References. Executive Orders 12073 and l0582; 20 CFR Parts 651 and 654. Background. Under Executive Orders 12073 and 10582, the Secretary of Labor is required to classify LSAs and disseminate this information for the use of all Federal agencies in directing procurement activities and in locating new plants or facilities. The LSAs are designated to help direct the Federal government's procurement dollars into those areas where unemployment is the highest. Employers who agree to perform a "substantial portion" of work in LSAs are eligible for preference in the award of procurement contracts and grants. The Department of Labor regulations for classifying LSAs are at 20 CFR Parts 651 and 654. The regulations were published in the Federal Register on January 5, 1979, (44 FR 1688). These regulations were modified and published in the Federal Register on April 12, 1983, (48 FR 15615). Revised regulations to add Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas were published in the Federal Register on June 21, 1988. Burden Hour Estimates. The estimated burden for completing a petition is one hour. The estimated burden includes time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data needed, and completing and reviewing the information. Comments regarding this estimate, or another aspect of the data collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden should be sent to the U.S. Employment Service, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue N.W., Room N-4470, Washington, D.C. 20210, and/or to the Office of IRM Policy, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-1301, Washington, D.C. 20210 (Paperwork Reduction Project 1205-1207). Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Approval. The reporting requirements for classification of labor surplus areas have been approved by the OMB according to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, under OMB approval No. 1205-1207, expiration date June 30, 1998. Action Required. SESAs should provide this information and classification procedures to appropriate staff.

References: ET Handbook 392; Internet User Guide; Interstate Benefit Payment Plan. Background: For the past four years, we have worked towards automation of the Interstate Handbooks. In FY 1989 the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies' Interstate Benefit (IB) Committee supported the automation of the Handbook as a result of the request of participants at the National Interstate Conference held in September 1988. On September 16, 1991, the Martin Marietta Information Systems Group (MMISG) HUB distributed the original automated handbook installation instructions, programs and User Guides nationwide to the Internet Programmers for all IBM States. It was estimated that approximately four man hours would be necessary to install the programs. MMISG also distributed information, documentation to the Internet Programmer for all non- IBM States at the same time. The programs and User Guide have also been distributed to non-IBM States upon request. On November 16, 1992, revised Handbook software was distributed to the Internet Programmers for all IBM States, and information and documentation were distributed to all non-IBM States. A notice of the distribution was sent via a TC-IB13 to each States' Interstate Program/Internet Coordinator(s). A copy of the distribution cover memo was sent to all ETA Regional Office UI Directors. However, to date, only 17 States are operational on the automated Handbook. At its last meeting, the IB Committee established a deadline, of October 1, 1993, for all IBM States and February 1, 1994, for non- IBM States, for nationwide implementation of the automated Handbook and the Local Office Directory. Updates to the Handbook and Directory: Effective October 1, 1993, for IBM States and February 1, 1994, for non-IBM States, States will update sections of the Interstate Claimstaking Handbook and Local Office Directory by initiating the "HDUP' transaction. After the above dates, the National Office will no longer accept hard copy updates for data entry to the system. The online update transaction provides the SESA with the ability to type over existing text and repeat, insert and delete a line of text. The Code allows the SESA to write updates to the "Handbook in Progress" file for later transmission and delete drafts from the "Handbook in Progress" file before telecommunicating to the National Office. After an updated section has been telecommunicated to the National Office, that section of the Handbook is protected against further update until the SESA's official copy "Automated Handbook" file has been updated from the incoming IB-13(s) from the National Office. MMISG will periodically transmit automated Handbook updates to the States for reloading. The National Office will continue to provide hard copy updates to the ETA Regional Offices. Until the implementation dates take effect, SESA must continue to provide updates to the Handbook and Directory in accordance with the instructions provided in ET Handbook 392, Appendix A. Action Required: State Administrators are requested to provide a copy of this letter to the appropriate program and data processing staff and ensure that the Automated Handbook software is installed and operational by October 1, 1993, or February 1, 1994, as appropriate.

