New Requirements for American Job Center Systems Regarding One-Stop Operations

This report is one in a series of five reports, developed as part of a study of WIOA implementation. The other reports address changes in the following: 1) governance and planning; 2) the Title I youth program; 3) services for adults, dislocated workers, and employers; and 4) performance accountability and reporting, eligible training providers, labor market information, and evaluation requirements. Data for this report are drawn primarily from site visit interviews, conducted in early 2019, with administrators, board chairs and members, employer and agency partners, and frontline staff in 14 states and 28 local areas. Other sources of information include administrative data and relevant state and local documents. The site visit locations were purposively selected to assure diversity geographically and in size, among other criteria.

WIOA included several new provisions to improve management and financial procedures in local AJCs. Overall, these changes sought to meet multiple goals, such as improving efficiency and effectiveness, assuring the implementation of key Federal cost principles, enhancing the ability of boards to promote more integrated service delivery, and certifying key standards regarding access to and quality of local AJC services were met. This report focuses on the following key areas of change:

• Requirements to have a separate one-stop operator and competitive procurement.
• Establishment of infrastructure funding agreements (IFAs) and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with one-stop partners.
• Certification of AJCs.

The researchers highlighted several findings tied to promising strategies and challenges summarized below:
New requirements: Roles and competitive procurement of one-stop operators.

Promising strategies. In some local areas, operator competitions presented an opportunity to better facilitate partner involvement by tasking a single entity with responsibility for convening partners and sharing information. A few respondents highlighted the opportunities presented by competitive selection of one-stop operators, noting this resulted in increased information sharing, which reportedly resulted in improvements to service delivery.

Commonly reported challenges from respondents:

• Identifying funding for one-stop operators.
• Understanding the one-stop operator role.
• Shifts in culture and relationships.
• Establishing MOUs and IFAs.

Promising Strategies: When developing MOUs and IFAs, local boards reported they prioritized structuring the agreements and contributions to protect and strengthen existing partnerships and cultivate new partnerships.

Commonly reported challenges: A number of respondents reported that the MOU and IFA processes were challenging to implement. They identified several concerns and key challenges associated with the requirement and process:

• Gaps in guidance and technical assistance.
• Resource constraints.
• Determining the level of contributions for off-site partners.
• Increased administrative burden.
• Certification of AJCs.

Promising Strategies: State and local board respondents during the site visits recognized the potential for the certification process to improve board engagement in the workforce system, increase partner coordination, and ultimately lead to more accessible and streamlined service delivery in several key areas:

• Increasing access to AJC services through certification.
• Improving physical accessibility.
• Benefits of certification.

Commonly reported challenges:

• Difficulty meeting ADA requirements.
• Concerns about increased administrative burden.

Major Recommendations:
The experiences of states and local areas in implementing WIOA’s key financial and management requirements, suggest several areas for technical assistance to enhance future implementation and help assure that the new requirements are met:

• Reducing administrative burden.
• Improving understanding of WIOA requirements.
• Supporting partner engagement.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2020
• Author(s): English, B.; Holcomb, P.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Alexander Fones
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies