[Federal Register: July 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 135)]
[Notices]
[Page 42459-42460]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15jy04-91]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public
Comment and Recommendations Unemployment Insurance (UI) Data Validation
(DV) Program
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, the Department of Labor (Department) conducts a
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or
continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program
helps to ensure that the requested data can be provided in the desired
format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized,
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting
comments concerning the proposed reauthorization of its authority to
collect information on the accuracy of State UI required reports
produced by the UI DV program. ETA is seeking Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) approval under the PRA95 to extend for three years
authority to collect this information that expires on December 31,
2004.
DATES: Submit comments on or before September 13, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Burman Skrable, Office of Workforce
Security, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, Room S-4522, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: 202-693-3197 (this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-693-
3975, e-mail: skrable.burman@dol.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Burman Skrable, Office of Workforce
Security, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, Room S-4522, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: 202-693-3197 (this is not a toll-free number); fax: 202-693-
3975; e-mail: skrable.burman@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 303(a)(6) of the Social Security Act specifies that the
Secretary of Labor will not certify State UI programs to receive
administrative grants unless the State's law includes provisions for--
making of such reports * * * as the Secretary of Labor may from time
to time require, and compliance with such provisions as the
Secretary may from time to time find necessary to assure the
correctness and verification of such reports.
The Department considers data validation one of those ``provisions
* * * necessary to assure the correctness and verification'' of the
reports it requires.
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) requires
Federal agencies to develop annual and strategic performance plans that
establish performance goals, have concrete indicators of the extent
that goals are achieved, and set performance targets. Each year, the
agency is to issue a report that ``evaluate[s] the performance plan for
the current fiscal year relative to the performance achieved toward the
performance goals in the fiscal year covered by the report.'' Section
1116 (d)(2) of OMB Circular A-11, which implements the GPRA process,
cites the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 to emphasize the need for
data validation by requiring that the agency's annual performance
report ``contain an assessment of the completeness and reliability of
the performance data included in it [that] * * * describes any material
inadequacies in the completeness and reliability of the data.'' (OMB
Circular
[[Page 42460]]
A-11, Section 230.2 (f)). The President's Management Agenda to improve
the management and performance of the Federal government has emphasized
the importance of complete information for program monitoring and
improving program results.
In 2002, the Department required states to implement a UI DV
program with a target of completing installation of the program by July
31, 2003, and submitting summary validation reports by September 30,
2003. The UI DV system is an extension of the Workload Validation (WV)
program that all State Employment Security Agencies were required to
operate between the mid-1970s and 2000. The WV program checked the
validity of 29 report elements on four required UI reports, because
they are combined into the ``workload items'' used apportion each
State's share of funds appropriated for the administration of the UI
program. The UI DV program employs a refined and automated version of
WV's basic validation approach to review 1275 elements reported on 12
benefits reports and one tax report. The Department uses many of these
elements for key performance measures as well as for the original
workload items.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
Currently, the Department is soliciting comments concerning the
extension of the UI DV Program which:
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
A copy of the proposed information collection request can be
obtained by contacting the office listed above in the addressee section
of this notice.
III. Current Actions
The validation process assesses the validity (accuracy) of the
counts of transactions or measurements of status as follows. In the
validation process, guided by a detailed handbook, the state first
constructs extract files containing all pertinent individual
transactions for the desired report period to be validated. Each
transaction contains the necessary characteristics or dimensions that
enable it to be summed into an independent recount of what the state
has already reported. Standardized software edits the extract file,
e.g., to remove duplicate transactions, then aggregates the
transactions to produce an independent reconstruction or ``validation
count'' of the reported figure. The reported count is considered valid
by this ``quantity'' validation test if it is within 2% of
the validation count (1% for a GPRA related element). The
software also draws samples of most transaction types from the extract
files; guided by a state-specific handbook, the validators review these
against documentation in the state's management information system to
determine whether the transactions in the extract file are supported by
system documentation and thus that the validation count can be trusted
as accurate. The extract files are considered to pass this ``quality''
review if random samples indicate they contain no more than 5%
reporting errors.
During FY 2005 and beyond, all states will be required to conduct a
complete validation every three years. There are two exceptions to this
rule: (1) groups of reported counts that are summed for purposes of
making a Pass/Fail determination and do not pass validation by being
within 2% of the reconstructed counts (1% in
the case of report elements used to calculate GPRA measures) must be
revalidated within one year; the same is true for random samples that
show that the underlying population from which they are drawn contains
more than 5% of its transactions in error; and (2) all samples and
counts used for GPRA measures must be validated annually regardless of
whether they pass validity standards or not.
Type of Review: Extension.
Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
Title: Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Program (ETA Handbook
361).
OMB Number: 1205-0431.
Record Keeping: States are required to retain validation results
and supporting documentation for three years to support an audit.
Affected Public: State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
Frequency: Annual.
Total Respondents: 53 SWAs.
Total Responses: 53 per year.
Estimated Time Per Response: SWA staff--550 hours.
Total Burden Hours: 29,150 hours.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.
Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $946,792.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: July 8, 2004, in Washington, DC.
Cheryl Atkinson,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security.
[FR Doc. 04-16058 Filed 7-14-04; 8:45 am]
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