The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, authorizes the commissioner to re-allot to other grant recipients that portion of a recipient's annual grant that cannot be used. To maximize the use of appropriated funds under the formula grant programs, The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has established a re-allotment process for the Basic Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants; Supported Employment State Grants; Independent Living State Grants, Part B (IL-Part B); Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who Are Blind (IL-OB); Client Assistance (CAP) and Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights (PAIR) Programs. The authority for the Rehabilitation Services Administration to reallot formula grant funds is found at sections 110(b)(2) (VR), 622(b) (SE), 711(c) (IL-Part B), 752(j)(4) (IL-OB), 112(e)(2) (CAP), and 509(e) (PAIR) of the act. The information will be used by the Rehabilitation Services Administration State Monitoring and Program Improvement Division to reallot formula grant funds for the awards mentioned above. For each grant award; the grantee will be required to enter the amount of funds being relinquished and/or any additional funds being requested.
The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), within the U.S. Department of EducationÂs (ED) Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), has developed an online submission process for formula grant recipients to indicate the amount of funds they wish to relinquish during the re-allotment process and/or the amount of funds they wish to request during this process. In previous years, this re-allotment process was initiated through an Information Memorandum that RSA issued asking grantees to indicate the amount of funds being relinquished and/or requested. The re-allotment process is based upon both statute and regulation and allows funds unused by some grantees receiving funds under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, to be used by other grantees, thus eliminating the reversion of federal funds to the U.S. Treasury.
Grantees in six of RSAÂs formula grant programs are subject to a re-allotment process. These programs include the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants, the Supported Employment State Grants, the Independent Living Part B, the Independent Living for Older Individuals Who Are Blind, the Client Assistance, and the Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights programs. Specifically, for the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants Program, RSAÂs largest formula grant program, 34 CFR 361.65(b) requires that: (1) ÂThe Secretary determines no later than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year which States, if any, will not use their full allotment. (2) As soon as possible, but not later than the end of the fiscal year, the Secretary re-allots these funds to other States that can use those additional funds during the current or subsequent year, provided the State can meet the matching requirement by obligating the non-Federal share of any re-alloted funds in the fiscal year for which the funds were appropriated.Â
ED is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clear the application on an emergency basis. Because many states are experiencing challenging economic circumstances, we anticipate that they may not be able to match funds received under the Rehabilitation Act and that the re-allotment process will be more critical this year than in years past. The online process we have developed is less burdensome to grantees, since the electronic system automatically generates much of the information that is required in the re-allotment process.
As stated in the aforementioned citation, this re-allotment process is required by regulation to be completed before September 30 of this year in order for states to obligate the re-allotted funds and meet the matching requirements. Therefore, ED is requesting OMB approval of this online process by July 15, 2010. This time frame will allow us sufficient time to: 1) notify states about the new system for online submission of grant relinquishment's or requests; 2) receive all necessary information from the state agencies by August 15, which meets the minimum 45 day requirement in 34 CFR 361.65(b)(1); and 3) to process the requests received no later than September 30, 2010, per 34 CFR 361.65(b)(2).
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.