UI Integrity Center of Excellence Operations

Summary

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) intends to award a cooperative agreement to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies' Center for Employment Security Education and Research (NASWA/CESER) for continued operations of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Integrity Center of Excellence (Integrity Center). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) provides Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 funding for federal agencies and provides "... $9,000,000 for continued support of the Unemployment Insurance Integrity Center of Excellence... ." as part of the Department of Labor's appropriation for State Unemployment Insurance and Employment Service Operations. The UI Integrity Center has been operated by the NASWA/CESER since FY 2017. NASWA/CESER is a 501(c)(3) entity incorporated in August 1994 as an education and research arm of the NASWA, which is a national organization of state administrators of the publicly-funded state workforce system and is a leading provider of information technology, education, and research support focused exclusively on UI and workforce development initiatives and activities. The primary mission of the UI Integrity Center is to provide training and technical assistance to states to improve UI program integrity; develop and disseminate UI program integrity resources and promote innovative new tools and products that are transferable and scalable for all states to prevent UI improper payments and enhance fraud prevention solutions; and enable rapid alerts to states on new improper payment practices and fraud schemes as they are identified.