Sneak Preview: ‘Tiger Team’ Grants Aim To Help States Meet ARPA Goals
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants 360 article.) State workforce agencies can now apply to the Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) for their share of $200 million in federal funding allocated under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) (Pub. L. 117-2), whereby a state would collaborate with an ETA “Tiger Team” to improve its Unemployment Compensation (UC) program systems and processes to limit fraud and promote equitable access.
Section 9032 of ARPA created a new Section 2118 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. L. 116-136) and provided $2 billion to DOL to: (1) detect and prevent fraud; (2) promote equitable access; and (3) ensure timely payment of benefits to eligible workers with respect to UC programs. Because of the need to issue funds quickly under the COVID-19 emergency packages, multiple audits have found widespread fraud within UC programs. In a recent program letter announcing this funding opportunity, ETA is allocating $200 million in grants to states to meet the three Section 9032 goals. The allocations range from $1.755 million to $7.018 million, and are based on the number of employees covered by the program within each state.
To receive funds, states must first work with ETA to complete a consultative assessment of their UC program. During this assessment, ETA will assign a multi-disciplinary team of experts (i.e., a “Tiger Team”) designed specifically to analyze state UC systems and process challenges. “The Tiger Teams will work with states to identify areas to enhance their existing efforts towards achieving these three goals and make actionable recommendations for the states to implement,” the funding opportunity explains. “If needed, [ETA] and states will negotiate which of these recommendations to implement. States, after having completed this consultative assessment, must then use these funds to implement negotiated recommendations.”
If states have any excess funds remaining from this allocation after implementing the Tiger Team recommendations, they may request to use these funds to further support the three goals for improving UC systems and processes.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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