[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 12, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8066-8067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2555]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

 Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request for the Unemployment 
Insurance (UI) Data Validation (DV) Program; Comment Request

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, the Department of Labor (Department) conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and 
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing 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 the 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 
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
    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 or by accessing: http://www.doleta.gov/OMBCN/OMBControlNumber.cfm.

DATES: Submit comments to the office listed in the ADDRESSES section 
below on or before April 14, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Burman Skrable, Office of Workforce 
Security, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Room S-4522, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210, 
telephone: 202-693-3197 (this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-693-
3975, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    I. Background: Section 303(a)(6) of the Social Security Act 
specifies that the Secretary of Labor will not certify State UI 
programs to receive administrative grants unless the State's law 
includes provisions for--
    Making of such reports * * * as the Secretary of Labor may from 
time to time require, and compliance with such provisions as the 
Secretary may from time to time find necessary to assure the 
correctness and verification of such reports.
    The Department considers data validation one of those ``provisions 
* * * necessary to assure the correctness and verification'' of the 
reports it requires.
    The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) requires 
Federal agencies to develop annual and strategic performance plans that 
establish performance goals, have concrete indicators of the extent 
that goals are achieved, and set performance targets. Each year, the 
agency is to issue a report that ``evaluate[s] the performance plan for 
the current fiscal year relative to the performance achieved toward the 
performance goals

[[Page 8067]]

in the fiscal year covered by the report.'' Section 1116(d)(2) of OMB 
Circular A-11, which implements the GPRA process, cites the Reports 
Consolidation Act of 2000 to emphasize the need for data validation by 
requiring that the agency's annual performance report ``contain an 
assessment of the completeness and reliability of the performance data 
included in it [that] * * * describes any material inadequacies in the 
completeness and reliability of the data.'' (OMB Circular A-11, section 
230.2(f).) The President's Management Agenda has also emphasized the 
importance of complete information for program monitoring and improving 
program results to improve the management and performance of the 
Federal government.
    The UI DV system checks the validity of 1,275 data elements 
reported on 12 benefits reports and one tax report. The Department uses 
many of these elements for key performance measures as well as for 
allocating administrative funds among states, and for critical economic 
reports.
    II. Desired Focus of Comments: Currently, the Department is 
soliciting comments concerning the extension of the UI DV Program 
which:
     Evaluate 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;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     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 submission of responses.
    III. Current Actions: The validation process assesses the validity 
(accuracy) of the counts of transactions or measurements of status as 
follows. In the validation process, guided by a detailed handbook, the 
state first constructs extract files containing all pertinent 
individual transactions for the desired report period to be validated. 
Each transaction contains the necessary characteristics or dimensions 
that enable it to be summed into an independent recount of what the 
state has already reported. Standardized software edits the extract 
file, e.g., to remove duplicate transactions, then aggregates the 
transactions to produce an independent reconstruction or ``validation 
count'' of the reported figure. The reported count is considered valid 
by this ``quantity'' validation test if it is within 2% of 
the validation count (1% for a GPRA-related element). The 
software also draws samples of most transaction types from the extract 
files; guided by a state-specific handbook, the validators review these 
against documentation in the state's management information system to 
determine whether the transactions in the extract file are supported by 
system documentation and thus that the validation count can be trusted 
as accurate. The extract files are considered to pass this ``quality'' 
review if random samples indicate that no more than 5% of the records 
contain errors.
    Beginning in FY 2008 and beyond, all states will be required to 
conduct a complete validation every three years. There are two 
exceptions to this rule: (1) Groups of reported counts that are summed 
for purposes of making a Pass/Fail determination and do not pass 
validation by being within 2% of the reconstructed counts 
(1% in the case of report elements used to calculate GPRA 
measures) must be revalidated within one year; the same is true for 
random samples that show that the underlying population from which they 
are drawn contains more than 5% of its transactions in error; and (2) 
all samples and counts used for GPRA measures must be validated 
annually regardless of whether they pass validity standards or not.
    Type of Review: Extension without change.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
    Title: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Program.
    OMB Number: 1205-0431.
    Agency Number: ETA Handbook 361.
    Recordkeeping: States are required to retain validation results and 
supporting documentation for three years to support an audit.
    Affected Public: State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
    Total Respondents: 53.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Total Responses: 53 per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: 550 hours.
    Total Burden Hours: 29,150 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $1,060,769.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information 
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: February 6, 2008.
Cheryl Atkinson,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security, Washington, DC.
 [FR Doc. E8-2555 Filed 2-11-08; 8:45 am]
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