SUPPORTING STATEMENT - pmotool 2012

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Performance Measurement On-Line Tool (PMOTOOL)

Section A: Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Federal Context

There has been an increased demand for program accountability in the Federal Government. In 1993, Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which mandated the establishment of strategic planning and performance measurement in the Federal Government. The goal of the program is to improve federal management practices and provide greater accountability for achieving results. For the first time, federal agencies were mandated to become specifically results-oriented. The purpose of the Act is to improve Federal agencies’ accountability for achieving program goals; to set program goals, measure program performance against those goals and report on their progress; to promote a new focus on results through service quality and customer satisfaction; to improve service delivery by planning and meeting program objectives and providing the information about program results; to provide more objective information on achieving statutory objectives and the relative effectiveness of efficiency of Federal programs; and to improve internal management of the Federal Government.

GPRA shifts the focus of federal agencies from process accountability to accountability for results. This emphasis requires the need to identify desired outcomes and makes a difference between measuring program outputs (how much will be done) and measuring actual outcomes (what is the end result) is fundamental to the accountability of agencies to measure the effectiveness of programs.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collections

The purpose of this data collection effort is to provide accountability, focus on results of a various sets of discretionary grants administered by the Children’s Bureau and measure the performance of the grantees. This effort will assist the Children’s Bureau is meeting the requirements of GPRA.

Performance measurement is the ongoing monitoring and reporting of program progress towards pre-established goals. Performance measurement involves determining what to measure, identifying data collections methods and collecting the data. This is different than evaluation which involves assessing progress toward achieving performance expectations, usually to explain the causal relationships that exist between program activities and outcomes. Performance measurement and evaluation are components of performance-based management, the systematic application of information generated by performance plans, measurement and evaluation to strategic planning and budget formulation.

Performance measurement provides necessary information to the Children’s Bureau

• How well the program is doing.

• Whether or not the program is meeting its goals.

• Whether or not stakeholders are satisfied.

• If program processes are working

• If improvements are necessary to the program.

There are several performance measurement concepts and terms used throughout this tool that are important to know. They are:

• Grant Activities: The activities are the task conducted by the grantees. The activities for each of the discretionary grant clusters are based on legislation and policies guiding the types of tasks to be performed under each program. The activities performed by a particular grant should guide that grantee in selecting appropriate performance indicators.

• Output Measures: The measure of the services, products or participation delivered or created in the activities. Grantees will be required to select and report data on at least one output measure for each grant.

• Outcome Measures: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems and communities that occur as a result of the grant activities. Grantees will be required to select and report data on at least one short-term outcome and at least one intermediate outcome for each grant.

• Short-term indicators: Include changes in learning, awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills, opinions, aspirations and motivations.

• Intermediate outcome indicators: Include changes in action, behavior, practice, policies, social action and decision-making.

• Performance Indicator: A particular value or characteristic used to measure output or outcome.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

The Children’s Bureau performance measurement process is structured to minimize any additional reporting burden on the grantees. The performance indicators, as well as the tool itself, have been reviewed by the Federal Project Officers (FPOs) and a work group of grantees representing all five grant programs included in this data collection effort (Abandoned Infants Assistance, Adoption Opportunities, Child Abuse and Prevention and Treatment research and Development, Child welfare Training and Infant Adoption Awareness Training) in order to ensure that the indicators represent the work grantees are performing in the field and are easily measurable.

Each recipient of a Children’s Bureau discretionary grant funding in one of the five categories listed above are encouraged to submit performance data for their grant every six months. Each grantee selects at least three performance indicators: an output, a short-term outcome and an intermediate outcome for each grant. The indicator selection only needs to be made once during the life of the grant. Grantees report data for the selected indicators every six months or once each reporting period, that is October 1^st – March 31^st and April 1^st – September 30^th.

PMOTOOL allows two levels of users – Federal Project Officers and Grantees. Access to system data and features is controlled by user type. A grantee can see and control only its own data. Federal Project Offices can view data from only the set of grantees for which they are responsible.

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

This performance measurement tool is structured to minimize or eliminate any duplicative reporting burden on the grantee. The grantees must submit semi-annual progress reports which cover program, process and evaluation issues, but the performance indicators are not duplicated in these reports. Grantees receive instructions to submit the semi-annual reports and the performance indicators at the same time, that is, 30 days after March 31^st and 30 days after September 30^th in any project year.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

There is no impact on small businesses or other small entities. Only the funded grantees which are public or private non-profit agencies will respond to this requirement.

