FY 2020 WOTC backlog awards, Change 1

CLASSIFICATION
   EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION                 WOTC
               ADVISORY SYSTEM                            CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL
          U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR                        OWI
             Washington, D.C. 20210                       DATE
                                                          August 24, 2020

ADVISORY:         TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 13-19,
                  Change 1

TO:               STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES
                  STATE WORKFORCE ADMINISTRATORS
                  WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT COORDINATORS

FROM:             JOHN PALLASCH
                  Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:          Change 1 to Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 13-19, Work
                  Opportunity Tax Credit Funding Allotments for Fiscal Year 2020

1. Purpose. To announce the 12 states selected to receive additional fiscal year (FY)
   2020 awards totaling $2,500,000 to reduce the processing backlog for the Work
   Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). The remainder of Training and Employment
   Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 13-19 remains the same.

2. Action Requested. Selected states should notify ETA of its intent to accept or decline the
   award through official correspondence submitted to [email protected] within 15 calendar
   days of this TEGL issuance. To receive the funds specified in this TEGL, selected states
   must submit the required application materials according to the instructions detailed below in
   section 4 within 30 calendar days from the date of this TEGL issuance.

3. Summary and Background.

   a. Summary – As outlined in TEGL No. 13-19, in addition to the $18,485,000 in base funds
      distributed for WOTC, Congress appropriated $2,500,000 to reduce the processing
      backlog for WOTC. Consistent with TEGL No. 13-19, the Employment and Training
      Administration (ETA) is distributing additional funds to 12 states with the most critical
      needs to alleviate their backlogs.

   b. Background – In May 2020, ETA communicated with state workforce agencies (SWA) to
      initiate the decision making process. ETA requested that SWAs review WOTC backlog
      data from the Enterprise Business Support System for the reporting period ending
      December 31, 2019, and asked SWAs to provide any additional information or
      corrections regarding their backlog numbers. Additionally, ETA requested that SWAs
      provide a narrative to explain their respective state’s current processing systems and the
      extent to which their systems impact processing capabilities.

  RESCISSIONS                                              EXPIRATION DATE
  None                                                     Continuing

      Based on these factors, ETA identified 12 states with the most critical need to reduce
      their backlog. ETA’s methodology for determining the award amounts examined both
      qualitative and quantitative data, which ETA analyzed to understand the needs and how
      SWAs would use the additional funding to make improvements to their existing systems.

   i. Awardee Selection. To determine the selection of the 12 states, ETA used the following
      criteria to identify states with the most critical need to alleviate their backlog:

                                        1.   Backlog total and the percentage ratio it represents of the state’s total workload;
                                        2.   Current processing systems (manual or automated);
                                        3.   How those systems negatively impact the state’s processing capabilities; and
                                        4.   Staff workload analyses as indicated in the states’ narratives.

   ii. Funding Tiers for Awards. Based on the availability of $2,500,000 in funds, ETA
       established three funding tiers to distribute these awards to 12 states:

              Tier 1 = $100,000
              Tier 2 = $200,000
              Tier 3 = $325,000

   To determine the funding level for each state, ETA considered the factors described above
   under “Awardee Selection,” as well as the relative size of the additional backlog funding
   compared to the state’s FY 2020 base WOTC grant award.

   The selected states and corresponding funding amounts for these awards are as follows:
            $100,000 Award               $200,000 Award              $325,000 Award
            Alaska                       Connecticut                California
            Delaware                     Kansas                     Indiana
            Idaho                        North Carolina             New Jersey
            Wyoming                      Virginia                   New York

   Note: In the event that a state fails to submit the required application materials timely, or
   decides to refuse the award, ETA reserves the right to either redistribute such funds to the
   other selected states and/or consider additional state(s) for an award, as appropriate. A
   subsequent Change TEGL will announce these funds after award, if applicable.

4. Application Instructions for Backlog Funding Awards. States must enter the award
   amount for their assigned funding tier listed below on an SF-424 Form - Application for
   Federal Assistance (OMB Control No. 4040-0004) and submit an electronically signed copy
   of the SF-424 Form through Grants.gov for the Change 1, ETA-WOTC-TEGL-13-19-
   2020 at www.grants.gov, within 30 calendar days from the date of this TEGL’s
   issuance.

    5. Inquiries. Please direct all questions to the appropriate Regional WOTC Coordinator, listed
    on the WOTC website at: https://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/contact/regional-
    offices.cfm.

    6. References.
     TEGL No. 13-19, Work Opportunity Tax Credit Funding Allotments For Fiscal Year
       2020

7.   Attachments. Not Applicable