National Farmworker Jobs Program operating guidance under WIOA

CLASSIFICATION
   EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION                WIOA Governance
               ADVISORY SYSTEM                           CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL
          U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR                       ETA-OWI
             Washington, D.C. 20210                      DATE
                                                          May 22, 2015

ADVISORY:       TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER WIOA NO. 35-14
                OPERATING GUIDANCE for the WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND
                OPPORTUNITY ACT (referred to as WIOA or the Opportunity Act)

TO:             NATIONAL FARMWORKER JOBS PROGRAM GRANTEES

FROM:           PORTIA WU /s/
                Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:        Operating Guidance for National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP)
                Employment and Training and Housing Grantees

1. Purpose. To provide guidance and planning information to NFJP grantees on the activities
   associated with the implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
   (WIOA).

   WIOA was signed into law on July 22, 2014. WIOA is designed to help job seekers access
   employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to
   match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.
   WIOA supersedes titles I and II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, and amends the
   Wagner-Peyser Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In general, the Act takes effect on
   July 1, 2015, the first full program year after enactment, unless otherwise noted.

   The Departments of Labor and Education are working to publish a set of regulations
   implementing WIOA. On April 9th, the Federal Register posted five Notices of Proposed
   Rulemaking (NPRMs) implementing the Opportunity Act on its Web site for public
   inspection, https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. The NPRMs were formally
   published in the Federal Register on April 16th. Comments should be submitted in
   accordance with the process outlined in the NPRMs, including by visiting
   http://www.regulations.gov. The comment period is scheduled to be open for 60 days,
   closing on June 15, 2015.

   In order to continue implementation prior to the final rule, a series of WIOA Operating
   Guidance documents that provide the needed implementation information will be issued in
   the form of Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGLs). These Operating Guidance
   documents on WIOA will inform the workforce system how to begin the important planning
   and reorganization necessary to comply with new WIOA statutory requirements for the
   upcoming Program Year 2015 (beginning July 1, 2015). The Operating Guidance TEGLs

 RESCISSIONS                                             EXPIRATION DATE
 None                                                    Continuing

   will provide a framework for program activities until the regulations are finalized. This
   TEGL is one in the ongoing series of Guidance.

2. References. See Attachment.

3. Background. The Opportunity Act retained the essential purpose and functions of the NFJP
   program, specifically described in WIOA Section 167. NFJP grantees continue to deliver
   employment and training services through American Job Centers (AJC), where NFJP remains
   a mandated partner. The NFJP eligibility criteria remain essentially unchanged. Grantees
   continue to be able to deliver youth services to farmworker youth.

   There are new aspects of the NFJP under WIOA. Performance measures for NFJP are
   updated, and will take effect in PY 2016. “Fish farming labor” has been specifically included
   in the definition of “eligible seasonal farmworker.” NFJP grantees, while still mandated
   partners in the AJC, are no longer required to participate on Workforce Development Boards,
   though Boards have the option to include NFJP program representatives in the full committee
   or subcommittees.

4. NFJP Grantee Responsibilities. All NFJP grantees are expected to offer a customer-
   focused case management approach to providing career services, training, youth services and
   related assistance to eligible migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs). These services
   must reflect the needs of the MSFW population in the service area and include the services
   that are necessary to achieve each participant’s employment goals or housing needs. Grantees
   are responsible for coordinating services; particularly outreach to MSFWs, with the State
   Workforce Agency and the State’s Monitor Advocate.

   In those local workforce investment areas where the grantee operates its NFJP as described in
   its grant agreement, the grantee is a required one-stop partner; and the grantee and Local
   Workforce Development Board must develop and enter into a Memorandum of
   Understanding (MOU) which sets forth their respective responsibilities for providing access
   to the full range of NFJP services through the one-stop system to eligible MSFWs. All one-
   stop partners have certain responsibilities that will be described in a forthcoming operation
   guidance TEGL. As a one-stop partner, the NFJP is responsible for these as well, such as
   signing an MOU with the Local Board, delivering career services, and contributing to the
   infrastructure cost of the one-stops in which they deliver services.

   Housing grantees are specifically responsible for providing housing assistance to eligible
   MSFWs.

5. Participant Eligibility. WIOA sec. 167(i) changed the definition of eligible participants in
   the NFJP. Beginning July 1, 2015, NFJP grantees are expected to begin serving eligible
   MSFWs as defined in WIOA sec. 167(i) and this TEGL.

