[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52798-52800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21607]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Comment Request for Information Collection for the Workforce 
Performance Accountability, Information, and Reporting System (OMB 
Control No. 1205-3NEW), New Collection

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department or DOL), ETA as part of 
its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, 
conducts a preclearance consultation to provide the public and Federal 
agencies with an opportunity to comment on the proposed collection of 
information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 [44 
U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)] (PRA). The PRA helps ensure that respondents can 
provide requested data in the desired format with minimal reporting 
burden (time and financial resources), collection instruments are 
clearly understood and the impact of collection requirements on 
respondents can be properly assessed.
    Currently, the Department is soliciting comments concerning the 
collection of data for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
(WIOA) Workforce Performance Accountability, Information, and Reporting 
System (OMB Control No. 1205-3NEW). The following programs will be 
required to report through this system: WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, 
and Youth, Wagner Peyser Employment Service, National Farmworker Jobs, 
Trade Adjustment Assistance, YouthBuild, Indian and Native American, 
and the Jobs for Veterans' State Grants. Requiring all of these 
programs to use a standard set of data elements, definitions, and 
specifications at all levels of the workforce system helps improve the 
quality of the performance information that is received by DOL. While 
H1-B grants and the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program are not 
authorized under WIOA, these programs will be utilizing the data 
element definitions and reporting templates proposed in this 
Information Collection Request (ICR). The accuracy, reliability, and 
comparability of program reports submitted by states and grantees using 
Federal funds are fundamental elements of good public administration, 
and are necessary tools for maintaining and demonstrating system 
integrity.
    This new ICR is expected to take the place of several currently 
existing ICRs, including: 1205-0420 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 
Management Information and Reporting System, 1205-0240 Wagner Peyser 
Labor Exchange Reporting System, 1205-0464 YouthBuild Reporting System, 
1205-0422 Reporting and Performance Standards for WIA Indian and Native 
American Programs, 1205-0425 Reporting and Performance Standards System 
for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Programs Under Title I, Section 167 
of the Workforce Investment Act, and the 1205-0392 Trade Act 
Participant Report. These ICRs will be rescinded once the last 
reporting requirements for WIA reporting are satisfied. As such, DOL 
will request to remove those from active status once the separate 
reporting requirements are no longer needed.

DATES: Submit written comments to the office listed in the addresses 
section below on or before November 2, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice should be 
submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov by selecting Docket ID number ETA-2015-0008 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. A copy of 
the proposed ICR with applicable supporting documentation, including a 
description of the likely respondents, proposed frequency of response, 
and estimated total burden may be obtained free of charge from http://www.regulations.gov or by contacting Luke Murren by telephone at 202-
693-3733 (this is not a toll-free number) or by email at 
[email protected]. Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may 
access the telephone number above via TTY by calling the toll-free 
Federal Information Relay Service at 1-877-889-5627 (TTY/TDD). Fax: 
202-693-2766.
    Mail and hand delivery/courier: Send written comments to Luke 
Murren, Office of Policy Development and Research, Room N5641, 
Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. Due to security-related 
concerns, there may be a significant delay in the receipt of 
submissions by United States Mail. You must take this into 
consideration

[[Page 52799]]

