SSA - Formative GenIC Program Support - IOAS ARP Discussion Guide

Information to Inform the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary about implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part A - Justification

July 2021

Submitted By:

Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary

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:

Natasha Wright

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 facilitate roundtable sessions with state and county commissioner-level grantees or their delegates to promote discussion, brainstorming, and problem solving between grantees and to inform technical assistance and other supports provided by ACF to assist with implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). 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, ARP was signed by the President. As part of ARP, ACF was awarded $47.5 billion to provide critical and unprecedented support to children, families, and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn. While grantees welcome the influx of ARP funding from ACF, many are working to understand how this funding can be used within the context of ARP funding from other parts of HHS and other agencies, as well as with money from previous supplemental appropriations and the regular annual Fiscal Year 2021 appropriation. ACF would like to help grantees determine how to optimize the use of all of their funding based on various deadlines, flexibilities, and expirations for different funding streams. This information collection, proposed by the ACF Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary (IOAS), will take place during roundtable sessions scheduled at a forum held by ACF to provide state and county grantees with the opportunity to share and learn from their peers in other localities about promising strategies and models implemented to fully and most effectively harness available resources. The roundtable sessions will include facilitated discussion to drive conversation and help IOAS better understand the challenges that state and county grantees are facing. This information is necessary for ACF to support funded grantees now and to inform future technical assistance.

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

ACF will host a forum in early August where state and county grantees from the 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico can learn from their peers in other localities about promising strategies and models implemented to fully and most effectively harness available resources. During the planned forum, ACF will host roundtable session with facilitated discussions. The purpose of these discussions is to facilitate a peer exchange between state and county commissioner-level grantees or designees. The goal is to allow grantees the opportunity to discuss ideas for how to use supplemental funds and regular appropriations strategically to help their communities and reduce systemic inequities.

The information collected during the roundtable sessions will also help IOAS better understand the challenges and successes of state and county grantees.

ACF anticipates that grantees will be able to use the information shared to brainstorm and problem-solve ideas with the hope that they will be able to implement solutions to strategically use all funding. IOAS will use this information to inform future technical assistance as grantees work to implement ARP.

Information Collection Plan

During the planned forum, IOAS will host roundtable sessions where grantees will be placed in smaller, mixed region groups with colleagues from across the country to brainstorm, problem-solve, and discuss ideas for how to use supplemental funds and regular appropriations strategically to help their communities and reduce systemic inequities. The roundtable sessions will include facilitated discussion to drive conversation. A note taker will capture session participants’ responses.

The proposed facilitation questions are included in Attachment A (ACF Learning Exchange: Optimizing the Use of American Rescue Plan Funds, Facilitator Guide)

A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden

Roundtable sessions will be hosted through an online forum.

A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

There is no existing data to provide this information to ACF or its grantees.

A5. Involvement of Small Organizations

No small organizations will be involved.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

This is a one-time data collection.

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.

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 300 state and county commissioner-level grantees in 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico one time. We expect up to 300 individuals to participate and anticipate that each respondent will participate in two 40-minute roundtable discussions, for a total participation time of 80 minutes.

Instrument	Total Number of Respondents	Total Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Cost
ACF Learning Exchange: Optimizing the Use of American Rescue Plan Funds, Facilitator Guide (Attachment A)	300	2	0.67	402	$50.00	$20,100

Total Annual Cost

The cost to respondents was calculated based on using the average county commissioner salary of $25.00 per hour from Payscale.com, which was last updated on February 21, 2021. The hourly wage was multiplied by two to account for overhead and fringe benefits. The estimate of annualized cost to respondents for hour burden is $50.00 times 402 hours or $20,100.

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 $29,925.

This represents the total number of staff hours: 598.5 (1.33 hours (80 mins) x 12 staff x 37.5 participants) by $50 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

Pending OMB approval, IOAS plans to collect this information at a forum planned for Tuesday, August 3, 2021. Within two weeks following the convening, ACF will send roundtable session participants an email summary of key takeaways and any follow-up actions ACF plans to take based on the information gleaned during the roundtable sessions.

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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