To qualify as eligible for NFJP services under WIOA Section 167 an individual must be, on
the date of application for enrollment an “eligible MSFW” or a “dependent” of an eligible
MSFW, as follows:

•   Eligible seasonal farmworker means a low-income individual who for 12 consecutive
    months out of the 24 months prior to application for the program involved, has been
    primarily employed in agricultural or fish farming labor that is characterized by chronic
    unemployment or underemployment; and faces multiple barriers to economic self-
    sufficiency; and dependents of the seasonal farmworker as described in WIOA 167(i)(3)
    are also eligible.

    WIOA sec. 3(61) also provides that to be considered unemployed, one must be without a
    job, be available for work and want work. Similarly, underemployed persons are those
    who are without full-time, year-round work, and who want and are available for full-time,
    year-round work.

•   Eligible migrant farmworker means an eligible seasonal farmworker as defined in WIOA
    sec. 167(i)(3) whose agricultural labor requires travel to a job site such that the
    farmworker is unable to return to a permanent place of residence within the same day;
    and dependents of the migrant farmworker, as described in WIOA 167(i)(2) are also
    eligible.

•   Eligible MSFW youth means an eligible MSFW aged 14-24 who is individually eligible
    or is a dependent of an eligible MSFW. The term eligible MSFW youth is a subset of the
    term eligible MSFW.

•   Dependent means an individual who:
       A. Was claimed as a dependent on the eligible MSFW’s Federal income tax return
          for the previous year; or
       B. Is the spouse of the eligible MSFW; or
       C. If not claimed as a dependent for Federal income tax purposes, is able to establish:
                1.       A relationship as the eligible MSFW’s;
                      i. Child, grandchild, great grandchild, including legally adopted
                         children;
                     ii. Stepchild;
                    iii. Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, or stepsister;
                    iv. Parent, grandparent, or other direct ancestor but not foster parent;
                     v.  Foster child;
                    vi. Stepfather or stepmother;
                   vii. Uncle or aunt;
                  viii. Niece or nephew;
                    ix. Father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law; or
                     x.  Daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; and
                2.       The receipt of over half of his/her total support from the eligible
                         MSFW's family during the eligibility determination period.

Additionally,
   • Male applicants must not have violated Section 3 of the Military Selective Service
       Act by not presenting and submitting to registration as required. TEGL 11-11 and
       TEGL 11-11, Change 2 provide Selective Service registration requirements for
       Employment and Training Administration (ETA) programs funded through WIA.
       TEGL 11-11 and Change 2 to TEGL 11-11 implement the requirements of WIA sec.
       189(h). WIOA retains the same requirements as WIA sec. 189(h). Therefore, NFJP
       must administer the program in conformity with this TEGL and Change 2.

    •   NFJP participants must have the right to work in the United States. TEGL 2-14
        Eligibility of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Participants for Workforce
        Investment Act and Wagner-Peyser Act Programs establishes that Deferred Action for
        Childhood Arrivals (DACA) individuals have the right to work in the United States.
        WIOA sec. 188 retains the same requirements as WIA sec. 188 on discrimination
        against noncitizens. Therefore NFJP grantees must administer the program in
        conformity with TEGL 2-14.

Housing Assistance. Housing services may only be provided when the services are required
to meet the needs of eligible MSFWs to occupy a unit of housing for reasons related to
seeking or retaining employment, or engaging in training. Occupancy of year-round and
migrant rental units is not restricted to only eligible MSFWs; however, when housing
assistance is provided, at least one individual living in the household must be determined
eligible for NFJP services. This requirement is applicable to both employment and training
and housing grantees who offer any housing assistance services.

Ineligible Individuals. Individuals who are ineligible for the NFJP or for whom an alternative
program is determined to be more responsive to their needs should be assisted through the
services available from other One-Stop partner programs for which they qualify. NFJP
grantees should be actively working with their One-Stop partners in assessing applicants to
determine the services that are most appropriate for them.

Definitions Relevant to Eligibility

•   Eligibility determination period means any consecutive 12-month period within the 24-
    month period immediately preceding the date of application for the MSFW program by
    the applicant MSFW.

•   Farmwork means the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production,
    cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities.
    This includes the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, the farming of
    fish, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a
    farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations,
    including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for
    transportation to market. It also includes the handling, planting, drying, packing,
    packaging, processing, freezing, or grading prior to delivery for storage of any

    agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state. For the purpose of
    this section, agricultural commodities means all commodities produced on a farm
    including crude gum (oleoresin) from a living tree and products processed by the original
    producer of the crude gum (oleoresin) from which they are derived, including gum spirits
    of turpentine and gum rosin. Farmwork also means any service or activity covered under
    20 CFR 655.103(c) and/or 29 CFR 500.20(e) and any service or activity so identified
    through official Department guidance such as a Training and Employment Guidance
    Letter.

