View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 0970-0589	ICR Reference No: 202202-0970-003
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No:
Agency/Subagency: HHS/ACF	Agency Tracking No: OCS
Title: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Quarterly Performance and Management Reports
Type of Information Collection: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Emergency	Approval Requested By: 02/16/2022
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 02/18/2022
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 02/14/2022
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	08/31/2022	6 Months From Approved
Responses	206	0	0
Time Burden (Hours)	7,416	0	0
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: As part of the response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress authorized two separate supplemental appropriations for LIHEAP. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Public Law 116-136) appropriated $900 million and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act (Public Law 117-2) appropriated an additional $4.5 billion. On May 8, 2020, the Office of Community Services (OCS) awarded 100% of the LIHEAP CARES Act funding, or $900 million, to grant recipients. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S territories, and more than 140 Native American tribes and tribal organizations received a supplemental award. States and the District of Columbia received $884,987,516, Territories received $4,526,642, and Tribes received 10,485,842. Per the CARES Act legislation, funds needed to be obligated by September 30, 2021. LIHEAP issued guidance that grant recipients have at least 90 days following the end of FY21 to draw down previously obligated LIHEAP CARES Act funds from the federal Payment Management System (PMS). In the summer of 2021, OCS noticed that grant recipients were slowly obligating and making drawdowns of the CARES Act funds in PMS. The initial unobligated balances among States, Tribes, and Territories were $241,685,025, $5,424,862, and $4,020,237, respectively. OCS responded with an intensive technical assistance and training (T/TA) strategy to help grant recipients reduce the amount of unobligated LIHEAP CARES Act funds at risk of being returned to the Treasury. As a result of these efforts, the total unobligated balance was reduced to $8,832,566 based on grantee reporting (this represents approximately 1.00% unobligated). While the intensive T/TA strategy was able to significantly reduce the amount of unobligated CARES Act funds returned to the Treasury, some funding remained unobligated and therefore did not reach low-income households that could have benefited from additional assistance. On May 4th, 2021, OCS released 100% of the LIHEAP ARP funding, or $4.5 billion, to grant recipients. Given that the ARP appropriation is significantly larger than the CARES appropriation, consistent and proactive spenddown monitoring will be critical to ensuring unobligated funds are minimized to the greatest extent possible. The ARP Act stipulates that supplemental funding must be obligated by September 30, 2022. In addition to the supplemental ARP funds, OCS also released the normal LIHEAP Block Grant funding for FY22, nearly $3.37 billion, on October 29, 2021. OCS seeks to implement a quarterly report to help monitor grant recipient progress on spending ARP and regular appropriation funds to ensure they are used efficiently and effectively to maximize assistance to low-income households. Moreover, recent analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that energy costs are projected to increase significantly this winter due to forecasts of a colder winter and higher energy prices. Specifically, EIA estimates that nearly half of all U.S. households that primarily rely on natural gas to heat their homes, will spend approximately 30% more for heating this winter than they spent last year on average. Therefore, it is imperative that available LIHEAP funds are fully utilized to meet household’s growing energy needs this winter. Quarterly data reports will help OCS track the reach of LIHEAP to ensure that available resources are being used most effectively in response to projected increased energy burdens during the ongoing public health emergency. OCS is seeking emergency clearance to implement quarterly reports. We will submit an extension request within six months of emergency approval to continue with quarterly reports, as the information collected is incredibly helpful in our administration and oversight of LIHEAP.

Emergency Justfication: The Office of Community Services (OCS) is seeking emergency clearance for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Quarterly Performance and Management Reports in accordance with 44 U.S.C. 3507(subsection j). Below please find the justification as it pertains to each criterion in subjection j: (i) public harm is reasonably likely to result if normal clearance procedures are followed (ii) an unanticipated event has occurred (iii) the use of normal clearance procedures is reasonably likely to prevent or disrupt the collection of information or is reasonably likely to cause a statutory or court ordered deadline to be missed. Please see the summary section of Supporting Statement A for specific details about each of these points.

Authorizing Statute(s): None

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Quarterly Performance and Management Report	1	LIHEAP Quarterly Performance and Management Report

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	206	206
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	7,416	7,416
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: This is a new information collection request. As explained above, the significant investment from ARP and the projected increase in winter heating costs necessitates that OCS closely monitor grant recipient activity to ensure funds are leveraged in an efficient and timely manner to ensure that the increased needs of households are met this winter.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $92,408

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Yes

Agency Contact: Molly Buck 202 205-4724 mary.buck@acf.hhs.gov

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