[Federal Register: February 12, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 29)]
[Notices]
[Page 8066-8067]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12fe08-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Proposed Information Collection Request for the Unemployment
Insurance (UI) Data Validation (DV) Program; Comment Request
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, the Department of Labor (Department) conducts a
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or
continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program
helps to ensure that the requested data can be provided in the desired
format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized,
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be
obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses section
of this notice or by accessing: http://www.doleta.gov/OMBCN/OMBControlNumber.cfm
.
DATES: Submit comments to the office listed in the ADDRESSES section
below on or before April 14, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Burman Skrable, Office of Workforce
Security, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, Room S-4522, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: 202-693-3197 (this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-693-
3975, e-mail: skrable.burman@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background: Section 303(a)(6) of the Social Security Act
specifies that the Secretary of Labor will not certify State UI
programs to receive administrative grants unless the State's law
includes provisions for--
Making of such reports * * * as the Secretary of Labor may from
time to time require, and compliance with such provisions as the
Secretary may from time to time find necessary to assure the
correctness and verification of such reports.
The Department considers data validation one of those ``provisions
* * * necessary to assure the correctness and verification'' of the
reports it requires.
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) requires
Federal agencies to develop annual and strategic performance plans that
establish performance goals, have concrete indicators of the extent
that goals are achieved, and set performance targets. Each year, the
agency is to issue a report that ``evaluate[s] the performance plan for
the current fiscal year relative to the performance achieved toward the
performance goals
[[Page 8067]]
in the fiscal year covered by the report.'' Section 1116(d)(2) of OMB
Circular A-11, which implements the GPRA process, cites the Reports
Consolidation Act of 2000 to emphasize the need for data validation by
requiring that the agency's annual performance report ``contain an
assessment of the completeness and reliability of the performance data
included in it [that] * * * describes any material inadequacies in the
completeness and reliability of the data.'' (OMB Circular A-11, section
230.2(f).) The President's Management Agenda has also emphasized the
importance of complete information for program monitoring and improving
program results to improve the management and performance of the
Federal government.
The UI DV system checks the validity of 1,275 data elements
reported on 12 benefits reports and one tax report. The Department uses
many of these elements for key performance measures as well as for
allocating administrative funds among states, and for critical economic
reports.
II. Desired Focus of Comments: Currently, the Department is
soliciting comments concerning the extension of the UI DV Program
which:
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
III. Current Actions: The validation process assesses the validity
(accuracy) of the counts of transactions or measurements of status as
follows. In the validation process, guided by a detailed handbook, the
state first constructs extract files containing all pertinent
individual transactions for the desired report period to be validated.
Each transaction contains the necessary characteristics or dimensions
that enable it to be summed into an independent recount of what the
state has already reported. Standardized software edits the extract
file, e.g., to remove duplicate transactions, then aggregates the
transactions to produce an independent reconstruction or ``validation
count'' of the reported figure. The reported count is considered valid
by this ``quantity'' validation test if it is within 2% of
the validation count (1% for a GPRA-related element). The
software also draws samples of most transaction types from the extract
files; guided by a state-specific handbook, the validators review these
against documentation in the state's management information system to
determine whether the transactions in the extract file are supported by
system documentation and thus that the validation count can be trusted
as accurate. The extract files are considered to pass this ``quality''
review if random samples indicate that no more than 5% of the records
contain errors.
Beginning in FY 2008 and beyond, all states will be required to
conduct a complete validation every three years. There are two
exceptions to this rule: (1) Groups of reported counts that are summed
for purposes of making a Pass/Fail determination and do not pass
validation by being within 2% of the reconstructed counts
(1% in the case of report elements used to calculate GPRA
measures) must be revalidated within one year; the same is true for
random samples that show that the underlying population from which they
are drawn contains more than 5% of its transactions in error; and (2)
all samples and counts used for GPRA measures must be validated
annually regardless of whether they pass validity standards or not.
Type of Review: Extension without change.
Agency: Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
Title: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Program.
OMB Number: 1205-0431.
Agency Number: ETA Handbook 361.
Recordkeeping: States are required to retain validation results and
supporting documentation for three years to support an audit.
Affected Public: State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
Total Respondents: 53.
Frequency: Annual.
Total Responses: 53 per year.
Estimated Time per Response: 550 hours.
Total Burden Hours: 29,150 hours.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.
Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $1,060,769.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: February 6, 2008.
Cheryl Atkinson,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security, Washington, DC.
[FR Doc. E8-2555 Filed 2-11-08; 8:45 am]
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