Committee presses for details on USDOL-funded CBIN apprenticeship standards project

Stephanie Dolan, associate director of planning and policy for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, told the committee the project is a USDOL‑funded effort to develop a framework for apprenticeship standards interoperability and is being carried out through a subaward to CBIN. “This is our second year,” Dolan said, adding the current contract figure for this year as $11,000,875 and describing CBIN as “the key element because they actually have the only availability of the framework that develops these standards that we can apply to all of these other entities in the work.”

Dolan said the federal government approached Alabama because of the state’s apprenticeship advocacy and that the work is dispersed across multiple subawardees and partners. She described the effort as a four‑year extension and noted other states have larger-dollar federal projects in similar work.

A senator said the committee needed more detail about why the project carries the estimated federal amount and asked to hold the item until additional information on scope, subawards and outcomes is provided. The senator said, in part, “I need to know more about this… I’d like to hold this at this time until I can learn more about this.” The chair agreed to obtain and circulate further information to the committee.

Why it matters: The project aims to create interoperable apprenticeship standards that could affect how registered apprenticeships transfer across states and how employer and education partners certify competencies. Because the effort is federally funded and involves a sole‑source subaward, committee members sought clarity on cost allocation, measurable outcomes and whether sufficient competitive procurement steps were taken.

What’s next: The committee placed the item on hold pending additional written information about the contract amount, the subaward structure and evaluation metrics. The Commission on Higher Education committed to provide requested materials to members.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 136, topfinish SEG 226