National Emergency Grants: Services to Dislocated Workers	 
Hampered by Delays in Grant Awards, but Labor Is Initiating	 
Actions to Improve Grant Award Process (14-NOV-03, GAO-04-222).  
                                                                 
Between 2000 and 2002, almost 60,000 mass layoffs of 50 or more  
workers occurred resulting in nearly 7 million workers losing	 
their jobs. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 authorizes
the Department of Labor to award national emergency grants to	 
affected states and local areas to provide employment and	 
training assistance to workers affected by major economic	 
dislocations, such as plant closures, and major disasters, such  
as floods and hurricanes. Although national emergency grants are 
intended to be a timely response to unexpected events, questions 
arose during congressional hearings in April 2003 about whether  
national emergency grant funds were getting to state and local	 
areas quickly enough to help workers when they needed it the	 
most. WIA specifies separate funding streams for each of the	 
act's main client groups--adults, youths, and dislocated	 
workers--and requires the Secretary of Labor to reserve 20	 
percent of dislocated worker funds for national emergency grants,
demonstrations, and technical assistance. States and local areas 
apply to the Secretary for national emergency grants when they	 
need additional funds to assist dislocated workers. These include
regular grants, which provide employment and training assistance 
to workers who lost their jobs due to layoffs and plant closings;
disaster grants, which provide temporary employment to workers	 
affected by natural disasters and other catastrophic events; and 
dual enrollment grants to provide supplemental assistance to	 
workers who have been certified by Labor to receive services	 
under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002. Workers
eligible under dual enrollment grants are typically workers who  
have lost their jobs because of increased imports from, or shifts
in production to, foreign countries. At least 85 percent of the  
Secretary's 20 percent funds must be used for national emergency 
grants, and these funds can only be awarded during the year the  
funds are allotted. From July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2003, Labor	 
used these funds to award over $614 million in national emergency
grants to 46 states and the District of Columbia, Guam, and the  
Federated States of Micronesia. Because of the concern about	 
whether national emergency grants were awarded to states and	 
local areas quickly enough to provide services to workers when	 
they are most needed, we were asked to (1) determine the length  
of time Labor takes to award national emergency grants, (2)	 
determine the effect delays in grant awards have on the ability  
of states and local areas to provide workers with employment and 
training services, and (3) identify actions Labor is taking to	 
improve the timeliness of grant awards. 			 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-222 					        
    ACCNO:   A08850						        
  TITLE:     National Emergency Grants: Services to Dislocated Workers
Hampered by Delays in Grant Awards, but Labor Is Initiating	 
Actions to Improve Grant Award Process				 
     DATE:   11/14/2003 
  SUBJECT:   Disaster relief aid				 
	     Federal grants					 
	     Income maintenance programs			 
	     Timeliness 					 

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GAO-04-222

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

                       Report to Congressional Requesters

November 2003

NATIONAL EMERGENCY GRANTS

Services to Dislocated Workers Hampered by Delays in Grant Awards, but Labor Is
               Initiating Actions to Improve Grant Award Process

GAO-04-222

Contents

                                    Letter 1

Appendix I Briefing Slides

       Appendix II Listing of Surveyed States Awarded a Regular Grant 23

Appendix III 	Summary of Funds Awarded for Regular, Disaster, and Dual
Enrollment National Emergency Grant

Appendix IV Number of Days to Award Regular Grants by State

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United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

November 14, 2003

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions United States Senate

                           The Honorable Patty Murray

                            Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions United States Senate

Between 2000 and 2002, almost 60,000 mass layoffs of 50 or more workers
occurred resulting in nearly 7 million workers losing their jobs. The
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 authorizes the Department of Labor
to award national emergency grants to affected states and local areas to
provide employment and training assistance to workers affected by major
economic dislocations, such as plant closures, and major disasters, such
as floods and hurricanes. Although national emergency grants are intended
to be a timely response to unexpected events, questions arose during
congressional hearings in April 2003 about whether national emergency
grant funds were getting to state and local areas quickly enough to help
workers when they needed it the most.

