Recommendations for Executive Action

1. Status: Open

   Comments: DOL agreed with this recommendation. DOL officials stated that the agency has taken actions in the past fiscal year to improve its tracking and timely processing of National Dislocated Worker Grant applications and grant modifications and will examine ways to further optimize its procedures for timely grant processing. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.

   Recommendation: The Secretary of Labor should ensure that DOL has a procedure to help the agency analyze reasons for delays in processing National Dislocated Worker Grant applications and grant modifications. (Recommendation 1)

   Agency Affected: Department of Labor

2. Status: Open

   Comments: DOL agreed with this recommendation. DOL officials stated that the agency has convened various combinations of grantees, such as bringing together special cohorts of National Dislocated Worker Grant grantees to share information, best practices, and implementation challenges. At the same time, DOL officials acknowledged that they have not held a targeted national grantee convening, as we recommended. We await further progress on these efforts.

   Recommendation: The Secretary of Labor should identify and implement additional mechanisms to allow EAA grantees to share information about innovative and best practices with each other, such as DOL hosting an in-person or virtual national convening for grantees. (Recommendation 2)

   Agency Affected: Department of Labor

3. Status: Open

   Comments: DOL agreed with this recommendation. DOL officials stated that the agency is committed to coordinating across agencies. They also noted that while they encourage alignment and information sharing at the federal level to enhance grants management and monitoring at the regional and local levels, sharing information with DOL regional officials on ARC investments does not impact National Dislocated Worker Grant funding determinations for any state. Information sharing can serve many purposes, however, including helping to maximize program impact and reach. We will monitor progress on these efforts.

   Recommendation: The Secretary of Labor should work with the Federal Co-Chair of the ARC to identify and implement mechanisms that allow for information sharing between the two agencies regarding their EAA programs, including sharing grant decisions. (Recommendation 3)

   Agency Affected: Department of Labor

4. Status: Open

   Comments: ARC agreed with this recommendation and stated it has begun making plans to share information with DOL on its grant decisions. We will await the completion of these efforts.

   Recommendation: The Federal Co-Chair of the ARC should work with the Secretary of Labor to identify and implement mechanisms that allow for information sharing between the two agencies regarding their EAA programs, including sharing grant decisions. (Recommendation 4)

   Agency Affected: Appalachian Regional Commission

5. Status: Open

   Comments: ARC officials stated that they believe they have an effective system in place for emphasizing, monitoring, and assessing the performance outcomes of ARC investments. At the same time, officials agreed that additional actions are warranted to bolster ARC's commitment to performance measurement and evaluation, such as updating its performance measurement guidance for grant applicants in FY21 to improve clarity. In addition, the agency said it plans to update its performance measurement guidance for grantees in FY21 and, after completing ongoing upgrades to its grants management system, will gather more comprehensive performance information. We acknowledge and commend ARC's effort to review other organizations' performance measurement practices to inform its own practices and to contract for an evaluator to conduct ongoing monitoring and evaluation of POWER Initiative grants. Nevertheless, we believe that ARC should take additional steps to ensure that grant applicants and grantees collect relevant and complete performance information. Specifically, ARC's plans should address the lack of specific instructions on methodologies and statistical information that grant applicants and grantees may use to document project outputs, outcomes, and impacts.

   Recommendation: The Federal Co-Chair of the ARC should develop a plan for addressing issues related to performance data for POWER Initiative grants. (Recommendation 5)

   Agency Affected: Appalachian Regional Commission

6. Status: Open

   Comments: DOL agreed with this recommendation. DOL officials stated that they are committed to building the evidence base for what does and does not work in employment and training programs. We await further progress on these efforts.

   Recommendation: The Secretary of Labor should, as part of the Department's evidence building processes, prioritize improving the quality of evidence on the impact of job training for dislocated workers. (Recommendation 6)

   Agency Affected: Department of Labor

7. Status: Open

   Comments: DOL agreed with this recommendation. DOL officials stated that they would submit to Congress by the end of calendar year 2020 a report that is responsive to the WIOA requirement for an annual report that includes research and evaluation findings. We await the completion and documentation of this effort.

   Recommendation: The Secretary of Labor should identify the expected time frame for providing the first report to Congress that is responsive to the WIOA requirement for an annual report that includes research and evaluation findings. In addition, the agency should communicate this time frame to relevant congressional committees. (Recommendation 7)

   Agency Affected: Department of Labor

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