Background: Many organizations in the employment and training community have expressed a desire to have electronic access to one another. Several have established independent electronic solutions for accessing information data sources. In order to meet the growing communications and information needs of the employment and training community - national, Regional, State, and local - ETA has, with additional impetus from the 1992 Amendments to the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), decided to develop a "corporate strategy" to communications and networking. An ETA-wide task force has been formed for this purpose and has come together to develop a collective approach to electronic communications. Objectives: The objectives that will guide development of ETA's networking strategy are threefold: -- to provide a facility for electronic communications between ETA and its grantee universe; -- to provide a facility for electronic communications among and between ETA grantees; and, -- to seamlessly interconnect ETA's three principal operating environments (the ETA LAN and its components, the Unemployment Insurance Service Artecon/Sun system, and the Office of Job Corps communications/data system). This effort will serve to bring all of ETA's existing and planned communications systems and initiatives under one umbrella. Design and Implementation Strategy: Several steps have already been taken towards establishing a network strategy. a. Task Force. The Data Communications Network project is guided by a task force under the direction of David Morman, Deputy Director of the Office of Information Resources Management. Its members represent the ETA National and Regional Offices, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, and the Office of the Inspector General. The task force, with the assistance of a technical consultant, has begun to review the configuration of existing hardware/software/communications systems within the employment and training community. This may entail some detailed data collection about these configurations. The task force has also begun to design and evaluate some architectural options for a wide area data network. b. National Conference. To facilitate input/feedback from the employment and training community regarding its functional requirements and the overall network design, ETA has and will continue to host a series of meetings/conferences with the user and grantee community. A conference is scheduled for August 26 and 27 at the Stouffer Hotel at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. This conference is intended to bring together all users within the ETA community to discuss the communications needs and expectations of each user group and to review the work to date on the network design. ETA has informally contacted the States to identify attendees representative of the employment and training community to attend this conference. Attached is a list of names submitted to the National Office to date, as well as detailed conference information. c. Network Pilot. The next phase in our communications strategy, anticipated to begin in October 1993, will be to test a selected architectural approach, through the establishment of a pilot network. This will allow us to fine tune the overall design, and will provide a more indepth understanding of potential usage of the fully implemented network. One of the ten ETA Regions will be identified as a pilot site to test network options; grantees in the selected Region will participate on a voluntary basis. From the pilot of the network we hope to learn: (1) what technical approaches work best, (2) the amount of traffic required by network, (3) how much it will cost to implement and maintain, and (4) how complex it may be to operate/manage the network. This phase will last 6 months. Upon completion of the pilot, the knowledge gained will be used to establish a strategy for developing a nationwide employment and training wide area network. Technical Workgroup: As an adjunct to the task force, a larger workgroup of users within the ETA grantee community is being formed. Members of this workgroup will provide their individual views and concerns as we proceed. Action Required: Recipients of this UIPL are requested to: a. Please widely share information in this UIPL with your State UI system; b. Determine if additional representatives from your State should attend the system-wide conference in August or join the large networking workgroup. If so, please submit the names, addresses, and affiliations of the additional attendees to the National Office by FAX to either Roxanne Rozek (FAX: (202) 219-6510) or Diane Mayronne (FAX: (202) 219-7190).

References. UIPL 46-94 (September 30, 1994) Background. Since Fall 1993, the UI Service has been addressing the question of improved UI operational performance and how its conduct of the Secretary of Labor's legally-mandated oversight of the UI system is related to the UI system's performance. Its partner in this task has been a committee of senior SESA managers appointed by the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies (ICESA). A joint workgroup comprising the State representatives and Federal National and Regional office staff was formed to conduct this review. As of June 1995, it has met thirteen times. The workgroup set three goals related to its overall concern of providing better services to UI claimants and employers. These are (1) to develop the broad framework for SESA-DOL working relationships and the roles for the partners; (2) to develop a system through which the UI system can more readily enhance performance; and (3) to apply the framework and performance enhancement principles in reconsidering the nature and focus of the Benefits QC program. In September 1994, three of the committee's draft products were circulated for comment via UIPL 46-94. These were the "Partnership Principles" outlining how the Federal and State parties should work together to the mutual benefit of the UI system's ultimate customers; five papers illustrating how those principles would translate into complementary Federal and State roles in different areas; and an outline of a closed-loop management system for continuously enhancing operational performance. These materials represented the culmination of the work on the first goal and a basic outline of the approach taken toward achieving the second. The committee has since completed the proposed system designed to achieve its second goal. The paper describing the proposed system and how it is intended to work is attached. Entitled "UI Performs: How the Unemployment Insurance System Will Improve Its Performance," it contains as appendices the final versions of both the partnership principles and the role papers. Both appendices reflect comments received in Fall 1994. The workgroup is now in the midst of reconsidering the Benefits QC program, its final task. It intends to agree on a proposed redesign in the Fall of 1995. The Department will solicit comment on the proposed version as soon as possible after the workgroup has made its recommendation. Action Required. SESA administrators are requested to (a) share the attached paper with appropriate staff and (b) offer comments on it. Comments are requested by September 30, 1995, or earlier if possible so that the committee may consider them at its meeting on September 20. ..ST: Paper, "UI Performs: How the Unemployment Insurance System Will Improve Its Performance" (August 1995). To obtain a copy of attachment(s), please contact Deloris Norris of the Office of Regional Management at (202) 219-5585.

