[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 58 (Monday, March 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16441-16442]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7396]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Economic Research Service


Notice of Intent To Seek Approval to Collect Information

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 
L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 
CFR part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), this notice announces the 
Economic Research Service's (ERS) intention to request approval for a 
new information collection from Child and Adult Care Food Program 
(CACFP) State agencies. The study will collect existing data from the 
State agencies related to administrative cost reimbursement of 
sponsoring organizations that administer the family day care homes 
(FDCH) portion of the Program.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by May 25, 2001 to be 
assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this Notice to Linda Ghelfi, 
Food Assistance and Rural Economy Branch, Food and Rural Economics 
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
1800 M Street, NW., Washington, DC 20036-5831, 202-694-5437. Submit 
electronic comments to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: CACFP Administrative Cost Reimbursement Study.
    OMB Number: Not yet assigned.
    Expiration Date: N/A.
    Type of Request: Approval for the collection of existing data from 
CACFP State agencies pertaining to the sponsoring organizations that 
administer the Program to family day care homes (FDCH).
    Abstract: USDA needs to obtain budgetary and cost information on 
FDCH sponsoring organizations in order to assess the CACFP 
administrative cost reimbursement system. Such knowledge will help the 
USDA determine whether future changes in that reimbursement system are 
warranted. Currently, very little administrative data are collected at 
the national level on the operations of the CACFP administrative cost 
reimbursement system. The last national study of those costs collected 
data in 1980.
    To evaluate how sponsoring organizations are being reimbursed for 
administering family day care homes, information must be obtained from 
the State agencies that administer the CACFP. Existing information to 
be collected from the State agencies includes:
     FY2001 administrative budget and supporting documentation 
for each sponsoring organization
     FY2000 administrative costs reimbursement; food 
reimbursement; actual administrative costs, if available; and final 
budget amount for each sponsoring organization
     Sponsor Characteristics, including type of organization 
(public vs. private and multi vs. sole purpose), geographic area of 
operations, length of time in the Program, and numbers of sponsored 
homes by tier for selected months in FY2000 and FY2001.
    USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) conducted management 
improvement training during FY2000 that impacted the format, 
consistency, and detail in the budgets submitted by the sponsoring 
organizations to their State agencies. For this reason, FY2001 budgets 
contain more detail on cost categories, such as wages, benefits, office 
rent, and supplies, than earlier years' budgets. However, in order to 
provide information on the relationships among reimbursements, budgets, 
costs, and sponsor characteristics in a timely and useful manner, end-
of-year totals and sponsor characteristics are required from FY2000.
    The data will be collected on a one-time basis in 2001, to provide 
USDA and Congress with information to inform policy and program 
decisions sufficiently in advance of reauthorization.
    The FY2001 budgets are expected to be readily available for 
clerical staff to photocopy. The FY2001 budgets are one to two pages 
and the budget justification is expected to average approximately 10 
pages. This justification explains what costs the sponsor has reported 
in each budget category and will allow an analysis of budgets by types 
of expenses. State requests for budget changes or clarifications will 
most often be a few pages of correspondence between the State and the 
sponsor. Collection of the correspondence that was required for the 
State to approve the sponsor's budget at time of initial submission 
will also help clarify how

[[Page 16442]]

costs are classified by budget category. The FY2000 totals are expected 
to be readily available in computer files from which they can be 
extracted and sent in by e-mail or by mail on either computer-readable 
diskette or a few pages of computer printout. Sponsor characteristics 
are expected to be known by State agency staff or easily extracted from 
files and will be reportable on a form provided to each State office 
that may be completed electronically or by hand. Burden is minimized by 
collecting sponsoring organization information from the State agencies 
rather than from each of the 1,138 individual sponsoring organizations.
    Estimate of Burden: We estimate the burden to each State agency to 
be as follows:

    Retrieval, compilation, and sending of electronic information on 
all its sponsoring organizations--2 hours.
    Clerical time to locate, copy, compile, and send information on 
each sponsoring organization that is not electronically available--
30 minutes for each sponsor file.

    Respondents: Respondents include staff of State agencies that 
administer the CACFP.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 53 agencies in total; including 49 
State agencies, the Mid-Atlantic FNS Regional Office that administers 
the CACFP in Virginia, and the CACFP agencies in the District of 
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Total of 675 hours.
    Comments: Comments are invited on (a) 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) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and the assumptions used; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technology. 
Comments should be sent to the address stated in the preamble. All 
responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the request 
for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval. All comments will 
also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: March 16, 2001.
Susan E. Offutt,
Administrator, Economic Research Service.
[FR Doc. 01-7396 Filed 3-23-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-18-P