Revised FY 2009 unemployment insurance State Quality Service Plan call

Accessible letter (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/UIPL/2008/UIPL19-08acc.pdf)

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION ADVISORY SYSTEM
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Washington, D.C. 20210
CLASSIFICATION: UI/SQSP
CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL: OWS/DPM
DATE: May 30, 2008

ADVISORY:          UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 19-08

TO:                STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

FROM:              BRENT R. ORRELL /s/
                   Acting Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:           Call Memo for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Unemployment Insurance (UI)
                   State Quality Service Plan (SQSP)

1. Purpose. To initiate and issue supplemental instructions for the preparation of the FY 2009
   SQSP.

2. References. ET Handbook No. 336, 18th Edition, Unemployment Insurance
   Program Letter (UIPL) No. 14-05; UIPL No. 14-05, Change 1; UIPL No. 14-05, Change 2;
   UIPL No. 14-05, Change 3; Workforce Investment Act Final Rule, 20 CFR Parts 652, 660 et
   al; UIPL No. 22-05; UIPL No. 22-05, Change 1; UIPL No. 22-05, Change 2; UIPL No. 3-07;
   UIPL No. 3-07, Change 1; UIPL No. 12-08; and TEGL 20-07.

3. Background. As part of UI Performs, the comprehensive performance management system
   for the UI program, the SQSP is the principal vehicle that the state UI programs use to plan,
   record, and manage improvement efforts as they strive for excellence in service.
   Additionally, it is the grant document through which states receive Federal UI administrative
   funding. ET Handbook No. 336, 18th Edition, contains general instructions for the SQSP.

   The Handbook is designed as a permanent instruction for the annual planning and budget
   process and provides states with planning guidelines and instructions for reporting UI
   financial and staff year information. This annual Call Memo supplements those instructions
   and provides guidance and instructions specific to the upcoming fiscal year.

   States must participate in the annual UI Performs SQSP process whether or not they opt to
   include the UI program as part of their two-year Strategic Unified State Plan submitted under
   Section 501 of the Workforce Investment Act.

RESCISSIONS: UIPL 18-08
EXPIRATION DATE: May 30, 2009

4. Federal Emphasis. The five-year Department of Labor (Department) Strategic Plan forms
   the basis for the Federal emphasis for FY 2009. Required by Congress under the Government
   Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), the Strategic Plan is an integral part of the
   budget process and requires a commitment from all Department programs to attain expressed
   goals and outcomes. Achieving these outcomes requires the combined efforts of the Federal
   and state partners.

   The UI program goal, shown below, supports the Department’s strategic goal of “A Secure
   Workforce.”

       Make timely and accurate benefit payments to unemployed workers,
       facilitate the reemployment of unemployment insurance beneficiaries,
       and set up unemployment tax accounts promptly for new employers.

   In recognition of the Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA’s) priorities, we are
   focusing our attention on the following GPRA goals for FY 2009. States should continue to
   strive to reach or exceed these GPRA goals and targets in FY 2009:

          •   Make Timely Benefit Payments.
                 o Target: 88.5% of intrastate first payments for full weeks of
                     unemployment will be made within 14/21 days from the week ending date
                     of the first compensable week.

          •   Facilitate the Reemployment of Claimants.
                  o Target: 65.3% of UI claimants will be reemployed by the end of the first
                       quarter after the quarter in which they received their first payment.

          •   Detect Benefit Overpayments.
                  o Target: Overpayments established will be at least 56.2% of the estimated
                      detectable, recoverable overpayments.

          •   Establish Tax Accounts Promptly.
                 o Target: 85.1% of status determinations for new employers will be made
                     within 90 days of the end of the first quarter in which liability occurred.

