[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 129 (Thursday, July 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39722-39724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16457]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5603-N-47]


Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment: 
Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative Fee Study Data Collection 
for Full National Study

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement described 
below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department 
is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.
    This request is for the clearance of on-site and telephone data 
collection from public housing agencies (PHAs) in support of the 
Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Administrative Fee Study. The 
purpose of the study is to collect accurate information on the costs of 
administering the HCV program across a national sample of high-

[[Page 39723]]

performing and efficient PHAs, and to use this information to develop a 
new administrative fee allocation formula for the HCV program. This 
request for clearance is the fourth OMB request in support of this 
study and is for data collection for the full national study. The prior 
OMB requests have covered the reconnaissance or research design phase 
of the study, pretesting the full national study design, and conducting 
additional reconnaissance visits to increase the study sample. For the 
current OMB request, the research team proposes three main types of 
data collection: (1) Measuring the time that HCV staff spend working on 
the various activities required to administer the program over a two-
month period; (2) collecting information via interviews and document 
review on overhead costs, other costs related to HCV program 
administration that cannot be captured by measuring staff time, and 
``transaction counts'' (the number of times an HCV program activity is 
completed over a specified period of time) in order to translate the 
staff time spent on that activity into a time per activity or cost per 
activity; and (3) a telephone survey of 130 small HCV programs (fewer 
than 250 vouchers) to understand how smaller agencies administer the 
HCV program effectively without the benefit of economies of scale that 
apply to larger programs. The results of the data collection will be 
used to generate estimates of total cost per activity per PHA and to 
build a multivariate regression model that tests how much the variation 
across PHAs in administrative costs can be explained by PHA, 
participant, and market characteristics. The results of the model will 
be used to inform the development of an administrative fee formula that 
is based on the average cost per activity and takes into account the 
most important factors that cause some HCV programs to be more costly 
to administer than others.

DATES: Comments Due Date: August 6, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB 
Control Number and should be sent to: Reports Liaison Officer, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20410, Room 9120 or the number for the Federal 
Information Relay Service (1-800-877-8339).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colette Pollard, Reports Management 
Officer, QDAM, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20410; email Colette Pollard at Colette. 
[email protected] or telephone (202) 402-3400. This is not a toll-free 
number. Copies of available documents submitted to OMB may be obtained 
from Ms. Pollard.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department is submitting the proposed 
information collection to OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended).
    This Notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and 
affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of information to: 
(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) Minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond; including the 
use of appropriate automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.
    This Notice also lists the following information:
    Title of Proposal: Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative 
Fee Study Data Collection for Full National Study.
    OMB Control Number, if applicable: 2528-Pending.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use:
    This request is for the clearance of on-site and telephone data 
collection from public housing agencies (PHAs) in support of the 
Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Administrative Fee Study. The 
purpose of the study is to collect accurate information on the costs of 
administering the HCV program across a national sample of high-
performing and efficient PHAs, and to use this information to develop a 
new administrative fee allocation formula for the HCV program. This 
request for clearance is the fourth OMB request in support of this 
study and is for data collection for the full national study. The prior 
OMB requests have covered the reconnaissance or research design phase 
of the study, pretesting the full national study design, and conducting 
additional reconnaissance visits to increase the study sample. For the 
current OMB request, the research team proposes three main types of 
data collection: (1) Measuring the time that HCV staff spend working on 
the various activities required to administer the program over a two-
month period; (2) collecting information via interviews and document 
review on overhead costs, other costs related to HCV program 
administration that cannot be captured by measuring staff time, and 
``transaction counts'' (the number of times an HCV program activity is 
completed over a specified period of time) in order to translate the 
staff time spent on that activity into a time per activity or cost per 
activity; and (3) a telephone survey of 130 small HCV programs (fewer 
than 250 vouchers) to understand how smaller agencies administer the 
HCV program effectively without the benefit of economies of scale that 
apply to larger programs. The results of the data collection will be 
used to generate estimates of total cost per activity per PHA and to 
build a multivariate regression model that tests how much the variation 
across PHAs in administrative costs can be explained by PHA, 
participant, and market characteristics. The results of the model will 
be used to inform the development of an administrative fee formula that 
is based on the average cost per activity and takes into account the 
most important factors that cause some HCV programs to be more costly 
to administer than others.
    Agency form numbers, if applicable: None.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response: The research team plans to collect 
time measurement and cost data at up to 60 PHAs across the country and 
to survey an additional 130 PHAs with small HCV programs. There are 5 
data collection activities that involve PHA staff. First, 1 staff at 
each of the 60 PHAs will spend up to 9 hours over the data collection 
period working with the research team to prepare for and monitor the 
time measurement data collection (1 staff x 9 hours x 60 sites = 540 
hours). Second, an average of 2 staff at each of the 60 PHAs will spend 
up to 2.5 days each (20 hours) preparing for and being interviewed in 
person or by telephone by the study team about program overhead costs, 
transaction counts, and recent changes in voucher program operations (2 
staff x 20 hours x 60 sites = 2,400 hours). Third, an average of 20 HCV 
program staff per site will participate in the time measurement data 
collection. This will entail receiving 2 hours of training (20 staff x 
2 hours x60 sites = 2,400 hours) and responding to notifications via a 
smart phone provided by the study team

[[Page 39724]]

on their work activities over a two-month period (40 working days). 
Responding to the notifications will take approximately 15 minutes per 
day per staff, for a total of 10 hours per staff over the 40 working 
days (20 staff x 10 hours x 60 sites = 12,000 hours). Fourth, up to 2 
PHA staff at each of the 60 days will spend up to 8 hours each 
preparing transaction counts data at the end of the time measurement 
period (2 staff x 8 hours x 60 sites = 960 hours). Finally, up to 2 PHA 
staff at 130 PHAs will participate in the small program telephone 
survey. These staff will spend up to 2 hours preparing for the 
telephone survey, including assembling financial statements and other 
documentation, and up to 2 hours completing the survey (2 staff x 4 
hours x 130 PHAs = 1,040 hours). The total estimated burden across all 
proposed data collection activities is 19,340 hours.
    Status of the proposed information collection: This is a new 
collection.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35, as amended.

    Dated: June 29, 2012.
Colette Pollard,
Departmental Reports Management Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-16457 Filed 7-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P