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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 221 (Friday, November 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 90294-90295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-26684]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Proposed Information Collection Activity; Child Care Improper 
Payments Data Collection Instructions (Office of Management and Budget 
#0970-0323)

AGENCY: Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families is proposing 
revisions to an approved information collection, the Child Care 
Improper Payments Data Collection Instructions (OMB #0970-0323, 
expiration 1/31/2025). In addition to the proposed changes, we are 
requesting a 3-year extension.

DATES: Comments due January 14, 2025. In compliance with the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is soliciting 
public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection 
described above.

ADDRESSES: You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of 
information and submit comments by emailing [email protected]. 
Identify all requests by the title of the information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Description: Section 2 of the Payment Integrity Information Act of 
2019 (PIIA) requires Federal agencies to review their programs and 
activities to identify those that may be susceptible to significant 
improper payments, publish improper payment estimates for those 
programs and activities, and submit a report on actions taken to reduce 
improper payments. Subpart K of 45 CFR part 98 of the Child Care and 
Development Fund (CCDF) requires states, the District of Columbia, and 
Puerto Rico to prepare and submit a report once every 3 years with data 
on the errors occurring in the administration of CCDF grant funds. The 
Child Care Improper Payments Data Collection Instructions (DCI) 
provides instructions and guidance to states to implement the CCDF 
error rate methodology.
    The Office of Child Care (OCC) is completing the sixth 3-year cycle 
of case record reviews to meet the requirements for reporting under 
PIIA. The current data collection forms and instructions expire on 
January 31, 2025. As part of the renewal process, OCC has revised the 
forms and instructions with minor changes that do not change the 
methodology, but that provide additional guidance and clarification to 
facilitate complete and accurate data submissions. Existing 
instructions and examples were updated, expanded, or rewritten to 
clarify the information requested. Several formatting changes were made 
to streamline instructions. The instructions and forms were also 
reviewed for alignment with the 2024 CCDF Final Rule. A description of 
changes made in each section can be found in the Introduction section 
of the revised DCI.
    OCC is particularly interested in feedback about updates made to 
the following sections:
     Burden hours: OCC proposes to revise the estimated burden 
hours for the Sampling Decisions, Assurances, and Fieldwork Preparation 
Plan (SDAP), the ACF-403 Record Review Worksheet (RRW), the ACF-404 
State Improper Payments Report, and the ACF-405 State Improper Payments 
Report Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The current burden hours have not 
been revised for several years. OCC recognizes that many factors have 
changed since states first began error rate reviews, including 
increased use of technology by states to aid data collection and 
reporting efforts, greater organizational capacity to conduct ongoing 
error rate reviews, and OCC's use of data reporting systems to reduce 
manual reporting burden on states.
    For this reason, OCC conducted a survey in the spring of 2024 to 
gather information about states' experiences

[[Page 90295]]

completing the error rate reports, including their estimated burden 
hours for each report. All CCDF Lead Agencies required to submit the 
error rate reports were invited to participate, and 56 percent (29 out 
of 52 Lead Agencies) responded. Lead Agency respondents represented a 
geographically diverse group of states with a range in size as defined 
by the numbers of children and families served by CCDF. There were 
expected variations in responses which may reflect differences in 
states' administrative structures and complexity, staff capacity, 
reporting technology, interpretation of the survey questions, and other 
factors. However, even considering the range of responses and any 
outliers, OCC determined that the burden hours estimates should be 
lowered to reflect the survey results. In addition, to more accurately 
account for the work described by survey respondents, OCC further broke 
out the estimated burden hours for the RRW into the following two 
parts: (1) the estimated hours needed for states to customize the 
standard RRW template to reflect their state's rules, policies, and 
procedures; and (2) the estimated hours needed for states to use the 
customized RRW to conduct each of the 276 case reviews.
     Root Causes of Error: OCC proposes to standardize the root 
causes of error in Item 19 of the ACF-404 State Improper Payment Report 
by creating a drop-down list of error cause choices. Currently, Lead 
Agencies enter free text to describe the causes of errors in their 
Federal error rate reviews. While this approach allows flexibility at 
the individual reporting level, inconsistent terminology and 
descriptions across states and reporting cycles makes it difficult to 
analyze, report, and track national and state-level error trends over 
time. Further, the current approach can add additional burden to states 
during the report review and approval process because clarifications 
about error cause descriptions are often requested by Federal 
reviewers. We request comment on whether standardizing error causes in 
Item 19 would benefit Lead Agencies in their data analysis, ease of 
report preparation, and tracking of error trends over time. We also 
request comments on whether the proposed list of standardized error 
causes would meet Lead Agency reporting needs, and if not, what 
additional or different error causes should be included.
    Respondents: CCDF grantees from states, the District of Columbia, 
and Puerto Rico.
    Annual Burden Estimates: Burden estimates are shown based on the 
total burden over a 3-year period divided by three to show average 
annual burden estimates.

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                                                  Total      Total number   Average burden    Total      Annual
                  Instrument                    number of    of responses      hours per      burden     burden
                                               respondents  per respondent     response       hours      hours
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Sampling Decisions, Assurances, and Fieldwork           52               1              35      1,820        607
 Preparation Plan............................
ACF-403 Record Review Worksheet: template....           52               1              63      3,276      1,092
ACF-403 Record Review Worksheet: case record            52             276             3.0     43,056     14,352
 reviews.....................................
ACF-404 State Improper Payments Report.......           52               1              66      3,432      1,144
ACF-405 State Improper Payments Report                   6           \a\ 2              24        288         96
 Corrective Action Plan......................
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:.....  ...........  ..............  ..............  .........     17,291
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\a\ The total number of responses per respondent over 3 years ranges from 1-3, depending on how long it takes
  respondents to reduce the Improper Payment Rate to below the threshold. Respondents submit a Corrective Action
  Plan that covers a 1-year period; at the end of each year, if respondents have not reduced the Improper
  Payment Rate to below the threshold, they submit a new Corrective Action Plan for the following year. An
  average of two responses per respondent over a 3 year period is used to calculate annual burden estimates.

    Comments: The Department specifically requests comments on (a) 
whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.
    Authority: 45 CFR part 98 subpart K.

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-26684 Filed 11-14-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-87-P
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