Indian and Native American Program Solicitation for Grant Applications Supplemental Justification

Generic Solicitation for Grant Applications Supplemental Justification

Indian and Native American Program

Supplemental Supporting Statement A: Justification

This request seeks OMB approval for the unique information collections contained in the Indian and Native American Program Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA). The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will announce the availability of approximately $58 million in grant funds, authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Section 166, for the Indian and Native American Program (INAP) to fund approximately 170 grants—$46 million to fund the Comprehensive Service Program (CSP) serving adult participants and $12 million to fund Supplemental Youth Service Program (SYSP) serving summer youth participants. Awards under the CSP are anticipated to range from approximately $13,000 to $5 million. Awards for the SYSP are anticipated to range from approximately $1,000 to $2.6 million.

This SGA contains the procedures by which the Department will designate grantees for Program Years (PY) 2014 and 2015¹ to operate Indian and Native American Employment and Training Programs under WIA Section 166 within specified geographic service areas.² Grantees must provide services to all eligible applicants and ensure equitable access to employment and training services within the geographic service area. The Department waived the previous competitive round of WIA Section 166 awards for PY 2012-2013, and has determined that no waivers of competition under WIA Section 166(c)(2) will be available for the next two-year designation cycle. Requirements for these programs are set forth in WIA Section 166 and 20 CFR Part 668.

Applications include the following information collections:

• Federally recognized Tribes participating in the demonstration under Public Law 102-477 whose status has not changed need to submit only the following documents with respect to that program:

• Cover letter indicating the tribe’s intentions to include the WIA Section 166 program in its grant agreement; and

• Form SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance and attachments (separately cleared under control number 4040-0004).

• Every applicant for designation as a WIA Section 166 grantee for PY 2014 and PY 2015 must submit an NOI (also called “application" or “proposal”) for each noncontiguous geographic service area for which an entity is applying. The NOI must consist of three separate and distinct parts:

• Form SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance and attachments (separately cleared under control number 4040-0004);

• Planning and Development Narrative; and

• Attachments to the Planning and Development Narrative.

Electronic availability:

This grant solicitation is available on the grants.gov Web site. Based on past DOL experience, the Department anticipates 50 percent of responses will be submitted electronically.

Small Entities:

This information collection will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Assurances of confidentiality:

These grant solicitations do not offer applicants assurances of confidentiality.

Special circumstances:

This SGA implicates no special circumstances.

Burden:

Based on past experience, the DOL expects to receive approximately 130 applications. The ETA estimates public reporting burden for the information collection to average 20 hours per response for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining needed data, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

130 applications x 20 hours =2,600 hours.

The DOL has increased the October 2013, average hourly earnings in the professional and business services industry of $30.38 by 40 percent (total $42.53) to monetize this burden. See The Employment Situation—December 2013, DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01102014.pdf at 35.

2600 hours x $42.53 = $110,578.

The DOL associates no other burden costs with this information collection. In addition to the application, each grantee will be required to submit quarterly financial, performance, and narrative reports to the ETA. Those information collection requirements will be cleared under a separate control number.

Total burden: 130 respondents, 130 responses, 2600 hours, $0 other cost burden.

Supplemental Supporting Statement B: Statistical Methods

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

1 Grantees will be expected to commence operations of the Supplemental Youth Service Program on April 1, 2014, and the Comprehensive Service Program on July 1, 2014.

2 A “geographic service area” is defined as the geographic area, described as States, counties, or reservations, or parts or combinations thereof, for which a Section 166 designation is made. A geographic service area, by its very nature, is not defined in terms of a specific population to be served. The formal designation letter issued by the Grant Officer will notify the applicant about the geographic service area for which it has been designated. Grantees must ensure that all eligible population members within the geographic service area have equitable access to employment and training services. See 20 CFR 668.650(a).

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