Notice2022-08858
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Application, Evaluation Design Plan, Reports, and Recordkeeping for the Social Impact Partnerships To Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) Grant Program
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Published
April 26, 2022
Issuing agencies
Treasury Department
Abstract
Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and affected federal agencies to comment on the proposed information collections listed below, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Treasury's Office of Economic Policy is soliciting comments concerning the application, evaluation design plan, report, and recordkeeping forms to be used for the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 80 (Tuesday, April 26, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 26, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24648-24650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08858]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Application, Evaluation Design Plan, Reports, and
Recordkeeping for the Social Impact Partnerships To Pay for Results Act
(SIPPRA) Grant Program
AGENCY: Office of Economic Policy, Department of the Treasury
(Treasury).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork
and respondent burden, invites the general public and affected federal
agencies to comment on the proposed information collections listed
below, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Treasury's Office of Economic Policy is soliciting comments concerning
the application, evaluation design plan, report, and recordkeeping
forms to be used for the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results
Act (SIPPRA).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 27, 2022 to
be assured of consideration. This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR part 1320.
ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any other
aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for
reducing the burden, to Treasury PRA Clearance Officer, 1750
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 8100, Washington, DC 20220, or email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5303011213272136322026212a7d343c25"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="09595b48497d7b6c687a7c7b70276e667f">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the submissions may be
obtained from Spencer W. Clark by emailing <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96c6c4d7d6e2e4f3f7e5e3e4efb8f1f9e0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6434362524101601051711161d4a030b12">[email protected]</span></a>, calling
(202) 927-5331, or viewing the entire information collection request at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed
Collection; Comment Request; Application, Evaluation Design Plan,
Reports, and Recordkeeping for the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay
for Results Act (SIPPRA) Grant Program.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number: 1505-0260.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Description: SIPPRA, enacted February 9, 2018, amends Title XX of
the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1397 et seq., to provide $100
million in funding to implement social impact partnership projects''
(projects) and feasibility studies for such projects. SIPPRA authorizes
the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into award agreements with state
or local governments for projects or feasibility studies. Treasury, in
consultation with other federal agencies, administers the SIPPRA grant
program.
SIPPRA authorizes Treasury to conduct a request for proposals for
projects, make award determinations, and enter into project award
agreements. Treasury intends to publish a Notice of Funding
Availability (NOFA) seeking applications for projects and anticipates
that ten or more persons will respond to its NOFA announcing
availability of funding for SIPPRA projects.
Although Treasury is asking applicants to use the SF-424 and SF-425
families of common forms for their applications and reports, Treasury
also expects to solicit additional detailed information from applicants
to effectively and efficiently assess and evaluate whether applications
for projects comply with statutory requirements. This request includes
only the burden for this additional information. The burden for the SF-
424 forms is covered under OMB Control Numbers 4040-0004, 4040-0006,
4040-0007, 4040-0008, 4040-0009, 4040-0010, and 4040-0013. The burden
for the SF-425 form is covered under OMB Control Number 4040-0014. The
additional information includes the following components:
<bullet> <a href="http://SAM.gov">SAM.gov</a> registration;
<bullet> Notice of Intent to Apply (optional);
<bullet> Project Narrative, to include an Executive Summary;
<bullet> Project Narrative Attachments, to include project budget,
narrative statement addressing partnership agreements, an estimate of
the value to the federal government of the interventions being proposed
in the project, partner qualifications, independent evaluator
qualifications, evaluation design plan, independent evaluator contract,
outcome valuation (for which Treasury's SIPPRA website will provide
guidance to assist applicants), legal compliance, and (optional)
additional supporting documentation such as a preexisting feasibility
study;
<bullet> Treasury Office of Civil Rights and Diversity Assurances
and Certifications, Terms and Conditions, and Compliance Data;
<bullet> Additional documentation related to Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act;
<bullet> Copy of application proposing privileged or confidential
information to be redacted;
<bullet> Administrative Reporting, including a Quarterly
Performance Report, Evaluation Progress Reports, and Final Evaluation
Report; and
<bullet> Records Retention requirements.
Use of the Data
The information collected under this NOFA: (1) Identifies eligible
recipients and activities; (2) helps identify which applications
sufficiently address all statutory requirements and which proposed
projects are the most competitive; (3) determines the appropriate
amount of funding; (4) allows evaluation of compliance with SIPPRA and
Federal laws and policies on grants (e.g., Office of Management and
Budget's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards 2 CFR part 200, (herein OMB
Uniform Guidance); Title VI of the Civil Rights Act); (5) tracks
recipients' progress; and (6) collects statutorily mandated reports
prepared by recipients' contracted independent evaluators.
<bullet> The Notice of Intent is optional; it will assist Treasury
and the Federal Interagency Council on Social Impact Partnerships
(Interagency Council) in estimating the number of applications to be
received, and thus, enable them to conduct intake and evaluation of
applications as efficiently and economically as possible.
<bullet> The application Executive Summary will assist Treasury and
the Interagency Council in streamlining the processing of applications
and in optimizing the eligibility phase of application review. The
application standard forms, Project Narrative, and Project Narrative
attachment components of the grant application are intended to provide
Treasury with the information necessary to properly evaluate and assess
whether applications include statutorily mandated information.
