Required Federal Reporting

State Plan

The State Plan serves as the application for Section 4 AT Act formula funding and identifies which AT Act activities the Section 4 State AT Program grantee will conduct (or if the grantee claims comparability or flexibility) and how they will be implemented as part of the State AT Program. It covers a three year period initially with required interim updates annually. The plan is reviewed by ACL to ensure it conforms to the State Plan instructions and the requirements of the AT Act. The content of the State Plan is directly linked to the requirements for reporting annual data to ACL as described in the next section. Together these two data reports satisfy the federal data reporting requirements of Section 4 of the AT Act for the 56 Section 4 formula funded grantees.

The 2017 State Plan update was due March 10th, 2017 and included the following:

  • Identification and description of Lead Agency and Implementing Entity (if applicable), how they collaborate with each other and if any changes have occurred in those designations
  • Description of the Advisory Council and how it meets AT Act requirements
  • Information on budget allocations, actual expenditures and identification of activities conducted as part of the State AT Program for which required data will be reported by the State AT Program.
  • Description of how each State-level and State Leadership activity included in the State Plan will be implemented
  • Description of involvement of and coordination and collaboration with public and private entities, including resource commitments, to conduct the AT Act activities
  • Description of measurable goals (with target goals set by ACL and actual performance measure data reported in the Annual Progress Report).

A new three year State Plan will be due in the spring of 2018.

Annual Progress Report

Each State AT Program is required to submit the Annual Progress Report (APR) by December 31 of each year. The APR covers the period of October 1st through September 30th of each fiscal year and includes all the data elements required by Section 4(f) of the AT Act for state financing, device loan, reuse, device demonstration, training, technical assistance, public awareness, information and referral, state improvement outcomes, and leveraged funding. APR data must be reported for each activity included as part of your State Plan for AT.

The State Plan for Assistive Technology data collection document along with the Annual Progress Report (APR) data collection instrument and instruction manual are reference documents that should be easily accessed and frequently utilized by all State AT Program Directors.

Online Data Reporting

CATADA has developed and supports the web-based data reporting system for the State Plan for AT and the Annual Progress Report (APR) called the National Assistive Technology Act Data System, (NATADS). This is an aggregate data reporting system used by State AT Programs (Section 4 formula funded grantees) to submit the required data elements of the State Plan for AT and the APR pursuant to the AT Act mandates. NATADS primary purpose is to serve as the official data collection mechanism for the Section 4 formula funded grantees. It is not designed to provide a comprehensive data management system for internal operation of State AT Programs nor are their resources to support development of such a system. Primary CATADA technical assistance for data reporting (State Plan and APR) is provided by Diane Golden who can be contacted at .

The CATADA website provides a wealth of data on all State AT Programs gathered from the APR for fiscal years 2013, 2014, and 2015. In addition, publications that summarize State AT Program data by fiscal year can be accessed and downloaded from the CATADA website.

CATADA has developed a web-based day-to-day data collection system that can be used by Section 4 State AT Programs for reporting data for all activities included in the State Plan for AT and required by the Annual Progress Report (APR). This system covers all the required data elements for all Section 4 authorized State AT Program activities, State Financing, Reuse, Device Loan, Device Demonstration, Training, etc. The system allows for data entry by multiple people and sites in an online format with the State AT Program controlling access. For more information about this system please contact Vance Dhooge .

Performance Measures

ACL has established three types of measurable goals: (1) Access to AT Goals, (2) Acquisition of AT Goals, and (3) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Goals.

  1. Access Goals relate to the state level activities of device loan for a decision-making purpose and device demonstration. The State will show that it has improved access to AT by reaching the ACL set target percentage of individuals and entities who accessed device demonstration programs or device loan programs and made a decision about an AT device or service as a result of the assistance they received. The Access Goal performance measure data is found in the Annual Progress Report (APR) for State Assistive Technology Programs.
  1. Acquisition Goals relate to the state level activities of state financing, device reutilization, and device loan for purposes other than decision-making. The State will show that it has improved acquisition by reaching the ACL set target percentage of individuals and entities who obtained devices or services from State financing activities or reutilization programs who would not have obtained that AT device or service. The Acquisition Goal performance measure data is found in the Annual Progress Report (APR) for State Assistive Technology Programs.
  1. ICT Accessibility Goal is focused on obtaining an outcome/result from information and communication technology accessibility training including improvement of policies procedures or practices in the areas of website and software development and procurement. The State will show that is has improved ICT training results by reaching the ACL set target percentage of participants reporting a targeted outcome. The ICT Training performance measure data is found in the Annual Progress Report (APR) for State Assistive Technology Programs.

Federal Reporting Resources

Note that these are word docs that need to be inserted here or made hot links. All but the calendar are currently at

2017 Annual AT Program Administrative Calendar

Federal Reporting Requirements Table

2015-2017 State Plan and Instructions

2015-2017 Annual Data Report Instruction Manual

2015-2017 Annual Data Report Instrument

Who to Contact for Help

Contact the AT3 Center for help with programmatic requirements, program implementation, program management or any other aspect of training and technical assistance.

Contact your ACL Grants Management Specialist for questions related to your notice of award, grant amendments, continuation awards, or other questions related to the terms and conditions of your award.

Contact CATADA for technical assistance with required annual federal data reporting (State Plan and Annual Progress Report).