Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission
Semi-Annual Progress Report for the Court Training and Improvements Program
A. Justification
1. Statutorily-Mandated Need for Information
The Court Training and Improvements Program (Court Improvements Program) creates a unique opportunity for Federal, State, Territorial, and Tribal courts or court-based programs to significantly improve court responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking cases utilizing proven specialized court processes to ensure victim safety and offender accountability. The program challenges courts and court-based programs to work with their communities to develop specialized practices and educational resources that will result in significantly improved responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking cases, ensure offender accountability, and promote informed judicial decision making.
Currently, there are different statutory and regulatory reporting requirements that affect Court Improvements Program grantees. First, VAWA 2000 requires all VAWA grantees, including Court Improvements Program grantees, to report on the effectiveness of their programs to the Attorney General who, in turn, must report to Congress every two years. Section 1003 of VAWA 2000 states that:
(a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENTS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall require grantees under any program authorized or reauthorized by this division or an amendment made by this division to report on the effectiveness of the activities carried out with amounts made available to carry out that program, including number of persons served, if applicable, numbers of persons seeking services who could not be served and such other information as the Attorney General or Secretary may prescribe.
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall report biennially to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the grant programs described in subsection (a), including the information contained in any report under that subsection.
42 U.S.C. 3789.
Second, OVW must also comply with the statutory reporting requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), Pub. L. No. 103-62. GPRA was enacted to increase Congressional and Administrative focus on the results of government programs and activities. To meet its GPRA reporting obligations and elicit more meaningful information about grantee performance, OVW has recently developed performance measures, including output measures, regarding which the Court Improvements Program grantees must report on a semi-annual basis.
2. Use of Information
OVW will use the information collected from all Court Improvements Program grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities and assess those activities. In particular, OVW is seeking data that includes baseline information to review activities supported with grant funds, including, for example, an increase in the number of trainings or persons trained. OVW needs to collect this information from grantees every six months- it ensures that our OVW program specialists know what is going on with their grantees within a shorter time period. All of the OVW discretionary program grantees report on a semi-annual basis and we want this reporting requirement to be consistent across the OVW grant programs. For technical purposes, semi-annual reporting also enables us to review the information to ensure accuracy in reporting and get the data to our Technical Assistance provider so this information is available for reporting purposes- both for Congressional reporting requirements as well as performance measures needed in the Budget process.
Therefore, OVW plans to use data from the proposed information collection in two different ways. First, OVW will review each semi-annual progress report to monitor individual Court Improvements Program grantees’ performance and ensure that each grantee is achieving the goals and objectives set forth in its application for funding and award documents. Second, OVW will aggregate data from all Court Improvements Program progress reports to assess the performance of the Court Improvements Program as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice, and other inquiries about how Court Improvements Program grantees use OVW funds.
In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of other techniques to assess the performance of Court Improvement Program grantees. These include OVW staff attendance at site visits, grant- funded training and technical assistance events, staff review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff.
Under a cooperative agreement between OVW and the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, data collected from OVW grantees on all of OVW’s progress report forms is transmitted to the Muskie School for analysis. For the analysis of the data, standard descriptive statistics (frequency, sum, percentage, mean, etc.) are used to describe the characteristics of the grantees and report basic findings. All analyses are conducted in SPSS 13.0.
Use of Information Technology
The collection of information will involve the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Duplication of Information Request
There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded activities number of victims served, victims seeking services who could not be served or persons trained.
Impact on Small Businesses
There is no impact on small businesses.
Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy
Through VAWA 2000, Congress has mandated that all OVW grantees, including Court Improvements Program grantees, report to the Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA, including the number of victims served and the number of victims who could not be served. If OVW was not able to collect the information necessary to complete these reports on behalf of the Attorney General, not only would it be failing to meet a statutorily required reporting mandate, but also the existence of this important and necessary grant program could be jeopardized. The Court Improvements Program creates a unique opportunity for Federal, State, Territorial, and Tribal courts or court-based programs to significantly improve court responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking cases utilizing proven specialized court processes to ensure victim safety and offender accountability. The program challenges courts and court-based programs to work with their communities to develop specialized practices and educational resources that will result in significantly improved responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking cases, ensure offender accountability, and promote informed judicial decision making.
7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances as identified in the specific instructions for a supporting statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
Federal Register Publication
OVW
has consulted with persons outside the agency who have advised that
the data proposed to be collected is available, the annual
collection of such data is not burdensome, the form is clear, and
that the information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving
funds under the Court Improvements Program. OVW has solicited
public comment on this form in accordance with the requirements of
the Paperwork Reduction Act. A 60 day notice was published in the
Federal Register on May 18, 2010 (Federal Register, Volume
75, page 27819) and a 30-day was notice was published in the Federal
Register on July 20, 2010 (Federal Register, Volume 75, page
42129).
Payment or Gift to Respondents
There will no payment or gift to respondents.
Confidentiality
Although this information is needed for a public report to Congress, it will not involve any personal information about victims that could identify them as specific individuals. However, anecdotal, non-identifying information about the effectiveness of individual programs may be included in the report. There is no assurance to confidentiality.
Specific Questions
The semi-annual progress report will not contain any questions of a personal, sensitive nature such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
Hour Burden of the Collection of Information
This semi-annual progress report is not overly burdensome. The data collection tool will be completed by approximately 23 Court Improvements Program grantees twice a year as there are 2 reporting periods- January 1 through June 30 and July 1 through December 31. There will be 46 annual responses and it is estimated that it will take grantees no more than 1 hour to complete the semi-annual progress report form. Thus, the annual reporting and recordkeeping hour burden is 46hours. Court Improvements Program grantees are informed about the reporting requirements during the grant solicitation process and during the grant award process. Because the semi-annual progress report covers a six month period, grantees are not in a position to complete the form until the end of each reporting period.
OVW is seeking basic information that is routinely kept by the Court Improvements Program grantees in the normal course of their operations. Thus, the requirement that grantees complete this semi-annual progress report within a period of less than 30 days after receipt of it is not overly burdensome. OVW estimates that it will take approximately 1 hour for a grantee to complete the form. OVW developed this estimate based on the fact that information of this nature is already kept by grantees receiving funds under the Court Improvements Program and that the grantees have been apprized of these reporting requirements during the solicitation process and reminded throughout the grant award process. The semi-annual progress report is divided into sections that pertain to the different types of activities that grantees may engage in, i.e. training, product development, and judicial activities. Grantees will only have to complete the sections of the form that relate to their specific activities.
13. Cost Burden of the Collection of Information
OVW does not believe that there is any annual cost burden on respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of this information.
Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
The annualized costs to the Federal Government resulting from the OVW staff review of the progress reports submitted by grantees are estimated to be $1,288.
Program Changes or Adjustments
There are no program changes or adjustments for the estimates identified in Section 13 and in Section 14. This is a information collection that is necessary for OVW and its Court Improvements Program grantees to comply with the statutory reporting requirements of 42 U.S.C. 3789 and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).
Published Results of Information Collections
There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication of
information collected under the request. Information will be gathered twice a year at the end of the reporting periods, January 1 through June 30 and July 1 through December 31. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities on a biennial basis.
Display of the Expiration Date of OMB Approval
OVW will display the Expiration Date of OMB Approval in the upper right hand corner of the Semi-annual Progress Report.
18. Exception to the Certification Statement
OVW is not seeking any exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions, of OMB Form 83-I.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | Cathy Poston |
| Last Modified By | catherinemposton |
| File Modified | 2012-04-24 |
| File Created | 2012-04-24 |