8. OPERATION MAINSTREAM

1. Program: OPERATION MAINSTREAM

2. Authorizing Legislation: EOA Title I-B and Title I-E

3. Administering Agency: Department of Labor

4. Description: Operation Mainstream is designed to provide jobs for poor adults, especially in rural areas. Although the program is for adults 22 years of age and older, special emphasis is placed on enrolling persons 55 years of age and older. Participants work on projects such as renovation of public recreation areas, the building of vestpocket parks, and the improvement of homes for welfare recipients and the elderly poor.

9. CONCENTRATED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

1. Program: CONCENTRATED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM (CEP)

2.

Authorizing Legislation:

MDTA/EỌA

3. Administering Agency: Department of Labor

4. Description: The Concentrated Employment Program (CEP) provides for the delivery of a comprehensive array of manpower and supportive services to the disadvantaged residents of 82 special target areas that suffer from especially high unemployment and underemployment. Thirteen of the 82 target areas are rural, the balance are inner city neighborhoods.

10. WORK INCENTIVE PROGRAM (WIN)

1. Program: WORK INCENTIVE PROGRAM (WIN)

2. Authorizing Legislation:

Social Security Act, Title IV-C

3. Administering Agency: Department of Labor

4. Description: The WIN program provides a broad range of manpower and related services to welfare recipients who are receiving payments under Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Its objective is to enable qualifying and able recipients to become self-supporting and to reduce the welfare rolls. A direct State relationship exists in that the Federal Government contracts directly with the States to operate WIN programs, which are carried by the State Employment Service offices.

Operation of the JOBS program

The Department should

--contract for on-the-job training and supportive services on (1) a costreimbursable basis when services to be provided cannot be specifically defined and when sufficient experience is not available to enable a realistic estimate of the costs of providing the services and (2) a fixed-unit-price basis when the services can be adequately defined and a realistic estimate can be made of the costs (see p. 38);

--require contractors, under cost-reimbursable contracts, to adequately document training and supportive services provided and costs incurred (see p. 39);

--review_contractors' costs and performances to ensure that the Government is paying only for services provided (see p. 39);

--watch closely the implementation of its guidelines for evaluating prospective contractors' present and planned capacity to perform in accordance with their job pledges (see p. 46);

--adopt guidelines for rating jobs, offered by noncontract employers, similar to those adopted for contract employers (see p. 50);

--develop more exacting procedures for screening prospective trainees, including substantiation of their statements as to their family incomes (see p. 56);

--take the necessary steps in collaboration with the National Alliance of Businessmen (1) to ensure that trainees hired by noncontract employers are comparable to trainees hired by contract employers and (2) to explore the feasibility of having the Alliance request noncontract employers to hire JOBS trainees only through the Concentrated Employment Program, the Work Incentive Program, and the local Employment Service offices (see p. 56);

--ensure that employers give the Concentrated Employment Program and the Work Incentive Program the highest priority in filling training openings and instruct the Concentrated Employment Program and the Employment Service to refrain from certifying persons selected in advance by the contractors, or subcontractors, unless there is adequate justification for so doing (see p. 61);

--emphasize to its contract negotiators the need for (1) adherence to prescribed guidelines in negotiating contracts for trainee supportive services, taking into consideration the contractors' capabilities to provide the services, (2) specificity concerning the nature of the services to be provided, and (3) documentation of the services actually provided and the costs incurred (see p. 69);

--review contractors' activities to ensure that payments are made only for supportive services provided and to recover payments that have been claimed improperly (see p. 69); and

--revise its billing instructions to show contractors how monthly invoices should be prepared and how the amounts should be calculated (see p. 72).

Lastly, the Department should monitor effectively contractors' compliances with contract requirements. (See p. 76.)