Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps)
AmeriCorps State and National Project Progress Reports (PPRs)
OMB Control Number 3045-0184
Justification – Part A Supporting Statement
AmeriCorps requires grantees of AmeriCorps State and National, Commission Support Grant, and Commission Investment Fund to submit Project Progress Reports (PPRs) (formerly known as Grantee Progress Reports (GPRs)).
This request is for approval of a renewal of an existing collection.
1. Need & Method for the Information Collection.
This information collection is required by 2 CFR 200.329, which states that the non-Federal entity must submit performance reports at the interval required by the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity to best inform improvements in program outcomes and productivity. Intervals must be no less frequent than annually, which is the reporting frequency for AmeriCorps State and National, Commission Support Grant, and Commission Investment Fund grantees.
The National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended, provides authority for this information collection at 42 U.S.C. 12639(h). The statute allows for reports to contain brief information on the data elements approved by OMB, including actual accomplishments and reasons why established goals were not met, if appropriate.
AmeriCorps elicits and accepts grantees’ responses to these questions electronically via eGrants, the agency’s secure online grants management system. The information is self-reported by grantees.
If this information collection is not conducted, AmeriCorps will not be able to request the necessary information to assess grantee progress or report accomplishments to stakeholders.
2. Use of the Information.
Grantees respond to the questions included in the PPR in order to describe their progress toward the activities and goals of their grants. The information is used for continuous improvement and reporting activities to stakeholders.
Grantees are aware of PPR reports as part of the AmeriCorps State and National Program-Specific Terms & Conditions. These specific Terms & Conditions provide grantees with the reporting period and the due date for submitting the PPR. A few months before the end of the grant reporting period, grantees are provided instructions on how to complete the PPR; the structure of the PPR does not change year to year. The instructions remind grantees when the PPR is due to AmeriCorps and provides guidance on how to fill out the PPR in eGrants, AmeriCorps’ grant management system. The Progress Report is visible to grantees in eGrants four months before the due date. Grantee staff have sixty days to complete the ASN PPR and ninety days to complete the CSG and CIF PPRs. The PPRs are submitted electronically through eGrants.
AmeriCorps does not believe there are any psychological costs to this information collection because grantees know when accepting a grant that a PPR will be due.
AmeriCorps uses PPR data for continuous improvement, training and technical assistance, and reporting to stakeholders.
PPR data is provided to other Federal agencies, as one of the AmeriCorps’ stakeholders. The information collection does not include questions of a sensitive nature. Responses to the information collection will be disclosed as appropriate unless prohibited by law.
3. Use of Information Technology.
The collection of information occurs through AmeriCorps’ secure electronic grants management system, eGrants. Data is input electronically and responses are submitted electronically.
4. Non-duplication.
There are no other sources of information by which AmeriCorps can meet the purposes described in sections 1 and 2. The PPRs collect accomplishment information every year, so any similar information that is already available cannot be used or modified since it is not current.
5. Burden on Small Business.
The collection of information does not impact small businesses because they are not eligible to apply for grants. There is no economic burden to any other small entities beyond the cost of staff time to collect and report the data. This burden is minimized to the degree possible by only asking for information that is absolutely necessary to assess progress.
6. Less Frequent Collection.
Per 2 CFR 200.329, reporting intervals must be no less frequent than annually, which is the current frequency of data collection for AmeriCorps State and National, Commission Support Grant, and Commission Investment Fund grantees. AmeriCorps will not be able to request the necessary information to assess grantee progress or report to stakeholders if the collection is not conducted.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines.
There are no special circumstances that would require respondents to submit multiple copies of the document, retain records for more than three years, or be conducted in any other of the listed manners.
8. Consultation and Public Comments.
The 60-day Notice soliciting comments on the information collection was published on Friday, September 19, 2025 at 90 Fed. Reg. 45200. The agency did not receive any comments in response to the required Federal Register notice.
AmeriCorps State and National reached out to eight grantees (three state commissions, four national direct grantees, and one Native Nation grantee) regarding completion of AmeriCorps State and National Project Progress Reports (PPRs). These grantees are geographically diverse and receive different amounts of funding from AmeriCorps. Four of the eight responded to the consultation request. Grantees were asked if they could provide views about different aspects of the PPR process, including estimates of time and cost burden, the format of the PPR, the clarity of the instructions, and any difficulties one could face in responding to the PPR.
