Program Plan
Department of Labor - Training Grants for Green Jobs and Emerging Industry Sectors Recovery Plan
Updated 05/15/2009
Objectives
Program Purpose
The Recovery Act appropriated funds for a program of competitive training grants for worker training and placement in green jobs and high growth and emerging industry sectors, with emphasis on careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Public Benefits
These grants will help train workers for employment in green, high growth and emerging industry sectors.
Measures
The measures have been revised to enrich the performance metrics for Recovery targets. In some instances, targets will not be available until additional baseline data has been collected.
| Measure | Target/Actual |
|---|
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|
[-]
Entered Employment Rate | 0/0 | - | - | - |
Measure Information
| Frequency : Quarterly | | Direction : Increasing | | Type : Outcome | | Explanation : The entered employment rate represents the percent of participants employed in the first quarter after exit. This is a Federal job training program common measure, which enables the High Growth and Emerging Industry Sectors Competitive Grant (High Growth) program to describe in a similar manner the core purposes and results of the program compared to other education, employment and job training programs. For example, while the target population for the High Growth program is workers and employers in high demand, high growth or emerging industry sectors, the ultimate outcomes for this program are the same as for all other employment and training programs. Common measures remove a barrier to service integration among programs by ensuring that programs no longer have different definitions and methodologies for measuring performance. In this case, the performance indicator measures how many participants got a job according to the following formula: of those who are not employed at the date of participation - the number of participants who are employed in the first quarter after the exit quarter divided by the number of participants who exited during the quarter. Since this is a new program, DOL will not be able to determine a targeted ARRA increment because there is no baseline data available for comparison. | | Unit : Percent of exiters |
|
[-]
Employment Retention Rate | 0/0 | - | - | - |
Measure Information
| Frequency : Quarterly | | Direction : Increasing | | Type : Outcome | | Explanation : The employment retention rate represents the percent of participants employed in the first quarter after program exit that are still employed in the second and third quarters after exit. This is a Federal job training program common measure, which enables the High Growth and Emerging Industry Sectors Competitive Grant (High Growth) program to describe in a similar manner the core purposes and results of the program compared to other education, employment and job training programs. For example, while the target population for the High Growth program is workers and employers in high demand, high growth or emerging industry sectors, the ultimate outcomes for this program are the same as for all other employment and training programs. Common measures remove a barrier to service integration among programs by ensuring that programs no longer have different definitions and methodologies for measuring performance. In this case, the performance indicator measures how many participants retained their employment once placed in a job, according to the following formula: of those who are employed in the first quarter after the exit quarter - the number of participants who are employed in both the second and third quarters after the exit quarter divided by the number of participants who exited during the quarter. Since this is a new program, DOL will not be able to determine a targeted ARRA increment because there is no baseline data available for comparison. | | Unit : percent of exiters |
|
| 0/0 | - | - | - |
Measure Information
| Frequency : Quarterly | | Direction : Increasing | | Type : Outcome | | Explanation : This measure represents the average six-month earnings for program participants. This is a Federal job training program common measure, which enables the High Growth and Emerging Industry Sectors Competitive Grant (High Growth) program to describe in a similar manner the core purposes and results of the program compared to other education, employment and job training programs. For example, while the target population for the High Growth program is workers and employers in high demand, high growth or emerging industry sectors, the ultimate outcomes for this program are the same as for all other employment and training programs. Common measures remove a barrier to service integration among programs by ensuring that programs no longer have different definitions and methodologies for measuring performance. In this case, the performance indicator measures participants' average six-month earnings once placed in a job (note: the average earnings for a year can be obtained by doubling the performance measure result), according to the following formula: of program participants who are employed in the first, second, and third quarters after the exit quarter - total earnings in the second quarter plus total earnings in the third quarter after the exit quarter divided by the number of participants who exited during the quarter. Since this is a new program, DOL will not be able to determine a targeted ARRA increment because there is no baseline data available for comparison. | | Unit : dollars |
|
[-]
Number of Participants Receiving Training | 0/0 | 0/0 | - | - |
Measure Information
| Frequency : Monthly | | Direction : Increasing | | Type : Output | | Explanation : This indicator is the count of participants served with Recovery Act funds that are receiving training. DOL is working to use data from previous, similar programs to set a target for the number of workers who will receive training under these grants. | | Unit : Participant Count |
|
Schedule and Milestones
Major phases of program delivery include Solicitation for Grant Application(s) publication, Solicitation for Grant Application(s) closing, grant award, grant execution, and grant period of performance. The schedule for this program is under development.
