OMB Passbacks

OPRE Responses to OMB Passback Comments

Project LAUNCH Information Collection Request

June 2011

OMB Questions and OPRE Responses:

(1a) For the systems and services measures, it looks like these are reported electronically via the internet, but the ROCIS entry states that 0% reply electronically and that there is only paper submissions; is this an error in ROCIS?

There is an error in ROCIS; this should say "Fillable Fileable"

(1b) OIRA: Are there any plans to auto-populate or carry over data from local to national reports, or are both surveys collecting different types of information?

There is no plan to auto-populate or carry over data from local evaluation reports. However, we will auto-populate some questions in the data reporting system using previously reported data after grantees have reported in the web-based data reporting system. Examples of data that will be auto-populated include the program description, the target population, and the location in which services occur.

(2) What is the obligation to respond, is it voluntary, or is it required to maintain or receive benefits? (And if it is voluntary, what is the plan to get a 100% response rate)

There is an error in ROCIS; it should say mandatory. Participation in the Cross-Site Evaluation is mandatory for all grantees. The RFA for the Project LAUNCH grant program states that: “grantees must cooperate with and provide service implementation and other data for LAUNCH evaluation efforts.” The RFA further states that: “all grantees are expected to participate in the cross-site evaluation”.

(3) In ROCIS, the Agency stated that the changes in hours are because of agency discretion, however, it seems that most of the changes are because of an increased number of grantees (especially since it appears the hourly burden has not changed per individual respondent).  Is this correct?    

Yes, this is correct. The changes are because six additional grantees were funded. The total number of Project LAUNCH grantees increased from 18 to 24.

OPRE Responses to OMB Passback Comments, continued

Project LAUNCH Information Collection Request

June 2011

(4a) ROCIS states that the affected public are individuals or households – are the grantees private citizens, or should they be more properly characterized as private sector or state, local, and tribal governments? 

For Cohorts 1 and 2, the affected public are individuals working for State and Tribal governments. For Cohort 3, the affected public are individuals shown in the table below. They are a mix of private, non-profit organizations, public institution of higher education, and an independent (public) school district.

TYPE OF ORGANIZATION – COHORT 3	NUMBER OF GRANTEES
PRIVATE,NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION	4
PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION	1
PUBLIC, INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT	1

(4b) Second, for the burden hours, please briefly explain how the Agency estimated that it will take 1.25 hours per respondent. 

This estimate is based on both the experience of the site visits as well as the past practices and experiences of the cross-site evaluation team. Additionally, not all questions in the interview guide are relevant to every individual who will be interviewed. For these reasons, we consider this estimate of burden to be accurate.

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