[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 30, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15726-15728]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-6997]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Comment Request for Information Collection for Quick Turnaround
Surveys of the Workforce Investment Act (Extension Without Revisions)
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration.
ACTION: Notice
-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on proposed 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 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 the collection requirements on
respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Employment and
Training
[[Page 15727]]
Administration is soliciting comments concerning the collection of data
about quick turnaround surveys of the Workforce Investment Act (due to
expire in May 2010).
A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be
obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section
of this notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
addressee's section below on or before June 1, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to US Department of Labor,
Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development
and Research, Attention: Richard Muller, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Room N-5641, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone number: (202) 693-3680
(this is not a toll-free number). Fax: (202) 693-2766. E-mail:
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Muller, Employment and
Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Room N-5637, Washington, DC 20210; (202) 693-3680 (this is
not a toll-free number); e-mail: [email protected]; fax: (202)
693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting
comments regarding an extension of a current Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) clearance for a series of quick turnaround surveys in
which data will be collected from state workforce agencies and local
workforce investment areas. The surveys will focus on issues relating
to the governance, administration, funding, service design, and
delivery structure of workforce programs authorized by the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA). Enacted in 1998, WIA has sought to redesign the
workforce investment system by linking over a dozen separately funded
Federal programs, streamlining services, and establishing new
accountability requirements.
ETA has a continuing need for information on WIA operations and is
seeking a further extension of the clearance for conducting a series of
8 to 20 separate surveys over the next three years. Each survey will be
relatively short (10-30 questions) and, depending on the nature of the
survey, may be administered to state workforce agencies, local
workforce boards, One-Stop Career Centers, employment service offices,
or other local-area WIA partners. Each survey will be designed on an ad
hoc basis and will focus on emerging topics of pressing policy
interest. Each survey will either cover the universe of respondents
(for state level information) or a properly drawn random sample (for
local level information). Examples of broad topic areas include:
Local management information system developments.
New processes and procedures.
Services to different target groups.
Integration and coordination with other programs.
Local workforce investment board membership and training.
Quick turnaround surveys are needed for a number of reasons. The
most pressing concerns the need to understand key operational issues in
light of challenges deriving from the Administration's policy
priorities and from the upcoming reauthorization of WIA and of other
partner programs. Timely information, that identifies the scope and
magnitude of various practices or problems, is needed for ETA to
fulfill its obligations to develop high quality policy, administrative
guidance, regulations, and technical assistance.
The data that will be requested in the quick turnaround surveys is
not otherwise available. Other research and evaluation efforts,
including case studies or long-range evaluations, either cover only a
limited number of sites or take many years for data to be gathered and
analyzed. Administrative information and data are too limited: The
five-year Workforce Investment Plans, developed by states and local
areas, are too general in nature to meet ETA's specific informational
needs. Quarterly or annual data reported by states and local areas do
not provide information on key operational practices and issues. Thus,
ETA has no alternative mechanism for collecting information that both
identifies the scope and magnitude of emerging WIA implementation
issues and provides the information on a quick turnaround basis.
ETA will make every effort to coordinate the quick turnaround
surveys with other research it is conducting, in order to ease the
burden on local and state respondents, to avoid duplication, and to
fully explore how interim data and information from each study can be
used to inform other studies. Information from the quick response
surveys will complement but not duplicate other ETA reporting
requirements or evaluation studies.
II. Review Focus
The Department of Labor is particularly interested in comments
which:
(a) 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;
(b) 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;
(c) Enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(d) 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
submissions of responses.
III. Current Actions
Type of Review: Extension without changes.
Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
Title: Quick Turnaround Surveys of WIA.
OMB Number: 1205-0436.
Affected Public: State and local workforce agencies and workforce
investment boards, and WIA partner program agencies at the state and
local levels.
Total Respondents: Varies by survey, from 54 to 250 respondents per
survey, for up to 20 surveys. See Summary Burden chart below:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aggregate
Number of Average time burden hours Estimated Total annual
Sample Size questions per question per survey number of burden hours
(minutes) (hours) surveys
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower-Bound............................................. 54 10 1 9 8 72
Upper-Bound............................................. 250 30 3 375 20 7,500
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 15728]]
Total Burden Cost for capital and startup: $0.
Total Burden Cost for operation and maintenance: $0.
Comments submitted in response to this comment request 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: March 24, 2010.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-6997 Filed 3-29-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P