[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 176 (Monday, September 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49533-49535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-23703]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Public Law 104-13, the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995, SSA is providing notice of its information collections that 
require submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). SSA is 
soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden estimate; 
the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to enhance 
its quality, utility and clarity; and on ways to minimize burden on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    I. The information collections listed below will be submitted to 
OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. Therefore, comments 
and recommendations regarding the information collections would be most 
useful if received by the Agency within 60 days from the date of this 
publication. Comments should be directed to the SSA Reports Clearance 
Officer at the address listed at the end of this publication. You can 
obtain a copy of the collection instruments by calling the SSA Reports 
Clearance Officer on (410) 965-4145, or by writing to him at the 
address listed at the end of this publication.

1. Referral System for Vocational Rehabilitation Providers 0960--
NEW

Background

    In 1996 the Social Security Administration (SSA) initiated an 
innovative expansion of its vocational rehabilitation (VR) referral and 
payment program. Under this program, SSA pays VR providers for the 
costs of VR services provided to disability beneficiaries, if such 
services result in the individual going to work at a specified earnings 
level for at least nine months. Throughout this project, SSA has 
expanded its VR program to increase the base of providers who are 
available to serve people with disabilities. By increasing this base, 
more people will be able to get the services they need to go to work, 
become independent of the benefit rolls, and thus achieve savings to 
SSA's trust funds.
    In September 1997, SSA contracted with Birch & Davis Associates, 
Inc. (B&D), to provide management support to its expanded VR referral 
and payment program. This contract is for a three-year demonstration 
project known as the Referral System for Vocational Rehabilitation 
Providers (Project RSVP). SSA continues to be responsible for awarding 
Alternate Participant (AP) contracts to VR providers, determining the 
appropriateness of claims submitted by APs, and reimbursing APs for the 
costs of their services if the requirements for payment are met.
    B&D supports SSA's efforts by marketing to and recruiting VR 
providers, training providers on SSA's VR program requirements, and 
operating an Information and Referral System to link providers with 
beneficiaries. In addition, B&D will conduct surveys of beneficiaries 
and APs to determine customer satisfaction and to identify program 
areas requiring improvement.

Information Collection

    In support of the RSVP project, SSA will conduct semi-annual 
voluntary information collections of both AP's and Beneficiaries/
Recipients (B/R). The data collection effort will be conducted in 
survey format and has four goals:
    1. To help program administrators understand the reasons for 
varying levels of satisfaction with the program; 2. To help program 
administrators understand the potential causes for varying levels of 
success of the program; 3. To guide program change; and 4. If 
necessary, to plan continuation of the program after the initial trial 
period.
    Through these voluntary surveys, SSA will collect three types of 
data:
    1. Descriptive data that describe the B/R and data that describe 
the APs' vocational rehabilitation practice that are not available and 
are necessary to evaluate respondents' satisfaction in the context of 
their actual experience; 2. Quantitative data on B/R and AP 
satisfaction with the program; and 3. Free-text comments by B/Rs and 
APs regarding their experience with the program.
    The data will be aggregated for all B/Rs and for all APs. A semi-
annual report will be generated for SSA. The information will be used 
by AP program administrators at SSA and by B&D project management 
staff. The respondents will be SSI/SSDI beneficiaries and APs under 
contract with SSA to provide vocational rehabilitation services to 
beneficiaries.

[[Page 49534]]