    For the purposes of the NFJP program, “fish farming labor” includes all occupations
    included under the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
    codes:
            o     112511 - Finfish Farm and Fish Hatcheries
            o     112512 - Shellfish Farming

    Other farming that includes “the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any
    agricultural or horticultural commodities” included under the term “aquaculture” (NAICS
    code 112519) are also included in the definition of “farmwork.”

•   Lower living standard income level means the income level as defined in WIOA sec.
    3(36)(B) as that income level (adjusted for regional, metropolitan, urban, and rural
    differences and family size) determined annually by the Secretary of Labor based on the
    most recent lower living family budget issued by the Secretary.

•   Low-income individual means an individual as defined in WIOA sec. 3(36)(A) who:
       A. Receives, or in the past 6 months has received, or is a member of a family that is
          receiving or in the past 6 months has received, assistance through the
          supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and
          Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), the program of block grants to
          States for temporary assistance for needy families program under part A of title IV
          of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), or the supplemental security
          income program established under title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
          1381 et seq.), or State or local income-based public assistance;
       B. Is in a family with total family income that does not exceed the higher of:
                 1.        The poverty line; or
                 2.        70 percent of the lower living standard income level;
       C. Is a homeless individual (as defined in section 41403(6) of the Violence Against
          Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e–2(6))), or a homeless child or youth (as
          defined under section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
          (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)));
       D. Receives or is eligible to receive a free or reduced price lunch under the Richard
          B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.);
       E. Is a foster child on behalf of whom State or local government payments are made;
          or

           F. Is an individual with a disability whose own income meets the income
              requirement of B above, but who is a member of a family whose income does not
              meet this requirement.

6. Documenting Eligibility. Each grantee must maintain an eligibility determination system
   that enables its staff to generate a record supporting their eligibility determinations and
   enrollment decisions. This is required to ensure that all persons enrolled are eligible for
   participation in the NFJP.

   Grantee staff who interview applicants for the purpose of determining eligibility must make
   these determinations based on all available information. Those staff should sign a statement
   of eligibility determination on every completed application. This certification serves to
   document eligibility and absent such a certification, the grantee does not have a documented
   record of the applicant’s eligibility.

   An applicant’s eligibility determination shall be valid for 60 days from the date of initial
   application. After that initial 60-day period has elapsed, if the individual is not an enrolled
   participant, the grantee will update information to re-certify the applicant.
   As part of their system of internal controls, grantees are expected to obtain source
   documentation that verifies the information provided by applicants covering such key
   eligibility elements as age, work history and earnings from agricultural labor, family size,
   family income, work authorization, and compliance with the Selective Service requirement
   for male applicants.

   Grantees are required to establish procedures for verifying eligibility information on a
   scheduled basis. Grantees may use post-enrollment sampling, require 100% verification prior
   to enrollment, or maintain a similar system of internal controls.

7. Program Services. The following services may be provided to eligible MSFWs which
   include the services WIOA requires NFJP to provide:

   Career Services
      • Grantees must provide the career services described in WIOA sec. 167(d) and
          134(c)(2) to eligible MSFWs.
      • Grantees must provide other services identified in the approved program plan.
      • Grantees must provide access to career services through the One-Stop delivery
          system. Grantees can also provide career services through sources outside the One-
          Stop system.
      • The delivery of career services to eligible MSFWs by the grantee and through the
          One-Stop system must be discussed in the required MOU between the Local
          Workforce Development Board and the grantee. We recognize that Local Boards and
          One-Stop partners are updating their MOUs, which were required under the
          Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and are required under WIOA. Grantees may
          continue to operate under existing MOUs until the grantee and the Local Board sign a
          new MOU.

Training Services
   • Grantees must provide the training activities described in WIOA sec. 167(d) and
       134(c)(3)(D) to eligible MSFWs. These activities include, but are not limited to,
       occupational-skills training and on-the-job training (OJT). Eligible MSFWs are not
       required to receive career services prior to receiving training services.
   • Training services must be directly linked to an in-demand industry sector or
       occupation in the service area, or in another area to which an eligible MSFW
       receiving such services is willing to relocate.
   • Training activities must encourage the attainment of recognized postsecondary
       credentials as defined in WIOA sec. 3(52) when appropriate for an eligible MSFW.

