ACF-801 Supporting Statement_April2025_fnl

ACF-801: Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Quarterly Case-Level Report

OMB Information Collection Request

0970 - 0167

Supporting Statement Part A - Justification

April 2025

Type of Request: Revision

Submitted By:

Office of Child Care

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Section 658K of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act (42 U.S.C. 9858, as amended by Public Law 113-186) requires that states and territories submit

monthly case-level data on the children and families receiving direct services under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). The implementing regulations for the statutorily required reporting are at 45 CFR 98.70 and 98.71. Case-level reports, submitted quarterly or monthly (at grantee option), include monthly sample or full population case-level data. The data elements to be included in these reports are represented in the ACF-801. The Office of Child Care (OCC), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) uses disaggregate data to determine program and participant characteristics as well as costs and levels of child care services provided.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The case-level administrative information received through this collection provides the means to analyze and evaluate the CCDF program and the extent to which states and territories are assisting families in addressing child care needs. This collection will provide OCC with the information necessary to make reports to Congress (available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/resource/reports-to-congress), address national child care needs, offer technical assistance to grantees, meet performance measures, and conduct trend analysis.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

OCC collects the ACF-801 data in the Child Care Automated Reporting System (CARS). CARS is a web-based data collection system through a secure internet web site. System edit checks provide immediate feedback concerning the accuracy of the submitted data. ACF provides technical assistance to states and territories in the use of CARS toward improved data accuracy and reliability.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

This data collection is required by section 658K of CCDBG Act (42 U.S.C. 9858, as amended by Public Law 113-186) and does not duplicate any other reporting or record-keeping requirements. The implementing regulations for the statutorily required reporting are at 45 CFR 98.70 and 98.71. No similar information is being collected on CCDF program participants and related child care services that can be used to respond to the issues identified in section 658K. Collection of the information specified on the ACF-801 is necessary to comply with the Federal statute and regulations, and to ensure the availability of data to respond to inquiries regarding the progress of the CCDF program and related issues.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

This data collection effort does not involve small business or other small entities.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

Section 658K of the statute requires states and territories to transmit information collected on a quarterly basis (or monthly at state/territory option). The data are submitted no later than 60 days after the end of each quarter. In the case of a state/territory who is submitting a sample, the sample includes a minimum of 200 records for each of the three months of the quarter (October through December, January through March, April through May, and July through September, as appropriate). States and territories have the option of submitting full population or sample data.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

The collection of this information is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection activity. This notice was published on November 5, 2024 (89 FR87881) and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. In the notice, the ACF OCC proposed changes to ACF-801 form and instructions. During the notice and comment period, 3 comments were received. The comments were from 2 state CCDF lead agencies (MD, NY) and a national organization (CLASP). The state CCDF lead agencies indicated that it would take time and resources to implement the proposed changes, and they raised some other concerns and questions. In light of these comments, and in an effort to minimize administrative burden, the ACF OCC requests to move forward with renewal of the ACF-801 without these changes, with one exception. OCC proposes to combine race and ethnicity into a single category, consistent with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, Statistical Policy Directive 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15; 89 FR 22182). The ACF OCC has made updates to include the race and ethnicity question with minimum categories only. ACF is requesting an exemption from the collection of detailed race and ethnicity data due to the extensive burden it would place on the state and territorial agencies to collect the data. To allow sufficient time for states and territories to make changes to their state/territory applications for CCDF, IT systems, and extraction code, the changes to race/ethnicity reporting are effective with the October 2027 report.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

Not applicable.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

Section 658K(a)(1)(E) of the CCDBG Act prohibits the ACF-801 report from containing personally identifiable information. The form requires a unique identifying number, other than the SSN, that is assigned by the state for each family. ACF provides technical assistance to states and territories in the use of the electronic system toward improved data accuracy and reliability.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

This data collection does not involve asking questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

Information Collection Title	Total Number of Respondents	Annual Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Annual Burden Hours	Average Hourly Wage	Total Annual Cost
ACF-801: Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Quarterly Case-Level Report	56	4	25	5600	$99.66	$558,096

Fifty-six (56) states and territories respond quarterly, and based on experience and feedback, we estimate the average time per response to be 25 hours. The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Computer Programmer [15-1251] and wage data from May 2024, which is $49.83 per hour. To account for fringe benefits and overhead the rate was multiplied by two which is $99.66. The estimate of annualized cost for all states and territories (56) is $558,096.

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Profiles

13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers

Operational costs for systems software licenses will average about $4,500 a year per state and territory, for a total of $252,000 for all states and territories (56).

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

ACF accepts ACF-801 reports via the Child Care Automated Reporting System (CARS), a web-based data collection system. The estimated annual Federal cost is $374,000. This includes CARS costs, including code and data base maintenance. CARS processes the ACF-801 case level data to identify format issues and provides a summary report to each state and territory. This amount also includes staff costs of program analysts who review the data and contact grantees as necessary when information is incomplete or questionable. 

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

The ACF-801 provides monthly case-level data on the children and families receiving direct child care services under CCDF. In response to the updated Statistical Policy Directive 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15), ACF made updates to include the race and ethnicity question with minimum categories only.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

Fiscal Year 1998 through 2022 data from the ACF-801 has been processed and reported in a variety of places. Specifically, data has been incorporated into the OCC’s Report to Congress, used by ACF to respond to requests from Congress, track ACF's performance under the Government Performance and Results Act, and respond to inquiries regarding the progress and effectiveness of the CCDF program as well as posted on the OCC website.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

The expiration date is currently and will continue to be displayed at the top right corner of the ACF-801 Form.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to this form.