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                                                                                         Average      Estimated
                                                            Number of   Frequency of   burden per      annual
                       Survey form                         respondents    response      response       burden
                                                                                        (minutes)      (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Survey for APs who have submitted claims................            12             2            20             8
Survey for APs who have not submitted a claim...........           314             2            20           210
Survey for B/Rs who have signed a Rehabilitation or                 44             2            20            30
 Employment Plan........................................
Survey for B/Rs who have not signed a Rehabilitation or          2,000             2            20         1,334
 Employment Plan........................................
                                                         -------------------------------------------------------
    Total Annual Burden Hours Requested.................  ............  ............  ............         1,582
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. Statement of Income and Resources--0960-0124. The information 
collected by the Social Security Administration on Form SSA-8010 is 
necessary in the SSI eligibility/payment process. Information about the 
income and resources of ineligible spouses/parents/children and 
sponsors of aliens is used in the ``Deeming'' process. ``Deeming'' is 
the attribution of another's income to an eligible individual/child/
alien. The respondents are ineligible spouses, parents, and children 
who live in the same household as an eligible individual/child, and 
sponsors of aliens.
    Number of Respondents: 355,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 25 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 147,917 hours.
    II. The information collections listed below have been submitted to 
OMB for clearance. Written comments and recommendations on the 
information collections would be most useful if received within 30 days 
from the date of this publication. Comments should be directed to the 
SSA Reports Clearance Officer and the OMB Desk Officer at the addresses 
listed at the end of this publication. You can obtain a copy of the OMB 
clearance packages by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer on 
(410) 965-4145, or by writing to him.
    1. Application for Supplemental Security Income-0960-0444. The 
information collected on the SSA-8001 is used by the Social Security 
Administration to determine whether applicants for SSI benefits meet 
all statutory and regulatory requirements for eligibility and, if so, 
the amount of benefits payable. The respondents are applicants for SSI 
benefits.
    Number of Respondents: 1,011,046.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 252,762 hours.
    2. 0960-NEW. State Partnership Initiative (SPI) Cooperative 
Agreements. Executive Order (E.O.) 13078 dated March 13, 1998, 
Increasing Employment of Adults With Disabilities, orders that a 
National Task Force be established to create a coordinated and 
aggressive national policy to bring adults with disabilities into 
gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of 
the general adult population. E.O. 13078 specifies that the Task Force 
``evaluate and, where appropriate, coordinate and collaborate on, 
research and demonstration priorities of Task Force member agencies 
related to employment of adults with disabilities.''
    To comply with the E.O., SSA released cooperative agreement 
announcements in 1998 to approximately 650 State agencies nationwide to 
conduct demonstration projects that assist States in developing service 
delivery models that increase the rates of gainful employment of people 
with disabilities. Eighteen State agencies have been selected to 
participate in the demonstration projects.
    SSA has employed a monitoring and technical assistance contractor, 
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to collect information from the 
State awardees' databases on behalf of SSA. VCU will use the 
information to evaluate whether and to what extent the service delivery 
models achieve the overall goals of the demonstration projects and will 
report project results to SSA. SSA will use the results to conduct a 
net outcome evaluation to determine the long term effectiveness of the 
interventions.
    Following is a table that outlines the public reporting burden of 
State agencies for this project:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                           Average     Estimated
                                                                       Frequency of       burden per    annual
      Title of collection               Number of responses              response          response     burden
                                                                                         (minute(s))   (hour(s))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonstration Site Form........  16 (electronic).................  One Time............            1          .3
                                 2 (manual)......................  One Time............            1          .1
Participant Demographic Data     3,080 (electronic)..............  One Time............           15         770
 Form.
                                 300 (manual)....................  One Time............           20         100
Participant Employment Data      3,080 (electronic)..............  One Time............            5         257
 Form.
                                 300 (manual)....................  One Time............            7          35
Participant Update Form........  3,080 (electronic)..............  Quarterly...........            4         821
                                 300 (manual)....................  Quarterly...........            5         100
Change in Employment Status....  1,540 (electronic)..............  (\1\)...............            3          77
                                 150 (manual)....................  (\1\)...............            4          10
State Quarterly and............  72..............................  Quarterly...........        (\2\)          18
State Semiannual and...........  36..............................  Semiannual..........        (\2\)           9
Annual Reports.................  18..............................  Annual..............        (\2\)         4.5
Stakeholder Interviews.........  50..............................  Varies per                     10         8.3
                                                                    Stakeholder.
                                --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total......................  ................................  ....................  ...........    2,210.2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Completed only if employment changes.
\2\ 15 minutes for each report.


[[Page 49535]]

(SSA Address), Social Security Administration, DCFAM, Attn: Frederick 
W. Brickenkamp, 6401 Security Blvd., 1-A-21 Operations Bldg., 
Baltimore, MD 21235.
(OMB Address), Office of Management and Budget, OIRA, Attn: Lori 
Schack, New Executive Office Building, Room 10230, 725 17th St., NW, 
Washington, DC 20503.

    Dated: September 7, 1999.
Frederick W. Brickenkamp,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-23703 Filed 9-10-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4190-29-P