Supporting Statement A ACF118A October 2024_Revised _11.19.24

Child Care and Development Fund Tribal Plan Preprint for FFY 2026-2028

OMB Information Collection Request

0970 - 0198

Supporting Statement Part A - Justification

November 2024

Type of Request: Revision

Submitted By:

Office of Child Care

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Summary

This request is for a revision of the Child Care and Development Fund Tribal Plan Preprint (ACF-118A). The updated version will be used for Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2026-2028. Revisions include corrections and modifications, streamlining and updating of questions based on requirements in CCDF regulations, as well as revisions to sections that were confusing or difficult to complete in the last draft. Changes were made in response to comments from the public, feedback from Office of Child Care staff working directly with grant recipients, and as a result of two Final Rules in 2024. Details are provided throughout this supporting statement.

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

To be eligible to receive funds under CCDF, Section 658E of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act, 42 U.S.C. 9858c, a Tribe or Tribal Organization shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary shall require by rule, including a Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan that meets the requirements of Section 658E(c) of the CCDBG Act, 42 U.S.C. 9858c(c) Requirements of a Plan.

The CCDF Plan Preprint serves as the agreement between the Tribal Lead Agency (TLA) and the Federal Government as to how the Block Grant program will be operated. The TLA provides assurances that the CCDF funds will be administered in accordance with legislative requirements, Federal regulations at 45 CFR parts 98 and 99 and other applicable instructions or guidelines issued by ACF. Tribal CCDF Plan Preprint (ACF Form 118-A) is currently approved through 04/30/25 and this request is to extend approval with proposed revisions.

The CCDBG Act of 2014, which was signed into law in November 2014, made significant changes to the CCDF program and the Final Rule published in September 2016 detailed the specific requirements of the law applicable to tribes. The FY 2023-2025 CCDF Plan Preprint was developed to align with the CCDF Final Rule requirement for tribes. It was also the first Tribal CCDF Plan that was entered into an electronic system (Child Care Automated Reporting System). The FY 2026-2028 CCDF Plan Preprint (current request) has been updated based on lessons learned from the FY 2023-2025 Plan submission and review, input from Office of Child Care (OCC) Central and Regional staff working with Tribal CCDF Grantees, and modifications based on the two 2024 OCC Final Rules (89 FR 15366 and 89 FR 90605).

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The Tribal CCDF Plan serves as TLA’s application for funding and is required by the CCDBG statute. The responses contained in the Tribal Plan helps OCC identify trends, best practices and areas that need improvements. Based on a review of the Plans, the OCC designs technical assistance strategies that will be responsive to the needs of the Tribal Lead Agencies.

ACF has found the CCDF Plan Preprint useful in guiding TLAs in the development and submission of their Plans. The standardized, “Preprinted” format provides complete program information necessary to complete the CCDF Plan and expedites timely reviews by ACF staff. The CCDF Plan Preprint reflects the CCDBG statute and amended regulations. The Plan Preprint serves as a blueprint for TLAs to assist them in developing a complete Plan, with all of the required elements needed to implement their CCDF programs.

The public takes considerable interest in the way Tribes and Tribal Organizations administer their CCDF funds. OCC makes Plan information available to many users including members of Congress, Congressional Committees, Tribes, States, and local child care administrators, advocacy groups, researchers and the public.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

For the upcoming triennial plan, TLAs will submit their plans in CARS. Based on lessons learned from the last plan submission, OCC has rearranged the order of the questions and improved skip patterns. This will reduce the burden on TLAs in submitting the plan in the electronic system. OCC will provide sufficient training and support for grantees to use this system.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

The information collected by the ACF 118-A is not available from any other source.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

The data collection effort does not involve small businesses or other small entities.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

In accordance with 45 CFR §98.17 TLAs are required to provide a Plan that describes the entire child care program in detail triennially.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

The collection of information will be conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

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 this information collection activity. This notice was published on July 2, 2024 (89 FR 54827) and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. During the notice and comment period, 20 comments from two entities were received.