5. Program Performance and Planning Requirements for FY 2009. The Department’s
   strategic approach to UI Performs is to focus efforts on raising the performance of states
   where performance is below minimum criteria, while promoting overall excellence.
   Corrective action plans (CAPs) are expected whenever a state’s performance does not meet
   established criteria for the SQSP measurement period. The measurement period for the FY
   2009 SQSP is April 1, 2007 – March 31, 2008, unless otherwise indicated. CAPs are
   expected for:

          •   performance below the acceptable levels of performance (ALPs) for Core
              Measures;

           •   performance below the criteria for Secretary’s Standards established in regulation
               (20 CFR Parts 640 and 650) for the SQSP measurement period;

           •   improper administration of Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) and/or Benefit
               Payment Control (BPC) activities or misreporting of data on the ETA 227
               (Overpayment Detection and Recovery Activities) report resulting in an
               overpayment detection rate above 95%. The CAP should be designed to produce
               valid data for the Overpayment Detection Measure;

           •   state BAM operations that are not compliant with the National Directory of New
               Hires (NDNH) matching requirements in UIPL 3-07 and UIPL 3-07, Change 1,
               for calendar year (CY) 2008 BAM paid claims sample cases; and

           •   failure to submit Data Validation results.

   States are expected to address all other performance deficiencies in the SQSP Narrative as
   described in the SQSP Handbook.

   CAPs and Narratives addressing performance deficiencies are the components of the state’s
   formal plan and schedule for improving performance. To that end, a thorough analysis to
   identify the cause of performance shortfalls should be performed prior to the development of
   the state’s plan. The formats for CAPs and Narratives are in the SQSP Handbook.

   Multi-year CAPs continue to be an option for states so that efforts which must extend beyond
   a fiscal year due to their size, scope, or complexity can be realistically portrayed. Out-year
   portions of such multi-year plans need not provide quarterly targets or milestones (as are
   required for the SQSP year) but should provide sufficient information to explain anticipated
   progress and results.

6. Performance Criteria. ET Handbook 336, 18th Edition provides guidelines for the
   completion and submittal of the SQSP and should be used when preparing the FY 2009 state
   plans.

   CAPs will be expected for annual performance that does not meet the criteria for Core
   Measures and Secretary’s Standards as listed in Attachment A, with the following
   exceptions:

       •   Average Age of Pending Lower and Higher Authority Appeals: ALPs for the
           Average Age of Pending Appeals Core Measures were established in UIPL 14-05,
           Change 3, to be effective for Performance Year 2009 (April 1, 2008 – March 31,
           2009) and thereafter. States that do not meet the ALPs for this period will be
           expected to submit CAPs with their FY 2010 SQSP. For the FY 2009 SQSP, states
           not meeting the ALPs should describe in the Narrative the steps they are taking to
           minimize the age of pending appeals and reduce backlogs. The ALPs for the average
           age of appeals are:

                  Lower Authority Appeals:              30 days
                  Higher Authority Appeals:             40 days

   •   Detection of Overpayments: The Detection of Overpayments measure is the percent
       of detectable/recoverable overpayments established for recovery. While states are
       expected to submit a CAP for reporting an overpayment detection rate below 50%, an
       upper limit of 95% has been established for monitoring purposes. States reporting
       ratios over 95% are expected to explain in the Narrative section the reasons for the
       higher than expected ratios for the performance period, unless, as discussed in section
       5 above, the overpayment detection ratio of over 95% is due to the improper
       administration of the BAM and/or BPC program. The performance period for the
       BPC component is the three-year period ending March 31, 2008; the performance
       period for the BAM component is the three-year period ending September 30, 2007.

States will be expected to describe in the SQSP Narrative the actions planned to correct
deficiencies regarding program reviews and reporting requirements as defined in the SQSP
Handbook with the following exceptions:

   •   Data Validation (DV): States are expected to prepare a CAP for validations of
       populations that were due and not submitted for validation year (VY) 2008 to
       include any of the following:
              o the 15 DV Benefits populations and the 5 DV Tax populations validated
                  and submitted using the DV software;
              o the six Module 4 reviews of quality samples--two Benefits samples and
                  four Tax samples--that are to be submitted by e-mail to
                  [email protected] using the template on the DV Web site; and
              o the Wage Item validations (Tax Module 5) submitted using the DV
                  software.

