collection of information pertaining to the Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report.
8. Reasons for Inconsistencies with 5 CFR 1320.6
There are no inconsistencies with this regulation. The COPS Office will display the valid OMB Control Number, expiration date, and PRA Notice on the Progress Report. The COPS Office also sought public comment through posting 60-day and 30-day federal register notices. The COPS Office did not receive any public comments on this information collection.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents
The COPS Office does not provide any payment or gift to respondents. Furthermore, it is not permitted under the terms of the grants.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
No assurance of confidentiality has been made to respondents.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
There are no questions of a sensitive nature. No information commonly considered as private is included in the proposed requested information.
12. Estimate of Hour Burden
The Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report will be filled out by all active awardees that have training and /or technical assistance grants. The COPS Office estimates that approximately 41 agencies will fill out this report semi-annually.
The estimated hour burden to respondents for completing the above referenced status report is 2 hours for each respondent per report.
2 hours per respondent x 41 respondents x 2 times a year = 164 hours
COPS estimates a minimal record keeping burden for respondents.
13. Estimate of Cost Burden
Completing this Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report will not generate any costs other than those associated with the applicants’ time. Therefore, the estimated burden cost is 0.
14. Estimated Annualized Cost to Federal Government
The estimated annualized cost to the Federal government for reviewing and processing the projected 41 responses should require approximately 30 minutes per report. No special equipment, other than currently in-use personal computing equipment, is required. The total cost to the Federal government is estimated as follows:
Training and Technical Assistance Semi-Annual Status Report costs:
.5 hours per report x 41 reports x 2 times a year = 41 hours
41 hours @ $20 per hour = $820 for review
15. Reason for Change in Burden
Original Respondent Burden |
Revised Burden Hours |
Difference |
1,472 annual hours |
164 Annual Hours |
-1,308 annual hours |
The reduction in burden is due to fewer reports needed per year and a streamlined number of questions per report.
16 Publication
This data collection will not be published.
17. Request not to Display OMB Control Number
The COPS Office will display the OMB approval number and expiration date on the upper right hand corner of the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement
The COPS Office does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.
Part B. Statistical Methods
This collection of information does not require the employment of statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | karen beckma |
| Last Modified By | Rebekah Dorr |
| File Modified | 2006-12-12 |
| File Created | 2006-09-13 |