SUPPORTING STATEMENT
CRIME VICTIM ASSISTANCE SUBGRANT AWARD REPORT
A. JUSTIFICATION
Necessity of Information Collection
The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), as amended, was signed into law in 1984.
VOCA established the Crime Victims Fund. Each year millions of dollars are deposited into this Fund from criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds, penalty fees, and special assessments collected by U.S, Attorneys' Offices, U.S. Courts, and the Bureau of Prisons. VOCA delegates the authority to make grant awards to states from this fund and the responsibility for administering the Victims Compensation and Assistance programs is vested with the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).
States receiving crime victim assistance grant funds, subgrant these funds to criminal justice agencies, social service agencies, private non-profit agencies, and American Indian tribes and tribal organizations to support direct services to victims of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, drunk driving, elderly abuse and robbery; survivors of homicide victims; and victims of other violent crimes.
States receiving these grant awards must comply with the conditions and eligibility criteria set forth in Section 1404(b) of VOCA. The implementing Program Guidelines clarify these requirements in greater detail relative to the legislative history of VOCA and recent amendments.
Section 1407(g) of VOCA requires that the Director shall prepare a biennial report to the President and the Congress on the effectiveness of the activities supported by the Act. To accomplish this task, Section 1407(b) of VOCA gives the Director of OVC authority to collect performance data from recipients of VOCA grant funds.
Each recipient of sums under this chapter shall keep such records as the Director shall prescribe, including records that fully disclose the amount and disposition by such recipient of such sums, the total cost of the undertaking for which sums are used, and the portion of the cost of the undertaking supplied by other resources, such as other records as will facilitate an effective audit.
The Program Reporting Requirement section of the Program Guidelines (which were developed by OVC and published in the Federal Register, April 22, 1997) further delineates the reporting requirements for VOCA victim assistance grant recipients. To assist the states and OVC with programmatic reporting requirements, OVC has developed the Subgrant Award Report form to collect and analyze the use of VOCA victim assistance grant funds.
Needs and Uses
VOCA and the Program Guidelines require each state victim assistance office to report to OVC on the impact of the Federal funds, to certify compliance with the eligibility requirements of VOCA, and to provide a summary of proposed activities. This information will be aggregated and serve as supporting documentation for the Director’s biennial report to the President and to the Congress on the effectiveness of the activities supported by these grants (Section 1407(g)). Every effort has been made to keep these reporting requirements to a minimum. If this information was not collected and reported 90 days after an award is made by the state, OVC could not effectively monitor state agency and subrecipient compliance with VOCA and the Program Guidelines, and could not submit the required report to the President and the Congress.
To ensure timely submission of this data, OVC requires that states submit their Subgrant Award Report (SAR) information via the web-based Grants Management System (GMS).
Use of Information Technology
The Subgrant Award Report data is submitted electronically via the web-based Grants Management System (GMS). Since all grantees current access GMS, no additional sophisticated information technology is necessary.
Efforts to Identify Duplication
This reporting form is specifically designed to collect information about each project receiving VOCA victim assistance grant funds and proposed activities at the State level. It will be used by OVC to monitor compliance with provisions of the VOCA and the victim assistance grant program guidelines. There is no alternative source for the information and/or statistics available to access and report on these grants.
The information being requested by OVC is specifically designed to enable this Office to measure the impact of the monies deposited in the Crime Victims Fund and awarded to local programs, through state designated agencies. Other data that may be available on victim service programs is not specifically related to the impact of this Federal funding program.
Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Business
Collection of information does not pertain to small business or other small entities.
Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
The collection of information has been minimized to the least number of submissions possible. If information was collected less frequently it would be impossible to determine which State and local agencies were funded with VOCA monies and compliance with VOCA and the Program Guidelines. This information is requested 90 days after an award is made, thus providing OVC with enough time to respond to issues of noncompliance before subgrant projects have expended substantial sums of Federal funds for unallowable activities.
Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances.
Public Comments and Consultations
OVC has on a continuous basis requested input from VOCA victim assistance administrators and staff via telephone contacts, training and technical assistance conferences and working groups on the implementation of the crime victim assistance program. The state VOCA administrators recognize that reporting on the utilization of the grant funds is critical to the successful implementation of the Act and the continued support of the Federal assistance program by the Congress and have complied, for the most, with OVC’s request for information.
Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents
The information OVC request is specifically designed to enable OVC to collect information about each project receiving VOCA victim assistance grant funds and proposed activities at the State level. No payment or gift is provided to a grantee for providing this information.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
The nature of the information is non-personal, non-specific to individual persons, aggregated program information or narrative information that is based on observation and project monitoring; therefore no assurance of confidentiality is necessary.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
There are no questions of a sensitive nature. No information commonly considered private is included in the proposed requested information.
Estimated of Respondent’s Burden
The number of VOCA-funded victim assistance programs varies widely from State to State. A review of information currently available to this Office on the number of active victim assistance programs in 15 states selected for variance in size and population revealed that a State would be responsible for entering subgrant data for as many as 436 programs (California) to as few as 12 programs (District of Columbia).
The estimated time to enter a record via the Grants Management System is three minutes (.05 hour). Therefore, the estimated clerical time can range from 36 minutes to 22 hours, based on the number of records that are entered. It would take 295 hours to enter to enter 5,900 responses electronically [5,900 x .05 hour].
Estimate of Cost Burden
The estimated cost is based on the 57 respondents (grantees/states) who are submitting a total of 5,900 Subgrant Award Reports. States will have one GS-6 (equivalent) statistical assistant to electronically submit Subgrant Award Report data, the calculation is as follows:
Calculation: 5,900 responses x .05 hours per response x $25.92 per hour (GS-6 statistical clerk) = $7,646.40
Cost to Federal Government
There is no additional cost to the Federal government.
Reason for Change in Burden
No change
Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule
The results of this collection of information are not planned to be published for statistical purposes. This collection of information does not require the employment of statistical methods.
17. Display of Expiration Date
OVC has no objection to displaying the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.
18. Exception to the Certification Statement
None. There are no exceptions identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission,” of OMB Form 83-I.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Supporting Statement |
| Author | Delano Foster |
| Last Modified By | Delano Foster |
| File Modified | 2008-06-12 |
| File Created | 2008-06-12 |