[Federal Register: June 25, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 122)]
[Notices]               
[Page 42804-42806]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25jn02-91]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

 
Proposed Collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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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 Administration is soliciting comments concerning a series of 
proposed new collections of data from state workforce agencies and 
local workforce investment areas on issues relating to the 
implementation and operation of programs authorized by the Workforce 
Investment Act.
    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.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before August 26, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Kerri Vitalo, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., NW., Room N-5637, 
Washington, DC 20210; 202-693-3912 (this is not a toll-free number); 
kvitalo@doleta.gov; Fax: 202-693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration 
(ETA) seeks to collect data from state workforce agencies and local 
workforce investment areas 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 represents a substantial redesign of the workforce 
development system. With the goal of improving the responsiveness of 
government services and enhancing customer choice, this legislation 
calls for the establishment of new planning bodies, mandates that over 
a dozen separately funded federal programs work together to streamline 
workforce services, requires new service designs and delivery systems, 
and establishes new accountability requirements.
    In light of its needs for information on WIA operations on a quick-
turnaround

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basis, ETA is seeking clearance for a series of eight (8) to twenty 
(20) separate surveys to be administered 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 Centers, Employment Service 
offices, or other local-area WIA partners. Each survey will be designed 
on an ad hoc basis over the three-year period, and will focus on 
emerging topics of pressing policy interest. Each survey will either 
cover the universe of respondents or a properly drawn random sample.
    Question lists would be developed through short, structured 
brainstorming sessions involving key policy and program staff from each 
relevant national and regional office and division in ETA.
    Examples of broad topic areas include:

 Local policies and practices promoting a ``work-first'' 
approach to workforce development
 The status of local Management Information System developments
 The scope and content of intensive services and training 
services
 Procedures used to orient customers to service choices and 
access points
 The status of policies and practices relating to Eligible 
Training Providers
 Program registration practices
 Local and state policies on Individual Training Accounts, 
including dollar caps and time limits on the training that will be 
funded
 The background and experience of, and training provided for, 
staff delivering intensive services
 The extent of integration of Employment Services operations 
and other partners (Vocational Rehabilitation, Temporary Assistance to 
Needy Families, etc.) into One-Stop Centers
 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 the coming reauthorization of not only WIA, but also of the 
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant and multiple 
programs which are mandatory partners of the WIA system (such as 
vocational education, adult education, higher education, and vocational 
rehabilitation). Beyond WIA/TANF reauthorization, ETA also needs to 
keep abreast of the challenges and impediments that states and local 
areas are encountering in order to discharge its obligation to issue 
policy guidance, provide technical assistance, and accurate 
information, and promote continuous improvement. These obligations can 
only be met if ETA has timely information that also identifies the 
scope and magnitude of various practices or problems. This need is 
particularly acute given that the workforce development system has been 
evolving rapidly in the several years since WIA was enacted and new 
issues and concerns are constantly surfacing.
    The information being requested by the quick turnaround surveys is 
not otherwise available. Other research and evaluation efforts, 
including case studies or long-range studies, 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 and may be updated as infrequently as only once every five years; 
existing quarterly or annual reporting requirements of states and local 
areas provide some information, but primarily about cost outlays and 
the number and characteristics of clients served and their outcomes; 
and participant outcome data does 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 ``real-time'' basis.
    ETA will make every effort to coordinate the quick-turnaround 
surveys with other ongoing research it is conducting, in order to ease 
the burden on local and state respondents, to avoid duplication, and to 
explore fully how interim data and information from each study can be 
used to inform the other studies. Information from the quick response 
surveys will provide ``just-in-time'' information that complements but 
does not duplicate other ETA reporting requirements or evaluations 
studies.

II. Review Focus

    The Department of Labor is particularly interested in comments 
that: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection strategy of 
administering quick turnaround surveys is supportive of key performance 
functions of the agency, including whether the information has 
practical utility to support continuous improvement of the workforce 
investment programs, WIA policy decisions and guidance, and workforce 
investment strategies; (b) evaluate the approach and accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used to determine the upper and lower bounds for survey burden hours 
and the approach used to estimate annualized burden hours and costs; 
(c) provide comments and input on possible topic areas to be considered 
for quick turnaround surveys; 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

    DOL is seeking Office of Management and Budget approval for 
immediate clearance of a series of surveys that would authorize the 
surveys to proceed as described above. The surveys themselves would be 
developed on an ad-hoc basis over the three-year period, as pressing 
policy issues emerge. The resulting data will be used by ETA in 
carrying out its functions of issuing policy guidance, identifying 
needs for technical assistance among states and local areas, providing 
input to Congress on legislative revisions, and promoting continuous 
program improvement.
    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Agency Number: 1205-0NEW.
    Title: Quick-Turnaround Surveys on WIA Implementation.
    Affected Public: State and local workforce agencies.
    Total Respondents: Varies by survey, from 54 to 250 respondents per 
survey, for up to 20 surveys.
    Frequency: Up to 20 separate surveys over three years. Each survey 
will be administered only once.
    Average Time per Response: Varies by survey, but estimated at 10 
minutes for the shortest surveys (surveys with only 10 questions, 
asking about straightforward factual information or opinions) and up to 
90 minutes for the longest surveys (surveys with a maximum of 30 
questions).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 3,768 hours.
    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

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summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and 
Budget approval of the information collection request; they will also 
become a matter of public record.

    Dated: June 19, 2002.
Gerard F. Fiala,
Office Administrator, Office of Policy and Research.
[FR Doc. 02-16017 Filed 6-24-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M