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Background: The Quality Forum is a working group of representatives of eight program offices and initiatives in USDOL, all active in encouraging the use of quality principles and practices to continuously improve workforce development organizations. The members of the Quality Forum represent: The Capacity Building Initiative; Employment Service Revitalization; The Enterprise; The National School-to-Work Office; The Office of Policy and Research; The One-Stop Career Center System; PEPNet (Promising and Effective Practices Network); and Simply Better!. The Quality Forum members have created resources that are of great value to State and local organizations, from those just beginning on the journey of continuous improvement to those who have been developing quality processes for a period of years. Resources are available at no cost to organizations, and cover a wide variety of topics ranging from how to generate customer satisfaction data to creating staff training programs that provide real benefit to the organization. The Guide: The Quality Improvement Resource Guide provides information about USDOL-sponsored resources available to State and local agencies and organizations interested in customer satisfaction and continously improving their organizations. The Guide was developed by the members of the Quality Forum to inform State and local organizations about all of the quality-based resources available to them from Quality Forum members. The Guide is organized around the seven areas of the national Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award, a framework that any organization can use to look at and assess its everyday business practices. A description is provided of each of the resources, along with contact information for requesting copies of these resources. Information is also provided about the member offices and initiatives of the Quality Forum, including Internet Web site addresses. One copy of the Guide is attached to this TEIN. Additional copies may be requested by contacting the Enterprise Support Team at (202) 501-5440. Action Required: Please share the information in this Guide with local employment and training offices and service providers.

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References: The Department of Labor Appropriations Act of 1997 (Public Law 104-208 sections 101(e) and 105); Training and Employment Information Notice No. 11-96, Statutory and Regulatory Waiver Authority of the JTPA and the Wagner-Peyser Act. Background: The Department of Labor Appropriations Act of 1997, (Public Law 104-208) contains three provisions relating to waivers: a. general Statutory/Regulatory Waiver Authority for JTPA & Wagner-Peyser; b. the Work-Flex Partnership Demonstration Program; and c. continuation of the existing waiver authority for the State of Oregon. These guidelines do not address the continuation of the Oregon waiver provision or the Work-Flex Partnership Demonstration Program. A separate TEGL will be issued on Work-Flex. The Statutory/Regulatory Waiver provision gives the Secretary authority to grant both statutory and regulatory waivers of JTPA (Titles I-III) and Wagner-Peyser Act (Sections 8-10) and contains "exclusions," i.e., provisions that may not be waived. The general waiver authority is for a period of one program year beginning July 1, 1997 and provides: increased flexibility to States and local areas in implementing reforms to the workforce development system in exchange for State and local accountability for results including improved performance. an important opportunity for States and localities to begin or continue to organize services into a workforce development system through One-Stop Career Centers and School-to-Work systems which enhance the training and employment opportunities available to adults and youth. Principles for Further Reforms of the Job Training System: The Department of Labor's (DOL) guiding principles for providing flexibility through statutory/regulatory waivers to the State job training systems include: Individual Opportunity and Customer Choice. Empowering participants who need employment and training services with the resources and information needed to make good choices. Leaner Government. Replacing separate programs with streamlined systems for youth and adults, organized within the School-to-Work and One-Stop systems. Greater Accountability. Ensuring a clear focus on results, not process, through mutually agreed upon improved performance outcomes. State and Local Flexibility.

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Background: The 1997 Department of Labor's Appropriations Act (Public Law 104-208) authorizes the Workforce Flexibility (Work-Flex) Partnership Demonstration Program. This directive transmits the Federal Register Notice describing the process for submittal of applications. The appropriations legislation provides that the Secretary of Labor may authorize a Work-Flex demonstration program for provision of workforce employment and training activities in "...not more than six States, of which at least three States shall each have populations not in excess of 3,500,000...". The Work-Flex waiver may be for a period of up to five years. Under this provision, the Secretary would authorize a State "to waive any statutory or regulatory requirement applicable to service delivery areas or substate areas within the State under Titles I-III of the Job Training Partnership Act", with certain exceptions and "any of the statutory or regulatory requirements of sections 8-10 of the Wagner-Peyser Act". The legislation authorizes the granting of the Work-Flex waiver to a State pursuant to a plan submitted by the State and approved by the Secretary. Preference is to be given to States that have been designated as Ed-Flex Partnership States under section 311(e) of Public Law 103-227. The list of current Ed-Flex Partnership States is attached. The Federal Register Notice which announces this application process is also attached. Unlike the legislative provisions for Ed-Flex, the legislation for Work-Flex does not permit a State to waive statutory requirements that apply to the State. However, such authority is provided under the general waiver provisions. The general waiver authority is for a period of one program year beginning July 1, 1997 and provides: - increased flexibility to States and local areas in implementing reforms to the workforce development system in exchange for State and local accountability for results, including improved performance; - an important opportunity for States and localities to begin or continue to organize services into a workforce development system through the concepts of One-Stop Career Centers and School-to-Work systems which enhance the training and employment opportunities available to adults and youth. Process for Submitting Applications: Work-Flex applications will be accepted by the Department until May 30, 1997. After that date, proposals will be accepted only if: (1) fewer than six States apply; (2) fewer than three States with a population under 3,500,000 apply; or (3) fewer than six applications received by that date are approved by the Secretary. Please note that a total of six States will be designated under Work-Flex. Additional designations, up to a total of six States, may be made in FY 1998, only if fewer than six applications are approved in FY 1997, and if proposed language in the 1998 appropriation request is enacted. States may submit both a Work-Flex application and a general waiver request at the same time. While there are differences in time coverage and exceptions for the two sets of waiver authorities, a combined request would permit a State to obtain waivers for both the State level and the service delivery area for a minimum of one year. We are entertaining joint submissions to permit streamlined submission and to facilitate the objectives of the overall waiver authority. If the general waiver authority is continued, then subsequent approvals of the State waiver requests could be continued. OMB Reporting Burden: Persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting of information is estimated to average 80 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

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