State of Ohio
Workforce Investment Act Eligible Training Provider
Initial Certification Procedure

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and House Bill (H.B.) 470 require the State, Local Workforce Investment Boards and Local Workforce Policy Boards to establish a performance-based certification system for training providers. The certification procedure will result in a State list of training providers who are eligible to give training services to customers. There will also be a consumer report for customers using the one-stop delivery system described under the Workforce Investment Act. 

Local Workforce Investment Boards and Local Workforce Policy Boards (Local/Policy Boards) under Workforce Investment Act and H.B. 470 shall develop a system of Individual Training Accounts. An Individual Training Account is a voucher or an account given to a Workforce Investment Act customer to use to purchase training services. Adults and dislocated workers who have been approved for training may purchase training services from eligible training providers by using an Individual Training Account (ITA). 

Local Workforce Investment Board and Local Workforce Policy Board: Local/Policy Board will use the State application template and is responsible for including content in the State application template if the Local/Policy Board wants training providers to meet additional requirements. The Local/Policy Board is also responsible for local solicitation of applications from training providers including public notice, announcements, bidders’ conferences, etc. 

At a minimum, the Local/Policy Board’s application given to training providers will include the State application requirements. Local/Policy Boards may request additional information in their application, which may include such items as performance information on all students enrolled, completion rates, employment rates, employment obtained in an occupation related to the training program and wages at employment. Training services to special populations and evidence of training in growth and occupational specific employment may also be required. 

Initial applications from training providers will be solicited in the manner and time frame that the Local/Policy Boards establish. Local/Policy Boards are cautioned that applications submitted electronically from the training providers should be submitted on a secured site. Local/Policy Boards will receive, review and forward training providers’ applications to the State as recommendation to place training providers on the State list and the program information in the consumer report. The State will determine if training providers meet criteria for listing. Initial eligibility is 12 months from the State’s approval date. 

Demand Occupation: Local/Policy Boards are responsible for giving to training providers at the time of application, a list of demand occupations and sectors of the economy that have a high potential for sustained demand or growth within the labor market area. The labor market area is an economically integrated area within which individuals can reside and find employment within a reasonable distance or can readily change employment without changing their place of residence. Using labor market information, Local/Policy Boards are responsible for establishing process for determining occupational demand in the local area or in another area to which an adult or dislocated worker is willing to relocate. Training providers should be informed on where demand occupations and labor market information may be viewed. 

Individual Training Account: An individual training account is a method of payment that Local/Policy Boards will establish on behalf of WIA customers to give them financial power to purchase training services from the eligible training providers. Individual training accounts should be established in a manner that maximizes customer choice in selecting training providers. Local/Policy Boards have the authority to set written procedure for making payments, select individual training account options and set duration or amounts of individual training accounts and/or policies regarding exceptions, etc. The authority to restrict the duration of ITAs or to restrict funding amounts should not be used to establish limits that arbitrarily preclude WIA customers from selecting a service provider of their choice. (See Workforce Investment Act Policy Letter 9-2000) 

Local/Policy Boards will need to explain to training providers about how their ITA options work, because there may be a variety of ITA options that Local/Policy Boards are using. A document, such as an agreement or policy manual, should be created to explain how training providers will be able to get paid after they accept the ITA from the WIA customer. This document may address training providers’ responsibilities and Local/Policy Boards’ expectations so that training providers understand what they are agreeing to when accepting an ITA. 

Training Providers: Training/education institutions that want to be an eligible training provider for the Workforce Investment Act Individual Training Account customer must complete and send an application to the Local Workforce Investment Board or its designated administrative entity in the local area and the Local Workforce Policy Board or its designated workforce development agency in the sub-area in which the training provider desires to provide training services. Training providers may submit one application to one Local/Policy Board if they choose to. Getting on the State list is contingent upon the Local/Policy Board sending the application recommendation to the State. 

Exempt: Training providers whose services are short-term pre-vocational, such as development of learning skills, communication skills, interviewing skills etc., and Adult Basic and Literacy Education programs are exempt from this eligible training provider selection procedure. Training providers that offer specialized services to customers with special needs may be exempt from this selection procedure. Training providers of youth activities, on-the-job training (OJT) and customized training providers are also excluded from this selection procedure. These training providers and/or programs may be procured thorough a contract for services in lieu of an individual training account. (See One-Stop Operator Procedure Guidance for OJT and customized training providers). 

Correspondence and Distance Learning/Internet-Based Programs: Local/Policy Boards must decide whether to accept training programs or courses where instruction is remotely off-site and the curriculum is basically self-instruction. 

Automatic Initial Eligibility of Training Providers: As described in Section 122 of the Workforce Investment Act, post secondary educational institutions eligible to receive federal funds under title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 and which provide programs that lead to an associate degree, baccalaureate degree, or certificate are automatically eligible to be placed on the State list. An entity that carries out programs under the National Apprenticeship Act program is automatically eligible. These entities shall submit an application to the Local/Policy Board for the local area in which the training provider desires to provide training services. Local/Policy Boards will forward these applications to the State. These training providers will be placed on the State list. 