 The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) continues to encourage grantees to
 use work-based learning as an effective service strategy to assist jobseekers in entering and
 advancing along a career pathway, including OJTs and Registered Apprenticeship, among
 others. Under WIOA, grantees may always reimburse employers for the extraordinary costs
 of training by up to 50 percent of the wage rate of the participant for OJT (WIOA sec.
 3(44)). Grantees may also increase the OJT reimbursement rate up to 75 percent of the
 wage rate of a participant under certain conditions when considering:

   •   The characteristics of the participants
   •   The size of the employer
   •   The quality of employer-provided training and advancement opportunities
   •   Other factors as appropriate, which may include the number of employees
       participating in the training, wage and benefit levels of those employees (at present
       and anticipated upon completion of the training), and relation of the training to the
       competitiveness of a participant.

Youth Services
• Based on an evaluation and assessment of the needs of eligible MSFW youth, grantees
   may provide activities and services that include but are not limited to:
       o Career services and training as described above;
       o Youth workforce investment activities specified in WIOA sec. 129;
       o Life skills activities which may include self- and interpersonal skills development;
       o Community service projects;
       o Other activities and services that conform to the use of funds for youth activities
           described in WIOA sec. 129,
• Grantees may provide these services to any eligible MSFW youth, regardless of the
   participant’s eligibility for WIOA Title I youth activities as described in WIOA sec.
   129(a).

Related Assistance. Related assistance may include short-term direct services and activities.
Examples include activities identified in WIOA sec. 167(d), such as: English language and
literacy instruction; pesticide and worker safety training and housing (including permanent

housing), as provided in the approved program plan; and school dropout prevention and
recovery activities, and emergency assistance.

Emergency assistance is a form of “related assistance” and means assistance that addresses
immediate needs of eligible MSFWs and their dependents, provided by grantees. An
applicant's self-certification is accepted as sufficient documentation of eligibility for
emergency assistance with the exception of proof of right to work and Selective Service
registration, where applicable. If an applicant receives any other NFJP funded services in
addition to emergency services, the grantee must document all eligibility components through
appropriate support materials.

Grantees may provide related assistance to eligible MSFWs not enrolled in career services,
youth services, or training services. Related assistance is distinct from “supportive services”
as defined in WIOA Section 3, which “means services such as transportation, child care,
dependent care, housing, and needs-related payments, that are necessary to enable an
individual to participate in activities authorized under this Act,” because related assistance
may be provided to eligible MSFWs who are not otherwise participating in activities
authorized under this Act such as career services, youth services, or training services.

Grantees may provide eligible MSFWs related assistance services when the grantee identifies
and documents the need for the related assistance, which may include a statement by the
eligible MSFW.

Housing Services. Housing grantees must provide housing services to eligible MSFWs.
Career services and training grantees may provide housing services to eligible MSFWs as
described in their program plan.

Housing services include the following:

   •   Permanent housing that is owner-occupied, or occupied on a permanent, year-round
       basis (notwithstanding ownership) as the eligible MSFW’s primary residence to
       which he/she returns at the end of the work or training day.

       Permanent housing services include but are not limited to: investments in
       development services, project management, and resource development to secure
       acquisition, construction/ renovation and operating funds, property management
       services, and program management. New construction, purchase of existing
       structures, and rehabilitation of existing structures, as well as the infrastructure,
       utilities, and other improvements necessary to complete or maintain those structures
       may also be considered part of managing permanent housing.

   •   Temporary housing that is not owner-occupied and is used by MSFWs whose
       employment requires occasional travel outside their normal commuting area.

           Temporary housing services include but are not limited to: housing units intended for
           temporary occupancy located in permanent structures, such as rental units in an
           apartment complex or in mobile structures, tents, and yurts that provide short-term,
           seasonal housing opportunities; temporary structures that may be moved from site to
           site, dismantled and re-erected when needed for farmworker occupancy, closed during
           the off-season, or handled through other similar arrangements; and off-farm housing
           operated independently of employer interest in, or control of, the housing, or on-farm
           housing operated by a nonprofit, including faith-based or community non-profit
           organizations, but located on property owned by an agricultural employer. Managing
           temporary housing may involve property management of temporary housing facilities,
           case management, and referral services, and emergency housing payments, including
           vouchers and cash payments for rent/lease and utilities.

