AFI DCL New Performance Progress Report Forms Approved

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Community Services
Division of Community Demonstration Programs
330 C Street, SW, 5th Floor
Mail Room 5425
Washington, D.C. 20201
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/programs/afi

Re: New Performance Progress Report Forms Approved

Date: August 25, 2016

Dear Colleagues:

As previous letters released in May 2015 and April 2016 have described, the Office of Community Services (OCS) sought approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the proposed Assets for Independence (AFI) program-specific Performance Progress Report (PPR). On August 23, 2016, the proposed AFI PPR was approved by OMB without any changes.  AFI grantees are now required to use the new PPR to report data on their AFI project(s) moving forward.  AFI will no longer collect the SF-PPR form semiannually.  Financial reporting requirements are not affected by the new PPR; grantees must still submit the SF-425 semiannually for each AFI grant.

Reporting FY 2015 Data

The first data that AFI grantees must report using the AFI PPR is federal fiscal year (FY) 2015 data.  AFI grants with a grant period that included any time from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015 have FY 2015 data to report.  This includes grants that did not have any actual program activity during that period for any reason.  Even if the data submitted is all zeros, we need you to submit it.  The exception to this rule: Grants awarded on September 30, 2015 do not have to submit an AFI PPR for FY 2015.  The first AFI PPR for these grants will be for FY 2016. 

For those grants that ended during FY 2015, such as grants ending May 31, 2015 and August 31, 2015, the FY 2015 AFI PPR long form will serve as the final report.  Therefore, grantees must include data on all the activity that occurred under that grant, including the 90-day closeout period, even if that closeout period extended past September 30, 2015.  If the grant ended in FY 2015, we want the final report data to be captured as FY 2015 data.  Long-time AFI grantees may note that this is a change from the policy for the old annual Data Report.

FY 2015 data must be submitted using the AFI PPR annual long form in the Online Data Collection (OLDC) system, accessed via GrantSolutions.gov .  A separate report must be submitted for each AFI grant.  We expect OLDC to be ready to for grantees to submit FY 2015 data on August 31, 2016.  The deadline for submission of FY 2015 data is Wednesday, September 28, 2016.  If AFI grantees need access to OLDC, need their password reset, or have questions about the AFI PPR, they should contact their data contact at the AFI Resource Center .

Reporting FY 2016 Data and Beyond

AFI grantees need to prepare to submit FY 2016 data.  With the AFI PPR annual long form due on November 30, 2016, AFI will move into the new standard schedule for AFI PPR reporting (below).  Beginning in FY 2017, AFI grantees will have AFI PPRs due quarterly, three short forms and one long form each year.  The first AFI PPR quarterly short form will be due on January 30, 2017.  For grants awarded on September 30, 2016, this will be the first AFI PPR submitted.

New AFI PPR Reporting Schedule

Additionally, a final AFI PPR long form must be completed for each grant, as follows:

New Data Fields

The AFI PPR includes some new data fields that were not previously reported by AFI grantees.  The collection of these fields will be phased in, since the first AFI PPRs collected will cover periods of time that have already passed.  These fields will be optional through the annual PPR long form for FY 2017 (due November 30, 2017) and required beginning with the FY 2018 Quarter 1 PPR short form (due January 30, 2018).  Over the next year, we expect grantees to begin collecting and reporting these fields, and we have created resources to help you make any needed adjustments to the forms and data systems for your AFI project(s).

One critical resource is an open letter to providers of data management products for AFI grantees: http://idaresources.acf.hhs.gov/PPROpenLetter .  Whether you work with an external vendor or have internal data system staff, please share this open letter with them so that they are aware of the changes regarding AFI data collection and reporting needs.

Thank you.

________/s/_________                                                          _________/s/_________

Lynda E. Perez                                                                       Jeannie L. Chaffin

Acting Director                                                                         Director

Division of Community Demonstration Programs                     Office of Community Services