[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 238 (Friday, December 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76927-76931]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-31199]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Family Day 
Care Home Meal Claim Feasibility Study

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new 
collection for estimating erroneous payments due to meals claimed 
improperly by family day care home providers participating in the 
CACFP.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 9, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited 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, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions that were used; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Comments may be sent to: Veronica Uzoebo, Food and Nutrition 
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 
1014, Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may also be submitted via fax to 
the attention of Veronica Uzoebo at 703-305-2576 or via email to 
[email protected]. Comments will also be accepted through 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and 
follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Veronica Uzoebo at 703-305-2105.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Family Day Care 
Homes Meal Claim Feasibility Study
    Form Number: N/A
    OMB Number: Not Yet Assigned.
    Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Abstract: The objective of this feasibility study is to design and 
test a data collection method that enables FNS to estimate erroneous 
payments due to meals claimed improperly by family day care home 
providers participating in the CACFP. Specifically, the study focuses 
on accurately estimating meals that are claimed but not served.
    The study relies on data from four sources: (1) State agencies that 
administer the program for FNS, (2) sponsors who manage CACFP on behalf 
of State agencies, (3) providers that operate family day care homes, 
and (4) parents with children enrolled in a participating provider's 
facility. State agencies will provide lists of sponsors including 
administrative information about them. Sponsors will prepare extant 
administrative records of participating providers. Providers and 
parents will provide primary data on meal services and child 
attendance. Providers will report meal service information via a smart 
phone application (app) or a reporting Web site; parents will report 
child attendance via text messaging or a reporting Web site. These 
data, in combination with extant administrative records collected from 
sponsors, will be used to estimate improper payments.
    The study activities subject to this notice include collecting 
administrative records and meal serving information from 300 providers 
associated with 15 sponsors in two States.
    For a period of one month, providers selected and assigned to the 
study group will report meal serving times in addition to their regular 
meal claims for reimbursement purposes; parents whose children are 
attending these providers' facilities will report the drop-off and 
pick-up times of their children on a daily basis. Providers selected 
and assigned to the control group will take part under the business-as-
usual condition and will have no direct involvement in the study as 
their meal claims will be obtained directly from the sponsors.
    Providers and parents in the study group will receive study 
materials with full details of what they will be asked to do. They will 
also receive contact information to contact the study team for 
additional questions.
    Affected Public: This study includes three respondent groups: State 
and local government (state agencies), for-profit or non-profit 
businesses (CACFP sponsors and family day care home providers), and 
individuals/households (parents of children enrolled in selected family 
day care homes).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated respondents is 
917 (2 State agencies, 15 sponsors, 150 family day care providers, and 
750 parents).
    Selected States agencies, sponsors and providers are required to 
support this federally funded study. Upon FNS's approval of the two 
States selected for this study, a purposive sample of 15 sponsors will 
be selected to represent sponsors of varying sizes in urban, suburban, 
and rural areas.
    With each selected sponsor, 20 providers will be randomly selected 
and evenly assigned to a study or control group, i.e., 10 providers to 
the study group and the other 10 to the control group. Therefore, there 
will be a total of 300 providers in the study, i.e., 20 providers per 
sponsor x 15 sponsors. Since the providers assigned to the control 
group will not be contacted for this study, the respondents will only 
include the 150 providers in the study group.
    Parents can voluntarily participate in the study if their children 
attend participating providers' day care homes. Assuming an average of 
five families per provider, the study group will include an initial 
sample of 750 parents, i.e., 5 families x 10 providers in the study 
group x 15 sponsors. Assuming that 20% of these parents refuse to 
participate in the study or fail to report attendance data on the daily 
basis during the study month, the final analytic sample include 
approximately 600 parents, i.e., 750 parents x 20%.
    Estimated Frequency of Responses per Respondent: FNS estimates that 
the frequency of responses per respondent will average an estimated 24 
responses per respondent across the entire collection. Each State 
agency will provide two responses for the study: (1) Attend an 
orientation conference call, including reading an advance letter and 
study materials in preparation for the call and any follow-up 
communication with the study team after the call; and (2) provide 
requested information about sponsors, including communication regarding 
the data request and transfer.
    Each sponsor will provide four types of responses: (1) Attend a 
study orientation conference call including reading an advance letter 
and study materials before the call and any follow-up communication 
with the study team

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after the call; (2) provide monthly meal claim data for November 2016, 
January 2017, and March 2017 (3 times), including communication about 
the data transfer; (3) provide administrative records for CACFP day 
care providers including communication about the data transfer; and (4) 
facilitate study recruitment as needed.
    Each day care home provider selected for the study will provide 
three types of responses: (1) Review an advance letter and study 
materials to provide requested child enrollment information, including 
communication about the study and the requested enrollment information; 
(2) report meal service information via the smart phone app or the 
reporting Web site (22 times); and (3) facilitate parent recruitment as 
needed.
    Participating parents will provide two types of responses: (1) 
Review an advanced letter and study materials to decide whether to 
participate in the study, including communication with the study team 
about the study; and (2) if they agree to participate, report child 
attendance via text messages on their personal mobile phone or a 
reporting Web site (22 times).
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 17,644 (see table below)
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time of response varies 
from three minutes to two hours depending on respondent group, as shown 
in the table below, with an average estimated time of 0.11 hours for 
respondents and 0.05 hours for non-respondents.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The total public 
reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at 
1,875.50 hours. The estimated burden for each type of participant is 
detailed in the table below.
 BILLING CODE 3410-30-P

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN11DE15.000


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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN11DE15.001



[[Page 76931]]


    Dated: December 3, 2015.
Audrey Rowe,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-31199 Filed 12-10-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-30-C