   Housing services may only be provided when the services are required to meet the needs of
   eligible MSFWs to occupy a unit of housing for reasons related to seeking or retaining
   employment, or engaging in training.

8. Applicable Performance Measures. The WIOA performance accountability system and
   corresponding primary indicators of performance become effective on July 1, 2016 (WIOA
   sec. 506(b)(1)). ETA will provide separate guidance on the WIOA performance
   accountability system and primary indicators of performance for NFJP grantees in PY 2016
   in a future TEGL.

   In PY 2015 NFJP grantees will continue to be evaluated on the following common
   performance measures used for accountability purposes for WIA-authorized programs:

       •      Entered Employment Rate;
       •      Employment Retention Rate; and
       •      Six-month Average Earnings.

   To help facilitate the transition from WIA to WIOA the Department will use the established
   PY 2014 performance goals for each grantee as the PY 2015 goals. See WIOA sec. 503(b).
   Grantees may request re-negotiation for PY 2015 as described in TEGL No. 24-14.

   Under WIA, eligible MSFWs who received “related assistance only” (RAO participants), and
   no additional NFJP-funded services, were excluded from the calculations for performance
   measure outcomes. In PY 2015, as part of the transition year, ETA will continue to exclude
   RAO participants when calculating grantee performance measure outcomes. However, ETA
   will use administrative data to calculate the common measure outcomes for RAO participants
   where data exists. At a minimum, this data analysis will provide some baseline information
   on the relative impact of inclusion of related assistance services on overall NFJP performance
   measures. In the transition year, ETA will evaluate how RAO participant outcomes are
   tracked, reported and included in the performance accountability system under the
   Opportunity Act.

9. Reporting Outcomes. The Department will be utilizing the current program and fiscal
   reporting forms for PY 2015. Employment and training grantees are required to submit the
   following reports, approved under OMB No. 1205-0425:

       •   An annual Budget Information Summary (BIS) report (ETA Form 9093) to report
           planned grant fund expenditures during the program year. Grantees submit this report
           with their program plan before the beginning of the program year, as described in
           TEGL No. 24-14.

       •   An annual Program Planning Summary (PPS) report (ETA Form 9094) to report
           planned participant numbers and services for the program year. Grantees submit this
           report with their program plan before the beginning of the program year, as described
           in TEGL No. 24-14.

       •   A quarterly Program Status Summary (PSS) report (ETA Form 9095) to report
           information on actual participant numbers and program services.

       •   A quarterly Workforce Investment Act Standardized Participant Record (WIASPR)
           submission that collects individual records containing demographic, service, and
           outcome data on individuals who exit the program. This data is will be used to
           calculate PY 2015 common performance measure outcomes.

   The current reporting forms described above do not capture the number of eligible MSFW
   youth served. The Department will be revising current program reports to capture the number
   of eligible MSFWs served and program outcomes starting in PY 2016; however the
   Department will not have the new forms finalized in time for the first quarter of PY 2015.
   Once a new performance reporting system is established, ETA will issue guidance on
   capturing and reporting youth outcomes and associated performance levels.

   Housing grantees are required to submit the following report:

       •   A quarterly Housing Assistance Summary (HAS) report (ETA Form 9164), to report
           data and narrative information on NFJP temporary and permanent housing activities.

   TEGL No. 32-12 National Farmworker Jobs Program Reporting Forms and Requirements
   provides specific instructions and reporting timelines for the forms described in this section.

   Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Statement. According to the PRA, no persons are required to
   respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid Office of
   Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number. The Department notes that a Federal agency
   may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information, nor is the public required to respond to a
   collection of information, unless it is approved by OMB under the PRA, and displays a currently
   valid OMB control number (44 U.S.C. 3507). Also, notwithstanding any other provisions of law,
   no person shall be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if the
   collection of information does not display a currently valid OMB Control Number (44 U.S.C.

   3512). The currently valid OMB Control Number for this collection is OMB 1205-0425, which
   expires May 31, 2016.

10. Period of Performance and Financial Reporting for PY 2014 and 2015. The period of
    performance for current NFJP grants is through June 30, 2016. See TEGL 24-14. In order to
    support transition to WIOA, ETA is extending the period that PY 2014 funds can be utilized
    through June 30, 2016. ETA expects grantees to spend the majority of their PY 2014 funds
    in PY 2014. Grantees must continue to file each quarter a Federal Financial Report (ETA
    Form 9130) for PY 2014 funds until those funds are fully expended or the balance is returned
    to the Department in closeout.

