[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 250 (Friday, December 30, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77439-77440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-8095]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages that require clearance by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Pub. L. 104-13, the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. The 
information collection packages that may be included in this notice are 
for new information collections, approval of existing 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 ways to minimize the 
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; (OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for 
SSA, Fax: 202-395-6974; (SSA), Social Security Administration, DCFAM, 
Attn: Reports Clearance Officer, Fax: 410-965-6400, E-mail: 
[email protected].
    The information collection listed below is 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 a copy of the collection 
instrument by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-965-0454 
or by writing to the address listed above.

Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Process--0960-NEW

Background

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) has provided limited fee 
based Social Security Number (SSN) verification service to private 
businesses and other requesters that obtain a valid, signed consent 
form from the Social Security Number Holder. Based on the consent 
forms, SSA verifies the Number Holders' SSNs for the requesting party. 
The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a(b), section 1106 of the Social 
Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1306, and SSA regulation at 20 CFR 401.100 
establish the legal authority for SSA to provide SSN verifications to 
third party requesters based on consent. Currently, the consent-based 
SSN verification service for high volume requesters is a paper-driven, 
labor-intensive process. In recent years, the demand for SSN 
verification has grown within the business community. As a result, SSA 
is developing an Agency strategy to perform fee based SSN verifications 
with consent in a high volume, centralized process.
    The Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (CBSV) 
Process is the first phase of the Agency's long term strategy to 
provide the business community with fee based disclosures with consent 
in high volume. SSA is developing CBSV as a user-friendly, Internet-
based application with safeguards that will protect the public's 
information. In addition to the benefit of providing high volume, 
centralized SSN verification services to the business community in a 
secure manner, CBSV also will provide the Agency with inherent cost and 
workload management benefits.

The CBSV Collection

    The CBSV is a fee based automated SSN verification service that can 
be used by private businesses and other requesting parties who register 
with SSA to use the system and have obtained valid consent from Number 
Holders. The purpose of the information collection is to verify for the 
requesting party that the submitted name and SSN match or do not match 
the information contained in the SSA records. After completing a 
registration process and paying the fee, the requesting party can 
submit a file through the CBSV Internet application containing names of 
Number Holders who have given valid consent, along with each Number 
Holder's accompanying SSN and date of birth (if available). The Agency 
matches the information against SSA's Master File of Social Security 
Numbers, using SSN, name, date of birth and gender code (if available). 
The requesting party retrieves the results file from SSA; the results 
file indicates a match or no match for each SSN submitted.
    Under the CBSV process, the requesting party does not submit the 
consent forms to SSA. SSA will require each requesting party to retain 
a valid consent form for each SSN verification request for a period of 
six years. The requesting party is permitted to retain the consent 
forms in either electronic or paper format.
    To ensure the integrity of the CBSV Process, SSA has added a strong 
audit component that requires audits (called ``compliance reviews'') at 
the discretion of the agency with all audit costs to be borne by the 
requesting party. These reviews will be conducted by independent 
certified public accountants (CPAs) to ensure compliance with all the 
terms and conditions of the parties' agreement with SSA, including a 
review of the consent forms. This review is performed at the requesting 
party's place of business to ensure the integrity of the process. In 
addition, SSA reserves the right to perform unannounced onsite 
inspections of the entire process including review of the technical 
systems which maintain the data and transaction records at the 
requesting party's place of business.
    The respondents to the CBSV collection are the participating 
companies, members of the public who consent to the SSN verification, 
and CPAs who provide compliance review services.
    Type of Request: New information collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                    Average of
                                                     Number of     Frequency of     burden per     Annual burden
          Respondent               Requirement      respondents      response        response         (hours)
                                                     per year                        (minutes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Participating Companies.......  Completion of                150               1             120             300
                                 Registration
                                 Process.
                                Creation of file             150            *251             120          75,300
                                 of SSN
                                 requests, data
                                 entry, file
                                 formatting, and
                                 maintaining
                                 required
                                 documentation
                                 and forms.

[[Page 77440]]

 
                                Using the system             150             251              75          47,063
                                 to upload
                                 request file,
                                 check status,
                                 and download
                                 results file.
                                Storing consent              150             251              60          37,650
                                 forms.
                                Activities                   150               1             120             300
                                 related to
                                 compliance
                                 review.
General Public Whose SSNs Will  Reading and            6,900,000               1               3         345,000
 Be Verified.                    signing
                                 Authorization
                                 for the Social
                                 Security
                                 Administration
                                 to Release
                                 Social Security
                                 Number
                                 Verification
                                 (Form SSA-89
                                 a.k.a. consent
                                 form).
                                Responding to              7,500               1               5             625
                                 CPA re-contact;
                                 each CPA
                                 contacts 50
                                 people.
CPAs..........................  Conducting                   150               1           4,800          12,000
                                 compliance
                                 review and
                                 preparing
                                 written report
                                 of findings.
    Total.....................                         6,907,800  ..............  ..............        518,238
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Please note there are 251 Federal business days per year (excluding Federal holidays) on which a requesting
  party could submit a file.

    The estimated first year cost burden to be shared by all 
participating companies for the CBSV service is--$7,154,589.00. This 
cost figure represents the agency's estimated staff requirements, 
agency systems development costs, annual account set-up fee, company 
cost per file submitted and files storage and maintenance costs, and 
company cost for the services of a CPA to perform compliance reviews.

    Dated: December 22, 2005.
Elizabeth A. Davidson,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. E5-8095 Filed 12-29-05; 8:45 am]
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