§1397n–2 Awarding Social Impact Partnership Agreements

Summary

The Secretary must decide within 6 months whether to make a social impact partnership agreement with a State or local government. The Secretary makes that decision after talking with the Federal Interagency Council on Social Impact Partnerships and any federal agency with a similar program. In deciding, the Secretary looks at things like the Council’s recommendations; the value and expected federal and state/local savings from the outcomes; how likely the project is to succeed based on the evidence in the application; the quality of the planned evaluation; and whether the government partners can keep the program going if it works. The agreement can last no more than 10 years. The state or local government must agree to reach specific outcomes to get paid, and each federal payment for an outcome cannot be more than the value of that outcome to the federal government over a period up to 10 years as set by the Secretary with the government. The project must be supported by prior rigorous experimental or quasi‑experimental studies, show experience raising private or philanthropic funds if needed, and show that service providers have the needed experience. The Secretary will only pay after an independent evaluator confirms the agreed outcomes were actually achieved. Within 30 days of signing an agreement, the Secretary must publish a notice in the Federal Register that explains the project’s goals, interventions, who will be served, expected benefits, roles of all parties, payment rules and calculation methods, budget, timeline, eligibility, evaluation plan, metrics, and estimated federal, state, and local savings. The Secretary can transfer authority and funds to another federal agency to manage the agreement. At least 50 percent of all federal payments under these agreements must be used for initiatives that directly benefit children.