[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 118 (Wednesday, June 19, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41746-41748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-15397]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and 
Comment Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages that will require clearance by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with P.L. 104-13 
effective October 1, 1995, The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The 
information collection packages that may be included in this notice are 
for new information collections, revisions to OMB-approved information 
collections and extensions (no change) of OMB-approved information 
collections.
    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. Written comments 
and recommendations regarding the information collection(s) should be 
submitted to the OMB Desk Officer and the SSA Reports Clearance Officer 
at the following addresses: (OMB), Office of Management and Budget, 
Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 
725 17th St., NW., Washington, DC 20503; (SSA), Social Security 
Administration, DCFAM, Attn: Reports Clearance Officer, 1-A-21 
Operations Bldg., 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235.
    I. The information collections listed below are pending at SSA and 
will be submitted to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. 
Therefore, your comments should be submitted to SSA within 60 days from 
the date of this publication. You can obtain copies of the collection 
instruments by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-965-
0454, or by writing to the address listed above.
    New Information Collection:

Pay.Gov Pilot--Phase-2 Testing--0960-New

Background

    The Government Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998 directed federal 
agencies to develop electronic service delivery instruments as an 
alternative to traditional paper-based methods. SSA plans to expand its 
Internet services to enable citizens to complete the application 
process as well as to process their requests for post-entitlement 
transactions online. A major requirement for filing applications and 
for processing transactional requests is SSA's ability to adequately 
authenticate the citizen. SSA cannot disclose information unless it is 
under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy 
Act of 1974. Because these transactions will be taking place online, 
SSA must authenticate citizens by asking for information that would 
positively identify the requester of the information as the proper 
party. This information will be validated against identifying 
information residing in databases

[[Page 41747]]

outside of SSA. Resultantly, SSA is planning to conduct a series of 
tests of the Treasury Department's ``Pay.Gov'' authentication engine as 
a possible tool for out-of-band authentication.

The Collection Pay.Gov--Phase-2

    SSA plans to conduct a limited pilot using its online Direct 
Deposit application to test the Treasury Department's Pay.Gov 
authentication engine as a possible tool for the Agency to validate 
beneficiaries online that do not have a current Pin/Password. The 
respondents to this test will be SSA Title II recipients who need to be 
authenticated before access can the granted to SSA's Direct Deposit 
online service.
    Number of Respondents: 161.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 5 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 13 hours.
    Revision of an OMB-approved Information Collection:

Statement for Determining Continuing Eligibility for Supplemental 
Security Income Payments--Adult, Form SSA-3988-TEST; Statement for 
Determining Continuing Eligibility for Supplemental Security Income 
Payments--Child, Form SSA-3989-TEST--0960-0643

Background

    The Social Security Act mandates periodic redeterminations of the 
non-medical factors that relate to the SSI recipients' continuing 
eligibility for SSI payments. Recent SSA studies have indicated that as 
many as \2/3\ of all scheduled redeterminations completed, with the 
assistance of a SSA employee, did not result in any change in 
circumstances that affected payment. Therefore, SSA is planing to 
expand the respondents and revise the test methodology of the currently 
approved test forms. The expansion of the test is needed to further 
validate whether the test redetermination process actually results in 
significant operational savings and a decrease in recipient 
inconvenience, while still timely obtaining the accurate data needed to 
determine continuing eligibility through the process.

The Collection

    A limited test of forms SSA-3988-TEST and SSA-3989-TEST will be 
used to determine whether SSI recipients have met and continue to meet 
all statutory and regulatory non-medical requirements for SSI 
eligibility, and whether they have been and are still receiving the 
correct payment amount. The SSA-3988-TEST and SSA-3989-TEST are 
designed as self-help forms that will be mailed to recipients or to 
their representative payees for completion and return to SSA. The 
objectives of the expanded test are to determine the public's ability 
to understand and accurately complete the test forms. The respondents 
are recipients of SSI benefits or their representatives.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                              Average burden
                                         Respondents        Frequency of       per response     Estimate annual
                                                              response          (minutes)            burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-3988-TEST.......................             46,500                  1                 20             15,500
SSA-3989-TEST.......................              8,500                  1                 20              2,833
                                                                                              ------------------
      Total Annual Burden...........  .................  .................  .................             18,333
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    II. The information collection listed below has been submitted to 
OMB for clearance. Your comments on the information collections would 
be most useful if received by OMB and SSA within 30 days from the date 
of this publication. You can obtain a copy of the OMB clearance package 
by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer on (410) 965-0454, or by 
writing to the address listed above.
    New Information Collection:

Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS)--0960-New

Background

    Under Internal Revenue Service regulations, employers are obligated 
to provide wage and tax data to SSA using form W-2, Wage and Tax 
Statement or its electronic equivalent. As part of this process, the 
employer must furnish the employee's name and their Social Security 
Number (SSN). This information must match SSA's records in order for 
the employee's wage and tax data to be properly posted to their 
Earnings Record. Information that is incorrectly provided to the Agency 
must be corrected by the employer using an amended reporting form, 
which is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process for both SSA and 
the employer. Therefore, to help ensure that employers provide accurate 
name and SSN information, SSA plans to offer a free and secure Internet 
service for employers, SSNVS, that will allow them to perform advance 
verification of their employees' name and SSN information against SSA 
records.

SSNVS Collection

    SSA will use the information collected through the SSNVS to verify 
that employee name and SSN information, provided by employers, matches 
SSA records. SSA will respond to the employer informing them only of 
matches and mismatches of submitted information. SSA plans to conduct a 
pilot with a limited number of test employers followed by national 
implementation. Respondents are employers who provide wage and tax data 
to SSA and have elected to participate in the pilot and the future 
national service.
Pilot Burden Hours Estimate
    Number of Respondents: 100.
    Frequency of Response: 10.
    Average Burden Per Response: 5 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 83 hours.
National Implementation Burden Hours Estimate
    Number of Respondents: 1,000,000.
    Frequency of Response: 10.
    Average Burden Per Response: 5 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 833,333 hours.


    Please note: SSA estimates that each respondent will access the 
SSNVS an average of 10 times annually.

Revisions to OMB-approved Information Collections:
    1. Statement for Determining Continuing Eligibility, Supplemental 
Security Income Payment--0960-0145--Forms SSA-8202-F6 and SSA-8202-OCR-
SM
    SSA uses form SSA-8202-F6 to conduct low- and middle-error-profile 
(LEP-MEP) telephone or face-to-face redetermination (RZ) interviews 
with Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and representative 
payees. The information collected during the interview is used to 
determine whether SSI recipients have met and continue to meet all 
statutory and regulatory requirements for SSI eligibility and whether 
they have been, and are still receiving, the correct payment amount.

[[Page 41748]]

Form SSA-8202-OCR-SM (Optical Character Recognition-Self Mailer) 
collects information similar to that collected on Form SSA-8202-F6. 
However it is used exclusively in LEP RZ cases on a 6-year cycle. The 
respondents are recipients of SSI benefits or their representative 
payees.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                              Average burden
                                         Respondents        Frequency of       per response     Estimated annual
                                                              response          (minutes)        burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-8202-F6.........................            920,000                  1                 18           276,000.
SSA-8202-OCR-SM.....................            800,000                  1                  9           120,000.
                                                                                              ------------------
      Total Burden..................  .................  .................  .................           396,000.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Statement for Determining Continuing Eligibility for Supplemental 
Security Income Payments--0960-0416
    SSA uses the information collected on form SSA-8203-BK for high-
error-profile (HEP) redeterminations of disability to determine whether 
SSI recipients have met and continue to meet all statutory and 
regulatory requirements for SSI eligibility and whether they have been, 
and are still receiving, the correct payment amount. The information is 
normally completed in field offices by personal contact (face-to-face 
or telephone interview) using the automated Modernized SSI Claim System 
(MSSICS). The respondents are recipients of title XVI SSI benefits.
    Number of Respondents: 920,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 18 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 276,000 hours.

    Dated: June 12, 2002.
Elizabeth A. Davidson,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-15397 Filed 6-18-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P