E9-28503. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Title: Child Care and Development Fund Financial Report (ACF 696) for States and Territories.

OMB No.: 0970-0163.

Description: States and Territories use the Financial Report Form ACF-696 to report Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) expenditures. Authority to collect and report this information is found in section 658G of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, as revised. In addition to the Program Reporting Requirements set forth in 45 CFR Part 98, Subpart H, the regulations at 45 CFR 98.65(g) and 98.67(c)(1) authorize the Secretary to require financial reports as necessary.

The form provides specific data regarding claims and provides a mechanism for States to request Child Care grant awards and to certify the availability of State matching funds. Failure to collect this data would seriously compromise ACF's ability to monitor Child Care and Development Fund expenditures. This information is also used to estimate outlays and may be used to prepare ACF budget submissions to Congress.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, (Pub. L. 111-5) provides an additional $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Fund to help States, Territories, and Tribes provide child care assistance to low income working families. CCDF Program Instruction (CCDF-ACF-PI-2009-03) provided guidance on ARRA spending requirements.

Section 1512 of the ARRA legislation requires recipients to report quarterly spending and performance data on the public website, “Recovery.gov”. Federal agencies are required to collect ARRA expenditure data and performance data and these data must be clearly distinguishable from the regular CCDF (non-ARRA) funds. To ensure transparency and accountability, the ARRA authorizes Federal agencies and grantees to track and report separately on expenditures from funds made available by the stimulus bill. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance implementing the ARRA legislation indicates that agencies requiring additional information for oversight should rely on existing authorities and reflect these requirements in their award terms and conditions as necessary, following existing procedures. Therefore, to capture ARRA expenditures, the ACF-696 has been modified (by the addition of a column) for reporting ARRA expenditure data. In addition, a new data element will ask States and Territories to estimate the number of child service months funded with ARRA dollars. The collection will not duplicate other information.

Respondents: States and Territories.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
ACF-696	56	4	5	1,120

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,120

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 24, 2009.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.