WIA specifies separate funding streams for each of the act's main client
groups-adults, youths, and dislocated workers-and requires the Secretary
of Labor to reserve 20 percent of dislocated worker funds for national
emergency grants, demonstrations, and technical assistance. States and
local areas apply to the Secretary for national emergency grants when they
need additional funds to assist dislocated workers. These include regular
grants, which provide employment and training assistance to workers who
lost their jobs due to layoffs and plant closings; disaster grants, which
provide temporary employment to workers affected by natural disasters and
other catastrophic events; and dual enrollment grants to provide
supplemental assistance to workers who have been certified by Labor to
receive services under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002.
Workers eligible under dual enrollment grants are typically workers who
have lost their jobs because of increased imports from, or

shifts in production to, foreign countries. At least 85 percent of the
Secretary's 20 percent funds must be used for national emergency grants,
and these funds can only be awarded during the year the funds are
allotted. From July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2003, Labor used these funds to
award over $614 million in national emergency grants to 46 states and the
District of Columbia, Guam, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Because of your concern about whether national emergency grants were
awarded to states and local areas quickly enough to provide services to
workers when they are most needed, you asked us to (1) determine the
length of time Labor takes to award national emergency grants, (2)
determine the effect delays in grant awards have on the ability of states
and local areas to provide workers with employment and training services,
and (3) identify actions Labor is taking to improve the timeliness of
grant awards. To respond to these issues, we interviewed Labor officials
at both headquarters and regional offices, reviewed Labor files for all
grants awarded between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2003, and surveyed
officials in the 39 states that had received at least one regular national
emergency grant during that period. We received responses from 38 states.
We conducted our work from March to October 2003 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

On November 5, 2003, we briefed your staffs on the interim results of our
ongoing work. This report formally conveys the information provided during
that briefing. Appendix I contains the briefing slides.

In summary, we found that Labor awards virtually all of the funds
available each year for national emergency grants, but that it rarely
awards regular national emergency grants within its goal of 30 days.1
Nearly 90 percent of regular grant awards took longer than 30 days, and
about 46 percent took 90 days or more. For regular grants, which represent
about 64 percent of the grants and 58 percent of the funds awarded between
July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2003, it took Labor an average of 92 days to
send the notification of an award after receiving an application. The
amount of time Labor took to award regular grants appeared to be related
to the quarter in which the application was received. For example, regular

1Labor's goal measures the number of calendar days between the date a
complete application is received and the date the grant award is approved
by the Secretary. After approval, Labor notifies the appropriate
congressional office and issues the award letter. We tracked the number of
calendar days between the date the original application was received and
the date of the award letter.

grant applications received in the first-quarter of a program year 2
averaged 111 days from the time the application was received to the time
the grant was awarded, whereas applications received in the fourth-quarter
averaged 58 days. Furthermore, nearly 60 percent of all regular grants
were awarded in the fourth-quarter of the program year, representing
nearly two-thirds of the regular grants funds awarded, and 40 percent
during the final month, representing about one-half of the regular grant
funds awarded. Labor took less time to award dual enrollment and disaster
grants. Dual enrollment grants, which represent about one-third of the
funds awarded, took an average of 20 days to award after the applications
were received, and disaster grants, which represent less than 10 percent
of the funds awarded, took an average of 48 days.

Thirty-three of the 39 states that received at least one regular grant
between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2003, said that the amount of time it
takes to receive regular grant funds was a major problem. In fact, 25 of
the states reported that because of the delays in receiving grant funds,
they had to delay or deny services to dislocated workers. Twenty of these
states reported that local areas had to delay training for dislocated
workers because, while waiting for national emergency grant funds, they
did not have funds available to enroll them in training. For example, in 1
state, workers were on waiting lists for 3 to 4 months before they
received training. Officials in another state reported that a local area
cancelled training for over 300 workers because of a delay in receiving
grant funds.