       DV items that were due for VY 2008 for which failing or incomplete results were
       submitted are expected to be addressed in the SQSP narrative.

   •   Use of National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) in Unemployment Insurance
       (UI) Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) Audits.

       UIPL No. 3-07 (October 31, 2006) informed state agencies of the requirement to
       crossmatch UI benefit recipients with the NDNH as a mandatory part of the BAM
       case investigation methodology for paid claims, effective with BAM batch 200801
       (sampling week beginning December 30, 2007, and ending January 5, 2008).

       States whose BAM operations are not compliant with the NDNH matching
       requirements in UIPL 3-07 and UIPL 3-07, Change 1 for calendar year (CY) 2008
       BAM paid claims sample cases will be required to prepare a CAP that:

              o   describes the steps the agency will take to implement NDNH matching of
                  BAM paid claims sample cases according to the requirements established
                  in UIPL No. 3-07 and UIPL No. 3-07, Change 1;
              o   specifies an implementation date; and

                  o   certifies that all CY 2008 BAM paid claims sampled prior to the
                      implementation of NDNH matching will be submitted for NDNH
                      matching when it has been implemented and that all issues with the
                      potential to affect the claimant’s eligibility for UI identified through
                      NDNH matching will be investigated according to the procedures in ET
                      Handbook 395.

       •   Nonmonetary Determination Timeliness -- Issue Detection Date (IDD) and
           Determination Date (DD). Validity of the UI Performs nonmonetary
           determination timeliness measure depends on the accuracy of the state’s IDD and
           DD data. IDD and DD data are considered accurate if dates were correct in at least
           95 percent of the nonmonetary determinations evaluated in the quarterly quality
           samples (obtained from the ETA 9056 report). Because the accuracy of IDD and
           DD data is based on sample results, sampling variation will be taken into account
           in setting the percentage below which a state’s data will be considered inaccurate.
           States with invalid IDD or DD data are expected to address in the SQSP Narrative
           the steps they will take to record the IDD and DD correctly.

           Although accurate reporting of IDD and DD data is critical to the system, states
           may achieve the ALP for the nonmonetary timeliness measure with incorrect data,
           because the timeliness of the determination may not change materially. For
           example, an incorrect IDD might increase completion of a determination from 12
           to 17 days; however, this is still within the 21-day timeliness standard.

           Further analyses of the impact of inaccurate IDD and DD on the validity of states’
           nonmonetary timeliness results will determine whether CAPs may be needed in
           future SQSP cycles.

7. CAPs In Action (CIA) Project. As part of the SQSP review process, the Department began
   a pilot project to improve internal communication and analysis of the state CAPs at the
   Federal level and to assist the regions and the states in analyzing and monitoring the progress
   towards performance goals. States were selected based on performance significantly below
   the ALPs established for Core Measures and/or the performance level established in the
   Secretary’s Standards. States participating in the CIA project were identified by their
   regional office during the past year and will continue to be monitored.

8. Funding Period. The proposed appropriation language provides for obligation of FY 2009
   UI allocations by states through December 31, 2009, with 90 additional days to liquidate the
   obligations and complete the expenditure of funds. However, states may obligate FY 2009
   UI funds through September 30, 2011, if such obligations are for automation acquisitions.
   Therefore, the end of the FY 2009 obligation period is December 31, 2009, for all funds
   except automation acquisitions, which have an obligation deadline of September 30, 2011.

9. Data Availability. ROs will provide states with reports showing their performance against
   the Core Measures, the GPRA goals, and other information relevant to the SQSP (e.g.
   reporting deficiencies).

