SSA - Formative GenIC Program Support: Information to Inform the OCC about Implementation of ARPA Funds

Information to Inform the Office of Child Care about Implementation of Child Care American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

November 2021

Submitted By:

Office of Child Care

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4^th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building

330 C Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

Project Officers:

Dawn Ramsburg

A1. Necessity for the Data Collection

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval to conduct interviews with Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies to inform technical assistance and other supports provided by the Office of Child Care (OCC). This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531):

• Delivery of targeted assistance related to program implementation or the development or refinement of program and grantee processes.

• Planning for provision of programmatic or evaluation-related training or technical assistance (T/TA).

Background

On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed by the President. As part of ARPA, separate funding was included, ARP stabilization grants (almost $24 billion), along with supplemental funds ($3.55 billion) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG). The funds under ARPA are twofold. They first require Lead Agencies to provide stabilization grants to child care providers who were affected by COVID-19. Secondly, they provide additional funds to carry out the CCDBG program under the CCDBG Act of 2014, and are encouraged to increase provider payment rates, and increase workforce compensation. Because this is a significant investment, OCC seeks to collect information from CCDF Lead Agencies to inform our technical assistance activities for Lead Agencies and understand what challenges and supports they need to have capacity to spend this funding.

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection

There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures

Overview of Purpose and Approach

To inform technical assistance and program support activities, OCC proposes to collect information from CCDF Lead Agencies through monthly interviews. There are two sets of questions based on the two funding streams. The first set of questions asks about states’ progress in setting up processes to award grants to child care providers, strategies used to target child care providers serving low-income communities, success stories, challenges experiencing in issuing grants, and supports needed to issue grant awards. The second set of questions asks about how states are spending the supplemental funding, what activities they are spending the funds on, and what challenges they are experiencing. These questions are a follow up to a set of questions asked to states about supplemental funding in May through November 2022 in a previous OMB approval under this umbrella generic (Information to Inform the Office of Child Care about Implementation of Child Care Stabilization Grants; approved May 7, 2021).

Information Collection Plan

OCC will ask staff in the 10 OCC regional offices to incorporate questions related to ARP funding as part of their regular monthly calls with state Lead Agencies. Each region will ask these questions monthly starting in December 2021 (pending OMB approval) through May 2022 (6 months). Data will be collected from the CCDF Lead Agencies in 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico.

The proposed interview questions are included in Attachment A (Child Care Stabilization Grants: Interviewer Guide) and Attachment B (Child Care Supplemental Funds: Interviewer Guide).

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden

Lead Agencies will be asked to share the information via structured interviews by phone. OCC will document the information in a spreadsheet. All interviews will be recorded and transcribed.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

Because this is a new activity for CCDF Lead Agencies, there is no existing data to provide this information. These questions are a follow up to a set of questions asked to states about supplemental funding in May through November 2022 in a previous OMB approval¹.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

No small organizations will be involved.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

Given the timeframe to spend both supplemental and stabilization funds by the end of the FFY 2022, it is necessary for OCC to gather this data quickly and regularly in order to adequately provide TA resources and support states.

A7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.

A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation

Federal Register Notice and Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of the overarching generic clearance for formative information collection. This notice was published on October 13, 2020, Volume 85, Number 198, page 64480, and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. During the notice and comment periods, no substantive comments were received.

A9. Incentives for Respondents

No incentives for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be asked permission to record interviews.

Any data stored electronically will be secured in accordance with the most current National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requirements and other applicable Federal and Departmental regulations.  

A11. Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.

A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden

Total Burden

Information will be collected from the CCDF Lead Agencies in 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico on a monthly basis over a 6-month period. The time per response is estimated to take about 10 minutes for the stabilization grant questions (Attachment A) and 20 minutes for the supplemental funds questions (Attachment B).

Instrument	Total Number of Respondents	Total Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Cost
Child Care Stabilization Grants: Interviewer Guide (Attachment A)	52	6	.17	53	$36.76	$1,948.28
Child Care Supplemental Funds: Interviewer Guide (Attachment B)	52	6	.33	103	$36.76	$3,786.28
Estimated Annual Burden				156		$5,734.56

Total Annual Cost

The cost to respondents was calculated based on using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Social and Human Services Assistants [21-1093] and wage data from May 2020, which is $18.38 per hour. To account for the fringe benefits and overhead, the rate was multiplied by two which is $36.76.

A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There are no additional costs to respondents.

A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost for the data collection activities under this current request will be $6,240.

This represents the total number of staff hours - 208 (2 hours x 2 staff x 52 states) by $30 per hour.

A15. Change in Burden

This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).

A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication

OCC plans to begin collecting this information in December 2021 for 6 months, pending OMB approval.

A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date

All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.

A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

1 Generic information collection: Information to Inform the Office of Child Care about Implementation of Child Care Stabilization Grants; approved May 7, 2021

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