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Background: The National JTPA Study summarizes the estimates of program impacts on the earnings and employment of adults and out-of-school youths in 16 local SDAs during the first 18 months after their acceptance into the JTPA Title II-A program. While the results were positive for adults, the findings showed the program generally was not effective in helping youth. This is the full report of the 18-month evaluation; findings of the study were released in summary form in 1992. A more complete picture of the long-term effects of JTPA participation will be available when participants have been tracked over a 30-month period. The final report is expected to be available by the end of 1993. Action Required: Please distribute the information to appropriate officials within the State.

Background: The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) has been amended by the Job Training Reform Amendments and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 1993. A new reporting form was needed to implement the provisions that pertain to Title III. The Worker Adjustment Formula Financial Report (WFFR) is used to report cumulative data on fund availability and accrued expenditures for the two components of the formula-funded portion of Title III, the Governor's Reserve and the Sub state Grantee (SSG) funds. In addition, data on total participants and total terminations for these components, notices received under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, initial on-site rapid response visits, Dislocated Worker Unit administration costs, program income, and recipient/subrecipient funds expended for JTPA programs are reported on the form. A single WFFR will be submitted by the Governor at the end of each quarter, beginning with the first quarter of Program Year (PY) 1993. If a State has any carryover Title III funds from PY 1992 or PY 1991 on July 1, 1993, these funds should be reported on this form. Entries for those program years should show the amount of initially allocated funds for the program year, as adjusted by later reallocations and reallotments, and cumulative expenditures against those funds from the time the funds first became available. A final report will be submitted for a program year's funds when they are all expended, or not later than 90 days after the expiration of the period of fund availability for a program year's funds. OMB Approval and Combined Reporting Burden: The reporting requirements are approved by the Office of Management and Budget according to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 under OMB approval no. 1205-0326 to expire June 30, 1996. Action Required: State JTPA or Worker Adjustment Liaisons are requested to distribute the attached instruction to all officials within the State who need such information to implement the new reporting requirements.

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References. None. Background. It is possible that Congress will not have enacted an FY 1996 Appropriation at the beginning of the new Federal Fiscal Year. A number of section 401 grantees have raised questions about how they will continue operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR), or, in its absence, in the event of a general shutdown of the Federal government (euphemistically referred to in the press as "the train wreck"). We will have to wait until the end of September to give specific guidance based on the situation at that time. Action Required. Section 401 grantees will generally not be affected because they operate on a program year basis, and already have their PY 1995 funds available to them. The FY 1996 appropriation for JTPA section 401 activities will not be utilized until July 1, 1996 (PY 1996). For those grantees on the Payment Management System (PMS), arrangements are in place so that they can continue to draw cash through the PMS in the absence of a CR. Drawdowns of cash will, of course, be against program year subaccounts and any balance(s) from prior fiscal year subaccounts. For those grantees using the SF-270 (Request for Advance or Reimbursement) to obtain JTPA funds, there will be two Division of Accounting staff on duty during any shutdown to process necessary paperwork. Grantees are advised, however,? to submit their SF-270's for the second quarter well in advance of the October 1st shutdown date to ensure timely processing. Because essential financial services will continue to operate, grantees drawing down on the SF-270 will receive their checks as scheduled and approved, and not in advance. Questions. Please address all questions to Greg Gross on (202) 219-7509.

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