LIHEAP AT 2013-4 Household Report FY 2013
LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY Action Transmittal |
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
Transmittal No. LIHEAP-AT-2013-4 Date: August 22, 2013
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES
ACTION
INTENDED FOR: X STATES
X TRIBES/TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS
X TERRITORIES
SUBJECT: LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2013 — Short Form and Long Form
RELATED
REFERENCES: Sections 2605(c)(1)(G) and 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (title XXVI of Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended); 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 96; House Report 103-483 and Senate Report 103-251 on S. 2000, the predecessor to Public Law 103-252 (the Human Services Amendments of 1994); OMB Control No. 0970-0060 (Expiration Date─October 31, 2014); Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; LIHEAP Information Transmittal (IM) 09-03, dated January 26, 2009; LIHEAP Action Transmittal (AT) 11-06, dated July 25, 2011.
PURPOSES: To remind all LIHEAP grantees to include required data for the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 (October 1, 2012 — September 30, 2013) as part of their LIHEAP grant application for FFY 2014, submitted through the Administration of Children and Families’ On-Line Data Collection System. This the first year that both the Long and Short Form for the LIHEAP Household Report will be submitted through OLDC
To remind direct-grant Indian Tribes/Tribal Organizations and Insular Areas (other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) to complete the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Short Form.
To remind the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (hereafter referred to as “states”) to complete the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Long Form.
BACKGROUND: Under the amendments to the LIHEAP statute enacted in 1994 (Public Law 103-252), LIHEAP grant applications must include a report on LIHEAP households for the previous Federal Fiscal Year. We require grantees to report LIHEAP household data, using the designated Short Form or Long Form of the LIHEAP Household Report, as indicated above.
Information collection activities, such as the LIHEAP Household Report, must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. OMB approved both forms of the LIHEAP Household Report through October 31, 2014.
We notified grantees of OMB’s action through LIHEAP Information Memorandum (IM) 2009-03, dated January 26, 2009. As stated in that IM, states are required to submit additional data, beginning for FFY 2011, to provide Congress and the Administration an unduplicated count of LIHEAP assisted households receiving any type of LIHEAP assistance. For a summary of those additional data elements, see: /programs/ocs/resource/liheap-household-report...
Some states experienced problems in reporting some or all of the additional data for FFY 2012, especially as they concerned including LIHEAP weatherized households in the unduplicated count of households receiving any type of LIHEAP assistance. Where necessary, we have requested states to address reporting issues in order for complete and accurate household data to be reported for FFY 2013.
CONTENT: Considerable time is spent in working with a number of grantees on the following reporting issues related to the LIHEAP Household Report:
- Submitting the LIHEAP Household Report after the deadline without first consulting with our office;
- Following the report instructions and/or notifying us whether the instructions need to be revised to clarify misunderstandings;
- Inadequate data collection systems;
- Utilizing edit checks;
- Cross checking the consistency on the types of LIHEAP assistance for which households were assisted, as reported in the LIHEAP Household Report, and types of benefits provided, as reported in the LIHEAP Grantee Survey; and
- Reporting on all households assisted with LIHEAP funds with adequate notation—examples include home energy repair or replacement; SNAP nominal payments.
Such issues have contributed to the delay in completing the annual LIHEAP Report to Congress. In order to address some of these issues, data for the LIHEAP Household Repor for FFY 2013 — Long Form and Short Form will now be required to be submitted through the On-Line Data Collection System (OLDC). OLDC can be accessed here: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssi/ . If you have not yet created an account in OLDC, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison for assistance.
OLDC has built-in validations in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 to help grantees ensure that data submitted to our office is accurate. Once all data is entered and the report is validated in OLDC, these validations will check the data entered by the grantee. There are two types of validations, Warnings and Errors.
A Warning notifies the grantee of a possible inconsistency or mistake in the data. Grantees are encouraged to double check the fields described in the Warning to make sure all information is correct. Grantees will be able to Certify and Submit the report without changing any data that led to a Warning.
An Error notifies the grantee of a mistake that must be corrected prior to the report being submitted to our office. OLDC will not allow a report to be Certified and Submitted until the Error has been addressed.
Once the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 has been submitted, we will notify a state of any reporting deficiencies not identified or resolved through OLDC and request a plan for remedial action. At the same time, we will continue to work with states that seek help in completing its report.
Please review the following items that pertain to the LIHEAP Household Report (detailed information is included in the report instructions):
- All Indian Tribes/Tribal Organizations and Insular Areas (other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) are to complete the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Short Form using the reporting instructions for that form (Attachment 1).
- The 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are to complete the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Long Form using the reporting instructions for that form (Attachment 2).
- A grant award will not be made for FFY 2014 until we receive the grantee’s complete data, as specified in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013, and all other application requirements have been met.
- Estimated (rather than actual) LIHEAP household data will be accepted with the FFY 2014 LIHEAP grant applications so as not to delay the awarding of first quarter LIHEAP grants for FFY 2014.
- Grantees are to submit actual household data for the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 by December 15, 2013 (this also is the deadline for state, Tribal, and Insular Area grantees to submit additional information to complete their block grant application/plans for FFY 2014, and for states to submit the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY 2013). Actual, not estimated, state-level data are required for the LIHEAP Report to Congress for FFY 2013.
Although the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 is now to be submitted through OLDC, the substance of the report and the data elements required have not changed from FFY 2012. We will no longer be accepting submissions in via email, fax, or mail.
INQUIRIES TO: For questions regarding accurate completion of the Household Report, contact:
Leon Litow, Lead Energy Assistance Program Specialist
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
Administration for Children and Families, HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
202-401-5304 (Voice)
202-401-5661 (Fax)
llitow@acf.hhs.gov
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/
For questions regarding accessing OLDC, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison.
SUBMISSION TO: The deadline for all grantees to submit their LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 13is September 1, 2013, along with their FY 2014 LIHEAP Plan. This date may be extended for tribal grantees if the state(s) in which the tribe is located agrees to a later date. The date may be extended for state or territorial grantees if HHS agrees to a later date.
Please submit the completed Household Report in OLDC, attaching the FY 2014 LIHEAP Plan, Program Integrity Assessment, and Certifications.
OLDC can be accessed here: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssi/ . If you have not yet created an account in OLDC, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison for assistance.
ATTACHMENTS:
1 Reporting Instruction for LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Short Form
2 Reporting Instruction for LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2013 — Long Form
/s/
Lauren Christopher
Energy Program Operations Branch Chief
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services