2014-15927. Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects:

Title: Objective Progress Report (OPR) and Objective Work Plan (OWP).

OMB No.: 0970-0429.

Description: Content and formatting changes are being made to the OPR and OWP. The information in the OPR is currently collected on a quarterly basis to monitor the performance of grantees and better gauge grantee progress. The OWP is utilized by applications when they submit their proposals and then by grantees to monitor their projects once awarded. ANA has determined that the requirement for ANA Grantees to submit information about the project activities on quarterly basis creates undue burden for Grantees. Therefore, ANA has reformatted the OPR to require Grantees submit semi-annually reports instead of quarterly report. This will reduce the administrative burden on Grantees especially the smaller organizations. The majority of content being requested from the grantees essentially remain same except for the frequency of reporting.

OPR: The following are proposed content changes to the document:

Grantee Information: Report Frequency—This section of OPR will be reformatted to request semi-annual or final project data instead of quarterly information. The other sections of the document with reference to “quarterly” information will be changed to reflect the shift from four times a year reporting requirement to twice per year.

Objective Work Plan Update: Content is the same. No changes are proposed for this section of the OPR.

Impact indicator: Current Status of Expected Results and Current Status of Expected Benefits which are reported separately on the OPR will be combined to read “Current Status of Expected Results and Benefits.” The content requested in this section is similar to the previous OPR without the added burden of having the reporting organizations provide the analysis that distinguish between “results and benefits”. Every section of the document will be rewritten to reflect this change.

OWP: ANA proposes to reformat the OWP (content is same) by swapping the Objective field with Problem Statement. In other words, this section will require respondents to begin with a concise statement about the problem the project is designed to address and will be followed by more details about the objectives of the project.

The two fields “Results Expected and Benefits Expected” will be combined into one field to read “Results and Benefits Expected”. This will reduce redundancy and help reduce the burden on Grantees.

Respondents: Tribal Government, Native non-profit organizations, Tribal Colleges & Universities.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
OWP	500	1	3	1,500
OPR	275	2	1	550

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,050.

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 Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. Email 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.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.