Note to Reviewer

Note to Reviewer

The Department of Labor (DOL) is combining the PRA submissions for OMB Control Number 1205-0398, Planning Guidance and Instructions for Submission of the Strategic State Plan and Plan Modifications for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) and the Wagner-Peyser Act, and OMB Control Number 1205-0407, State Unified Plan Planning Guidance for State Unified Plans and Unified Plan Modifications Submitted Under Section 501 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). The initial 60 Day Notices were issued for both in 73FR24613 and 73FR24614 on May 5, 2008. Upon further review after these initial Federal Register postings, the Department determined that these plans are closely aligned and would benefit from review as one combined Information Collection Request (ICR) with two separate Information Collections (IC) rather than as two separate ICR’s. As a result, DOL will use the OMB Control Number 1205-0398 for the active ICR and discontinue OMB Control Number 1205-0407. For clarity, DOL is submitting two Supporting Statements with this request, one for each IC, and will submit one Supporting Statement with all future requests.

States are required to submit a plan for Workforce Investment and may choose to prepare and submit the plans either as a state strategic initiative or as a unified plan, but may not submit both. The Strategic State Plan methodology was launched first, followed later by the Unified Plan methodology. Two separate clearances were created initially to facilitate the launch of the Unified Plan process without affecting the State Strategic Plan process; however, the close alignment of the two was noted by Department PRA staff and OMB staff when the Unified Plan was first sent for PRA approval. During the last PRA approval cycle in 2005, the clearances were submitted concurrently because of this close relationship and to ensure that the PRA expiration dates for each ICR was the same. Combining the two ICRs as a single ICR ensures that the Federal Register filing dates for the PRA Notice and the subsequent expiration dates are the same for both collections, simplifying the posting and review procedures for both DOL and OMB.