Information Collection Submission to OMB for Reinstatement Under Paperwork Reduction Act

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Information Collection Submission to OMB for Reinstatement Under

Paperwork Reduction Act

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as

amended (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that an

information collection request, OMB Control Number 1076-0135, ``Public

Law 102-477 Reporting,'' was submitted to the Office of Management and

Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review

and reinstatement under 5 CFR 1320.10. The first notice requesting

comments about the collection was published in the Federal Register on

February 24, 1998 (63 FR 9240-9241).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 3, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the Office of Information

and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for Department of

the Interior, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW,

Washington, D.C. 20503. A copy should be sent to Lynn Forcia, Office of

Economic Development, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street, NW, Mail

Stop 4640-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240. OMB is required to make a

decision concerning this information collection request between 30 and

60 days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.

Therefore, a comment will receive the best consideration by OMB if it

is submitted early during this comment period.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or

additional copies of the information collection instructions and the

February 22, 1998 Federal Register should be directed to Lynn Forcia,

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street,

NW, MS 4640-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240 and Telephone: 202-219-5270.

(This is not a toll-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: A Reporting System for the P.L. 102-477 Demonstration

Project, expired on March 31, 1998. This is a request for reinstatement

of a slightly modified previously approved information collection

request.

I. Abstract: The information collection is needed to document

satisfactory compliance with statutory requirements of the various

integrated programs. Public Law 102-477 authorizes tribal governments

to integrate federally-funded employment, training and related services

programs into a single, coordinated, comprehensive service delivery

plan. Funding agencies include the Department of the Interior,

Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is statutorily required to serve as the

lead agency. Section 11 of this Act requires that the Secretary of the

Interior make available a single universal report format which shall be

used by a tribal government to report on integrated activities and

expenditures undertaken. The Bureau of Indian Affairs shares the

information collected from these reports with the Department of Labor

and Department of Health and Human Services.

II. Method of Collection: Tribal governments voluntarily

participating in Public Law 102-477 are required to annually complete

two single page, one-sided report forms and one narrative report, which

includes four pages of instructions. They replace 166 pages of

instructions and applications representing three different agencies and

twelve different funded but related programs. We estimate a 95 percent

reduction in reporting which is consistent with the Paperwork Reduction

Act and goals of the National Performance Review. The statistical and

narrative report will be used to demonstrate how well a plan was

executed in comparison to proposed goals. The financial status report

will be used to track cash flow, and will allow an analysis of

activities versus expenditures and expenditures to approved budget. It

is a slightly modified SF-269-A (short form).

These report forms and narrative are limited but satisfy the

Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor and the

Department of the Interior. They reduce the burden on tribal

governments by consolidating data collection for employment, training,

education, child care and related service programs. The forms were

developed by a partnership of tribes and representatives of all three

Federal agencies, to standardize terms and definitions, eliminate

duplication and reduce frequency of collection.

[[Page 59328]]

Respondents: Tribes participating in Public Law 102-477 will report

annually. Currently, there are 22 grantees participating in the

program.

Burden: We estimate that completion of the reporting requirements

will require 10 hours per year to complete for each grantee, times 22

grants equals 220 burden hours.

Public Comments and Responses

All comments were considered in preparing BIA's response.

The desk officer for Department of Labor at OMB verbally

recommended that we add the following questions to the reporting forms

in order to provide three additional items of information for the

Department of Labor's new Welfare to Work program. Add to the Program

Statistical report form:

1. ``Welfare to work recipients entered unsubsidized employment.''

2. ``Placements with duration of 180 days or more.''

Add to the Narrative portion of the report, one sentence:

3. ``The narrative should show the extent of participants in any

Welfare to Work activities, e.g., the number of participants and what

activities were included.''

The P.L. 102-477 Tribal Work Group formed a subcommittee to review

all P.L. 102-477 report forms including the OMB requested additions.

The subcommittee included representatives from the Central Council of

Tlingit and Haida Indians, Kodiak Area Native Association, the Shoshone

Bannock Tribes, the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, the Sisseton-Wahpeton

Sioux Tribe and the Indian and Native American Employment and Training

Coalition. The subcommittee responded to the recommendations from the

Office of Management and Budget as follows. To the Program Statistical

report form:

1. In the program consolidation authorized under P.L. 102-477,

grantees no longer identify participants in each activity separately

because the funding sources are not identified for each participant.

Therefore, the subcommittee recommendation was added: ``Long-term TANF

recipients entered unsubsidized employment.''

2. The subcommittee stated that tracking participants for 180 days

is very costly in terms of additional time and expense that could

otherwise be spent toward finding unsubsidized employment for

individuals. Therefore, the subcommittee recommended that grantees

track clients for 90 days instead of 180 days. Tracking participants

for 90 days would also be consistent with existing Department of Labor,

JTPA requirements and participant eligibility for services. Therefore,

we have decided to add the following question to the form: ``Placements

with duration of 90 days or more.''

3. The subcommittee agreed with the Office of Management and Budget

that it was appropriate to add one sentence to the narrative

instruction, and is as follows: ``The narrative should show the extent

of participation in any welfare to work activities, e.g., the number of

participants and the services such as job readiness, supportive

services, and any post employment services provided to place long-term

welfare recipients into employment and the success of such services.''

The Bureau of Indian Affairs also received comments from five P.L.

102-477 grantees and one other interested party, stating that the

existing format has allowed tribes to spend more time providing

services to clients and less time completing report forms. Grantees

stated that initiation of a P.L. 102-477 program resulted in the

integration of several programs and resulted in the elimination of

distinction between related tribal employment and training participants

based on the source of funds for the services. The grantees stated they

wanted no additional information collection elements and requested a

face-to-face meeting with OMB prior to making any changes to the

existing forms. We did not receive any written comments from any of the

other participating Federal agencies. We have incorporated the

additions recommended by the P.L. 102-477 subcommittee because we

believe the additional information is necessary to provide the

Department of Labor and the Office of Management and Budget with the

information necessary to adequately manage and evaluate the Welfare to

Work program. The collection of the additional information is the

minimum amount of information needed to accomplish this goal and to

limit information collection and reporting requirements for grantee

tribes, many with limited resources.

Dated: October 23, 1998.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 98-29313 Filed 11-2-98; 8:45 am]

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