[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 62638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-24579]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Agency Recordkeeping/Reporting Requirements Under Emergency 
Review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

    Title: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Grantee 
Needs Assessment.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: This information collection is a direct response to 
recommendations for strengthening LIHEAP program integrity made by the 
Government Accountability Office in 2010 and the LIHEAP Program 
Integrity Work Group. The purpose of this data collection is to gauge 
the capacity of LIHEAP grantees to perform two critical tasks:
    1. To implement third-party verification of household data obtained 
during the LIHEAP intake process, in order to strengthen program 
integrity by reducing the risk of making LIHEAP benefit payments to 
ineligible households or in the wrong amount. These risks arise in 
large part when there are errors or fraud in the reporting of household 
members' identity and income during the LIHEAP intake process.
    2. To collect and report new performance measures that ACF is 
proposing to require of all State LIHEAP grantees by Fiscal Year 2015.
    This needs assessment represents a maturity model--a process for 
determining the existing capabilities of grantees. Through a web-based 
tool, respondents will be asked to indicate the level of maturity, or 
sophistication, of their program across multiple areas of evaluation. 
The data collected will be analyzed to identify strengths and 
weaknesses among grantees and determine opportunities for improvement. 
This needs assessment is designed to identify and organize the systems, 
processes and activities that are critical to each grantee's LIHEAP 
program.
    The needs assessment is broken up into multiple sections. Each 
section is focused on a different part of the overall program, and as 
such may be best answered by an individual with expertise in that 
specific area of the program. Burden estimates shown below represent 
the total time to complete all sections by all relevant parties.
    The data that will be obtained through this needs assessment is a 
one-time collection to inform ACF in its operational decision-making 
over how to distribute training and technical assistance, and other 
capacity building resources to its directly-funded LIHEAP grantees. The 
data will be for internal use by ACF and its contractors for this 
internal purpose only. Currently, there is very limited data available 
on a national scale to provide program administrators and stakeholders 
information on the impact of LIHEAP services and the effectiveness of 
how the program is administered. The data that will be collected 
through this needs assessment will inform ACF as to how to help LIHEAP 
grantees improve the timeliness and accuracy of their data collection 
and reporting which will in turn provide better feedback to ACF and 
national stakeholders about the program's performance.
    Respondents: The respondents to this one-time needs assessment will 
be all 51 State LIHEAP grantees, including the District of Columbia, 
and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

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                                                                  Number of      Average burden
                 Instrument                      Number of      responses per      hours per       Total burden
                                                respondents       respondent        response          hours
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Grantee Needs Assessment....................              52                1    1 hr. 40 min.      86 hours 40
                                                                                                       minutes.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 86 hours 40 minutes.
    Additional Information: ACF is requesting that OMB grant a 180 day 
approval for this information collection under procedures for emergency 
processing by October 28, 2013. A copy of this information collection, 
with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by calling 
the Administration for Children and Families, Reports Clearance 
Officer, Robert Sargis at (202) 690-7275.
    Comments and questions about the information collection described 
above should be directed to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACF, Office of Management and 
Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20503; FAX: (202) 395-7285; email: [email protected].

Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-24579 Filed 10-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P