SSA_TVAP Social Network Survey FINAL

Trafficking Victim Assistance Program Social Network Analysis--Network Survey

Supporting Statement—Section A

Submitted: May 4, 2018

Contracting Officer’s Representative

Amanda Benton

Social Science Analyst
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201

202–690–7290

[email protected]

Section A—Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP), as authorized by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, (22 USC 7105(b)(1)(B); 22 USC 7105(f); 42 USC 14044b), provides comprehensive case management services to foreign-born victims of human trafficking residing in the United States. Since its inception, TVAP funding and infrastructure have remained relatively unchanged: Services are paid on a per capita basis, and funds are managed through primary grantees that enter into cooperative agreements with service providers (subrecipients) to provide regional coverage. Additionally, an assessment of the implementation of TVAP has not been conducted previously. Given the changing landscape and greater understanding of the nature and extent of trafficking, an assessment of the program is timely and appropriate. To supplement an earlier fiscal year 2018 assessment, for which we have submitted a separate Information Collection Request (ICR) under ASPE’s generic ICR OMB No. 0990-0421, to solicit qualitative feedback from a range of program stakeholders, the information collected for this program survey aims to help HHS determine if efficiencies can be gained through improved coordination among TVAP grantees, TVAP subrecipients, and other service providers.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families’ (HHS/ACF) Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) is responsible for administering TVAP. In collaboration with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE), OTIP has contracted with the firm ICF to conduct this assessment. The findings will be of interest primarily to OTIP but may also be of interest to other funding agencies and organizations that work with individuals who have been trafficked.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

ASPE, in partnership with ACF, is seeking approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for this ICR titled, “Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP) Program Social Network Analysis - Network Survey.” The program assessment represents a collaboration between ASPE, OPRE, OTIP, and the contractor (ICF). Through this collaboration, the goals, methods, and scope of the assessment have been identified and refined. This collaboration will continue throughout the assessment with ASPE, OPRE, and OTIP providing feedback and guidance to the contractor through regular communication.

The overall program assessment aims to address the following goals:

1. Gain in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the current per capita funding allocation method.

2. Gain in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the current regional grant structure.

3. Determine if efficiencies can be gained through improved coordination of services and/or merger of different federal trafficking programs.

4. Identify potential alternative funding or grant structure strategies that would address the needs of the target population (i.e., foreign-born victims of human trafficking).

The program assessment will utilize a mixed methods approach with two separate data collection efforts (i.e. qualitative and quantitative) to address the goals of the assessment. To address the first, second, and fourth components of the study, the contractor will conduct a qualitative assessment that will include (1) interviews with fiscal year 2016 TVAP grantees and subrecipients (e.g., grant administrators, case managers, and service referral contacts) and (2) focus groups with TVAP subrecipients with extensive knowledge of trafficking-related grants or funding allocation models. The key informant interviews and focus groups were submitted to OMB for approval under ASPE’s generic information collection request OMB No. 0990-0421. This methodology will help document and describe information related to perceptions and experiences related to the current grant structure; the per capita funding model; alternative approaches for funding trafficking services; and cost efficiencies.

To address the third component of the study, the contractor will conduct an electronic survey with a bounded network of respondents that includes only fiscal year 2016 TVAP grantees and subrecipients to inform the social/organizational network analysis and understand costs of current TVAP grantees and subrecipients. This analysis will focus on the individual networks and program costs of grantees and subrecipients and will include grantees, subrecipients, and other service agencies with whom they make and receive referrals. We will use the results to better understand how the networks are constructed and gather quantitative measures for understanding the linkages among grantees and subrecipients, as well as the use of TVAP funding by current grantees and subrecipients, using the survey included in this ICR. Examples of quantitative measures that capture the network relationships between grantees and subrecipients include density (i.e., the relative number of connections) and clustering coefficient (i.e., the tendency of the network to aggregate in subgroups), Examples of quantitative measures of subrecipients’ use of TVAP funding include average dollars spent on different types of services and average TVAP personnel costs. The information collected will then be analyzed to identify potential opportunities for improving the efficiency of the network and the per capita cost structure at both the grantee and subrecipient level.

Key staff (i.e. program supervisor/coordinator) at grantee sites and subrecipient organizations will complete a self-administered online survey. The survey includes questions about each grantee’s or subrecipient’s services provided, estimated costs of services, service coordination between grantees or subrecipients and other service providers, and type and strength of relationships between grantees and subrecipients. A bounded network of all grantee sites and subrecipient organizations will receive an online survey that will ask them to provide information about everyone else in their network. The survey will be a snapshot of the network and will show how grantee sites and subrecipient organizations are connected (e.g., nature and frequency of communication), as well as documenting current use of TVAP funding.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

All efforts will be made to reduce the burden on grantee and subrecipient organizations. Survey data will be collected through an online survey tool. The use of an online survey allows recipients to complete the survey at a time and location convenient for them and minimizes data entry. Online responses will be customized for each grantee network to ensure that grantees and subrecipients answer only the most relevant questions.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

To our knowledge, no information has been or is currently being collected similar to those described. An assessment of the implementation of TVAP has not been conducted previously, and no data exists to address the goals of this assessment. This is an exploratory study to answer questions that we currently do not have the data to answer.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

No small businesses will be involved in this data collection.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

This request is for a one-time data collection.

