ACF-901 – American Rescue Plan (ARP) Stabilization Grants Provider-Level Data form and instructions for state and territorial lead agencies

1. Log No: CCDF-ACF-PI-2021-08
2. Issuance Date: December 21, 2021
3. Originating Office: Office of Child Care
4. Key Words: Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF); ACF-901 — American Rescue Plan (ARP) Stabilization Grants Provider-Level New Data Collection

TO

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) state and territorial lead agencies and other interested parties.

SUBJECT

ACF-901 — American Rescue Plan (ARP) Stabilization Grants Provider-Level Data form and instructions for state and territorial lead agencies.

REFERENCES

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 1990, as amended (42 USC 9857, et seq.); regulations at 45 CFR 98.70; and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 (Sec. 2202, Public Law 117- 2). Relevant Technical Bulletins are located on the Office of Child Care (OCC) website.

PURPOSE

To inform states and territories that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the ACF-901 — American Rescue Plan (ARP) Stabilization Grants Provider-Level Data form and instructions that establishes a new data collection that will allow OCC to collect and report critical information about the numbers of and characteristics for child care providers receiving stabilization grant awards, including whether funds have been distributed equitably and are reaching historically underserved communities. This data collection effort is necessary to provide transparency and accountability in the use of this funding for stabilizing the child care sector during and after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The ACF-901 form and instructions are attached.

BACKGROUND

The ACF-901 is a new data collection form designed to collect ARP Act stabilization grants provider-level data. The ARP Act of 2021 included approximately $24 billion in funding for child care stabilization grants to stabilize the child care sector and do so in a way that builds back a stronger child care system that supports the developmental and learning needs of children, meets parents’ needs and preferences with equal access to high-quality child care, and supports a professionalized workforce that is fairly and appropriately compensated for the essential skilled work that they do. Lead agencies must spend at 90 percent of the stabilization funds as subgrants to qualified child care providers to support the stability of the child care sector during and after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency.

Report and Instructions: The OMB approved the new ACF-901 form and instructions which requires state and territory lead agencies to report child care provider-level information about the numbers of and characteristics for child care providers receiving stabilization grant awards. OCC provided to states and territories file format and transmission guidance (see Technical Bulletin #15 (PDF)), and data standards guidance (see Technical Bulletin #16 (PDF)). State and territory lead agencies should refer to the technical bulletins in preparation of the information and submission for the ACF-901.

Lead agencies will report specifically on the following:

• Record Header Information. These elements include the start and end of reporting period, total number of providers included, and state point contact name and information.
• Provider Characteristics Receiving Stabilization Grant Awards. These elements refer to the provider who received stabilization grant award(s) during the reporting period, including information about the unique state provider ID; provider Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN); provider type; county Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) code; zip code; gender; Hispanic or Latino ethnicity; race; provider capacity; provider served children who received subsidy at time of application; and provider temporarily closed at time of application.
• Stabilization Grant Award Characteristics Base on the Provider’s Application. This group of questions applies to the award(s) that a provider received during the reporting period, including award amount and award date for each provider receiving a stabilization grant award.
• Uses of the Stabilization Grant. These questions refer to information about a provider’s uses of the stabilization grant. Reported information about each provider should have at least one use of the following, including personnel costs; rent/mortgage/utilities; personal protective equipment; purchases of or updates to equipment and supplies; goods and services; and mental health supports.

DUE DATES

State and territory lead agencies are required to begin reporting the ACF-901 quarterly data by January 31, 2022. Each state/territory shall report a quarterly file for each quarter the state/territory dispersed stabilization grants to providers. The date of when the state/territory began dispersing stabilization grant awards will determine how many quarterly files will be due by January 31, 2022. If the state/territory began dispersing stabilization grants to providers:

• Prior to July 1, 2021 — state/territory will submit three quarterly files for:
  1. April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021 (Quarter 3 of federal fiscal year [FFY] 2021)
  2. July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021 (Quarter 4 of FFY 2021)
  3. October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 (Quarter 1 of FFY 2022)
• After June 30, 2021 and prior to October 1, 2021 — state/territory will submit two quarterly files for:
  1. July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021 (Quarter 4 of FFY 2021)
  2. October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 (Quarter 1 of FFY 2022)
• After September 30, 2021 and prior to January 1, 2022 — state/territory will submit one quarterly file for:
  1. October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 (Quarter 1 of FFY 2022)

After the initial submission due by January 31, 2022, states/territories are required to submit regular quarterly reports for any quarter that they disperse the funds, and can stop submitting quarterly reports once they have completed dispersing all the ARP stabilization grants to providers.

WHO MUST REPORT

All lead agencies in the United States, the District of Columbia (DC), and Territories (including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are responsible for collecting and reporting provider-level stabilization grants data for the ACF-901.

PENALTIES FOR NON-REPORTING

The statute provides that the Secretary of Health and Human Services may impose sanctions on a lead agency for non-compliance with any requirement of the CCDF program (CCDBG Act, Section 658I(b)(2)(B)).

ELECTRONIC REPORT

State and territory lead agencies will submit their ACF-901 provider-level records electronically to the Child Care Automated Reporting System (CARS) . CARS is a web-based, password-protected application that checks for data compliance with data standards at the time of submission.

OCC conducted a national webinar with state and territory lead agencies to review CARS on Thursday, October 14th, and the slides (PDF) are available on the OCC website.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The CARS Technical Assistance Specialists can answer questions and provide guidance in preparation of the information and submission of the ACF-901. States and territory lead agencies may contact the CARS team at their toll-free number: 877-249-9117, weekdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) or by email to cars@gdit.com for any questions and about accessing or navigating CARS.

OCC provided file format guidance (see Technical Bulletin #15 (PDF)) and data standards guidance (see Technical Bulletin #16 (PDF)) for submission of the ACF-901. OCC conducted a national webinar with state and territory lead agencies to review the guidance in Technical Bulletins #15 and #16 on Tuesday, December 7^th. The slides (PDF) are available on the OCC website.

REPORTING PROBLEMS OR POLICY QUESTIONS

Lead agencies that have problems complying with the statutory reporting requirements should contact ACF for technical assistance. Questions should be directed to the appropriate ACF Regional Child Care Program Manager.

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT

Collection of the information for the ACF-901 is expected to average 20 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. The information collection required under this Program Instruction for the ACF-901 is approved under OMB Control Number 0970-0584, which expires December 31, 2024.

/s/

Ruth Friedman

Director

Office of Child Care

Attachment

ACF-901 Form and Instructions