Additionally, certain components of the application, in particular the
evaluation design plan and outcome valuation, will enable the
Interagency Council to determine whether to make statutorily mandated
certifications regarding the proposed projects.
<bullet> <a href="http://SAM.gov">SAM.gov</a> registration is required under the OMB Uniform
Guidance.
<bullet> To comply with the OMB Uniform Guidance performance and
financial monitoring and reporting requirements, 2 CFR 200.328-200.330,
Treasury intends to require a quarterly
[[Page 24649]]
performance and annual financial report from grant recipients. SIPPRA
requires that recipients submit progress reports prepared by an
independent evaluator on a periodic basis and before the scheduled time
of outcome payments. 42 U.S.C. 1397n-4(d). SIPPRA also requires that
recipients submit a final report prepared by an independent evaluator
within six months of a project's completion. 42 U.S.C. 1397n-4(e). Per
the statute, Treasury will use these reports to determine if outcome
payments are warranted.
<bullet> Treasury intends to require recipients under this NOFA to
comply with the OMB Uniform Guidance's record retention requirement, 2
CFR 200.334, which requires them to maintain records for three years
after grant close-out.
SIPPRA establishes a Commission on Social Impact Partnerships
(Commission) whose principal obligation is to make recommendations to
Treasury regarding the funding of SIPPRA projects and feasibility
studies. 42 U.S.C. 1397n-6. The Commission is subject to the provisions
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which generally requires
that documents made available to the Commission be made available for
public inspection and copying. 5 U.S.C. app. section 10(b). Treasury
may provide to the Commission all complete applications received under
this NOFA from eligible applicants and would make all such applications
available for public inspection and copying. However, FACA also
provides that trade secrets and commercial or financial information
that is privileged or confidential (confidential business information)
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) need not be made publicly
available. 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4). To assist Treasury in complying with
FACA's public disclosure requirements while protecting confidential
business information in accordance with FOIA, Treasury expects to
request applicants to propose redactions of confidential business
information. An applicant may omit pages for which it does not propose
any redactions. Treasury expects to review the redactions proposed by
each applicant.
Also, applicants must provide qualifications of key project
personnel and partners. Applicants may voluntarily provide curriculum
vitae for key project personnel and partners, but the application will
not require that personally identifiable information (PII) is
collected.
Planned Revisions to the Data Collection
For several reasons, Treasury expects to make a number of changes
in the second SIPPRA NOFA relative to the first SIPPRA NOFA. Treasury
understands that Congress intended for SIPPRA to be a demonstration
program, which suggests that trying different strategies and approaches
in the second NOFA and comparing them to those used in the first NOFA
may be consistent with congressional intent. Treasury also believes
that the revisions it plans may increase the number of applications it
receives, reduce the burden on applicants and stakeholders, reduce
application review time, and enhance the success of projects. Treasury
is interested in receiving comments on applicants' experiences with the
application process under the first NOFA and suggestions on revisions
Treasury should consider in the second NOFA to make the application and
application review process more user-friendly and efficient. The most
salient revisions Treasury plans to make in the second NOFA are
addressed below.
<bullet> Treasury anticipates providing more guidance, expanded
FAQs, and additional online resources to prospective applicants for the
second NOFA. More specifically, Treasury plans to expand its guidance
on evaluation plan design, causal impact measurement requirements, and
quasi-experimental design criteria. Treasury anticipates the guidance
it plans to provide in the second NOFA will reduce applicants' burden
during the application process and recipients' burden throughout the
project performance period. Treasury also anticipates this guidance
will be one means by which Treasury and the Interagency Council may be
able to reduce application review time.
<bullet> Treasury also plans to replace the outcome valuation
methodology, budget impact analysis, required in the first NOFA, with a
different methodology, benefit-cost analysis. Treasury is planning on
making this change because testing different approaches to value
determination may help broaden insights in valuation practices in the
pay for success field.
<bullet> Through its outreach with Federal agencies and external
stakeholders, Treasury has identified the need to make the application
and the application review process more efficient for all parties.
Treasury invites suggestions and specific strategies and efficiencies
that Treasury may incorporate into the second NOFA that will increase
administrative efficiencies to the extent permitted under the statute
and other federal laws and regulations.
<bullet> Under the first NOFA, Treasury provided applicants three
months from the date of NOFA publication in the Federal Register to
submit their applications. In the second NOFA, Treasury anticipates
providing approximately five months from the date of publication for
applicants to submit their applications. Treasury is interested in
learning whether prospective applicants favor a shorter window of time
to submit their applications, which would leave more time for project
implementation, or conversely, if they favor a longer application
timeframe (e.g., five or six months), which would give applicants more
time to submit their applications, but less time for project
implementation. (The statute does not permit Treasury to obligate funds
beyond February 2028. Treasury is interested in an approach that
provides an applicant sufficient time to submit an application while
still providing sufficient project implementation time.)
Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Governments.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 25.
Frequency of Response: Once; on occasion.
Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 25.
Estimated Time per Response: 359 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 8,975 hours.
Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice
will be summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All
comments may become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on:
(a) Whether the 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 collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including through the use of technology;
and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services required to provide information.
[[Page 24650]]
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Catherine Wolfram,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Climate and Energy Economics.
[FR Doc. 2022-08858 Filed 4-25-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AK-P
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