SSA - GenIC Prog Support_OCC Stabilization Grants

Information to Inform the Office of Child Care about Implementation of Child Care Stabilization Grants

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

April 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 and workflows related to program implementation or the development or refinement of program and grantee processes, and the development and refinement of recordkeeping and communication systems.

• 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 for the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG). These stabilization grants under ARPA require Lead Agencies to provide stabilization grants to child care providers who were affected by COVID-19. Because this is a new activity for Lead Agencies, 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 award these grants to providers. Also, Lead Agencies must inform OCC if it will be unable to spend 50% of its funds within 9 months (by December 11, 2021) and this information collection will allow OCC to provide targeted, immediate and informed technical assistance and supports as soon as possible.

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 will collect information from CCDF Lead Agencies through monthly interviews to learn about their 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.

Information Collection Plan

OCC will ask staff in the 10 OCC regional offices to incorporate questions related to sustainability grants as part of their regular monthly calls with state Lead Agencies. Each region will ask these questions monthly starting in May 2021 (pending OMB approval) through November 2021 (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)

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.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

Because this is a new activity for CCDF Lead Agencies, there is no existing data to provide this information.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

No small organizations will be involved.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

Because CCDF Lead Agencies must inform OCC if they will not be able to spend 50% of their ARPA stabilization funds by December 11, 2021, it is necessary for OCC to gather this data quickly and regularly in order to adequately provide TA resources and support so they can stand up this effort.

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.

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 20 minutes each month.

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	.33	103	$35.62	$3,668.86

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 2019, which is $17.81 per hour. To account for the fringe benefits and overhead, the rate was multiplied by two which is $35.62. The estimate of annualized cost to respondents for hour burden is $35.62 times 103 hours or $3,668.86.

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 May 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.

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