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References: UIPL No. 10-96, Implementation of New Time Lapse and Quality Measures for Unemployment Insurance Benefit Operations. Background: New performance measures for nonmonetary determination quality and timeliness were approved for implementation on July 1, 1996. Three training seminars were held during 1996 for SESA staff. The number of staff accommodated at these training seminars was limited and, as implementation progresses, the National Office has become aware of the need for additional training. Participants and Objectives: Three training seminars are scheduled for SESA nonmonetary determination staff who are responsible for quality evaluations of nonmonetary determinations. The training will be similar to that provided last year, but will place more emphasis on the quality elements of the nonmonetary review. All seminars will begin at noon on Monday and end at noon on Friday. Reservations for each seminar will be on a first-come, first-served basis. SESAs are not restricted in the number of staff they may nominate to attend; however, seminar size will be limited to 20-22 participants to permit more comprehensive discussion. Additional sessions may be scheduled later in the fiscal year if warranted by demand. As a result of limited travel funds for National Office staff, any additional sessions will be scheduled for Washington, D.C. Federal monies will be provided for travel and per diem costs for SESA staff to attend the training seminars. The first seminar for staff in Regions I through IV will be in Washington, D.C., beginning May 5, 1997. Hotel accommodations have been arranged at the Georgetown Suites, 1000 29th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. All suites have fully-equipped kitchens including refrigerators, microwaves, range/oven, and cooking and eating utensils. Hair dryers, irons, and ironing boards are also provided in each suite. The room rate is $124 per night and reservations should be made directly with the hotel at 202-298-1600 no later than April 11, 1997. Registrants should identify themselves as part of the U.S. Department of Labor group. The second seminar for staff in Regions V through VIII will be in St. Louis, Missouri, beginning June 9, 1997. The third seminar for Regions IX and X will be held in the Los Angeles, California area, beginning July 14, 1997. Several sites are being considered at this time. The RO staff will notify SESAs when a final selection is made. Action Required: State Administrators are requested to select and notify appropriate SESA staff of the upcoming BTQ quality training seminars and provide Regional Office staff with the name, title, and estimated travel cost of each SESA participant who has been nominated to attend by: April 4, 1997 for states in Regions I - IV, May 2, 1997 for states in Regions V - VIII, and June 6, 1997 for states in Regions IX - X.

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References. DINAP Bulletin 97-04 Background. In a continuous effort to provide the best customer service we can, and to make DINAP team members more accessible to grantees, DINAP Federal Representatives and other staff have been reassigned. A directory titled "Federal Representative Team Assignments" which lists Fed. Rep. area reassignments along with phone numbers has already been sent to grantees as an attachment to Bulletin 97-04 (voice mail extensions are shown below). Consult that directory for more details. Those reassignments, and the new non-Fed. Rep. assignment along with brief statements of duties are included in this Bulletin. Information. Effective August 11, 1997. Federal Representative Team assignments: - East Team Greg Gross, ex. 141 (P.L. 102-477 Team Leader) - Midwest Team Duane Hall (Dallas Outstation, 214-767-2154, no voice mail) Athena Brown, ex. 134 - West Team Sibert Seciwa (Seattle Outstation, 206-553-7798 ex.8033) Guy Suetopka (Seattle, effective 8/18/97, 206-553-7798) National Office (non-Fed. Rep.) assignments: (Program Specialists) Veronica Dabney, ex. 137 - Responsible for issues related to audits, debts, property, etc., as well as assist in administrative, policy and special projects that involve grantees and staff such as partnership initiatives (workgroups), TAT conference planning, and development of directives and other information (bulletins, etc.) Barbara Frenger, ex. 138 - Responsible for tracking, retrieving and recording INA financial information including the PMS and GCMIS data. She is also responsible for coordinating the activities related to the Native American Employment and Training Council and other special partnership activities. Andrea Barbour, ex. 131- Responsible for DINAP's Management Information System (MIS) duties ,i.e., reports, plans, mods, program data, and other information related assignments such as preparation of grantee and Fed. Rep. assignment directories (attached to Bulletin 97-04). Information Technology Project: (Contract Staff) Earl McLetchie, ex. 139 and Lonnie Mason, ex. 135 - Responsible for assisting INA grantees to establish electronic mail (e-mail) and Internet access capability, as well as provision of computer related technical assistance to DINAP staff and "On-line Partners." (Mr. Mason prepared the On-line Directory which is attached to Bulletin 97-04.) INA One-Stop Initiative: Bob Lunz, 202-219-8395 (one-year detail assignment effective August 18) - Responsible for serving as a liaison between the INA partners and the State One-Stop Systems as a member of the One- Stop Team, to serve as advocate for INA issues and concerns. Action. Beginning on August 11, 1997, grantee partners should begin sending and receiving communications by mail, phone, fax or e- mail, to and from their Federal Representatives as assigned. The other, non-Fed. Rep. Staff has already begun their assignments and are available now to receive inquiries related to their respective areas. Inquiries. Questions should be addressed to your DINAP Federal Representative at (202) 219-8502, National Office, or the Outstation number shown above for your Team, National Office, or the Outstation numbers shown above for your team.

