Readiness Consultation Instrument

READINESS and TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONSULTATION GUIDE

For the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

STATE:		Consultation Date:
ETA Staff:

Public Burden Statement

Persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless this survey displays a currently valid OMB control number (OMB _____, expires ________). Responding to this questionnaire, which seeks to help the Department of Labor improve efforts to implement the ARRA, is voluntary. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 45 minutes per response. Send comments regarding this burden estimate to the Office of Regional Innovation and Transformation, U.S. Department of Labor, Room C4517, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20210.

Questions	Ready? Yes/No	T.A. Level*	Comments/Notes (each ‘No’ requires a description of what TA is needed)
1. Administrative Capacity
a. Financial Management
Has the state/will the state make sub awards in 30 days or less?
Can the state/local area track ARRA funds in a manner clearly distinguishable from non-ARRA funding?
Can the state/local area establish a process for collecting the data needed from all levels for financial reporting and provide it to ETA 10 days after the end of the quarter?
Does the state/local area have resolution activities in process for any: open audit findings, investigations, or fiscal system problems?
Does the state/local area have internal controls sufficient to mitigate the risk of waste, fraud and abuse? Do they identify at-risk sub-grantees?
Does the state/local area have a written fiscal monitoring plan which includes onsite reviews including: Procurement Cost Accounting Tracking and Reporting Close out
Do the Recovery Act funds supplement and not supplant existing resources which are spent on workforce programs and services?
Will the Recovery Act funds be spent at the same time as formula funds?
b. Reporting
Reporting elements for the ARRA activity may require information on individuals based on what is currently collected for the WIASRD.  Will the State/local be able to provide an aggregate extract of the information collected for the individual record?
Does the State/Local Area have a plan in place to resolve any issues which would prevent the transmission of individual participant records to DOL, in addition to the requirements of the current reporting system?
Can the state/local area data system identify and disaggregate ARRA participant from other participant data?
Has the state/local area begun implementing changes to its existing report structure to meet the new requirements?
Can the state/local area submit summary aggregate data within 10 days following the month to satisfy Recovery.gov requirements?
c. Communication & Partnership
Has the state/local area refined and developed a vision to use Recovery Act funds to drive change throughout it’s workforce system to meet 21st century workforce and economic challenges.
Has the state/local system formed partnerships and shared vision with community colleges and education agencies, business and labor organizations, civic groups, and philanthropy to align workforce development strategies for regional development and shared prosperity.
Has state/local area provided support to local areas and sub-grantees in the implementation of ARRA?
Does the state/local area have a process for identifying and sharing best practices?
Does the state/local area have a process to communicate and coordinate with other agencies doing Recovery Act activity?
2. Program Capacity
a. Adult Services
i. Adult/Dislocated Worker/Wagner-Peyser
Has the state/local area developed goals that reflect the need to expand services and increase the numbers of individuals trained and served?
Is the workforce system prepared to serve a dual customer, meeting needs of both the worker and employer?
Have policies been developed to ensure emphasis on serving low-income, displaced, and under-skilled adults and disconnected older youth?
Has the state/local area updated its growth occupations and targeted industries, based on changing economy, including the President’s targeted priorities of green jobs and health care occupations?
Has the state/local area designed a service strategy which aligns all services and resources to support career pathways to emerging and future high growth jobs and industries?
ii. Training Capacity
Has the state/local area reviewed existing Eligible Training Providers’ and their capacity to meet the current and projected needs for additional training enrollments in demand courses?
Has the state/local area reviewed Training Provider courses for content and to determine if they meet employer and worker needs and if they are updated with current workforce information?
Has the state/local area evaluated the potential need to increase current ITA caps/levels?
Does the local area workforce system have strategies to directly contract with Community Colleges and other eligible training providers to respond to the need for increased training?
iii. Rapid Response/NEG
Do Rapid Response strategies and procedures exist to avert or respond quickly to announced and occurring lay-offs?
Does the state and local area have organized teams of trained staff immediately available necessary to go to locations of mass lay-off?
Does the Rapid Response process link smoothly to services other WIA, NEG, or Trade resources?
iv. One-Stop Readiness
Do One-Stops have the staff and systems, including bilingual staff, to serve increased numbers of customers to meet ARRA expectations and local economic demand?
In the context of a low-growth economy, have the One-Stops changed training strategies that address longer-term unemployment?
Are Case Managers focused on assisting diverse customers, including TANF and other low income individuals along with dislocated workers by matching skills competency training with job growth projections in the region?
Does the state/local area have an partnership strategy to obtain job listings of all jobs created in the ARRA and related economic recovery?
Are One Stop Centers and all other service options accessible to persons with disabilities?
Are adaptive technologies and other accommodations available to ensure full service to people with special needs?
v. Supportive Services including Needs-Related Payments [NRP]
Has the state/local area reviewed and updated policies for delivering supportive services and providing NRPs, based on increased need of participants?
Does the state/local area have the capacity to accurately disseminate and track NRPs?
vi. Reemployment and UI Integration
Does the State have a plan for increasing access to reemployment services for remote UI filers by connecting them to the Workforce system?
Has the State/local area UI, WIA, and WP program staff collaborated to develop reemployment services to UI claimants most likely to exhaust UI benefits?
Given that the current Wagner-Peyser referral rate to WIA services is _______%, has the State developed strategies to improve the referral rate for both regular UI and profiled claimants?
Is the State making its Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) payments [of $25 to each eligible beneficiary] without difficulty?
Does the State have a process to separately track and report the FAC?
Does the State have a plan for its share of the $500 million of administrative funds? What will it be spent on?
Will the State submit legislative changes for the $7B incentive payment?
Has the State developed a Supplemental Budget Request submission for the ARRA implementation costs?
vii. Trade WIA Integration
Has the State adapted any necessary policy changes to implement the 2009 Trade Reauthorization changes?
Does the State have an integrated TRA/ TAA One Stop Workforce system?
Has the State increased staff assigned to the Trade program due to the expansion and increased activity?
Have meetings been set up with the Rapid Response staff on the 2009 Trade Reauthorization in order to update information in outreach materials and presentations?
b. Youth Services
Has the state/local area developed a plan for providing work experiences for summer employment?
Does the state/ local area have staff assigned to oversee youth activities and summer employment, and are these staff trained in implementing the various aspects of summer employment, including appropriate wage and hour provisions, child labor laws, and work site supervision and safety?
Does the State/Local Area have procurement policies in place which will assure an expedient launch of the ARRA-supported portion of the WIA Summer Youth Employment program?
Does the state/local area have the capacity to report the proposed youth Recovery Act data, including the work readiness indicator for those that participate in summer employment, including youth 22-24 years of age?
Does the state/local area system have a plan to train staff in time for implementation of expanded summer employment, including appropriate wage and hour provisions, child labor laws, and work site supervision and safety?
Has the state/local area identified how it will measure the Work Readiness performance and completion rate for the Summer Youth Program?
Will state/local area be able to meet the required expenditure rate of 30% for out-of-school youth for youth served with Recovery Act funds?
Does the state/local area have a plan to closely monitor Summer Youth employment activities as well as other ARRA youth activities?
Have local areas identified possible providers, projects, and/or individual worksites for summer work experiences?
c. Demand Industries and Workforce Information
Has the state/local area identified economic trends and emerging industry and job growth in the near and long term?
Does the State have projections outlining the growth of green jobs and healthcare jobs and strategies for providing training in these fields?
Is this economic and job information widely available to workers seeking employment and training services?
Does the state/local area utilize electronic labor market tools, such as LED, EMSI, and/or other tools (specify)

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