The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) serves as the lead U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency to combat trafficking in persons by administering anti-trafficking programs through grants and contracts and collaborating with federal, tribal, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP), a federal agency within ACF, provides leadership over anti-trafficking programs and services under the purview of ACF, including implementation of authorities under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended; Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113â183); Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 114â22); and the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115â398).
In 2016, OTIP, with authority from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106â386), Section 106(b), as amended at 22 U.S. Code § 7104 and 22 U.S. Code § 7105(c)(4), established the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTTAC) to build the capacity of health and human services professionals and help prevent, identify, and respond to trafficking. The instruments in this collection allow NHTTAC to assess the ongoing training and technical assistance (T/TA) needs of health and human services professionals in preventing, identifying, and responding to trafficking, and to determine the level of satisfaction with services provided by NHTTAC. This package includes eight instruments to assist with a comprehensive evaluation of NHTTACâs T/TA events and associated efforts. This collection of information is necessary to enable NHTTAC to collect recipient and partner feedback in an efficient, timely manner and in accordance with OTIPâs commitment to improving service delivery. The information collected from recipients and partners will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with NHTTACâs T/TA services. This feedback provides insights into recipient or partner perceptions, expectations, and experiences; provides an early warning of issues with T/TA; and focuses attention on areas where communication, training, or changes in operations might improve the delivery of T/TA or the responsiveness of NHTTAC. These collections allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between NHTTAC and its recipients and partners. It also allows feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management and efficiency.
This request is to reinstate approval of this information collection, with proposed changes as described in section A15. The OMB number was discontinued due to delays in publishing the first Federal Register Notice. Data collection has been put on hold until this information collection is reinstated.
To continue to meet the provisions of the Pub. L. 115â398, NHTTAC will continue administration and evaluation of SOAR T/TA provided each year. This detailed evaluation data will continue facilitating improvements in NHTTAC T/TA. NHTTAC examined the number of respondents to each form under this collection and determined that the annual number of respondents for instruments that require more intensive responses and higher individual burden estimates could be reduced. Compared to the previously approved NHTTAC Evaluation Package, the annual burden estimates have been reduced by 33 percent, from 15,714 hours to 10,530 hours. The revisions described in A15 are proposed to align the collection with agency and Administration priorities.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.