OPRE OMB Clearance Manual

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Tracking the Use and Impact of FY 2025 One-time Supplemental Funds for Nutrition and Healthy Eating in Head Start

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531


Supporting Statement
Part A - Justification
July 2026

Submitted By:
Office of Head Start
Administration for Children and Families 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201






A1. Necessity for the Data Collection
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval for a survey to collect descriptive information from Head Start grant recipients that received one-time supplemental funding for nutrition and healthy eating in FY 2025.

Background 
In FY 2025, ACF awarded $61.9 million in one-time supplemental nutrition funding to 291 Head Start grant recipients to support nutrition services and healthy eating for enrolled children and families. ACF seeks to better understand how recipients are using these funds, including implementation progress, activities supported, populations reached, challenges encountered, and early outcomes. Information collected through this survey will help OHS understand how nutrition supplemental funds are supporting enrolled children, families, staff, and program operations.

Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection 
There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.


A2. Purpose of Survey and Data Collection Procedures
Overview of Purpose and Use
The purpose of this survey is to gather descriptive information from FY 2025 nutrition supplemental award recipients regarding current implementation status; types of activities supported by supplemental funds; estimated reach among children, families, and staff; challenges encountered during implementation; and early outcomes and successes. Survey responses will be used to understand how recipients are implementing supplemental nutrition funding; identify common implementation activities, challenges, and promising practices; inform future nutrition-related funding opportunities; and share findings with ACF leadership and other stakeholders on how this funding opportunity advances the goals of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.

This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531): 
    • Obtaining grant recipient feedback about processes and/or practices to inform ACF program support.

The following are some examples of ways in which we may share information resulting from these data collections: presentations, websites, social media, infographics, project specific reports, or other documents relevant to the field, such as federal leadership and staff, grant recipients, local implementing agencies, and/or T/TA providers. In sharing findings, we will describe the study methods and limitations regarding generalizability and as a basis for policy. 
Processes for Information Collection 
OHS will program the survey in Qualtrics, creating a link for grant recipients to complete electronically at their convenience. The survey may be completed by directors, nutrition managers, cooks, or nutritionists depending on who in the program has the relevant information. OHS plans to administer the survey twice—upon Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval and six months later (early 2027). OHS will compile and analyze the responses received after each round of data collection. 


A3. Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden
This survey will use electronic completion. 


A4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
This information is not available elsewhere. 


A5. Involvement of Small Organizations
No small businesses will be involved with this information collection.


A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
Collecting this information across two survey waves will allow OHS to observe changes in implementation over time. One-time data collection would provide limited information on the extent to which implementation activities are progressing over time. 


A7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances for the proposed data collection efforts.


A8. Federal Register Notice and Consultation
Federal Register Notice and Comments
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 request to extend approval of the umbrella generic with minor changes. The notice was published on April 28, 2025, (90 FR 17603), and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any comments on the first notice. A second notice was published, allowing a thirty-day period for public comment (90 FR 42248, in conjunction with submission of the request to OMB. ACF did not receive any comments on the second notice.
Consultation with Outside Experts
No consultations have taken place with experts outside of the project team.


A9. Tokens of Appreciation for Respondents
No tokens of appreciation for respondents are proposed for this information collection.

A10. Privacy of Respondents
Information collected, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private. 

PII will only be collected from respondents who select that they may be contacted for more information about their program’s nutrition efforts. For those who select “yes,” the name, program, and email address will be collected. This information will only be used for follow-up.

Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier. 

All responses will be reported in aggregate. Short, general quotes may be shared from open-ended responses, but they will always be anonymous. Quotes will not be associated with any PII. 


A11. Sensitive Questions
There are no sensitive questions in this data collection.


A12. Estimation of Information Collection Burden
Burden Estimates
This survey will be administered to 291 Head Start grant recipients who received one-time supplemental funding for nutrition in FY 2025. We expect a 30-50% response rate and have used 50% to estimate the number of respondents, to provide a buffer. Therefore, burden is calculated for 145 respondents. 

Respondents will complete the survey upon OMB approval and once more in early 2027. The estimated time to complete each survey is about 8 minutes and data collection will take place over about 4-6 weeks.

Cost Estimates
The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare [11-9031] and wage data from May 2025, which is $31.15 per hour. To account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate was multiplied by two, which is $62.30.  
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm 


Instrument
Total Number of Respondents
Total Number of Responses Per Respondent
Average Burden Hours Per Response
Total
Burden Hours
Average Hourly Wage
Total Annual Cost
FY25 Head Start Nutrition Supplemental Funds Progress Survey
145
2
8 minutes
38.7
$62.30
$2,411.01


A13. Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers
There are no additional costs to respondents.


A14. Estimate of Cost to the Federal Government
The total cost to the Federal government for the data collection activities under this current request will be $2,028.40.

Federal staff costs are estimated to be about 20 hours of the time of a staff member at the GS-12, Step 2 labor category to oversee the activities of this data collection. 


A15. Change in Burden
This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).


A16. Plan and Time Schedule for Information Collection, Tabulation and Publication
OHS anticipates launching the first wave of data collection immediately upon OMB approval. The second wave of data collection is planned to take place 6 months later with a target date of early 2027. 

The link to the electronic survey will be shared with grant recipients via the Head Start Enterprise System (HSES). Two reminders will be sent via HSES requesting recipients complete the survey by the deadline. For recipients that have not responded after 4 weeks, we will ask assigned Program Specialists to reach out directly and encourage them to complete the survey. 


A17. Reasons Not to Display OMB Expiration Date
All instruments will display the expiration date for OMB approval.


A18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.	

Attachments
FY25 Head Start Nutrition Supplemental Funds Progress Survey