[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 188 (Thursday, September 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48859-48860]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21098]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-7007-N-05]


60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: HUD Technical 
Assistance Assessment

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is 
seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the 
information collection described below. In accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comments from all interested 
parties on the proposed collection of information. The purpose of this 
notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 26, 2018.

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: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, QDAM, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Room 4176, Washington, DC 20410-5000; telephone 202-402-5534 
(this is not a toll-free number) or email at [email protected] for a 
copy of the proposed forms or other available information. Persons with 
hearing or speech impairments may access this number through TTY by 
calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, QDAM, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-5000; email Anna P. Guido at 
[email protected] or telephone 202-402-5535 (this is not a toll-free 
number). Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this 
number through TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at 
(800) 877-8339. Copies of available documents submitted to OMB may be 
obtained from Ms. Guido.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice informs the public that HUD is 
seeking approval from OMB for the proposed collection of information 
described in Section A.

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Information Collection: HUD Technical Assistance 
Assessment.
    OMB Approval Number: Pending.
    Type of Request: New.
    Form Number: No forms.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: HUD 
is conducting this study under cooperative agreement with the Urban 
Institute to assess its Technical Assistance (TA) programs under the 
Community Compass structure. HUD TA enables housing and community 
development providers to be more effective stewards of HUD funding by 
equipping them with the knowledge, skills and tools to better manage 
HUD programs. TA is provided by TA providers funded by HUD and includes 
tools and product development, help desk support, on-call TA, direct TA 
and capacity building, and needs assessments, among other types.
    Recipients of TA include State and local governments, Tribes, 
Tribally-Designated Housing Agencies, Public Housing Authorities 
(PHAs), participating jurisdictions, housing counseling agencies, 
multifamily owners/operators, nonprofit organizations, and Continuums 
of Care (CoCs). In 2002, the GAO evaluated HUD's existing TA programs, 
and recommended that HUD streamline and coordinate its TA programs and 
request its TA providers to establish performance measures and report 
on their intended outputs and outcomes. Since then, HUD has made 
significant changes to the structure, implementation, and data systems 
used in administering its TA programs. Beginning with the Fiscal Year 
(FY) 2010 Technical Assistance and Capacity Building NOFA issued by the 
Office of Community Development and Planning, and the announcement of 
the OneCPD Integrated Practitioner Assistance

[[Page 48860]]

System, the ``Transformation Initiative'', HUD began to shift from a 
more siloed program-specific approach to TA to a more coordinated 
funding and collaborative TA processes across programs. Changes 
continued with the integration of Office of Public and Indian Housing 
TA programs in FY 2013 through OneCPD+ and finally in FY 2014 with the 
addition of two more TA funding streams to form Community Compass. Now 
there is a unified NOFA process for all programs included in Community 
Compass, along with data and coordination improvements, and streamlined 
online assistance and resource pages. This will be the first assessment 
of these and other changes made to HUD TA in response to GAO 
recommendations. This project helps fill the gap in understanding HUD's 
TA delivery system since Community Compass began in FY 2014. The Urban 
Institute is conducting an assessment focused on answering three 
research questions: (1) What TA does HUD provide, (2) how does HUD 
provide TA, and 3) how effective is HUD TA? To answer these three 
questions, this study will include in-depth interviews with TA 
providers and TA customers to supplement interviews completed during 
the design of the research.
    TA providers play a central role in navigating the Community 
Compass process and implementing TA activities. To gain insights into 
how providers engage in TA through Community Compass, we plan to 
conduct 5 group interviews that will target front-line TA staff and 
subcontractors that deliver the TA. This project will also interview 
customers receiving TA under the Community Compass. To better 
understand the customer experience, we will conduct interviews with key 
staff at organizations that received TA. Out of these interviews, the 
Urban Institute will create a final report to HUD on the answers to the 
above research questions. The findings in the final report will inform 
HUD's future delivery of TA under the Community Compass structure.
    Respondents: The interviews will involve the following total 
numbers of respondents by type: 40 TA provider directors and managers 
and 25 TA customer chief executives.
    Estimation of total number of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, hours of response, and cost of response time: Based on the 
below assumptions and tables, we calculate the total burden hours for 
this study to be 130 hours and the total cost to be $8,267.10.
    Whereas the interviewees from the TA providers will be program-
level directors and managers responsible for general program 
operations, including formulating and implementing policies, managing 
daily operations and planning and executing the use of program 
resources, we estimated their cost per interview using the most recent 
(May 2017) Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment 
Statistics median hourly wage for the labor category General and 
Operations Managers (11-1021): $48.27.
    Whereas the interviewees from TA customers are most likely to be 
directors of their agency or organization which receives and manages 
HUD funds and seeks TA from HUD to improve their work, we estimated 
their cost per interview using the most recent (May 2017) Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics median hourly wage 
for the labor category Chief Executives (11-1011): $88.11.

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                                                                                                   Median hourly
                  Respondent                               Occupation                SOC code        wage rate
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TA Provider...................................  General and Operations Managers.         11-1021          $48.27
TA Customer...................................  Chief Executives................         11-1011           88.11
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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics (May 2017), https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm.

    The table below reflects all assumptions about respondent numbers 
and frequency, burden hour estimates for scheduling and participating 
in the data collection interview, and cost.

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                                                             Number of       Response      Burden hours    Annual burden    Hourly cost
                       Respondent                           respondents      frequency     per response        hours       per response     Total cost
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TA Provider.............................................              40               1               2              80          $48.27       $3,861.60
TA Customer.............................................              25               1               2              50           88.11        4,405.50
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    Total...............................................              65               1  ..............             130  ..............        8,267.10
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B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    This notice solicits comments from members of the public and 
affected parties concerning the collection of information described in 
Section A on the following:
    (1) 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;
    (2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) Ways to 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.
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to 
these questions.

    Authority: Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
44 U.S.C. Chapter 35.

    Dated: September 20, 2018.
Todd M. Richardson,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 2018-21098 Filed 9-26-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4210-67-P