E9-16505. Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects:

Title: Child Care and Development Fund Annual Financial Report (ACF-696T) for Tribes.

OMB No.: 0970-0195.

Description: Tribes use the Financial Report Form ACF-696T 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.

Tribal grantees submit the ACF-696T report on an annual basis on behalf of the Tribal Lead Agency administering the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

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 Web site, “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 requires 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-696T has been modified (by the addition of two columns) for reporting ARRA data. In addition, a new data element will ask Tribes to estimate the number of child service months funded with ARRA dollars. The collection will not duplicate other information.

Respondents: Tribes and tribal organizations that are CCDF grantees.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
ACF-696T CCDF Financial Reporting Form for Tribes	232	1	8	1,856

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,856.

In compliance with the requirements of Section 506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described above. Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 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. E-mail address: [e-mail]. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection.

The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted within 60 days of this publication.

Dated: July 8, 2009.

Janean Chambers,

Reports Clearance Officer.