Publish Solicitation for Grant Application(s) - These funds will be awarded competitively through Solicitations for Grant Applications published on Grants.gov and in the Federal Register.
Expected Completion Date: June 30, 2009
Award Grants - Grant announcement and grant execution.
Expected Completion Date: Fall 2009
Orientation of New Grantees - Meetings to support grantee success and to orient grantees to Federal grant requirements, performance expectations, fiscal and program reporting requirements, and allowable use of funds.
Expected Completion Date: Fall 2009
Technical Assistance for Grantees - Group or individuals meetings, either in person or virtually, to provide support for grantee achievement of grant outcomes.
Expected Completion Date: Ongoing
Grantee Reporting - Grantees will report quarterly following grant execution. ETA will review and analyze the reports.
Expected Completion Date: Ongoing
Milestones
No Data Available
Projects and Activities
The Recovery Act appropriates $750,000,000, for a high growth and emerging industry sectors competitive grants program and provides that:
•$500,000,000 will be for research, labor exchange and job training projects that prepare workers for Green Jobs, or careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy; and
•For awarding other grants, priority shall be given to projects that prepare workers for careers in the health care sector.
Projects have not been awarded at this time; this information will be provided with specificity once projects are awarded.
Review Process
The Department has established reporting systems and Office of Management and Budget-approved forms that grantees use to track, document and report expenditures and performance on a regularly scheduled basis that provides updated information to ETA at a minimum of once a quarter. Grantees are required to certify the accuracy of these reports prior to submitting them to ETA through the established electronic reporting systems.
ETA uses its Grants Electronic Management System (GEMS) and other related electronic data collection systems to conduct and document quarterly desk reviews of financial obligations, expenditures and program performance. Grantees identified as “high risk grantees” through these reviews are given priority attention for on-site monitoring. ETA’s quarterly desk reviews along with on-site reviews are used to identify potential risks and effect program improvements through technical assistance and training.
ETA Regional Offices are conducting “Regional Readiness Consultations” with state and local areas during April and May 2009. The results of the consultations will be analyzed and will inform ETA of specific technical assistance needs required for states and local areas to successfully implement Recovery Act-funded programs.
To further ensure that funds are spent on the intended purpose and accurately reported, the Department requires all grantees to submit single audits annually. ETA works with grantees to resolve any audit findings through additional reviews and the development and implementation of corrective action plans.
ETA conducts a final review of each grantee’s expenditures and performance during the grant close-out process.
As for program evaluations, the Department is in the process of developing a plan for evaluating several components of the Recovery Act-funded programs. These evaluations will likely be implementation studies.
Top Management Challenges identified by the Office of Inspector General for the Department include:
Improving Performance Accountability
With a large influx of Recovery Act funds, the Department faces challenges in conducting a variety of very large grant procurements while ensuring the Department receives the quality of services that the taxpayers deserve. Both the Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office have found in the past year that ETA continues to have weaknesses in managing its grants to this end. ETA has recently increased the emphasis placed on awarding discretionary grants competitively. ETA will focus its future efforts on determining how best to prioritize its available resources to adequately monitor grant performance and how to evaluate grants to ensure desired results are achieved.
All state and local government and nonprofit recipients that expend $500,000 or more in Federal assistance in one year are required by the Single Audit Act to obtain an annual audit by an independent public accountant. A challenge for the Department is that grantees’ audits conducted under the Single Audit Act are not always completed in a timely manner. Therefore, ETA has implemented a procedure for annually reviewing ETA grantees’ Single Audit Act report status and sending written notifications to grantees whose single audit reports are delinquent.
Single Audits
Send follow up letters to grantees who continue to be delinquent
No action to report.
November 2009
Codify standard operating procedures into Procedures Manuals
To date, procedures have been updated to include steps for sending delinquent notices to grantees once the list has been received from the accounting office.
FY 2009
Cost and Performance Plan
Consistent with the transparency and accountability objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), competitive grant programs may provide additional monthly participant information as necessary and when applicable. This information would be in addition to current quarterly and annual reporting requirements. ETA Competitive Grantee information may be extracted from the relevant case-management system. Competitive Grantee case-management systems include participant-level information including types of services received and outcomes when available.
ETA will post monthly, quarterly and the annual summary of program data on the ETA website, the DOL Recovery webpage, and Recovery.gov.
Energy Efficiency Spending Plans
Program Plan Award Types
No Data Available