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This Technical Bulletin lists the data standards for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Annual ACF-800 Report submitted by states and territories to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Care (OCC), including key state-level data required by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-186).

The ACF-901 is a data collection form designed to collect American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Stabilization Grants provider-level data.

This Technical Bulletin lists the data standards for the ACF-801 Child Care Case Record Form. This Form, which is submitted by States and Territories to the Office of Child Care (OCC), includes key case-level data required by the statute governing the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

This Technical Bulletin describes the formatting requirements for the ACF-801 data submission file. These formatting guidelines should be followed by all States and Territories when creating the file for electronic submission to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). All questions about the file format should be directed to the Child Care Automated Reporting System (CARS) Team. This Technical Bulletin provides guidance for implementing provisions of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (Public Law 113-186) of 2014 and makes other revisions to strengthen administrative data reporting 

The purpose of the annual QPR is to capture state and territory progress on how CCDF quality funds were expended, including the activities funded and the measures used by states and territories to evaluate progress in improving the quality of child care programs and services for children from birth to age 13.  The annual data provided will be used to describe state and territory priorities and strategies to key stakeholders, including Congress, Federal, state and territory administrators, providers, parents, and the public. 

The purpose of this program instruction is to

1. To provide information to state, territory, and tribal lead agencies regarding the distribution of child care disaster recovery funds, and
2. To provide guidance on allowable activities, how to apply, obligating and expending funds, reporting requirements, recipient monitoring, and other requirements. 

These are frequently asked questions about the NPRM for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) regulations (45 CFR Part 98).

The purpose of this Technical Bulletin is to clarify several issues surrounding the ACF-801 reporting requirements. Section II provides guidance related to definitions of specific data elements and data element response options. Section III contains contact information if you have questions or need further assistance.

While ACF welcomes comment on any topic related to the proposed rule, below is a list of key areas within the NPRM where ACF is specifically requesting input from commenters. Please see the instructions on how to submit comments.

These are instructions for submitting comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)  filed on July 13, 2023. This NPRM offers additional draft guidance on program requirements for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program. All interested parties will have 45 days to comment, and ACF will consider all comments before issuing final guidance on program requirements.