6. Consequences of collecting the data less frequently.

The PMOTOOL will assist the Federal Project Officer and other decision makers in the Administration for Children and Families about the progress and achievement of the grantees in the individual grant cluster. This information will provide the FPO of any changes in the progress of the grantee and an every six month monitoring will allow sufficient time for any program change that might be necessary.

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

No special circumstances impact the information collection.

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

Notice of the data collection was published in the Federal Register, Volume 77, Number 36, Thursday, February 23, 2012. No comments were received.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

There are no payments or gifts to respondents. All the respondents are grantees and are required to complete the data collection.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

Other than the grant number and agency name, there is no identifying information collected on individuals in the program. The only reviewers are the grantee itself and the Federal Project Officer. Any reporting is complete done a cumulative basis of the indicators and outcome measures. There is no way to tell from the cumulative report which grantee is successful or not.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The PMOTOOL does not ask any question that would be considered sensitive or private.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Costs Hours and Costs

The estimate of hour burden is annual. Based on the annual estimate for all five programs and the possible number of grants awarded in each cluster, approximately 282 hours will be expended to complete the PMOTOOL. Estimating the average wage of the individual completing the instrument at $35/hour, the estimated cost is $9870 per year.

Instrument	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden Hours per Response	Total Burden Hours
Performance Measurement On-Line Tool	Abandoned Infants Assistance Program Estimate 20	2 per fiscal year	One hour per response	Estimate 40
Performance Measurement On-Line Tool	Infant Adoption Awareness Program Estimate 6	2 per fiscal year	One hour per response	Estimate 12
Performance Measurement On-Line Tool	Adoption Opportunities Program Estimate 45	2 per fiscal year	One hour per response field	Estimate 90
Performance Measurement On-Line Tool	Child Abuse and Neglect Program Estimate 30	2 per fiscal year	One hour per response field	Estimate 60
Performance Measurement On-Line Tool	Child Welfare Training Program Estimate 40-50	2 per fiscal year	One hour per response field	Estimate 80

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours 282

The monetary value of this time is 282 hours times $50 which equals $14,100.

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

There is no out of pocket cost to respondents.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The one-time cost to the Federal government to prepare the PMOTOOL is $832,000. The annualized cost to the Federal Government to maintain accumulate the data is $29,830.

15. Explanation of Program Changes or Adjustments

Not applicable.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

There are no plans to use complex analytical techniques to assess the data. The results of the PMOTOOL data collections will be summarized for the Children’s Bureau in briefings and reports as needed by the FPOs and decision-makers. Reports of the data collection will include descriptive analyses and implications of findings of the demonstration programs. Among the results is to increase practice and evidenced-based knowledge in serving the target populations of the Children’s Bureau and ultimately to develop evidence-based program models to serve various populations.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Data is Inappropriate

The OMB expiration data for the information collection will appear on the performance measurement instrument.

18. Exception to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

No exception is requested to the certification statement identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions”.

Section B: Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Potential Respondent Universe, Sampling and Respondent Selection Methods.

The target population for responding to the PMOTOOL is all the grantees funded under each of the five grant cluster included in this effort. Depending on the number of grants funded, the estimates number of respondents is 141. All respondents are expected to respond to all the output measure, including short-term and intermediate indicator and performance indicators selected by each grant cluster. There will be no sample selection or establishment of strata for the grantees. The universe of funded grantees is required to respond to the indicators in the PMOTOL.

2. Procedures for collection of information

There will be no statistical methodology or sample selection for this data collection effort. The purpose of the data collection effort is to provide accountability, focus on results of various sets of discretionary grants administered by the Children’s Bureau and measure the performance of the grantees. Information contained in the performance measurements provide the Children’s Bureau with data on how well the grantee is doing; whether or not the program is meeting its goals; whether or not stakeholders are satisfied; if the program processes are working; and if improvements are necessary to the program. A sample of the universe of grantees cannot be used because all grantees are required under GPRA to submit evidence on their performance indicators. These indicators provide the needed information on the changes in the clients and on behavior, practice skills and policies that result from implementing the discretionary grants.

Two types of reports can result from the PMOTOOL – cumulative data repots and narrative reports. The cumulative data reports are generated from the performance measurements entered by the grantees and can inform the Children’s Bureau about whether progress and goals were achieved in each of the grant cluster. The narrative reports can be attached to the PMOTOOL and always the semi-annual reports submitted to the FPO.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates

The expected response rate is 100%. All the grants in each of the five clusters are required, as a condition of the grant award, to submit data on the performance measures.

4. Test of procedures or methods

No pre-test or validity test will be used.

5. Name of Individual(s) Consulted on the Design of the Data Collection Effort

ICF International, 9300 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22124, (703) 225-2285

Consultant: Matthew Shuman, (703) 225-2285