Grantees mentioned that some of their programs operate on a calendar year, not the reporting period as written in the Terms & Conditions, which makes it difficult to fully capture the data for their program in the PPR. In order for AmeriCorps to capture holistic data on the performance of the entire program at one point in time, AmeriCorps sets a standard reporting deadline in the program-specific Terms & Conditions for all AmeriCorps State and National grants. Grantees also stated that estimated cost of burden should be increased from $45 to $60/hour; we have adjusted the estimated cost burden to reflect this input.
Grantees expressed challenges with report scheduling in eGrants. AmeriCorps State and National recently transitioned this technical assistance to the Office of Regional Operations which should help resolve the scheduling issues and increase timely support to grantees who need their reporting dates edited.
9. Gifts or Payment.
The agency is not proposing to provide any incentives, including payments or gifts, to respondents.
10. Privacy & Confidentiality.
No assurance of confidentiality is provided to respondents as part of this information collection as it does not require respondents to submit proprietary trade secrets, or other confidential information.
11. Sensitive Questions.
This information collection does not include questions of a sensitive nature.
12. Burden Estimate.
The PPR information collection is required for AmeriCorps State and National, Commission Support Grant, and Commission Investments Funds. We expect approximately 350 respondents to use the AmeriCorps State and National PPR instructions, and 52 respondents to use the Commission Investment Funds and Commission Support Grant instructions. The frequency of reporting for all PPRs is annually, with an additional final report required at the end of the three-year award period for AmeriCorps State and National grantees.
We estimate the annual hour burden for AmeriCorps State and National grantees to be 32 hours per response, and the annual hour burden for Commission Support Grant and Commission Investment Funds grantees to be 10 hours response. Because of this difference in hours per response between the AmeriCorps State and National and other instruction types, they have been split into two separate information collections (ICs).
PPR Instructions Type |
Number of Responses |
Hours per Response |
Total Hours |
AmeriCorps State and National |
350 |
32 |
11,200 |
Commission Investment Funds |
52 |
10 |
520 |
Commission Support Grant |
52 |
10 |
520 |
|
454 |
52 |
12,240 |
Based on the responses received during past consultation with grantees, the average hourly salary for grantee staff is $60 (increased from $45 per response), for a total hourly cost of $734,400. All calculations for cost burden use this value multiplied by the hours dedicated to completing the PPR. Similarly, the estimate of the cost per response for Commission Investment Funds and Commission Support Grants was increased from $225 per response to $300 per response, for a total hourly cost of $62,400.
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For AmeriCorps State and National (350 respondents):
Burden per Response:
Annual Burden:
For Commission Investment Funds and Commission Support Grants (104 Respondents): |
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Burden per Response:
Annual Burden:
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13. Estimated nonrecurring costs.
This data collection does not involve any nonrecurring costs.
14. Estimated cost to the Government.
Development, review, and oversight of the data collection will require approximately 8% of the staff time for one Pay Band 3 employee ($7,920 per year) and approximately 2% of the staff time for 66 Pay Band 3 employees. (The range of Pay Band 3 for this group of employees is $66,218 - $113,011, so the value chosen is the average of the minimum and maximum, which is $89,615; $118,292), for a total of $126,212 annually.
15. Reasons for changes.
AmeriCorps adjusted the cost per response based on the feedback received from consultation with grantees, which resulted in a change in Annual IC Cost Burden of $10,500 due to adjustment for AmeriCorps State and National and $15,600 due to adjustment for Commission Investment Fund and Commission Support Grants. Together, these adjustments result in an increase in estimated annual cost burden of $26,100.
16. Publicizing Results.
AmeriCorps will not publish responses to this information collection.
17. OMB Not to Display Approval.
AmeriCorps will display the expiration date of OMB’s approval.
18. Exceptions to "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions."
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
19. Surveys, Censuses, and Other Collections that Employ Statistical Methods.
This request does not include surveys or censuses and does not use statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-12-23 |