E9-27444. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Title: Tribal TANF Financial Report (ACF-196T).

OMB No.: 0970-0345.

Description: Tribes use Form ACF-196T to report expenditures for the Tribal TANF grant. Authority to collect and report this information is found in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Public Law 104-193. Tribal entities with approved Tribal plans for implementation of the TANF program are required by Section 412(h) of the Social Security Act to report financial data. Form ACF-196T provides for the collection of data regarding Federal expenditures. Failure to collect this data would seriously compromise the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) ability to monitor expenditures. This information is also used to estimate outlays and may be used to prepare ACF budget submissions to Congress. Financial management of the program would be seriously compromised if the expenditure data were not collected.

45 CFR Part 286 Subpart E requires the strictest controls on funding requirements, which necessities review of documentation in support of Tribal expenditures for reimbursement. Comments received from previous efforts to implement a similar Tribal TANF report Form ACF-196T were used to guide ACF in the development of the product presented with this submittal.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Public Law 111-5 has authorized emergency TANF funds to be awarded to States, Tribes, and Territories who meet certain eligibility requirements written in the legislation. TANF Policy Announcement TANF-ACF-PA-2009-01 provides additional guidance on eligibility requirements. Recipients of ARRA funds are to report spending and performance data to Federal agencies quarterly for posting on the public website, “Recovery.gov”. Federal agencies are required to collect ARRA expenditures data and the data must be clearly distinguishable from the regular TANF (non-ARRA) funds. Therefore, in order to meet this data collection requirement, the ACF-196T has been modified with the addition two line items and a column to report ARRA expenditures. The collection and posting of this data is to allow the public to see where their tax dollars are spent.

Respondents: All Tribal TANF Agencies.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
ACF-196T	56	4	1.50	336

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 336

Additional Information:

Copies of the proposed collection may be obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection. E-mail address: [e-mail].

OMB Comment:

OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent directly to the following:

Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Fax: [phone], Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration for Children and Families.

Dated: November 10, 2009.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.