when preparing to meet the deadline for submitting comments.
    Comments submitted in response to this comment request will become 
a matter of public record and will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the 
information collection request. In addition, comments, regardless of 
the delivery method, will be posted without change on the http://www.regulations.gov Web site; consequently, the Department recommends 
commenters not include personal information such as a Social Security 
Number, personal address, telephone number, email address, or 
confidential business information that they do not want made public. It 
is the responsibility of the commenter to determine what to include in 
the public record.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Section 116 of WIOA requires States that operate core programs of 
the publicly-funded workforce system to comply with common performance 
accountability requirements. As such, States that operate core programs 
must submit common performance data to demonstrate that specified 
performance levels are achieved.
    WIOA Sec. 116(d)(1) mandates that the Secretaries of Labor and 
Education develop a template for the annual performance reports to be 
used by States, local boards, and eligible providers of training 
services for reporting on outcomes achieved by the WIOA core programs. 
Pursuant to WIOA sec. 116(d)(2), required annual data for the core 
programs include, among others, those related to primary performance 
indicators, participant counts and costs, and barriers to employment.
    This notice includes several documents--the ETA (Program) 
Performance Scorecard, the WIOA Pay-for-Performance Scorecard, the 
Participant Individual Record Layout (PIRL), the WIOA Data Element 
Specifications, and the Job Openings Report. The Department requires 
states to certify and submit the ETA (Program) Performance Scorecard to 
ETA on a quarterly basis; the pay-for-performance report(s) and Job 
Openings report will also be collected quarterly when applicable. ETA 
will aggregate the information the States submit through the PIRL to 
populate the ETA (Program) Performance Scorecard, the WIOA Pay-for-
Performance Report, and the Job Openings Report, which ETA will then 
send to the States to confirm their accuracy. Each program included in 
this ICR will generate its own quarterly Performance Scorecard.
    The ETA (Program) Performance Scorecard and WIOA Pay-for-
Performance Scorecard have been designed to maximize the value of the 
reports for workers, jobseekers, employers, local elected officials, 
State officials, Federal policymakers, and other key stakeholders. The 
PIRL has been designed to reflect the specific requirements of the 
annual reports as described in WIOA section 116(d)(2) through (4).
    ETA will use the data to track total participants, characteristics, 
services, training strategies and outcomes for employed, unemployed and 
long-term unemployed participants. This data collection format permits 
program offices to evaluate program effectiveness, monitor compliance 
with statutory requirements, and analyze participant activity and 
grantee performance while complying with OMB efforts to streamline 
Federal performance reporting.
    Under WIOA section 116(d)(6), the Secretary of Labor is required to 
annually make available (including by electronic means), in an easily 
understandable format, (a) the State Annual Performance Reports 
containing the information described in WIOA section 116 (d)(2) and (b) 
a summary of the reports, and the reports required under WIOA section 
116 (d)(6) (the State Performance, Local Area, and Eligible Training 
Provider Reports), to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.
    The reports and other analyses of the data will be made available 
to the public through publication and other appropriate methods and to 
the appropriate congressional committees through copies of such 
reports. In addition, information obtained through the Workforce 
Performance Accountability, Information, and Reporting System will be 
used at the national level during budget and allocation hearings for 
DOL compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act and 
other legislative requirements, and during legislative authorization 
proceedings.
    Under this collection, participation will be measured based on the 
count of individuals who meet the proposed definition of a 
``participant''--e.g., those who have received staff-level services 
within the program year. An individual will be considered to have 
exited after they have gone 90 days without service, and with no future 
services scheduled. Should they return for additional services after 
the 90 days--within the same program year and exit in that same program 
year--the individual's exit date will be changed to reflect only the 
last exit date in that program year. If the individual exits in a 
subsequent program year, they would be counted as a new participant for 
purposes of that subsequent program year. Counting unique individuals 
in this manner will allow an unduplicated count of participants in the 
accountability and reporting system. The Department understands that 
this may affect quarterly reporting results and counts of services 
rendered early in the program year, particularly for programs whose 
current reporting practices differ from what is described above. As 
such, we greatly encourage your comments on the potential impact on 
individual states and local areas of this and all other items discussed 
in this package as we continue to finalize the details of this 
information collection process.

II. Review Focus

    The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
     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;
     can further help to create an integrated data element 
layout between ETA-funded programs;
     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 submissions of responses).

III. Current Actions

    Type of Review: New collection.
    Title: Workforce Performance Accountability, Information, and 
Reporting System.
    OMB Number: 1205-3NEW.
    Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments; Individuals 
or Households; and Private Sector--businesses or other for-profits and 
not-for-profit institutions.

[[Page 52800]]

    Estimated Total Annual Respondents: 815.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 17,261,405.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,026,441.
    Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $17,100,000.
    We will summarize and/or include in the request for OMB approval of 
the ICR, the comments received in response to this comment request; 
they will also become a matter of public record.
    As mentioned above, this ICR covers the construction of an 
integrated ETA quarterly performance reporting template, drafted 
according to the data collection and reporting requirements in section 
116 of WIOA. The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) implementing WIOA 
was published on April 16, 2015, at 80 FR 20573. The NPRM comment 
period closed on June 15, 2015. Reporting templates were not yet 
available at that time; therefore, the DOL is providing the public this 
additional opportunity in order to receive comments on the specific 
requirements.
    Sec. 506(b)(1) of WIOA states that section 116 of WIOA will go into 
effect at the start of the second full program year after the date WIOA 
was enacted. WIOA was enacted on July 22, 2014. Therefore, section 
116's performance accountability system will be effective on July 1, 
2016. Approval of this information collection request is required so 
that the states, locals, and other entities can begin programming their 
management information systems in order to enable them to collect the 
necessary data to implement the data collection and reporting 
requirements of section 116 in accordance with the WIOA statute.
    This ICR may receive OMB approval before Final Rules implementing 
WIOA are published. If this occurs, the Department will submit another 
ICR for this collection to OMB to incorporate the Final Rule citations, 
as required by 5 CFR 1320.11(h). Those citations currently do not exist 
and, therefore, cannot be included at this time. The Department plans 
to review and analyze any comments received on the NPRM that are 
relevant to this ICR together with comments we receive in response to 
this Federal Register Notice in order to finalize the substantive 
information collection requirements to the extent legally possible.

Portia Wu,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2015-21607 Filed 8-31-15; 8:45 am]
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