[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 33 (Friday, February 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12351-12352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03282]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Healthy 
Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Performance Measures and Additional 
Data Collection (Office of Management and Budget #0970-0566)

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration 
for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of 
Family Assistance (OFA), is requesting an extension with changes to its 
approved collection and reporting of performance measures about program 
operations, services, and clients served through the Healthy Marriage 
(HM) and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant programs. In an effort to 
gain a great understanding of how HMRF programs influence program 
participants and staff at an individual level, ACF proposes to add one 
open field to the quarterly narrative reports to capture information 
about the experiences of HMRF participants and/or staff. ACF is 
requesting to extend approval, with the implementation of this change, 
for 3 years.

DATES: Comments due within 30 days of publication. OMB must make a 
decision about the collection of information between 30 and 60 days 
after publication of this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, 
a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it 
within 30 days of publication.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. You can 
also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by 
emailing [email protected]. Identify all requests by the 
title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Description: ACF proposes to continue 
collecting a set of Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved 
performance measures from all HMRF award recipients.
    The HMRF performance measures collect standardized information in 
the following areas:
     Applicant characteristics;
     Program operations;
     Service delivery; and
     Participant outcomes:
    [cir] Entrance survey, with five versions: (1) HM Program Entrance 
Survey for Adult-Focused Programs; (2) HM Program Entrance Survey for 
Youth-Focused Programs; (3) RF Program Entrance Survey for Community-
Based Fathers; (4) RF Program Entrance Survey for Community-Based 
Mothers; and (5) RF Program Entrance Survey for Reentering Fathers.
    [cir] Exit survey, with five versions: (1) HM Program Exit Survey 
for Adult-Focused Programs; (2) HM Program Exit Survey for Youth-
Focused Programs; (3) RF Program Exit Survey for Community-Based 
Fathers; (4) RF Program Exit Survey for Community-Based Mothers; and 
(5) RF Program Exit Survey for Reentering Fathers.
    The measures were developed in 2014 after extensive review of the 
research literature and recipients' past measures. They were revised in 
2020 based on a targeted analysis of existing measures, feedback from 
key audiences, and discussions with ACF staff and the 2015 cohort of 
recipients. OMB approved these revised measures in 2021 and has 
approved a handful of non-substantive changes since then.
    ACF also proposes to continue the OMB-approved quarterly reporting 
on the following measures, with minor changes as described:
     Semi-annual Performance Progress Report (PPR), with two 
versions: (1) Performance Progress Report for HM Programs, and (2) 
Performance Progress Report for RF Programs; and
     Quarterly Performance Report (QPR), with two versions: (1) 
Quarterly Performance Progress Report for HM Programs, and (2) 
Quarterly Performance Progress Report for RF Programs. ACF proposes to 
add a new text box to the QPRs to gather qualitative narratives of the 
experiences of HMRF participants and/or staff. This information will 
help build ACF's understanding of how HMRF programs influence program 
participants and staff at an individual level.
    ACF provides recipients with a web-based performance measures data 
collection system called nFORM 2.0 (Information, Family Outcomes, 
Reporting, and Management) to improve the efficiency of data collection 
and reporting and the quality of data. This system allows for 
streamlined and standardized submission of recipient performance data 
through regular progress reports and supports recipient-led and federal 
research projects.
    ACF also proposes to continue the OMB-approved requirement for 
recipients to document their continuous quality improvement (CQI) 
planning and implementation using a CQI plan template that is completed 
outside of the nFORM system.
    Respondents: Respondents include HM and RF award recipient staff 
and program applicants and participants (participants are called 
``clients'').
    Annual Burden Estimates: The estimated number of respondents for 
each instrument has been adjusted to reflect experiences in the field 
to date. There is no change to the average estimated time per response 
of any instrument.

[[Page 12352]]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                             Number of
                                                                             Number of     responses per
                                                                            respondents     respondent    Average burden   Total burden    Annual burden
                Instrument                           Respondent             (total over     (total over    per response     (in hours)      (in hours)
                                                                              request         request       (in hours)
                                                                              period)         period)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: Applicant Characteristics..............  Program applicants..........         150,000               1            0.25          37,500          12,500
                                            Program staff...............             330             455            0.10          15,015           5,005
2: Program Operations.....................  Program staff...............             110              12            0.32             422             141
3: Service Delivery Data..................  Program staff...............           1,650              86            0.50          70,950          23,650
4: Entrance and Exit Surveys..............  Program clients (entrance)..         141,498               1            0.42          59,429          19,810
                                            Program clients (exit)......          94,734               1            0.42          39,788          13,263
                                            Program staff (entrance and              220             351            0.10           7,722           2,574
                                             exit on paper).
5: Semi-annual Performance Progress Report  Program staff...............             110               6               3           1,980             660
 (PPR).
6: Quarterly Performance Report (QPR).....  Program staff...............             110               6               1             660             220
7: CQI Plan...............................  Program staff...............             110               3               4           1,320             440
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 78,263.
    Authority: Sec. 403. [42 U.S.C. 603].

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-03282 Filed 2-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-73-P