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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9035-9036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02240]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; 
Child Care Improper Payments Data Collection Instructions (OMB #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 March 7, 2025. OMB must make a decision about the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. You can 
also obtain copies of the proposed collection of information by 
emailing [email protected]. Identify all emailed 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 (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 (89 FR 15366, 
March 1, 2024). 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 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

[[Page 9036]]

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 number   Average burden
           Instrument              Total number    of responses      hours per     Total burden    Annual burden
                                  of respondents  per respondent     response          hours           hours
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Sampling Decisions, Assurances,               52               1              35           1,820             607
 and Fieldwork Preparation Plan.
ACF-403 Record Review Worksheet:              52               1              63           3,276           1,092
 template.......................
ACF-403 Record Review Worksheet:              52             276             3.0          43,056          14,352
 case record reviews............
ACF-404 State Improper Payments               52               1              66           3,432           1,144
 Report.........................
ACF-405 State Improper Payments                6           \a\ 2              24             288              96
 Report Corrective Action Plan..
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    Estimated Total Annual        ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............          17,291
     Burden Hours...............
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\a\ The total number of responses per respondent over a 3-year period 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 3 years is used to calculate annual burden estimates.

    Authority: 45 CFR part 98, subpart K.

Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2025-02240 Filed 1-31-25; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4184-87-P
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