[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 2, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11514-11515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4648]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Comment Request for information Collection for Employment and
Training (ET) Handbook 361, Unemployment Insurance (UI) Data Validation
(DV) (OMB Control No. 1205-0431): Extension Without Change
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, 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.
Currently, the Employment and Training Administration is soliciting
comments concerning the collection of data about the Unemployment
Insurance Data Validation program, for which collection authority
expires on July 31, 2011.
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 section below on or before May 2, 2011.
[[Page 11515]]
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Burman Skrable, Office of Unemployment
Insurance, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, Room S-4220, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: 202-693-3197 (this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-693-
3975, e-mail: [email protected].
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 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 Administrations' agenda has also
emphasized the importance of complete information for program
monitoring and improving program results to enhance the management and
performance of the Federal government.
The UI DV system is an extension of the Workload Validation (WV)
program that all State Workforce Agencies were required to operate
between the mid-1970s and 2000. The WV program checked the validity of
29 report elements on four required UI reports, because they are
combined into the ``workload items'' used to apportion each State's
share of funds appropriated for the administration of the UI program.
The UI DV program employs a refined and automated version of WV's basic
validation approach to review 322 elements reported on 13 benefits
reports and one tax report. The Department uses many of these elements
for key performance measures as well as for the original workload
items. 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. These
transactions are grouped into 15 benefits and five tax populations.
Each transaction record contains the necessary characteristics or
dimensions that enable it to be summed into an independent recount of
what the state has already reported. The Department provides state
agencies with software that edits the extract file (to identify and
remove duplicate transactions and improperly built records, for
example), 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 sample records against documentation in the state's
management information system to determine whether the transactions in
the extract file are supported by system documentation. This
qualitative check determines whether the validation count can be
trusted as accurate. The benefits extract files are considered to pass
this ``quality'' review if random samples indicate that no more than 5%
of the records contain errors; tax files are subjected to different but
related tests. A reported count is considered valid only if it differs
from a reconstructed (validation) count by no more than the appropriate
criterion of 2% or 1%, and that validation
count comes from an extract file that has satisfied all quality tests.
During FY 2011 and beyond, all states will be required to conduct a
complete validation every three years. In three cases the three-year
rule does not apply, and a revalidation must occur within one year: (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 or the extract file does not
pass all quality tests; (2) the validation applies to the two benefits
populations and one tax population used for GPRA measures; and (3)
reports are produced by new reporting software.
II. Review Focus: The Department of Labor is particularly
interested in comments 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:
Title: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Program.
OMB Number: 1205-0431.
Affected Public: State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
Form: ET Handbook 361: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation
Benefits and Tax (Issued as separate handbooks).
Total Annual Respondents: 53.
Annual Frequency: At least three validation items per state (two
benefits populations and one tax population).
Total Annual Responses: Depends on number of validation items due;
at least 53 x 3 = 159 per year.
Average Time per Response: 550 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 29,150 hours.
Total Annual Burden Cost for Respondents: $0.
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 public record.
Dated: February 25, 2011.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-4648 Filed 3-1-11; 8:45 am]
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