Note to Reviewer

NOTE TO REVIEWER

September 2006

The attached materials describe and provide a justification for the collection of information pertaining to the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program, also known as the National Farmworker Jobs Program, authorized under Title I, Section 167 of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. The information collection allows the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to collect the data on participants, program activities and outcomes necessary for program management and performance accountability.

This clearance package is identical to the package submitted to, and approved by, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last year. OMB approved this data collection for one year (instead of the three-year approval requested by ETA) pending resolution of one clearance issue: providing access to NFJP grantees to UI wage records to fully implement the common measures.

OMB and ETA staff (program office and PROTECH) met on February 22, 2006 to discuss ETA’s proposed solution to address the issue: establish an agreement with a designated state (Kansas) to manage all requests for wage record data on behalf of ETA grantees, national and discretionary, and disseminate quarterly results for each grantee based on the common performance measures. Grantees would collect and report individual client records on participants who complete and exit the program (as is currently the case); this individual level data would then be transmitted to Kansas for matching purposes within the Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS). Kansas would then maintain the matched outcome data in longitudinal files to facilitate the production of quarterly common measure reports.

OMB agreed with the proposed course of action; the MOU between the Department and Kansas was signed in June 2006.

No other clearance issues were raised by OMB; the extension request is for three-year approval of the reporting and recordkeeping system.