[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13004-13005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04133]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No. SSA-2023-0009]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages requiring clearance by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law 104-13, the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. This notice 
includes one new information collection for OMB-approval.
    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 burden 
on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology. Mail, email, or fax your 
comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) to the 
OMB Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following 
addresses or fax numbers.
    (OMB) Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA. 
Comments: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Submit your 
comments online referencing Docket ID Number [SSA-2023-0009].
    (SSA) Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance 
Director, 3100 West High Rise, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 
21235, Fax: 833-410-1631, Email address: [email protected].
    Or you may submit your comments online through https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, referencing Docket ID Number [SSA-
2023-0009].
    The information collection below is pending at SSA. SSA will submit 
it to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. To be sure we 
consider your comments, we must receive them no later than May 1, 2023. 
Individuals can obtain copies of the collection instrument by writing 
to the above email address.

eSubmit--20 CFR 404.704; 404.1512, 416.912, and 422.505--0960-NEW

Background

    From March 17, 2020, through April 7, 2022, because of the 
Coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency, SSA encouraged the 
public to use our online and automated telephone services while we 
offered limited in-person services in field offices. The increased 
volume of documents sent to our field offices presented an enormous 
challenge to SSA, as we had limited staff on site to process the mail 
at that time. This limited the time the field office staff had to 
review and process those submissions or work directly with the public. 
To lessen the burden on front-line employees and managers, allow staff 
more time to work with the public and process the information we 
receive, and to modernize form submission and document intake, we are 
creating a new service called eSubmit.

eSubmit

    SSA is introducing eSubmit, a new way individuals can submit 
evidence and forms to SSA online. In the digital age, individuals 
expect to complete transactions online, including submission of 
documents and forms to government agencies. The agency already offers 
several self-service specific options for individuals to submit forms 
and other documents online, including the Electronic Protective Filing 
Tool, ePFT (OMB No. 0960-0826), internet Social Security Benefits 
Application, iClaim (OMB No. 0960-0618), and iAppeals (OMB No. 0960-
0269 & 0960-0622).
    eSubmit is a secure upload portal which respondents will use to 
submit documents and forms to SSA. To ensure the success of eSubmit, we 
will roll out the new application in several phases. The first phase 
will allow respondents to provide select documents (evidence that does 
not need to be certified or evidence which the agency does not require 
to be an original, also known collectively as ``non original 
documentation,'' and first-party forms that do not require a signature) 
to SSA electronically. Individuals must provide this information 
themselves since they will have to authenticate with their own 
information through one of several authentication methods (i.e., 
Login.gov, ID.me, or SSA's Public Credentialing and Authentication 
Process).
    During this initial phase for eSubmit, we will ask the individual 
to be in contact, via a telephone or face-to-face interview, with SSA 
for a business matter (e.g., filing a claim, performing a

[[Page 13005]]

redetermination, or updating their personal information). During the 
interaction, the SSA technician will inform the individual verbally 
that SSA requires additional information to support their request and 
will offer the opportunity to provide the information electronically 
via the eSubmit application. After the individual grants consent to 
receive an email from SSA, the technician will send an email with the 
link to eSubmit along with instructions on how to access eSubmit. The 
system will only make the electronic submission process available for 
up to 30 days from the date of the email. Concurrently, the system will 
generate a paper notice containing more details about the request, and 
the SSA technician will send it through postal mail to the respondent. 
Once the respondent authenticates and arrives at the eSubmit dashboard, 
the system will present the respondent with information regarding the 
items SSA requested for submission (examples of the documentation SSA 
may request includes forms or non-standardized evidence to support the 
request [e.g., pay stubs, bank statements, pension award letters, tax 
documents, child support payment history, etc.]). From this screen, the 
individual will be able to upload the corresponding files from an 
electronic device. Once they finish uploading the documents, the 
respondents must select the Submit button to complete the action and 
the system will present them with an indicator of success or failure. 
The system will also notify the technician who requested the document 
that the document is available for review and consideration. 
Respondents are first-party individuals who choose to use the internet 
to conduct business with us.
    Type of Request: Request for a new information collection.

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                                                                                                        Average        Average wait
                                                                   Average burden  Estimated total    theoretical        time for        Total annual
    Modality of completion         Number of       Frequency of     per response    annual burden     hourly cost      teleservice     opportunity cost
                                  respondents        response        (minutes)         (hours)           amount           center         (dollars) ***
                                                                                                      (dollars) *      (minutes) **
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Internet version..............       1,107,658                1                7          129,227         * $28.01            ** 19     *** $13,444,380
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* We based these figures on average U.S. worker's hourly wages (based on BLS.gov data, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm).
** We based this figure on average FY 2023 wait times for teleservice centers (approximately 19 minutes per respondent), based on SSA's current
  management information data.
*** This figure does not represent actual costs that SSA is imposing on recipients of Social Security payments to complete this application; rather,
  these are theoretical opportunity costs for the additional time respondents will spend to complete the application. There is no actual charge to
  respondents to complete the application.


    Dated: February 23, 2023.
Naomi Sipple,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-04133 Filed 2-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P