[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66115-66117]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18065]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Behavioral 
Interventions To Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation (BIAS-NG) 
(Office of Management and Budget #0970-0502)

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.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) requests Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) approval to modify and extend the approval of the ACF 
Behavioral Interventions to Advance

[[Page 66116]]

Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation (BIAS-NG) Project Overarching Generic 
(OMB #: 0970-0502; Expiration date: 8/31/2025.) Under this overarching 
clearance, ACF collects data as part of rapid cycle testing and 
evaluation, to inform the design of interventions informed by 
behavioral science and to better understand the mechanisms and effects 
of such interventions. Interventions have been and will continue to be 
developed in the program area domains of Temporary Assistance for Needy 
Families (TANF), child welfare, and Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/
HS). This revision would also allow for collection of data in the child 
care program area, and would extend the approval of the overarching 
generic. These interventions are intended to improve outcomes for 
participants in these programs.

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: OPRE is conducting the BIAS-NG project, which uses 
behavioral insights to design and test interventions intended to 
improve the efficiency, operations, and efficacy of human services 
programs. The BIAS-NG project is applying and testing behavioral 
insights to ACF programs including TANF, child welfare, and EHS/HS, and 
intends to expand these efforts to child care. This notice is a request 
for comments on ACF's proposal to revise and extend a previously 
approved collection, which included data collection to design and test 
interventions in the TANF, child welfare, and EHS/HS domains. Under the 
approved pilot generic clearance, OPRE has already conducted work with 
seven sites to conduct seven tests, and is planning to continue to work 
with at least one additional site, conducting one or more tests of 
behavioral interventions for a total of nine tests of behavioral 
interventions. All approved information collection activities can be 
found here: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAICList?ref_nbr=202206-0970-002.
    In addition to extending approval, this approval would also allow 
OPRE to conduct tests in the newly added program area of child care. 
The design and testing of BIAS-NG interventions is rapid and, to the 
extent possible, iterative. Each specific intervention is designed in 
consultation with agency leaders and launched as quickly as possible. 
To maximize the likelihood that the intervention produces measurable, 
significant, and positive effects on outcomes of interest, rapid cycle 
evaluation techniques will be employed in which proximate outcomes will 
be measured to allow the research team to more quickly iterate and 
adjust the intervention design, informing subsequent tests. Due to the 
rapid and iterative nature of this work, OPRE sought and received 
approval for an overarching generic clearance to conduct this research. 
Following standard OMB requirements for generic clearances, once 
instruments subject to PRA are tailored to a specific site and the 
site's intervention, OPRE submits an individual generic information 
collection request under this umbrella clearance. Each request includes 
the individual instrument(s), a justification specific to the 
individual information collection, a description of the proposed 
intervention, and any supplementary documents. Each specific 
information collection includes up to two submissions--one submission 
for the formative stage research and another submission for any further 
data collection requiring burden during the testing phase. The type of 
information to be collected and the uses of the information is 
described in the supporting statements, found here: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewDocument?ref_nbr=202206-0970-002.
    Respondents: (1) Program Administrators, (2) Program Staff, and (3) 
Program Clients.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
                                    [TANF, child welfare, EHS/HS, child care]
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                                     Number of       Number of
                                    respondents    responses per
                                  (TANF, CW, EHS/   respondent    Average burden   Total burden    Annual burden
           Instrument             HS, CC) (total    (total over    per response     (in hours)      (in hours)
                                   over request       request       (in hours)
                                      period)         period)
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                                          Phase 3: Diagnosis and Design
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Administrator interviews/focus                48               1               1              48              16
 groups.........................
Staff interviews/focus groups...             400               1               1             400             133
Client interviews/focus groups..             400               1               1             400             133
Client survey...................             400               1             .25             100              33
Staff Survey....................             400               1             .25             100              33
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                                               Phase 4: Evaluation
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Administrator interviews/focus                96               1               1              96              32
 groups.........................
Staff interviews/focus groups...             800               1               1             800             267
Client interviews/focus groups..             800               1               1             800             267
Client survey...................          12,000               1             .25           3,000           1,000
Staff Survey....................           1,200               1             .25             300             100
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[[Page 66117]]

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,014.
    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1310.

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-18065 Filed 8-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-07-P