Labor has said it is taking steps to address the length of time it takes
to approve and award national emergency grants. In particular, under
proposed guidelines, Labor would commit to approving a grant application
within 15 business days of receiving a complete application. Labor is also
developing a Web-based, electronic system that would allow states to apply
for grants on-line. The system is also intended to help Labor better
manage the review process by automatically assigning applications to
specific staff members, specifying the number of days that they have to
complete their responsibilities, and tracking their completion dates.
Labor expects that the new guidelines and electronic system will be
finalized in December 2003. In addition, according to Labor officials,
they are

2A program year begins on July 1 of a year and ends on June 30 of the
following year. A program year is designated by the year in which it
begins. Thus, program year 2000 began on July 1, 2000, and ended on June
30, 2001.

considering additional steps to enhance the award process, such as
reviewing the entire grant award process and developing training for
states and local areas on applying for national emergency grants. As part
of our ongoing work, we will assess in more detail whether Labor's
proposed actions are likely to improve the process for awarding national
emergency grants.

We provided a draft of this report to officials at Labor for their
technical review and incorporated their comments where appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees
and other interested parties and will make copies available to others upon
request. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO's
Web site at http://www.gao.gov. If you or your staffs have any questions
about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-7215 or Joan Mahagan at
(617) 788-0521. Wayne Sylvia and Yunsian Tai also made key contributions
to this report.

Sigurd R. Nilsen Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security
Issues

                          Appendix I: Briefing Slides

                           National Emergency Grants

                             Briefing for Staff of
               Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Ranking Minority Member
           Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
                                      and
                 Senator Patty Murray, Ranking Minority Member
                Subcommittee on Employment, Safety, and Training
           Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

                                November 5, 2003

Appendix II: Listing of Surveyed States Awarded a Regular Grant

Listing of 39 States Surveyed That Were Awarded a Regular National
Emergency Grant during Program Years 2000 through 2002

                                    Alabama         Kentucky       Ohio       
                                   Arkansas            Maine     Oklahoma     
                                 California         Maryland      Oregon      
                                   Colorado  Massachusetts       Pennsylvania 
                                Connecticut         Michigan     Rhode Island 
                       District of Columbia        Minnesota   South Carolina 
                                    Florida      Mississippi     South Dakota 
                                    Georgia         Missouri    Tennessee     
                                      Idaho          Montana      Texas       
                                   Illinois         Nebraska     Vermont      
                                    Indiana           Nevada     Virginia     
                                       Iowa  New Hampshire         Washington 
                                     Kansas       New Jersey    Wisconsin     

Source: GAO analysis of national emergency grants awarded between July 1,
2000 and June 30, 2003.

Appendix III: Summary of Funds Awarded for Regular, Disaster, and Dual
Enrollment National Emergency Grant

     Program Years 2000                                           
        through 2002                                              
                           Program year Program year Program year 
           Statea                  2000         2001         2002       Total 
           Alabama           $6,100,000  $3,461,359    $765,689   $10,327,048 
           Arizona            1,271,931            0  2,747,960     4,019,891 
          Arkansas            9,745,980            0  1,433,566    11,179,546 
         California          42,631,721    2,679,762  1,896,786    47,208,269 
          Colorado                    0    3,700,000  3,509,933     7,209,933 
         Connecticut          1,202,002    1,534,400  3,203,075     5,939,477 
    District of Columbia        876,573            0            0     876,573 
     Federated States of              0            0  1,150,000     1,150,000 
         Micronesia                                               
           Florida              212,346    8,602,272  8,603,858    17,418,476 
           Georgia                    0    3,026,880      420,000   3,446,880 
            Guam                      0            0  13,300,000   13,300,000 
            Idaho             1,072,489    1,800,000  3,373,185     6,245,674 
          Illinois            5,250,562    7,000,000  4,000,889    16,251,451 
           Indiana                    0    3,505,274  3,769,867     7,275,141 
            Iowa              4,498,909    4,728,639  6,748,852    15,976,400 
           Kansas               620,226            0  5,792,029     6,412,255 
          Kentucky                    0            0  10,935,804   10,935,804 
          Louisiana           3,280,000            0  1,500,000     4,780,000 
            Maine             1,200,000    6,425,441  10,488,317   18,113,758 
          Maryland                    0    5,970,294  3,181,022     9,151,316 
        Massachusetts                 0  15,697,403   15,938,190   31,635,593 
          Michigan                    0    4,153,666  5,709,991     9,863,657 
          Minnesota                   0    8,000,000  11,990,890   19,990,890 
         Mississippi                  0            0  1,644,366     1,644,366 
          Missouri            2,070,883    1,913,322  11,449,938   15,434,143 
           Montana            9,576,978    2,876,534  2,114,478    14,567,990 
          Nebraska            1,121,474    2,168,931      236,054   3,526,459 
           Nevada                     0    1,900,000  3,900,000     5,800,000 
        New Hampshire                 0    5,004,456      470,403   5,474,859 
         New Jersey           6,245,346      270,000  3,442,318     9,957,664 
         New Mexico                   0            0      560,842     560,842 
          New York                    0            0  1,561,851     1,561,851 
       North Carolina         6,300,000    5,989,718  7,084,245    19,373,963 

