[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 250 (Thursday, December 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78514-78515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-28562]


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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 Public Law 
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 and revisions to 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 
(contact information is listed below).
    (OMB) Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974.
    (SSA) Social Security Administration, DCFAM, Attn: Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1338 Annex Bldg., 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 
21235, Fax: 410-965-6400.
    I. The information collection listed below has been submitted to 
OMB for clearance. Your comments on the information collection would be 
most useful if received by OMB and SSA within 60 days from the date of 
this publication. You can obtain a copy of the OMB clearance package by 
calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-965-0454, or by 
writing to the address listed above.

1. Homeless Outreach Project and Evaluation (HOPE)

Background

    Congress passed the McKinney Act of 1987 in recognition of and in 
an effort to address situations and conditions facing people without 
permanent shelter. The Act funded 15 emergency services and nine 
individual titles to authorize the provision of specific programs by 
Federal agencies. The Act also established the Interagency Council on 
Homelessness (ICH) composed of leaders from 15 Federal agencies who are 
in charge of coordinating efforts to assist people who are homeless. 
During the past decade, SSA and other ICH agencies have compiled 
important data about people who are homeless and have carried out 
evaluations of services which have generated evidence about ``best'' or 
``promising practices'' well suited to combating homelessness.
    In fiscal year 2003, President George W. Bush announced an 
initiative to end chronic homelessness in 10 years. As a result, SSA 
developed Project HOPE and in May 2004 awarded 34 Cooperative 
Agreements to organizations which provide outreach, support services 
and benefit application assistance to the chronically homeless and 
other underserved populations. An additional 7 cooperative agreements 
were awarded in November 2004 for a total of 41. The goal of Project 
HOPE is to improve both the quantity and quality of applications for 
disability benefits. Project HOPE gives focused support to Cooperative 
(co-op) awardees via a training program and ongoing technical 
assistance.

Evaluation of Project HOPE

    SSA is undertaking the project HOPE evaluation to determine the 
effectiveness and the efficiency of the program. To obtain the 
information needed for the evaluation, SSA is developing an interactive 
Web site that will be used by co-op awardees to input client and 
program data, and by SSA to communicate project-wide announcements to 
the awardees. The respondents are HOPE grantees/non-profit social 
services organizations serving people who are homeless & disabled.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 41.
    Frequency of Response: 12.
    Average Burden Per Response: 65 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 533 hours.
    II. The information collection listed below has been submitted to 
OMB for clearance. Your comments on the information collection 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 at 410-965-0454, or by 
writing to the address listed above.

1. Social Security Disability Report--20 CFR 404.1512 & 416.912--0960-
0579

    SSA requires applicants for disability payments to furnish medical, 
work history, and other evidence or information indicating they have an 
impairment which is disabling. The information is used by State DDSs to 
make disability determinations for SSA. The respondents are applicants 
for Title II and Title XVI disability benefits. These applicants may 
provide the information using any of the following modalities: (1) The 
traditional paper form SSA-3368; (2) an interview with an SSA field 
office representative, using the Electronic Disability Collection 
System (EDCS); (3) the Internet (i3368); and (4) a new modality, the 
i3368-PRO, an Internet form designed to be completed by representatives 
of applicants for disability payments. The latter three versions of the 
form collect the same information as the paper form, but may be 
formatted differently and include certain enhancements (ex: self-help 
screens) to guide the claimant or interviewer through the application 
process.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

    Note: In the 60-day Federal Register notice, published on 
November 1, 2004 at 69 FR 63429, the number of respondents for the

[[Page 78515]]

paper version was given as 10,000 and the number of respondents 
using the EDCS modality was listed as 1,956,667. Since publishing 
the Notice, the Agency has realized those numbers should actually be 
reversed, and they are published correctly in the chart below.


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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of     Frequency of     burden per       Estimated
                Collection format                   respondents      response        response      annual burden
                                                                                      (hours)         (hours)
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SSA-3368 (Paper version)........................          10,000               1               1          10,000
Field office/Electronic Disability Collection          1,956,667               1               1       1,956,667
 System (EDCS)..................................
i3368 (Internet version; Hour burden varies from          66,000               1          2\1/2\         165,000
 1\1/2\-3 hours, depending on information
 required)......................................
i3368-PRO.......................................          84,000               1          1\1/2\         126,000
    Totals......................................       2,116,667  ..............  ..............       2,257,667
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    Dated: December 22, 2004.
Elizabeth A. Davidson,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-28562 Filed 12-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P