Initial Eligibility of Other Training Providers: Public or private providers, who desire to provide training services in a local area, are required to submit an application to the Local/Policy Board. Applications must meet the State and Local/Policy Board procedure and content requirements. Each individual program of training services must be approved by the Local/Policy Board. To be eligible, training providers must directly provide training programs which lead to a certificate, an associate degree, or baccalaureate, a competency or skill recognized by employers or a training regiment that provides individuals with additional skills or competencies recognized by employers. Training providers’ applications forwarded by Local/Policy Boards to the State will have a review within 30 calendar days. 

Existing Training Providers: If training services are being given to customers on the date the application is submitted, the training provider must respond to the following criteria: 

• submit raw data to support eligibility as required by the local/policy board and the State

• agree to provide program performance data as required

• be determined in "good standing" with federal and state organizations

New Training Providers: A training provider is considered new, if the provider is new to the local area or labor market and is not providing a program of training services on the date of application, or if the provider is an existing provider that is offering a training program for the first time in the local area. A new training provider must respond to the following criteria: 

• provide information on previous DBAs (doing business as)

• provide information on whether the training program is accredited, approved, registered with, or licensed by, an independent professional organization, government or industry-recognized agency

• agree to provide program performance data as required

• be determined to have been in "good standing" with federal and state organizations for any prior DBA

• be determined in "good standing" with federal and state organizations

Performance Information: All eligible training providers are required to collect, track, report and meet the program and cost performance levels for the following data elements: (See Attachment I of Application) 

• For all students, including those not receiving Workforce Investment Act funding:

• program completion rates for all individuals participating in the applicable program

• percentage of all individuals who obtain unsubsidized employment

• wages (hourly) at placement in employment

• For all WIA participants:

• percentage of WIA participants who have completed the applicable program and who are placed in unsubsidized employment

• retention rates in unsubsidized employment of WIA participants who have completed the applicable program, six months after the first day of the employment

• wages (hourly) received by WIA participants who have completed the program, six months after the first day of employment

• rates of licensure or certification, attainment of academic degrees or equivalents, or attainment of other measures of skills of the WIA graduates from the program

• information on program costs (such as tuition and fees)

Consumer Report: The consumer report is the mechanism for informing customers using the one-stop delivery system about the training programs offered and performance of training providers in local areas. The consumer report is built upon the State list of eligible training providers, application and program performance and cost information. The consumer report will contain information necessary for customers to fully understand the options available in choosing a program of training services. 

The State and Local/Policy Board is responsible for collecting, tracking and validating the program performance and cost information from the eligible training providers and disseminating the consumer report throughout the one-stop delivery system. 

Appeal Process: A training provider may appeal a decision made by the State, Local/Policy Board, the One-Stop Operator, and Workforce Development Agency in conjunction with the One-Stop Operator to deny the training provider being placed on the State list. An appeal may be heard on two levels. 

Local/Policy Boards, One-Stop Operators, and Workforce Development Agencies must establish a written appeal procedure to begin at the local level and it must be given to training providers at the time of application. The appeal procedure must include the requirements in 29 CFR 37.76 for processing complaints of discrimination. Appeals must be heard in a timely manner, by a hearing officer selected by the Local/Policy Board, One-Stop Operator and Workforce Development Agency. Training providers may appeal to the State if they are dissatisfied with the appeal decision at the local level. 

If the State made the decision to deny placing a training provider on the State list, the training provider may appeal directly to the State. The State will appoint a hearing officer to hear the case. 

The State, Local/Policy Boards, One-Stop Operators and Workforce Development Agencies may use several distinct categories of appeal by programs ruled as ineligible for inclusion on the list or removed from the list following initial eligibility determination. The categories are: 

• Appeal of incomplete application

• Appeal of application of definitions

• Appeal of noncompliance; and

• Appeal of inaccurate information

Reasons for denying or removing training providers from the eligible training provider list include: 

• Failure to provide the necessary information or improperly filing an application;

• Failure to adhere to process and reporting requirements;

• Failure to meet the performance levels annually;

• Failure to provide verifiable accurate information;

• Failure to apply for continuation;

• Fraud; and or

• The training provider requests to be removed.

See Appeal Process (Attachment 4).

Designated State Agency: The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) is the Designated State Agency. The State is responsible for determining minimum program and cost information that will be collected and tracked and setting the performance levels that must be met by any training provider in order to be determined subsequently eligible. 

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will receive applications from the Local/Policy Boards. Within 30 calendar days, the State will review the application, program descriptions and required information to determine if the training provider’s program meets State minimum criteria for listing. Training providers’ programs meeting criteria will be entered into a database to create the statewide eligible training provider list and consumer report. 

Eligible training providers’ programs and performance information will result in a consumer report compiled by the State and distributed throughout the one-stop delivery system. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will disseminate the State list on the Internet and in other multi-forms to One-Stop Operators and Workforce Development Agencies for them to assist in distributing the State list and consumer report throughout the one-stop delivery system. 

WIA customers from anywhere in the State who receive an Individual Training Account from a Local/Policy Board may select an approved course of study and eligible training provider from the State list using the consumer report to make informed choices. All customers will have access to the eligible training provider State list through the Internet. 

