ETA conducts a number of compliance
assistance activities that are intended to help fund recipients
comply with the requirements of laws, regulations, program guidance,
and grant and contract conditions. These activities include informational
tools, technical assistance, monitoring, and other activities. Because
of the wide variety of programs and activities that ETA administers,
these activities are carried out in a variety of ways.
Informational Tools
ETA's guiding philosophy in compliance
assistance is to make federal requirements easy to understand and
access for its customers. To accomplish this, ETA uses a variety
of approaches to provide information on the requirements to states,
local governments, stakeholders, fund recipients, and the general
public:
Web Sites: ETA maintains a variety
of web sites at the national and regional level that provide information
to customers, stakeholders, and applicants for funds. There is also
a "Fax on Demand" system that provides certain types of information
for employers who don't have Internet access. For information about
compliance assistance activities pertinent to a specific program
please refer to the program-specific office website at (www.doleta.gov/etaindex.cfm).
Advisories: The advisory system (formerly
called directives) encompasses guidance letters, program letters,
handbooks and technical assistance guides. This system was reengineered
recently to respond to suggestions from states and localities on
how to make these communications more responsive to customer needs.
Agency advisories can be found at (http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives).
Seminars/Workshops/Speaking Events:
Compliance assistance information is also covered at conference
workshops and seminars, and general policy information is communicated
at speaking events.
E-Mail Correspondence: All ETA program
offices and regions respond to e-mail inquiries from customers and
the general public.
Other: Some other informational materials
are publications, directories, fact sheets, information packets,
brochures, and "best practices."
Technical Assistance and Training
ETA provides technical assistance
and training to its fund recipients to help them understand and
comply with federal requirements relating to their programs. This
technical assistance and training is provided in a variety of ways.
Technical Assistance Guides and Handbooks
: ETA publishes a variety of publications and technical assistance
tools designed to assist customers in successfully addressing those
federal requirements that pose compliance challenges. For example,
a Technical Assistance Guide on Limited English Proficient Strategies
is being developed to help grantees service affected populations.
On-Site Assistance : ETA regional
and national office staffs provide on-site assistance during monitoring
trips and regional reviews.
Training : ETA's training initiatives
involve a variety of methods and formats including seminars, workshops,
focus groups, forums, town hall meetings and conferences, teleconferences,
and videoconferences. During the past year, ETA trained over 1,200
state and local one-stop staff on financial management requirements
of the Workforce Investment Act.
Monitoring
ETA conducts monitoring activities
both on-site and off-site as part of its compliance assistance program.
Off-Site Monitoring: Usually conducted
by the assigned Grant Officer's Technical Representative (GOTR),
this type of monitoring involves "desk reviews" and feedback to
program operators. Monitoring usually occurs quarterly with the
grantee's data submission.
On-Site Monitoring: On-Site monitoring
is also used in ETA programs to facilitate compliance with grant
agreements and related grant requirements. This allows ETA to observe
projects that have "promising practices" that can be shared with
other grantees.
