[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1355.35]

[Page 264-266]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1355--GENERAL--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1355.35  Program improvement plans.

    (a) Mandatory program improvement plan.
    (1) States found not to be operating in substantial conformity shall 
develop a program improvement plan. The program improvement plan must:
    (i) Be developed jointly by State and Federal staff in consultation 
with the review team;
    (ii) Identify the areas in which the State's program is not in 
substantial conformity;
    (iii)Set forth the goals, the action steps required to correct each 
identified weakness or deficiency, and dates by which each action step 
is to be completed in order to improve the specific areas;
    (iv) Set forth the amount of progress the statewide data will make 
toward meeting the national standards;
    (v) Establish benchmarks that will be used to measure the State's 
progress in implementing the program improvement plan and describe the 
methods that will be used to evaluate progress;
    (vi) Identify how the action steps in the plan build on and make 
progress over prior program improvement plans;
    (vii) Identify the technical assistance needs and sources of 
technical assistance, both Federal and non-Federal, which will be used 
to make the necessary improvements identified in the program improvement 
plan.
    (2) In the event that ACF and the State cannot reach consensus 
regarding the content of a program improvement plan or the degree of 
program or data improvement to be achieved, ACF retains the final 
authority to assign the contents of the plan and/or the degree of 
improvement required for successful completion of the plan. Under such 
circumstances, ACF will render a

[[Page 265]]

written rationale for assigning such content or degree of improvement.
    (b) Voluntary program improvement plan. States found to be operating 
in substantial conformity may voluntarily develop and implement a 
program improvement plan in collaboration with the ACF Regional Office, 
under the following circumstances:
    (1) The State and Regional Office agree that there are areas of the 
State's child and family services programs in need of improvement which 
can be addressed through the development and implementation of a 
voluntary program improvement plan;
    (2) ACF approval of the voluntary program improvement plan will not 
be required; and
    (3) No penalty will be assessed for the State's failure to achieve 
the goals described in the voluntary program improvement plan.
    (c) Approval of program improvement plans.
    (1) A State determined not to be in substantial conformity must 
submit a program improvement plan to ACF for approval within 90 calendar 
days from the date the State receives the written notification from ACF 
that it is not operating in substantial conformity.
    (2) Any program improvement plan will be approved by ACF if it meets 
the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section.
    (3) If the program improvement plan does not meet the provisions of 
paragraph (a) of this section, the State will have 30 calendar days from 
the date it receives notice from ACF that the plan has not been approved 
to revise and resubmit the plan for approval.
    (4) If the State does not submit a revised program improvement plan 
according to the provisions of paragraph (c)(3) of this section or if 
the plan does not meet the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section, 
withholding of funds pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 1355.36 of this 
part will begin.
    (d) Duration of program improvement plans.
    (1) ACF retains the authority to establish time frames for the 
program improvement plan consistent with the seriousness and complexity 
of the remedies required for any areas determined not in substantial 
conformity, not to exceed two years.
    (2) Particularly egregious areas of nonconformity impacting child 
safety must receive priority in both the content and time frames of the 
program improvement plans and must be addressed in less than two years.
    (3) The Secretary may approve extensions of deadlines in a program 
improvement plan not to exceed one year. The circumstances under which 
requests for extensions will be approved are expected to be rare. The 
State must provide compelling documentation of the need for such an 
extension. Requests for extensions must be received by ACF at least 60 
days prior to the affected completion date.
    (4) States must provide quarterly status reports (unless ACF and the 
State agree upon less frequent reports) to ACF. Such reports must inform 
ACF of progress in implementing the measures of the plan.
    (e) Evaluating program improvement plans. Program improvement plans 
will be evaluated jointly by the State agency and ACF, in collaboration 
with other members of the review team, as described in the State's 
program improvement plan and in accordance with the following criteria:
    (1) The methods and information used to measure progress must be 
sufficient to determine when and whether the State is operating in 
substantial conformity or has reached the negotiated standard with 
respect to statewide data indicators that failed to meet the national 
standard for that indicator;
    (2) The frequency of evaluating progress will be determined jointly 
by the State and Federal team members, but no less than annually. 
Evaluation of progress will be performed in conjunction with the annual 
updates of the State's CFSP, as described in paragraph (f) of this 
section;
    (3) Action steps may be jointly determined by the State and ACF to 
be achieved prior to projected completion dates, and will not require 
any further evaluation at a later date; and
    (4) The State and ACF may jointly renegotiate the terms and 
conditions of the program improvement plan as needed, provided that:

[[Page 266]]

    (i) The renegotiated plan is designed to correct the areas of the 
State's program determined not to be in substantial conformity and/or 
achieve a standard for the statewide data indicators that is acceptable 
to ACF;
    (ii) The amount of time needed to implement the provisions of the 
plan does not extend beyond three years from the date the original 
program improvement plan was approved;
    (iii) The terms of the renegotiated plan are approved by ACF; and
    (iv) The Secretary approves any extensions beyond the two-year 
limit.
    (f) Integration of program improvement plans with CFSP planning. The 
elements of the program improvement plan must be incorporated into the 
goals and objectives of the State's CFSP. Progress in implementing the 
program improvement plan must be included in the annual reviews and 
progress reports related to the CFSP required in 45 CFR 1357.16.

[65 FR 4080, Jan. 25, 2000, as amended at 66 FR 58675, Nov. 23, 2001]