OPRE PACT OMB Non-substantive Change Request - 7-18

TO: Brenda Aguilar and Jennifer Park, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

FROM: Nancye Campbell & Seth Chamberlain, Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children & Families (ACF)

DATE: July 18, 2013

SUBJECT: Non-Substantive Change Request to 0970-0403

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This information collection request (ICR) is for clearance for instruments associated with the Parents and Children Together (PACT) Evaluation, which is evaluating a subset of Responsible Fatherhood (RF) and Healthy Marriage (HM) grants authorized under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-291). The evaluation is being undertaken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and is being implemented by Mathematica Policy Research.

Two ICRs associated with this evaluation received OMB approval on April 20, 2012 and October 31, 2012, through which OMB approved four instruments. In February 2013, OPRE submitted a new ICR to OMB requesting approval of 14 additional instruments to be used in the PACT Evaluation. On July 8, 2013, three instruments contained in this new ICR received OMB approval (i.e., (4) HM Introductory Script; (5) HM Baseline Survey; and (7) HM MIS system). The terms of the approval read: “The information collection materials in this package are approved with the exception of 8- 13 and 16-18; and 14-15. These instruments will be resubmitted as nonsubstantive changes prior to use in September and October, 2013 respectively.” Per these terms, OPRE revised the February 2013 ICR – so that it requests clearance for the remaining instruments included in the February 2013 package – and is now resubmitting as a non-substantive change.

OPRE is currently requesting approval for the remaining instruments contained in the original package (11 instruments). The instruments in this package will be used to collect data for impact evaluations for HM and RF grantees, as well as for implementation/qualitative-only evaluations for RF grantees with a focus on Hispanic populations. OPRE needs approval of these remaining instruments by the end of August, so we can train data collectors and begin collecting data in September and October.

Currently, a 60-day FRN for a future ICR for PACT is published. Data collection for the instruments described in that 60-day (i.e. follow-up surveys for RF and HM study participants) are needed in the field by December 2013. Therefore, we anticipate submitting an additional ICR to OMB in early September 2013 in order to gain approval by December 2013, when the instruments will be needed in the field.