Modification: Review and approval of changes to approved training programs will be updated if the Local/Policy Board approves and transmits the modification to the State for approval and publication on the State List. Training providers seeking approval of changes must submit, to the Local/Policy Board, program specific, program cost, and performance information that will be affected by the modification. The modification is effective on the date the application is approved by the State. Training providers seeking approval to add a program is considered a new application and not a modification. 

Universities and Colleges: An application submitted from a university or college may include programs of training services from their branch campuses. Universities and colleges opting to pool their branch programs into one application must submit each branch campus’s program description for each program they desire to have certified in one application. Each training program must be identified with the branch campus offering the training program. 

Applications from other states: Local/Policy Boards may accept applications from training providers in other states. Training providers from other states must follow the application procedure set by the State of Ohio and the Local/Policy Board’s local procedures. All approved training must be located within the contiguous United States. 

Monitoring: The performance of all eligible training providers should at a minimum be monitored on a quarterly, or more frequent (if needed) basis. Local/Policy Boards may take steps to remove eligible training providers from the State list if monitoring reveals noncompliance with the Act after appropriate due process.

Monitoring Out of State or Local Area Eligible Training Providers: To avoid duplication and foster regional certification, Local/Policy Boards may ascertain if on-site reviews or evaluations have been conducted for out-of-area or out of state training providers by establishing reciprocal monitoring agreements with other Local/Policy Boards. Local/Policy Boards must document the results accordingly. 

Implementation: An Initial Eligible Training Provider State list and consumer report must be ready by July 1, 2000. This initial certification procedure will be a paper driven system and automated to the extent possible. Applications must be fully completed and the information must be presented in the exact order the information is requested in the State application template. Application information which does not follow the exact order will not be accepted by the State and will be returned to the Local/Policy Board. Applications will be accepted by the State in paper copy, by e-mail, or diskette in WordPerfect 6.1 and Word 97. Applications will not be accepted by the State through the Internet or Fax technology at this time. Applications which are sent directly to the State by a training provider will be returned to the sender. 

To ensure that eligible training providers are on the July 1, 2000 State list and consumer report, applications must be received by the State from the Local/Policy Boards no later than June 19, 2000. This does not preclude a training provider from applying to the Local/Policy Board after June 19, 2000. 

The State will take and review applications as they are forwarded by Local/Policy Boards. The State will review an application within 30 calendar days of receipt of the application. Local/Policy Boards will receive written notification from the State about the certification status of the training provider’s application. Local /Policy Boards are required to send written notification to training providers that their programs have been accepted on or rejected from the State list. 

The Eligible Training Provider State list will be updated and distributed throughout the one stop delivery system on a monthly basis. Even though the training provider may not appear on the State list and consumer report after 30 days have elapsed, Local/Policy Boards may proceed to use eligible training providers after receiving notification from the State and must make available to the consumer information pertaining to the training provider’s program. 

Local/Policy Boards will send applications to the following agency during the specified time: 

The Ohio Bureau of Employment Services will accept applications from the Local/Policy Boards until June 30, 2000. Applications must be sent to: The Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, POWER*Ohio Division, 145 South Front Street, P. O. Box 1618, Columbus, OH 43216-1618. 

On July 1, 2000 and thereafter, The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will accept applications from the Local/Policy Boards. Applications must be sent to: The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Bureau of Workforce Investment Act, 145 South Front Street, P. O. Box 1618, Columbus, OH 43216-1618. 

Subsequent eligibility: Procedures for determining continuance of eligibility of training providers after an initial period of eligibility shall be established by the State. Training providers will be responsible for submitting program performance and cost information and for annually meeting performance levels established by the State and Local/Policy Boards in order to continue to receive Individual Training Account customers. 

The State reserves the right to grant extended eligibility on a limited basis in cases where Workforce Investment Act Individual Training Account customers are near completion of a training program with a training provider that does not meet subsequent eligibility. Local/Policy Boards will review and determine the degree in which continuity may be maintained for the enrolled customer. Local/Policy Boards must keep justification documentation in cases where the customer is allowed to complete the course of study with the training provider that is no longer eligible to enroll or accept WIA Individual Training Account customers. In situations where Individual Training Account customers may select a different eligible training provider without disruption to their training program and/or course of study schedule, Local/Policy Boards shall not use the training provider that did not meet subsequent eligibility. 

Training providers that are currently serving Job Training Partnership Act participants are allowed to continue serving those participants until the participants complete their previously approved training program and/or course of study. For the purpose of this provision these training providers are considered to be grandfathered. 

Training providers who want to serve new customers under the Workforce Investment Act must submit an application under the Eligible Training Provider Certification Procedure. 

The application procedure for subsequent eligibility may begin in the ninth month after the initial eligibility approval date by the State. Approximately six to eight months of performance data may be validated. Local/Policy Boards will be instructed to take factors into consideration when determining subsequent eligibility for training providers based on the program performance. Factors that should be taken into consideration, include the specific economic, geographic and demographic characteristics of the population, including the demonstrated difficulties in serving such populations. The subsequent eligibility procedure will be issued in separate guidance.