FEDES Introduction
For more than a decade a handful of states, including Florida, Maryland, Alaska and Washington received annual data extracts from selected Federal agencies for state-specific uses. Individual negotiations between a state and the Federal agencies enabled these extracts to be delivered. No one attempted to reach agreement among the states on the timing of the request, the format and modality of state data delivery to each agency, the data fields sought, the deadline for return or the agreed upon price to be paid for the extract.
The pioneers in this exchange began to express concern about a go-it-alone approach, recognizing that joining of forces would achieve efficiencies for the Federal agencies, and that spreading adoption of performance measures with teeth would result in rapid growth in the number of states asking for such data. However, there was, and still is, a degree of concern that transition from a one-on-one, state-to-agency relationship to voluntary group membership would result in a loss of needed content or timing flexibility. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration funded a pilot initiative, the Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES), to test whether state-specific needs can be satisfied so group efficiencies can be realized.
The Jacob France Institute (JFI) is responsible for technical operations, managing the FEDES portal and studying challenges that are encountered in the use of data received by states for WIOA performance reporting purposes. For more information on WIOA reporting Visit https://www.doleta.gov/wioa/Final_Rules_Resources.cfm
Participating in FEDES
To participate in FEDES, a state must have a signed data sharing agreement
Once the agreement has been fully executed, the state will be able to join in the next FEDES cycle. JFI will assist the States, setting them up in the system and provide the Technical Operations Handbook and schedule of quarterly cycles. The state representative and data contact will be placed on the FEDES notification email list and receive all information pertaining to upcoming FEDES cycles.
There is no charge to states for participating in FEDES.
For more information or questions regarding the FEDES project contact Stacey Lee (410)837-4687