March 6, 2007

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SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
Semi-Annual Performance Report for the Tribal Sexual Assault Services Program

    A. JUSTIFICATION

    1. Statutorily Mandated Need for Information
Authorized by 34 U.S.C. § 12511(e), the Tribal Sexual Assault Services Program (TSASP) supports projects to create, maintain, and expand sustainable sexual assault services provided by Tribes, tribal organizations, and nonprofit tribal organizations within Indian country and Alaska Native villages. TSASP supported projects provide intervention, advocacy, accompaniment (e.g., accompanying victims to court, medical facilities, or police departments), support services, and related assistance for adult, youth, and child victims of sexual assault, non-offending family and household members of victims, and those collaterally affected by the sexual assault.
This information collection will enable the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to obtain completed semi-annual performance reports from all TASAP grantees in order to meet reporting requirements and effectively monitor the use of federal funds.
    2. Use of Information

OVW uses data from the information collection1 in different ways. OVW will use the information collected from TSASP grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities and qualitatively assess those activities. In particular, OVW is seeking data that includes baseline information to review activities supported with TSASP funds, including the number of trainings and the number of victims served. OVW will review semi-annual performance reports to monitor individual TSASP grantee’s performance and ensure that the goals and objectives set forth in applications for funding and award documents are met. TSASP performance reports collect information that address the following grant funded activities (different sections on the reporting form): staff, coordinated community response, policies, products, victim services, and legal services. Narrative questions at the end of these sections enable grantees to give more detailed qualitative information about their grant-funded activities. TSASP grantees must answer narrative questions on the most significant areas of remaining need with regard to improving services to victims/survivors of sexual assault, increasing victims/survivors safety, and enhancing community response (including offender accountability or sex offenders); what has TSASP funding allowed the grantee to do that the grantee could not do prior to receiving funding; additional information about the TSASP grant and/or the effectiveness of the grant; and any additional information about the data submitted. In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of other techniques to assess the performance of TSASP grantees. These may include OVW at site visits, grant-funded training and technical assistance events, staff review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff. OVW will aggregate data from all TSASP grantees’ progress reports to assess the performance of TSASP as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice, and other inquiries about how TSASP funds are being used. In addition, information collected from TSASP grantees will support the following GPRA measures: number of victims receiving requested services; percentage of victims requesting services who received them; Number of policies developed/revised; and number of communities with an improved coordinated community response. Information collected from TSASP grantees will enable OVW to respond to statutory requirements to report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities. 

OVW primarily relies on two sources of information to make sure that grantees are effective. First, OVW collects data from grantees about what they do with VAWA funding; second, to support our assessment, OVW’s research team reviews the body of existing research evaluating responses to violence against women. Grantee-reported performance measures and a summary of research are available every two years through OVW’s Biennial Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of Grant Programs Under the Violence Against Women Act.

OVW’s Biennial Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of Grant Programs Under the Violence Against Women Act includes information about how funds were expended and an assessment of the effectiveness of funded programs.2 The Congressional Report includes sections that describe all OVW grant programs, the effectiveness of different interventions that are funded by OVW grant programs, and specific topics of interest. The report also contains specific chapters with more detailed information on each OVW grant program. Much of the data collected helps OVW monitor the grants to ensure that program funds are being used for the purposes authorized by law and provides important information about the quantity of authorized activities supported by the funds. 

    3. Use of Information Technology
 
The collection of information will involve the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or other forms of information technology. The performance reports are completed through a web-based application. Grantees are required to submit semi-annual progress reports through the JustGrants System.

    4. Duplication of Information Request

There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded activities including number of victims served, victims seeking services who could not be served, or persons trained.

    5. Impact on Small Entities

There is no impact on small businesses or other private entities.

    6. Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy 

By statute, Congress has mandated that TA providers report to the Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA. If OVW was not able to collect the information necessary to complete these reports on behalf of the Attorney General, not only would it be failing to meet a statutorily required reporting mandate, but also the existence of this important and necessary funding could be jeopardized.

    7. Special Circumstances
 
There are no special circumstances.

    8. Federal Register Publication

OVW has consulted with people outside the agency who have advised that the data proposed to be collected is available, the annual collection of such data is not burdensome, the form is clear, and the information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds under the TA Program. OVW has solicited public comment on this form in accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act. A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on May 14, 2026 (Federal Register, Volume 91, page 27369) and a 30-day notice was published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2026 (Federal Register, Volume 91, page 43670). No comments were received.

    9. Payment or Gift to Respondents 

No government funds will be used as payment or for gifts to respondents.

    10. Confidentiality 

Although this information is needed for a public report to Congress, it will not involve any personal information about victims that could identify them as specific individuals. However, anecdotal, non-identifying information about the effectiveness of individual programs may be included in the report. There is no assurance of confidentiality.

    11. Specific Questions 

The semi-annual progress report will not contain any questions of a personal, sensitive nature such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. 

    12. Hour Burden of the Collection of Information 

To calculate the estimated annual cost to respondents, OVW averaged the BLS3 wage data for following job categories: Office and Administrative Support Occupations (43-0000), hourly median wage $22.81; Other Office and Administrative Support Workers (43-9000), hourly median wage $21.78; and Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other (43-9199), hourly median wage $21.96. The selected categories are the positions that most closely match the positions that may be involved in compiling data and completing the OVW performance report in response to this information collection. It should be noted that the BLS wage data categories do not include positions such as grants data analyst, advocate, and grants specialist, which are more accurate job titles for those that are likely to respond to this type of information collection. OVW calculated the average of the three annual median wages for the job categories mentioned above.

Table A: Estimated annual cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collection of information


    13. Cost Burden of the Collection of Information
 
OVW does not believe that there is any annual cost burden on respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection of this information. OVW does not anticipate that any respondents will incur any costs from this collection, including costs from developing, operating, and maintaining data collection and retention systems, that they would not otherwise incur in the absence of this collection.

    14. Annualized Costs to the Federal Government 

The annualized costs to the Federal Government resulting from the OVW staff review of the progress reports submitted by grantees are estimated to be $1,971.00.

Annual salary of grant manager (GS-13, step 1)/26 (number of pay periods) = gross income every two weeks for grant manager

Then take 2-week gross income /80 hours = hourly rate

Then take the hourly rate * total annual hour burden = estimated total annual cost of burden
The exact calculation used here:
$120,579 (Calendar year 2025)/26=4,637.65385
4,637.65385/80=57.9706731
57.9706731*34=$1,971.00

    15. Program Changes or Adjustments 

There are no changes to this collection.

    16. Published Results of Information Collections 

There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication of information collected under the request. Information will be gathered twice a year at the end of the reporting periods. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of all grant-funded activities on a biennial basis.

    17. Display of the Expiration Date of OMB Approval 

OVW will display the expiration date of OMB approval in the upper right-hand corner of the semi-annual performance report.
 
    18. Exception to the Certification Statement 

OVW is not seeking any exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions, of OMB Form 83-I.