[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 4, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 348-349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-18]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects

    Title: The Office of Community Services (OCS) Evaluation 
Initiative.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: This questionnaire is part of a contract that 
addresses evaluation strategies for three programs administered by OCS: 
Community Economic Development (CED), Rural Community Facilities (RF), 
and Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI). The 
Legislative requirement for two of these programs, i.e., the RF and CED 
programs, is in Title IV of the Community Opportunities, 
Accountability, and Training and Educational Services Act (COATS Human 
Services Reauthorization Act) of Oct. 27, 1998, Pub. L. 105-285, 
section 680(b) as amended. This legislative directive states that ``The 
Secretary shall require all activities receiving assistance under this 
section to be evaluated for their effectiveness. Funding for such 
evaluations shall be provided as a stated percentage of the assistance 
or through a separate grant awarded by the Secretary specifically for 
the purpose of evaluation of a particular activity or group of 
activities.''
    Under Title V, section 505, of the Family Support Act of 1998, Pub. 
L. 100-485, section 505(f), JOLI was initially a demonstration program 
that required local evaluations of each project. When JOLI was 
reauthorized in 1996 (Pub. L. 104-193--Aug. 22, 1996), it no longer had 
demonstration status and evaluation requirements. As a result, a formal 
evaluation for the JOLI programs has not been conducted since the 1996 
Pub. L. reauthorization. At this time, OCS is interested in a formal 
evaluation to assess the JOLI program.
    OCS has chosen to evaluate all three of these programs through a 
separate contract awarded by the Secretary using the Office of 
Management and Budget's (OMB) Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) 
in order to critically review the overall design and effectiveness of 
each program in its totality. The evaluation initiative contract 
provides the central office with the mechanism to ensure that all 
programs evaluated will have consistent data that is in agreement with 
the direction of OMB and provides the Secretary with information on 
program efficiency and effectiveness.
    The evaluation survey's primary purpose is to document and 
systematically evaluate the program performance of three OCS 
discretionary grant programs in qualitative and quantitative terms. 
Each of the three OCS discretionary grant programs--CED, RF, and JOLI--
will be assessed using qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods 
that capture key information about program and grantee-level 
performance in four general areas: (1) Program purpose and design; (2) 
strategic planning; (3) program management; and (4) program results. 
The evaluation activities will build on the initial year's findings and 
methods, with the goal of expanding data collection and analysis to 
improve the validity and generalizability of findings.
    The questionnaire will be administered online.
    Respondents: Active CED and JOLI grantees with grants awarded from 
2001 through 2004.

[[Page 349]]



                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Number of     Average  burden
                 Instrument                      Number of      responses  per     hours per       Total burden
                                                respondents       respondent        response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questionnaire for OCS--CED and JOLI Grantees             172                1              1.5              258
 in the U.S.................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 258.
    In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 
by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, 
SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail 
address: [email protected]. All requests should be identified 
by the title of the information collection.
    The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.

    Dated: December 27, 2005.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-18 Filed 1-3-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M