628.325—Incentive grants, capacity building, and technical assistance.
(a)
Funds available to the Governor under sections 202(c)(1)(B) and 262(c)(1)(B) of the Act shall be used to provide incentive grants to SDA's and for capacity building and technical assistance.
(b) Incentive grants.
(1)
Not less than 67 percent of the funds available under sections 202(c)(1)(B) and 262(c)(1)(B) of the Act shall be used by the Governor to provide incentive grants for programs, except programs under section 204(d) of the Act, exceeding title II performance standards ( section 106(b)(7) ).
(2)
Incentive grant funds under this section shall be distributed by the Governor among SDA's within the State pursuant to section 106(b)(7) of the Act.
(3)
The Governor shall, as part of the annual statement of goals and objectives required by section 121(a)(1) of the Act, provide SDA's with the specific policies and procedures to implement section 106(b)(7) of the Act.
(4)
In a State which is the service delivery area, incentive grant funds shall be distributed in a manner determined by the Governor and described in the GCSSP. The Governor shall give consideration to recognizing the performance of service providers within the State.
(5)
SDA's should use incentive grant funds for capacity building and technical assistance activities and/or for the conduct of allowable Title II activities for eligible youth, eligible adults, or both, at the discretion of the SDA.
(c) Capacity building and technical assistance.
(1)
Up to 33 percent of the funds available under sections 202(c)(1)(B) and 262(c)(1)(B) of the Act may be used by the Governor to provide capacity building and technical assistance efforts aimed at improving the competencies of the personnel who staff and administer JTPA including SDA's, service providers, State staff, private industry councils, other job training councils and related human service systems provided for in section 205(a) of the Act.
(i)
Consult with SDA's concerning capacity building and technical assistance activities consistent with the process specified in the GCSSP;
(ii)
Ensure that the use of funds will assist front line staff providing services to participants by directing resources to SDA and service provider staff for capacity building efforts, building a statewide capacity building strategy based on an assessment of local capacity building needs developed in cooperation with the SDA's, and/or delivering training and technical assistance directly to the local level;
(iii)
Ensure that expenditures for the purchase of hardware/software are only for the development of Statewide communications and training mechanisms involving computer-based communication technologies that directly facilitate interaction with the National Capacity Building and Information Dissemination Network (National Network) described in section 453 of the Act and that facilitate the use of computer-based training techniques in capacity building and technical assistance activities;
(iv)
Ensure that State and local capacity building efforts are coordinated and integrated with the National Network, pursuant to sections 202(c)(3)(B) and 262(c)(3)(B) of the Act, and that materials developed with funds under this section are made available to be shared with other States, SDA's and the National Network. States and SDA's retain the flexibility to tailor Network products to their own needs and/or to produce and train on similar or related products when local circumstances so dictate and;
(v)
Provide technical assistance to service delivery areas failing to meet performance standards pursuant to section 106(j)(2) of the Act.
(d) Cost sharing.
(1)
Cost sharing approaches are encouraged among States, SDA's and/or among other Federal, State, and local human service programs, including those listed in section 205(a) of the Act, in developing electronic communications, training mechanisms and/or contributing to the National Network.
(2)
All shared costs shall be allocated among the contributing funding sources on the basis of benefits received.