10. Deadline for State SQSP Submittal. Each RO will set a deadline for states to submit their

   SQSPs for FY 2009.

11. Electronic Submission of the SQSP. States are required to submit the SQSP electronically
    and should contact their RO SQSP Coordinator prior to submittal to coordinate specific
    details. Standard forms required as part of the budget reporting process (Chapter II of ET
    Handbook No. 336, 18th Edition) are available in PDF format and may be downloaded from
    the Office of Management and Budget Web site at:
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/grants_forms.html. States may submit the SQSP
    signature page electronically if the state law permits. States that do not submit an electronic
    signature page must submit the signature page in hard copy by mail or facsimile by the
    deadline set by the RO.

12. Action. Administrators are requested to:

       a. make this information available to appropriate staff;

       b. prepare their SQSPs in accordance with instructions in this UIPL and the planning and
          reporting instructions contained in ET Handbook No. 336, 18th Edition;

       c. coordinate specifics, as appropriate, with the RO for electronic submission of the plan;
          and

       d. submit the FY 2009 SQSP to the appropriate RO by the date specified by the Regional
          Administrator.

13. Inquiries. Questions should be directed to the appropriate RO.

14. Attachment. Measures/Programs to be addressed in the FY 2009 SQSP.

Attachment A: FY 2009 SQSP Measures and Programs (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/UIPL/2008/UIPL19-08a1.pdf)

Attachment A

                     Measures/Programs to be Addressed in the FY 2009 SQSP

Core Measures                             Measurement Period               Criteria      CAP     Narrative
First Payment Promptness                  Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008        87%           √
Nonmonetary Determination Time Lapse      Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008        80%            √
                                                                           (combined
                                                                             score)
Nonmonetary Determination Quality -       Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         75%           √
Nonseparations
Nonmonetary Determination Quality -       Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         75%           √
Separations
Detection of Overpayments                 BPC: Apr 1, 05 – Mar 31, 08;      <50%           √
                                          BAM: Oct. 1, 04 – Sept. 30, 07    >95%                      √

                                                                                           √
                                          If result of improper             >95%
                                          administration of BAM
                                          and/or BPC
Average Age of Pending Lower Authority    Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008       30 days                    √
Appeals
Average Age of Pending Higher Authority Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         40 days                    √
Appeals
Lower Authority Appeals Quality         Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008           80%           √
New Employer Status Determinations        Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         70%           √
Time Lapse
Tax Quality (Part A: No more than 3 tax   Jan 1, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007                       √
functions failing TPS in a year)                                              ←
Tax Quality (Part B: The same tax         Jan 1, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007                       √
function cannot fail for 3 consecutive                                        ←
years)
Facilitate Reemployment                   1st Payments: October 1, See UIPL                √
                                          2006 to September 30, 2007 No. 12-08
                                          Reemployment: January 1,
                                          2007 to December 31, 2007

Secretary’s Standards in Regulation       Measurement Period                             CAP     Narrative
First Payment Promptness (IntraState      Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         87%           √
14/21 Days)
First Payment Promptness (IntraState 35   Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         93%           √
Days)
First Payment Promptness (InterState      Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         70%           √
14/21 Days)
First Payment Promptness (InterState 35   Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008         78%           √
Days)

Secretary’s Standards in Regulation      Measurement Period                  CAP   Narrative
Lower Authority Appeals (30 Days)        Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008   60%     √
Lower Authority Appeals (45 Days)        Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008   80%     √

Programs                                 Measurement Period                  CAP   Narrative
Improper Administration of BAM and       BPC: Apr 1, 2005 – Mar 31,   >95%    √
BPC                                      2008;
                                         BAM: Oct. 1, 2004 – Sept.
                                         30, 2007
Data Validation                          Apr 1, 2007 – Mar 31, 2008
   ƒ No results submitted
   ƒ Failing/incomplete submission                                            √    √
Use of National Directory of New Hires   Effective Jan 1, 2008                √