Regional Partnership Grants

MEMORANDUM

TO: Robert Sargis, ACF Reports Clearance Officer, Office of Planning, Research and
Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families

FROM: Elaine Stedt and Melissa Lim Brodowski, The Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families

SUBJECT: Non-substantive Change Request to Regional Partnership Grants National Cross-Site Evaluation and Evaluation Technical Assistance (OMB #0970-0444)

DATE: January 14, 2015

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeks approval to add four additional grantee sites to an existing OMB approved information collection request entitled Regional Partnership Grants National Cross-Site Evaluation and Evaluation Technical Assistance (known as the Regional Partnership Grants Program or “RPG”) (OMB # 0970-0444). Under RPG, the Children’s Bureau issued 17 grants to organizations such as child welfare or substance abuse treatment providers or family court systems to develop interagency collaborations and integration of programs, activities, and services designed to increase well-being, improve permanency, and enhance the safety of children who are in an out-of-home placement or are at risk of being placed in out-of-home care as a result of a parent’s or caretaker’s substance abuse. In the fall of 2014, the Children’s Bureau awarded four additional grants to RPG partnerships to participate in the ongoing evaluation and technical assistance support project. The four additional grantees will assume the same data collection requirements and reporting structure as the existing cohort of 17 grantees.

Revised Estimate of Burden

Below we detail the estimate of burden for the RPG evaluation previously approved by OMB (table 1) and provide a revised estimate of burden (table 2). The revisions in the burden estimates take into account three main changes: (1) the addition of four grantees, bringing the total up to 21; (2) the reduction from two to only one round of site visits reducing the overall number of interviews with program directors, program managers/supervisors and frontline staff; and (3) the reduction from two to only one round of staff and partner surveys.

The total annualized cost and total annual burden hours increased overall due to the addition of four RPG3 grantees (due to item 1 above), however, the burden hours and cost per grantee lowered (due to items 2 and 3 above). The overall annualized burden hours increased by 4,133 hours, from18,852 hours to 22,985 hours. The overall annualized cost increased by $71,468, from $345,910 to $417,378. However, the per grantee annualized burden hours decreased by 14 hours, a reduction from 1,109 hours to 1,095 hours. The per grantee annualized cost decreased by $473, from $20,348 to $19,875.

The additional grantees will participate in identical data collection activities and reporting requirements and no new information will be added. In addition, the per grantee burden has slightly declined due to small reductions in data collection activities. Due to the negligible changes to burden and cost at the grantee level, the Children’s Bureau requests approval for the addition of four grantees to those 17 grantees currently in the RPG evaluation under the existing OMB approval.

Table 1. Estimate of Burden for the RPG Evaluation

IC Title	Respondents	Annual Responses	Annual Hours
Implementation and Partnership Study
Program Director Individual Interview - Private Sector	9	6	12
Program Director Individual Interview - Government	8	5	11
Program Manager/Supervisor Group Interview - Private Sector	81	54	108
Program Manager/Supervisor Group Interview - Government	72	48	96
Program manager/supervisor individual interview - Private Sector	54	36	36
Program manager/supervisor individual interview - Government	48	32	32
Frontline staff individual interview - Private sector	54	36	36
Frontline staff individual interview - Government	48	32	32
Semi-annual progress reports - Private Sector	9	18	297
Semi-annual progress reports - Government	8	16	264
Case enrollment data - Private Sector	27	810	203
Case enrollment data - Government	24	720	180
Service log entries - Private sector	54	42120	2106
Service log entries - Government	48	37440	1872
Staff survey - Private sector	180	121	51
Staff survey - Government	160	107	45
Partner survey - Private sector	180	121	40
Partner survey - Government	160	107	35
Data Uploading for Outcomes Evaluation
Administrative Data
Obtain Access to Administrative Data - Private Sector	9	9	384
Obtain Access to Administrative Data - Government	8	8	342
Report administrative data - Private Sector	9	18	2592
Report administrative data – Government	8	16	2304
Standardized Instruments
Review and adopt reporting templates - Private Sector	9	3	27
Review and adopt reporting templates - Government	8	3	24
Enter data into local databases - Private Sector	9	18	2025
Enter data into local databases - Government	8	16	1800
Review records and submit data electronically - Private Sector	9	18	1800
Review records and submit data electronically - Government	8	16	1600
Additional Data Entry for Impact Evaluation
Data entry for comparison study sites - Private sector	3	6	217
Data entry for comparison study sites - Government	4	8	289
Total burden requested under this ICR:		81968	18860

Table 2. Revised Estimate of Burden for the RPG Evaluation

IC Title	Respondents	Annual Responses	Annual Hours
Implementation and Partnership Study
Program Director Individual Interview - Private Sector	12	4	8
Program Director Individual Interview - Government	9	3	6
Program Manager/Supervisor Group Interview - Private Sector	108	36	71
Program Manager/Supervisor Group Interview - Government	81	27	53
Program manager/supervisor individual interview - Private Sector	72	24	24
Program manager/supervisor individual interview - Government	54	18	18
Frontline staff individual interview - Private sector	72	24	24
Frontline staff individual interview - Government	54	18	18
Semi-annual progress reports - Private Sector	12	24	396
Semi-annual progress reports - Government	9	18	297
Case enrollment data - Private Sector	36	1080	270
Case enrollment data - Government	27	810	203
Service log entries - Private sector	72	56160	2808
Service log entries - Government	54	42120	2106
Staff survey - Private sector	240	79	33
Staff survey - Government	180	59	25
Partner survey - Private sector	240	79	26
Partner survey - Government	180	59	20
Data Uploading for Outcomes Evaluation
Administrative Data
Obtain Access to Administrative Data - Private Sector	12	12	512
Obtain Access to Administrative Data - Government	9	9	384
Report administrative data - Private Sector	12	24	3456
Report administrative data – Government	9	18	2592
Standardized Instruments
Review and adopt reporting templates - Private Sector	12	4	36
Review and adopt reporting templates - Government	9	3	24
Enter data into local databases - Private Sector	12	24	2700
Enter data into local databases - Government	9	18	2025
Review records and submit data electronically - Private Sector	12	24	2400
Review records and submit data electronically - Government	9	18	1800
Additional Data Entry for Impact Evaluation
Data entry for comparison study sites - Private sector	5	10	361
Data entry for comparison study sites - Government	4	8	289
Total burden requested under this ICR:		100814	22985