ombrocisREVISED2017TAsupportstatement-1[1]

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

Office on Violence Against Women: Semi-annual Progress Report for the Technical Assistance Program

A. Justification

1. Statutorily-Mandated Need for Information

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) administers financial support and technical assistance to communities around the country that are creating programs, policies, and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Its mission is to provide national leadership to improve the Nation’s response to these crimes through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), the Violence Against Women Act of 2000, the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 and the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. OVW pursues this mission by supporting community efforts, enhancing education and training, disseminating best practices, launching special initiatives, and leading the Nation’s efforts to end violence against women.

Currently, OVW administers 4 formula grant programs and 20 discretionary grant programs, all of which were established under VAWA and subsequent legislation. Since its inception in 1995, OVW has awarded over $4.7billion in grants and cooperative agreements and has launched a multifaceted approach to implementing VAWA. These grant programs are designed to develop the nation’s capacity to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable for their action.

The primary purpose of the OVW Training and Technical Assistance Program (TA Program) is to provide direct assistance to grantees and their subgrantees to enhance the success of local projects they are implementing with VAWA grant funds. In addition, OVW is focused on building the capacity of criminal justice and victim services organizations to respond effectively to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and to foster partnerships between organizations that have not traditionally worked together to address violence against women, such as faith- and community- based organizations.

Currently, there are different statutory and regulatory reporting requirements that affect TA Program grantees. First, VAWA 2000 requires all VAWA grantees, including TA 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 TA Program grantees must report on a semi-annual basis.

2. Use of Information

OVW uses data from the information collection¹ in different ways. OVW will use the information collected from TA Program grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities and qualitatively assess those activities. In particular, OVW is seeking data that includes baseline information to review activities supported with TA Program funds, including, for example, an increase in the number of trainings or products developed. OVW will review each semi-annual progress report to monitor individual grantee’s performance, including the grant-funded activities and to ensure that the goals and objectives set forth in applications for funding and award documents are met.

The TA Program grantees collect information that addresses the following grant-funded activities (different sections on the reporting form): staff, informational materials, and trainings. Narrative questions at the end of these different sections enable grantees to give more detailed qualitative information about their grant-funded activities. In addition, grantees must answer narrative questions on the most significant areas of remaining need, what has federal funding allowed the grantee to do that grantee could not do prior to receiving funding, additional information about the TA Grant Program grant and/or the effectiveness of the grant and any additional information about the data submitted.

In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of other techniques to assess the performance of TA grantees. These may include OVW staff attendance at grant-funded training and technical assistance events, staff review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff.

OVW will aggregate data from all grantees progress reports to assess the performance of the TA Program as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice, and other inquiries about how TA Program funds are being used. In addition, information collected from grantees will support the following OVW GPRA measures:

Number of grant-funded multi-disciplinary training events that have occurred; and

Number of professionals trained to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Information collected from TA Program grantees will enable OVW to respond to statutory requirements to report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities. OVW has submitted the 2014 Measuring Effectiveness Report to Congress, which includes information about how funds were expended and an assessment of the effectiveness of funded programs. This report is based on data submitted by grantees reflecting TA Program awards made and the TA Program‐funded activities engaged in during calendar years 2011 and 2013.

The data that OVW collects on the semiannual progress reporting forms is currently not used in connection with an evaluation of the TA Program. OVW is currently exploring the development of a multi-layered evaluation agenda for its grant programs and technical assistance activities.

It is important that OVW collect this information from TA providers on a semi-annual basis so that OVW can ensure that they are performing within the statutory limitations of the program in a timely manner. Because OVW is not able to perform site visits with every TA provider, the review of progress reports every six months enables OVW to monitor grantees in timely manner. It is easier to identify a potential resolution for a matter that needs correction or modification if the issue is identified sooner rather than later. An annual report would increase the potential for grantees, unintentionally or intentionally, to spend grant funds inappropriately for a longer period of time. Semi-annual reporting periods allow for more frequent coarse corrections and interaction between the grantee and OVW. In addition, having a six month reporting period enables OVW to determine whether TA providers have successfully completed requisite activities necessary to advance to the next phase of implementation, i.e. completing a needs assessment or pilot testing a training curriculum before beginning to offer a specific type of training.

3. 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. OVW grantees are required to submit annual progress reports through the Grants Management System (GMS).

3. Duplication of Information Request

3. There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded activities involving the provision of training or providing technical assistance to grantees engaged in activities funded under VAWA.

5. Impact on Small Entities

There is no impact on small entities as the collection is necessary to secure federal funding.

3. Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy

Through the VAWA 2000, Congress has mandated that TA Program grantees report to the Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA. 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 support for VAWA grantees could be jeopardized.

3. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances as identified in the specific instructions for a supporting statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.

3. 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 TA 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 September 20, 2016 (Federal Register, Volume 81, page 64511) and a 30-day was notice was published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2017 (Federal Register, Volume 82, page 8762). OVW did not receive any public comments.

3. Payment or Gift to Respondents

There will no payment or gift to respondents.

3. 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.

3. Specific Questions

The progress report form 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.

3. 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 100 TA Program grantees twice a year. There will be 200180 semi-annual responses and it is estimated that it will take grantees no more than 1 hour to complete the progress report form. Thus, the semiannual reporting and recordkeeping hour burden is 200 180 hours. TA Program grantees are informed about the reporting requirements during the grant solicitation process and during the grant award process.

OVW is seeking basic information that is routinely kept by the grantees in the normal course of their operations. Thus, the requirement that grantees complete this 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 TA Program and that the grantees have been apprised of these reporting requirements during the solicitation process and reminded throughout the grant award process. The progress report is divided into sections that pertain to the different types of activities that grantees may engage in, i.e. training, product development. 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 cost burden on respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of this information other than the staff time devoted to developing and drafting a response to the progress report.

.

14. 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 the TA providers are estimated to be $11,200.

14. Program Changes or Adjustments

There are no program changes or adjustments for the estimates identified in Section 13 and in Section 14.

14. . 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. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities on a biennial basis

17. 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 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.

1 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.

6