Appendix III: Summary of Funds Awarded for Regular, Disaster, and Dual
Enrollment National Emergency Grant

                      Program year  Program year  Program year  
        Statea                2000           2001          2002         Total 
     North Dakota          378,793              0        99,000       477,793 
         Ohio           15,200,826              0  11,838,929      27,039,755 
       Oklahoma                  0      1,175,155     5,609,778     6,784,933 
        Oregon          10,905,717   11,397,917       4,513,004    26,816,638 
     Pennsylvania       16,139,341   19,579,042    33,672,196      69,390,579 
     Rhode Island        2,827,470              0       268,236     3,095,706 
    South Carolina               0              0     3,414,658     3,414,658 
     South Dakota        1,088,725        250,000     1,093,540     2,432,265 
      Tennessee            375,000      1,352,774     3,988,873     5,716,647 
        Texas            7,732,972   16,943,771       2,111,738    26,788,481 
         Utah                    0              0       740,230       740,230 
       Vermont                   0        400,000       985,877     1,385,877 
       Virginia         15,000,000      4,715,000     5,938,031    25,653,031 
      Washington         6,068,668      5,000,000  14,361,486      25,430,154 
    West Virginia                0      9,499,990     3,000,000    12,499,990 
      Wisconsin          5,554,054   10,152,032       4,457,451    20,163,537 
        Total         $184,548,986  $180,874,032  $249,017,425   $614,440,443 

Source: GAO analysis of regular, disaster, and dual enrollment grant funds
awarded between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2003

aAlaska, Delaware, Hawaii, and Wyoming did not receive any regular,
disaster, or dual enrollment national emergency grants.

Appendix IV: Number of Days to Award Regular Grants by State

                                                            Average number of 
                                                         days from receipt of 
                         State Number of regular grantsa application to award 
                       Alabama                         2 
                      Arkansas                         1 
                    California                         1 
                      Colorado                         1 
                   Connecticut                         6 
          District of Columbia                         1 
                       Florida                         1 
                       Georgia                         4 
                         Idaho                         4 
                      Illinois                         3 
                       Indiana                         2 
                          Iowa                        16 
                        Kansas                         3 
                      Kentucky                         3 
                         Maine                        13 
                      Maryland                         2 
                 Massachusetts                         9 
                      Michigan                         3                   85 
                     Minnesota                         3                  103 
                      Missouri                        12                   99 
                       Montana                         5                   51 
                      Nebraska                         2                   40 
                        Nevada                         1                   79 
                 New Hampshire                         3                   78 
                    New Jersey                         3                  174 
                          Ohio                         4                   40 
                      Oklahoma                         3                  123 
                        Oregon                         6                   96 
                  Pennsylvania                         4                  109 
                  Rhode Island                         3                   32 
                South Carolina                         1                  122 
                  South Dakota                         3                   82 
                     Tennessee                         2                  116 
                         Texas                         3                  122 

                                                            Average number of 
                                                         days from receipt of 
                 State   Number of regular grantsa       application to award 
              Virginia                             2                      106 
               Vermont                             1 
             Wisconsin                             5 

aRepresents the number of regular grants for which complete information
was available. There were a total of 14 regular grants for which we did
not have complete information.

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