Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act

Special Nutrition Programs (SNP)

Justification for Adding

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Child Care Wellness Grants

to List of Approved Programs Using Uniform Grant Application for

Non-Entitlement Discretionary Grants,

OMB Control Number 0584-0512

1. Circumstances making the collection of information necessary.

Public Law 118-80, The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 2010, enacted on October 21, 2009, allocated funds to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to provide grants, on a competitive basis, to State agencies administering the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) established under section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766). Under this legislation, Congress appropriated $8 million for grant projects for the purpose of promoting health and nutrition improvement in child care settings. Congress also stipulated that a State receiving a grant must use no less than 50 percent of grant funds to award subgrants to local institutions for the purpose of promoting health and nutrition improvement in child care settings. In addition, priority must be given to State agencies that carry out each of the authorized use of funds: (A) promote nutrition and physical activity that reflect the recommendations of the most recent version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans or the most recent scientific knowledge; (B) provide technical assistance and training to sponsors and providers of child care centers and family and group day care homes in implementing State and local initiatives designed to improved the health and nutrition of children; (C) perform outreach campaigns on the state and local level that are designed to increase access in underserved areas and populations; and (D) make innovative use of technology to provide training and education to promote the nutrition, physical activity, and health of children.

FNS intends to competitively award grants to State Agencies responsible for administering the child care portion of the CACFP to conduct these projects. That State agency in turn will use no less than 50 percent of grant funds to award subgrants to local institutions. Each applicant will be required to submit a proposal to FNS describing the grant proposal and associated budget. A panel of experts from FNS will evaluate and score each proposal received, and make a final determination of the best proposals for the award. As part of the review and subsequent award process, FNS will seek information from the applicants that includes a description of their proposed approach to the proposal, budget projections, and staffing capabilities and levels. The information to be collected is not mandated by law or regulation.

FNS will post the Request for Application (RFA) package for the Child and Adult Care Food Program Child Care Wellness Grants on its website on or about March 2010 at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care and on www.grants.gov.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information.

The primary users of the information collected from the applicants using SF 424, 424a, 424b, 425, SF-LLL and quarterly reporting data elements (in any format), are FNS staff who will serve on a panel to systematically review, evaluate and approve the grant/cooperative agreement applications and recommend the State Agencies most likely to meet program objectives and most responsive to the solicitation. The selection criteria are contained in the RFA package. This process will occur only once this year.

3. Use of Information Technology and Burden Reduction.

In compliance with E-Government Act 2002, FNS offers applicants the opportunity to receive and provide information electronically. Applicants may receive the RFA package by downloading the application from www.fns.udsa.gov/cnd/care or from the www.grants.gov website. Additionally, applicants may apply for this opportunity directly through www.grants.gov. FNS anticipates that approximately 33 percent of applications will be submitted electronically, or five out of 15 States. State agencies that send in their applications via mail or courier are required to submit an original hard copy and two copies of their proposals to the address listed on the RFA. FNS will not accept emailed or faxed applications.

4. Effort to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information.

There is no similar data collection effort available. This program solicitation is new and unique.

5. Impacts Small Businesses or Other Small Entities.

The information request is held to the minimum amount required.

6. Consequences for Collecting the Information Less Frequently.

FNS will seek minimal information that will be critical in selecting the most promising grantees. Reduced frequency is not possible. The consequence for not collecting the information is the inability to award grant funds as requested by Congress in The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 2010.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guideline of 5 CFR 1320.5.

There are no special circumstances. The collection of information is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside Agency.

A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2008, (Volume 73, Number 162, page 49159-49160) soliciting comments on FNS’s intent to request Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a uniform grant application package for FNS discretionary grant programs that is a revision of the previously approved package. FNS received one public comment in response to the Federal Register notice.

FNS staff often discusses the availability of the various grant opportunities and the grant application requirements with potential applicants at various national or regional meetings.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents.

There are no plans to provide cash payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents.

Provision of the information requested is entirely voluntarily. The collection of this information is for the purpose of aiding in the review of applications prior to grant award decisions and for management of grants. This information will be used within FNS and may also be disclosed outside FNS as permitted by the Privacy Act under certain situations, including disclosures to the public as required by the Freedom of Information Act. All activities associated with the agreement respect the existing policy with regard to confidentiality. FNS will work with the Grantees and ensure that any release of such information is done under the terms and conditions of the existing Freedom of Information Act which requires that Grantees provided release permissions and are informed of the use of the information.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature included in this data collection.

12. Estimate of Hours Burden Including Annualized Hourly Costs

FNS estimates that approximately fifteen (15) respondents will submit an application for the grant projects. It is estimated that the average applicant will spend 120 hours designing and constructing their proposals. This is based on the general fact that applicants will have about three months to complete their proposals.

A.12.1 Estimate of Hours Burden on Respondents for Application Pre & Post Award

Type of Respondent	Estimated No. of Grant/CA Applications (Responses )	Frequency of Response	Total Annual Responses	Estimated Time to Complete each Application	Total Estimated Burden Hours
Pre-award Grantee (State Agencies)	15	1	15	120	1,800

Type of Respondent	Action	Form or Instrument	Number Respondents	No. Annual Response	Total Annual Response	Hours per Response	Total Annual Burden
Post-award Grantee (State Agencies)	Quarterly Progress and Financial Reports	SF-425	10	4	40	2	80
	Annual Report	SF-425	10	1	10	3	30
	Final Progress and Financial Report	SF-425	10	1	10	20	200
Post- Award Total Burden			15	7	75		2,110

Pre award burden hours =1,800

Post-award burden hours = 310

Total Burden = 2,110

Respondents have a full range of discretion in how they design and develop a proposal. FNS has provided guidance in the RFA on the information that is needed to evaluate the proposals and select the most promising grantees. Hourly estimates identified above are used as the basis for determining total annual cost burden to respondents of the application.

A.12.2 Estimates of Annualized Cost to Respondents for Application

Type of Respondent	Number of Respondents	Average Time per Response (hours)	Total Estimated Burden Hours	Frequency of Response	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Cost
Pre-Award Grantee	15	120	1,800	1	$40	$72,000

FNS estimates that each respondent will utilize at least one full time member at a cost of $40 per hour. The range for this estimate may vary significantly but FNS believes the cost-per-hour estimate is the most practicable. Wage rates were determined using the http://www.bls.gov/bls/wages.htm website.

13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers.

There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government.

Costs are estimated for two categories:

1. Grant costs are expected to total about $8 million based on the assumption of one to ten awards. Actual awards will depend on how many grants are funded on a competitive basis and the merits of the proposals received.

(2) FNS staffing costs, which are identified below.

The processing and reviewing the applications is estimated to cost $3,441.00. This is based on an estimate of a total of 62 hours of labor to process each of the approximately 15 application packages totaling 930 staff hours. The estimate assumes an hourly cost per staff person of $55.50 per hour (using the Federal Salary Table 2010, the average salary for GS-13 grade level including overhead and benefits). This labor estimate includes 6 hours by grants management staff to process an application, 48 hours total by 5 FNS staff to conduct a thorough technical review of each application, and 8 hours by the panel chairperson to document the technical reviews and prepare the recommendations for award. Assuming 15 applications will be received, it is anticipated that 930 hours will be needed to process and review these applications. Costs other than salary costs are negligible.

Total hours:	930 hours
Total Annualized Cost to the Federal Government:	$51, 615

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

There are no changes of the information collection since the last OMB approval.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule.

FNS will publicize summary information of the applicants that receive grant funding in www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date Is Inappropriate.

The agency plans to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection on all instruments.

18. Exception to Certification for paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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