NonSub Change Memo – HMRF PPR and QPR - Equity Q

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Katie Pahigiannis and Pooja Gupta Curtin

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 7, 2023

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection (OMB #0970-0566)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection (OMB #0970-0566).

Background

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection in April 2021. This information collection package supports the collection and reporting of performance measures by the 2020 cohort of Administration for Children and Families (ACF)-funded HMRF grantees and includes the quarterly performance progress report (QPR) and the semi-annual performance progress report (PPR) that grantees are required to submit to ACF. After OMB provided approval in April 2021, ACF requested and OMB approved modifications to the QPRs and PPRs. The versions with those updates are currently in use.

The reports provide aggregate data on grantees’ programmatic activities (including the services provided, the context in which they operate, and the nature and extent of client participation) and outcomes for the reporting period¹; they are used by grantees to self-monitor their performance and by ACF’s Office of Family Assistance (OFA) to monitor and manage the HMRF grants. The goal for collecting this information is to better understand the design, operations, and benefits of HMRF programs. Separate versions of the QPR and PPR are tailored to HM and RF grantees. The QPRs and PPRs are auto-generated by the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM 2.0) system that ACF requires grantees to use for HMRF data collection and reporting.

As described in the approved justification package: “The information obtained through this data collection is critical to understanding the broad array of RF and HM programs funded—the services provided, the context in which they operate, the nature and extent of participation, and the outcomes of program clients. The goal is to better understand the design, operations, and benefits of HMRF programs, thereby informing decisions about future government investments in HMRF programming.” A critical piece to understanding these programs is information about equity-related activities. Currently, programs can enter this information under the final “Other” question (Please describe other activities and accomplishments during the reporting period), but ACF does not receive comprehensive information about these types of activities since we do not specifically ask for it.

ACF funded recipients in other programs use the ACF Performance Progress Report (PPR) (OMB #0970-0406) to report progress towards meeting their approved goals and project objectives. This instrument includes a question for respondents to describe equity-related activities, which was added during the most recent request to renew approval of the ACF PPR (NOA received January 10, 2023; No comments received (87 FR 23865 or 87 FR 44404)).

Overview of Requested Changes

At this time, we would like to add the equity-related activities question from the ACF PPR to the HMRF QPR and PPR instruments to allow ACF to meet the described purpose and use of data as outlined in the original approval, address the current administrations priorities², and to align with the ACF PPR. The inclusion of this question will institute a systematic process for routinely gathering insights on equity-focused initiatives conducted by grant recipients and may inform ongoing equity advancement strategies.

We have provided updated versions of the PPRs (Attachments I; Instruments 5HM and 5RF) and QPRs (Attachments J; Instruments 6HM and 6RF). PPR Section B-02 and QPR Section A-02 have been modified to include the equity-related activities question from the ACF PPR.

Based on current average time to complete these reports, the additional question is not expected to increase response time above the current estimate approved.

Time Sensitivities

We are aiming to receive OMB approval well before grantees need to submit their next reports on October 30, 2023 to provide them with ample time to prepare information.

1 ACF’s Office of Grants Management (OGM) requires grantees to submit QPRs after the first and third quarters (in January and July), and PPRs after the second and fourth quarters (in April and October), of each grant year.

2 For example, Executive Order (EO) 13985 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government)