The
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is approved this
emergency collection for a period of six months. During this
period, ACF should continue efforts implement an electronic
collection. If an electronic alternative is not in place by the
time this collection is resubmitted, OMB may grant an abbreviated
approval.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2010
6 Months From Approved
336
0
0
336
0
0
0
0
0
The Administration for Children &
Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) is conducting the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF)
Program Evaluation, a new initiative funded under the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to enable nonprofit
organizations to contribute to the economic recovery and help
federal, state, and local governments ensure that the information
and services described in the Recovery Act reach disadvantaged and
hard-to-serve populations. We now seek OMB approval for
program-specific grantee data collection tools.
The Administration for
Children and Families (ACF) requests emergency clearance for
information collection requirements associated with the
Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) grant programs, made up of the
Nonprofit Capacity Building program and the Government Capacity
Building program. The Strengthening Communities Fund initiative was
authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA), ACF, Children Families Services Programs, (4) as follows:
"(4) $50,000,000 for carrying out activities under section 1110 of
the Social Security Act." The purpose of the SCF initiative is to
enable nonprofit organizations, through capacity building, to
contribute to the economic recovery, and to help state, local and
Tribal governments ensure that the information and services
described in the Recovery Act effectively reach disadvantaged and
hard to serve populations. OMB approval of the synopses of these
two new grant opportunities was obtained on April 30, 2009.
Following a full competitive grant review process in the summer of
2009, 84 SCF grants were awarded on September 30, 2009. A task
contract for SCF program evaluation was also issued on this date.
Since these grants were awarded, ACF has been working with SCF
grantees to review and approve their work activity plans, including
the first SCF Orientation and Leadership Conference held in late
January 2010. This conference was attended by representatives of
all 84 SCF grantees. At the conference SCF staff conducted grantee
trainings on performance and outcome measurements to address the
practical aspects of data collection. An overview of proposed
reporting requirements was presented and a discussion took place on
ways to minimize the burden associated with the collection of such
information. Since the SCF program was an entirely new initiative
created under ARRA, considerable startup time was needed to review
these work activity plans from grantees and develop an appropriate
data collection tool to assess progress. To gather the necessary
information to report on metrics established under the SCF ARRA
Implementation Plan published on Recovery.gov, ACF requests an
emergency clearance that would allow ACF to collect necessary
grantee data. Further, the authorization for this program will not
go beyond FY 2010, creating an extremely brief window of
opportunity for data collection. Given this Administration's
commitment to transparency and accountability, it would create
public harm if the results of this program were not captured and
quantified through output and outcome measures as are required for
the purposes of Administrative Requirements, Code 2 CFR 215 and
Recovery.gov. Failing to collect SCF performance and progress data
would prevent the Administration, the Congress, and the public from
obtaining any meaningful information about the SCF program.
Additionally, without the requested data collection, it will not be
possible to completed proper analysis and assessment of the SCF
program to determine any benefits to the pubic. There is a strong
preference to collect this data for the 2nd quarter of FY 2010,
which would occur after March 30, 2010. Therefore approval is
requested prior to April 15, 2010, in order to distribute the data
collection tool to capture and report on the 2nd quarter FY 2010
data. By the end of the 3rd quarter of FY 2010 (June 30, 2010), a
full cycle of reports could be obtained, as will be due to ACF by
July 30, 2010. Therefore, we request approval for emergency
processing under Sec. 1320.13 (a)(2)(i) of the Paperwork Reduction
Act based on the likelihood of public harm if normal clearance
procedure are followed.
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.
Form 1 States and Tribes Capacity Buidling Program
Non Profit Grantee PPR - Transmittal and Instructions.doc
States and Tribes Capacity Buidling Program