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

There are no special circumstances with this information collection package. This request fully complies with the regulation 5 CFR 1320.5 and will be voluntary.

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

The 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on March 5, 2018, Vol. 83 #43, page 9325-9326. The 30-day notice will publish on May 4, 2018. The contractor worked with the following people to design this assessment: Amanda Benton in ASPE, Mary Mueggenborg in OPRE, and Elizabeth Pfenning in OTIP. Contact information will be supplied upon request.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

We will not be providing incentives for this program assessment.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

We are not collecting personally identifiable information. We are asking respondents about their perceptions and experiences related to the current grant structure as well as the type and extent of their relationships with other grantees and subrecipients in a professional capacity. The contractor will obtain the names and work email addresses of respondents only for the purposes of disseminating the survey. Contact information and survey responses will be securely stored using password protected storage and restricted access to contractor project staff only. Once complete, surveys will be downloaded, de-identified, and stored on a secure server. All electronic data will be deleted from the online platform once securely stored. Any analysis or presentation of social network graphs will be labeled with a de-identified label representing each individual organization in the network.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

We will not be asking any questions of a personal or sensitive nature. Cost and administrative data will contain variables that are routinely collected as part of performance measurement.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

The survey will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Estimates for the average hourly wage for respondents are based on the Department of Labor (DOL) National Compensation Survey estimate for management occupations—medical and health services managers in state government (http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/nctb1349.pdf). Based on DOL data, an average hourly wage of $57.11 is estimated for all 256 respondents. Table A-12 shows estimated burden and cost information.

Table A-12: Estimated Annualized Burden Hours and Costs to Respondents

Type of Respondent	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Costs
I think TVAP grantees	3	1	45/60	2.25	$57.11	$128.50
TVAP subrecipients	253	1	45/60	189.75	$57.11	$10,836.62
TOTALS	256	256		192		$10,965.12

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

There will be no direct costs to the respondents other than their time to participate in the data collection.

14. Annualized Cost to the Government

Table A-14: Estimated Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

Staff (FTE)	Average Hours per Collection	Average Hourly Rate	Average Cost
Social Science Analyst, GS 11	260	33.00	$8,580
Social Science Analyst, GS 15	80	76.00	$6,080
Estimated Total Cost of Information Collection			$14,660

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This is a new data collection.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

1. Gain in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the current per capita funding allocation method.

2. Gain in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the current grant structure.

3. Determine if efficiencies can be gained through improved coordination of services and/or merger of different federal trafficking programs.

4. Identify alternative funding strategies that would address the needs of the target population (i.e., foreign-born victims of human trafficking).

Data collection (i.e., interviews and focus groups) for goals 1, 2, and 4 will be conducted prior to data collection for goal 3 and have been submitted for approval using the ASPE Generic Clearance for Qualitative Research. We developed two interview protocols and one focus group protocol that will be administered to key grantee and subrecipient staff, as appropriate. The key informant interviews and focus groups will allow us to document and describe perceptions and experiences related to the current grant structure and per capita funding model.

We will conduct descriptive and predictive quantitative analyses, including a social network analysis, to address goal 3. T-tests, analysis of variance, and regression are other potential predictive analysis depending on the quality and parameters of the data collected. We have developed a survey that will be administered to all TVAP grantee and subrecipient organizations. We anticipate a 45 percent response rate. The survey will allow us to collect the frequency of interactions (e.g., referrals), services provided, cost of services, service coordination, and type and strength of relationships between grantee and subrecipient organizations. The analysis of this data will reveal strong and weak areas of the networks and provide ways to improve communication and collaboration of the whole network, as well as an understanding of cost expenditures and funding by TVAP and other funding sources across the network.

Findings from both data collection efforts will be synthesized and presented in a final report prepared by the contractor and submitted to ASPE, OPRE, and OTIP. The final report will describe all data collection activities (i.e., interviews, focus groups, and surveys), findings, and implications.

Timeline:

Completion Date	Major Tasks/Milestones
March 2018	Submit 60-day notice for full Information Collection (IC) request for OMB approval of social network survey Receive IRB approval
April 2018	Submit project for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval Submit request for OMB approval under an existing generic Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance for the interviews and focus groups Receive OMB approval under an existing generic PRA clearance Conduct focus groups
May–June 2018	Submit 30-day notice and full IC request for OMB approval of social network survey Conduct interviews
July–August 2018	Disseminate social network survey
September–October 2018	Conduct qualitative data analysis on interviews and focus groups
October–November 2018	Conduct quantitative descriptive and predictive analyses Conduct social network analysis
December 2018–January 2019	Submit preliminary analysis of interviews, focus groups, and social network analysis Draft deliverables
February 2019	Deliver final briefings and presentation of results Deliver final report

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date Is Inappropriate

We are not requesting exemption.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the certification. These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS—Section A

Note: Attachments are included as separate files as instructed.

1. Social Network Survey