References. a. 29 CFR Part 97 (Administrative requirements for Federal grants to State, local and Indian Tribal governments); b. 29 CFR Part 95. (Administrative requirements for Federal grants to institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations); c. OMB Circular A-87 (cost principles for state, local and Indian Tribal governments); d. OMB Circular A-122 (Cost principles for non-profit organizations); e. DINAP Bulletin 94-14 (Prior approval for automated data processing equipment) and; f. ETA Handbook 359 Background. Section 401 grantees are currently required to perform an annual physical inventory to be reconciled with the CPMS Inventory Master List. Upon completion grantees must certify that the inventory is correct by submitting form ETA 3-94, Contractor's Inventory Certificate. Additionally, grantees are required to notify the Department of Labor, Property office, when property considered to be excess is no longer needed. Disposition of property is requested by submitting form ETA SF-120, Report of excess personal property. Grantees should be aware that disposition guidance and/or requirements in the OMB circulars have not changed. Definitions. OMB A-110 codified at 29 CFR Part 95.2(ee) states "Property means, unless otherwise stated, equipment, intangible property and debt instruments." 29 CFR Part 95.2(z) states "Personal property means property of any kind except real property. It may be tangible, having physical existence, or intangible, having no physical existence, such as copyrights, patents, or securities". 29 CFR Part 95.2(n) states "Equipment means tangible non-expendable personal property I including exempt property charged directly to the award having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000.00 or more per unit. However, consistent with recipient policy, lower limits may be established...." Action. Effective immediately, section 401 grantees will not be required to conduct annual physical inventories to be reconciled to the CPMS with subsequent certifications submitted to the DOL property office. Additionally, section 401 grantees will not be required to receive prior agency approval to dispose of property and equipment with a fair market value less than $5,000.00 per unit. Important Reminders. a. Grantees must receive prior agency approval to purchase property and equipment with an acquisition cost of $5,000.00 or more per unit. b. Grantees must receive prior agency approval to dispose of property and equipment which has a fair market value of $5,000.00 or more at the time of disposition. c. Although property and equipment will not be maintained on the CPMS, grantees must maintain an inventory system which records all equipment information. Equipment information shall include: 1. A description of the equipment. 2. Manufacturer's serial number, model number, Federal stock number, national stock number, or other identification number. 3. Source of the equipment including the award number. 4. Whether title vests in the recipient or the Federal Government. 5. Acquisition date (or date received, if the equipment was furnished by the federal government) and cost. 6. Information from which one can calculate the percentage of Federal participation in the cost of the equipment (not applicable to equipment furnished by the Federal Government). 7. Location and condition of the equipment and the date the information was reported. 8. Unit acquisition cost. 9. Ultimate disposition date, including date of disposal and sales price or the method used to determine current fair market value where a recipient compensates DOL for its share. Effective Date. Immediately. Inquiries. Questions should be addressed to your DINAP Federal Representative at (202) 219-8502.

CD-ROM Information: The new, enhanced format for the PY 1995 CD-ROM contains the complete public use data set on all individuals who exited the PY 1995 JTPA Titles IIA, IIC, III, and Section 204(d) programs. (Individual identifiers for each record have been removed to ensure JTPA participant confidentiality. Unique identifier codes have been substituted.) For the first time, the SPIR CD-ROM also contains the PY 95 SPIR Data Book, all 52 State SPIR Data Books, the Guide to JTPA Performance Standards for Program Years 1996 and 1997, and additional technical documentation. Acrobat TM Reader software in both MS-DOS and Windows versions are included to allow easy reading and printing of the documents. The readme.txt file provides a summary of the CD-ROM's contents and may be a useful place to start. A complete list of the contents of the PY 1995 SPIR CD-ROM is attached. The data in the public use data set are provided in a pure text (ASCII) format that can be read by any appropriate statistical analysis program (for example, SASTM or SPSSTM) or database program. In addition to the actual data set, the CD-ROM contains complete documentation of the public use data files for the JTPA Title IIA, IIC, III and Section 204(d) programs. All documentation is in Adobe AcrobatTM (.pdf) format. Files with a ".pdf" extension can be easily viewed and printed using the AcrobatTM reader automatically invoked on the CD-ROM. The report "Overview of PY 95 SPIR Public Use Data Files," contains important caveats for users. A copy is attached, and it is also in the pub_over.pdf file. The entire record layout for all 300 variables in the public use data set is listed in the pub_use.pdf file. The CD-ROM also contains extensive tables derived from the SPIR data, including SPIR Data Books for the nation and for each State. The Data Books provide detailed descriptive tables on characteristics, services and outcomes for individuals who exited JTPA programs. These tables are also provided in AcrobatTM format, as is the Guide to JTPA Performance Standards for Program Years 1996 and 1997. Errors in Economic Data. Due to a programming error, not all data items based on the ES202 data were updated as the documentation claims. For the following items in the economic conditions data set, 1994 data instead of 1995 data are incorrectly included on the CD-ROM in the econ.dat file: 1) annual earnings in retail and wholesale trade, 2) 3-year growth rate of earnings in trade, and 3) percent employment in manufacturing, agriculture and mining. A future notice will transmit printouts of the corrected economic data. SPIR Background. Please refer to TEIN No. 5-97, dated July 25, 1997, for background information on the SPIR data set and Data Books, including some expected benefits of use of the data for State and local analysis. The TEIN also transmitted printed copies of the PY 1995 SPIR Data Book.

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