[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 2, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11514-11515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4648]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR


Comment Request for information Collection for Employment and 
Training (ET) Handbook 361, Unemployment Insurance (UI) Data Validation 
(DV) (OMB Control No. 1205-0431): Extension Without Change

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, 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. 
Currently, the Employment and Training Administration is soliciting 
comments concerning the collection of data about the Unemployment 
Insurance Data Validation program, for which collection authority 
expires on July 31, 2011.
    A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section 
of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addressee section below on or before May 2, 2011.

[[Page 11515]]


ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Burman Skrable, Office of Unemployment 
Insurance, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Room S-4220, 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 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 Administrations' agenda has also 
emphasized the importance of complete information for program 
monitoring and improving program results to enhance the management and 
performance of the Federal government.
    The UI DV system is an extension of the Workload Validation (WV) 
program that all State Workforce Agencies were required to operate 
between the mid-1970s and 2000. The WV program checked the validity of 
29 report elements on four required UI reports, because they are 
combined into the ``workload items'' used to apportion each State's 
share of funds appropriated for the administration of the UI program. 
The UI DV program employs a refined and automated version of WV's basic 
validation approach to review 322 elements reported on 13 benefits 
reports and one tax report. The Department uses many of these elements 
for key performance measures as well as for the original workload 
items. 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. These 
transactions are grouped into 15 benefits and five tax populations. 
Each transaction record contains the necessary characteristics or 
dimensions that enable it to be summed into an independent recount of 
what the state has already reported. The Department provides state 
agencies with software that edits the extract file (to identify and 
remove duplicate transactions and improperly built records, for 
example), 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 sample records against documentation in the state's 
management information system to determine whether the transactions in 
the extract file are supported by system documentation. This 
qualitative check determines whether the validation count can be 
trusted as accurate. The benefits extract files are considered to pass 
this ``quality'' review if random samples indicate that no more than 5% 
of the records contain errors; tax files are subjected to different but 
related tests. A reported count is considered valid only if it differs 
from a reconstructed (validation) count by no more than the appropriate 
criterion of 2% or 1%, and that validation 
count comes from an extract file that has satisfied all quality tests.
    During FY 2011 and beyond, all states will be required to conduct a 
complete validation every three years. In three cases the three-year 
rule does not apply, and a revalidation must occur within one year: (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 or the extract file does not 
pass all quality tests; (2) the validation applies to the two benefits 
populations and one tax population used for GPRA measures; and (3) 
reports are produced by new reporting software.
    II. Review Focus: The Department of Labor is particularly 
interested in comments 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:
    Title: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Program.
    OMB Number: 1205-0431.
    Affected Public: State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
    Form: ET Handbook 361: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation 
Benefits and Tax (Issued as separate handbooks).
    Total Annual Respondents: 53.
    Annual Frequency: At least three validation items per state (two 
benefits populations and one tax population).
    Total Annual Responses: Depends on number of validation items due; 
at least 53 x 3 = 159 per year.
    Average Time per Response: 550 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 29,150 hours.
    Total Annual Burden Cost for Respondents: $0.
    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 public record.

    Dated: February 25, 2011.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-4648 Filed 3-1-11; 8:45 am]
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