NonSub Change Request Memo - CARES Act - September 2020

To: Jordan Cohen

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Shannon Christian

Office of Child Care (OCC)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 29, 2020

Subject: Nonsubstantive Change Request – Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Quality Progress Report (QPR) - (OMB #0970-0517)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, CCDF Quality Progress Report (QPR) (OMB #0970-0517).

Time Sensitivities

We would like to provide guidance to States and Territories by October 2, 2020 as the form is supposed to be live October 1, 2020 and states and territories only have until December 31, 2020 to submit the report.

Background

The QPR collects information from states and territories to describe investments to improve the quality of care available for children from birth to age 13. This report meets the requirements in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 for Lead Agencies to submit an annual report that describes how quality funds were expended, including the activities funded and the measures used to evaluate progress in improving the quality of child care programs and services. The QPR was last approved by OMB in September 2018 and has a current expiration date of September 30, 2021.

In support of the COVID-19 response, the CARES Act was enacted, which included a $3.5 billion increase in the CCDF for States, Territories, and Tribes. The supplemental funding must be used for activities authorized under the CCDBG Act that prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19.

Based on feedback from states and other information, OCC has determined it would be challenging to establish significant new data reporting requirements at this juncture. Therefore, we are requesting OMB approval of nonsubstantive changes to the current QPR. Specifically, we propose to ask States and Territories to submit estimates on a few additional key data points —such as the numbers and types of providers receiving sustainability grants and/or cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) and which quality activities were funded with CARES Act dollars. We believe states and territories will be able to report these figures since they are estimates and should be tracking CARES Act spending.

Overview of Requested Changes

This nonsubstantive change request includes the modification of the Spending field of each allowable quality activity section (10 sections total) on the QPR using the ACF-218 form to ask States and Territories to check yes or no if they used CARES Act funds towards each allowable quality activity. If they have used CARES Act funds they are asked to describe how the funds were used. This is a nonsubstantive change as this spending section already existed in the report – we are only adding relevant CARES Act and COVID-19 information.

Additionally, to understand how quality funds and/or CARES Act funds were used to sustain the child care market – a main goal of the CARS Act funds – we propose adding two questions to Section 11:

1. Did the State/Territory set up a grant program designed to sustain the child care supply or provide sustainability funding to child care providers due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic? If so, they are asked to describe this activity and check off which types of providers and how many were served.

2. Did the State/Territory provide cleaning supplies and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) to child care providers either through funding or directly in-kind due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic? If so, they are asked to describe this activity and which types of providers were eligible.

These proposed changes do not impact the estimated average time to complete the QPR (ACF-218). The updated form and instructions are included with this request.

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