11. Modifying a Program Plan. The grantee must submit a request to the Department for any
    proposed modifications to its plan to add, delete, expand, or reduce any part of the program
    plan or allowable activities.

12. Implementation of the New Uniform Guidance Regulations. The OMB streamlined the
    Federal government's guidance on Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit
    Requirements for Federal awards, and issued Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost
    Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards Final Rule (Uniform Guidance. 2
    CFR 200 et seq.). On December 9, 2014, ETA released TEGL No. 15-14 Implementation of
    the New Uniform Guidance Regulations announcing that the Uniform Guidance will apply to
    all funding actions and new Federal awards made on or after December 26, 2014. Therefore,
    all NFJP grantees which receive funding for PY 2015 activities will receive new terms and
    conditions applying the Uniform Guidance to these new funds. For the new money only,
    these new Uniform Guidance terms will supersede the previous Notice of Award conditions
    applying 2 CFR 220, 225, or 230, 29 CFR Parts 95 and 97, and the audit requirements at 2
    CFR Part 96 and 99.

   TEGL 15-14 also encourages current grantees who receive annual allotments or other
   incremental funding in PY 2015, such as NFJP grantees, to follow the new Uniform
   Guidance for all funds. However, a modification to the current grant is necessary to officially
   apply the new guidance to existing grant awards with funds issued prior to December 26,
   2014. Grantees should review TEGL No. 15-14 for specific instructions on requesting this
   type of modification.

   Indirect Cost Rate. Any grantee that includes indirect charges on the SF-424A must have a
   valid Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (ICRA) or Cost Allocation Plan (CAP) supplied by the
   Federal Cognizant Agency on file. For any grantee that chooses to include estimated indirect
   costs in its budget, and that either does not have an ICRA/CAP or has a pending ICRA/CAP,
   the Grant Officer will release funds in the amount of 10 percent of salaries and wages to
   support indirect costs at the time of award. Within 90 days of award, a grantee must submit
   an acceptable indirect cost proposal or CAP to its Federal Cognizant Agency to obtain a
   provisional indirect cost rate.

   Under the Department of Labor’s “Guide for Indirect Cost Rate Determination” which is
   based on the Uniform Guidance, any non-Federal entity that has never received a negotiated

   indirect cost rate, except for those non-Federal entities described in 2 CFR Part 200
   Appendix VII, may elect to charge a de minimis rate of 10 percent of modified total direct
   costs which may be used indefinitely. Please note that the non-Federal entities excepted by 2
   CFR Part 200 Appendix VII includes State and local Governments and Indian Tribes.

   If a grantee meets the requirements to use the 10 percent de minimis rate as described in 2
   CFR 200.414(f), the grantee must include a description of the modified total direct costs base
   (see 2 CFR 200.68 for definition) used in the calculation along with the amount of the base,
   and the total indirect costs requested based on the 10 percent de minimis rate. If a grantee
   chooses this option, this methodology must be used consistently for all Federal awards until
   the grantee negotiates for an indirect cost rate, which a grantee may apply to do at any time.
   (See 2 CFR 200.414(f) for more information on use of the de minimis rate.)

13. Precedence. In the case of a discrepancy between this TEGL and PY 2015 NFJP grant
    awards, this TEGL takes precedence.

14. Action Requested. Grantees are requested to review this operating guidance and must
    implement WIOA starting July 1, 2015.

15. Inquiries. All grantees should submit inquiries to their appropriate Federal Project Officer.

16. Attachment.

   WIOA Operating Guidance TEGL References.

Attachment

                            WIOA Operating Guidance
             Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) References

  •   WIOA (Pub. L. 113-128) Title I;
  •   WIA (Pub. L. 105-220), Title I;
  •   TEGL No. 19-14, Vision for the Workforce System and Initial Implementation of the
      Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act;
  •   TEGL No. 2-14 Eligibility of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Participants for
      Workforce Investment Act and Wagner-Peyser Act Programs;
  •   TEGL No. 11-11 and TEGL 11-11, Change 2 Selective Service Registration
      Requirements for Employment and Training Administration Funded Programs;
  •   TEGL 32-12 National Farmworker Jobs Program Reporting Forms and Requirements
  •   TEGL No. 15-14 Implementation of the New Uniform Guidance Regulations; and
  •   TEGL No. 24-14 Program Year 2015 Planning Guidance for National Farmworker Jobs
      Program Employment and Training and Housing Grantees

The attachment is included in the accessible PDF above and is also published separately by ETA.