OCC sent an email announcement to TLAs notifying them of the Federal Register Notice, including sending electronic copies of the draft CCDF Tribal Plan Preprint. On July 12, 2024, OCC held a national webinar to provide an overview of the proposed Plan Preprint and highlighting changes to the document compared to the 2023-2025 Preprint.

We received feedback from one TLA and one Native Child Care organization, including two sets of comments submitted directly in response to the Federal Register Notice. The feedback and comments were positive and helpful. An OCC team reviewed and discussed all feedback and comments through a series of meetings and revised the draft Preprint accordingly. As part of these discussions, staff suggested additional revisions needed to improve readability and understanding of the Preprint.

The major themes of the comments were:

• Request for additional clarification and guidance across many topics with a focus on items where there is a need for technical assistance.

• Request for changes to the plan questions that are not possible based on the CCDBG Act and regulations.

• Request for publicly available data from the final submitted plan

Specifically, we revised to address the following:

• Made grammatical and formatting edits throughout the Plan and deleted duplicate language

• Clarified skip patterns

• Clarified plain language

• Clarified requirements based on CCDBG Act and regulations

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

The information collection is nothing of a confidential nature, therefore does not require any assurance of confidentiality.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

There are no questions of sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

Estimated Burden Hours

The annual public reporting burden for this information collection is broken out to reflect the estimated hours based on the requirements for TLAs. The revised Plan consists of four primary parts (one part for all TLAs, a second part for all direct-funded TLAs, a third part for only TLAs with small allocations, and a fourth part for TLAs with medium and large allocations), with each part containing appropriate sections corresponding to the CCDF requirements for tribes with small, medium, and large allocations regardless of whether they are direct-funded or have consolidated their funding into approved 102-477 plans. The Triennial Child Count is a section that all TLAs must submit, even if they have consolidated their funding into approved 102-477 plans. Part I consists of three sections for all direct-funded TLAs, Part II contains one section only applicable to direct-funded TLAs with small allocations, and Part III contains sections only applicable to direct-funded medium and large allocation TLAs.

TLAs consolidating their CCDF funding as part of Public Law 102-477 do not need to complete the Tribal Plan Preprint. However, they are required to complete the child count and optional Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI) appendices. The burden for those 52 TLAs is included in the burden estimate under the Triennial Child Count Only below.

Estimated Cost to Respondents

The job code for a Social and Human Service Assistants is 21-1093 and wage data in local government (per the Bureau of Labor Statistics recommendation for assigning Indian Tribal Councils and related establishments https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211093.htm) from May 2023 is $21.27 per hour. Therefore, to account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate is multiplied by two which is $42.54.

Information Collection Title	Total Number of Respondents	Total Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours	Annual Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Cost
Triennial Child Count Only (all Tribes)	264	1	20	5,280	1,760	$42.54	$74,870.40
ACF 118A Part I (for all direct funded Tribes)	214	1	60	12,840	4,280	$42.54	$182,071.20
ACF-118A Part II (for direct funded tribes with small allocations only)	138	1	5	690	230	$42.54	$9,784.20
ACF – 118A Part II (for direct funded tribes with medium and large allocations only)	76	1	20	1,520	507	$42.54	$21,567.78
Estimated Annual Burden and Costs Total:					6,777		$288,293.58

13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers

There are no direct monetary costs to TLAs other than the time to complete the ACF-118-A.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The annual costs to the Federal Government are projected as follows:

Task Estimated Hours Estimated Rate Total

Preprint Design 80 $30.58 $ 2,446.40

Tribal

Plan Review 40 * 264 Plans = 10,560 $30.58 $322,924.80

Total $325,371.20

NOTE: Plans are submitted triennially.

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

Program updates were made to provide additional guidance and clarification to TLAs to improve the quality of the information requested. The 2026-28 preprint increased the number of checkboxes and certifications compared to the 2023-25 preprint; therefore the annual hourly burden was decreased. This is due to reducing the number of questions asked, streaming questions, and improving the skip patterns. The number of respondents were also updated based on the current number of Tribal CCDF grantees.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

Not applicable.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

Not applicable.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

Not applicable.