[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53472-53473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14025]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No: SSA-2024-0023]


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 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, Fax: 
202-395-6974
(SSA) Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance 
Director, Mail Stop 3253 Altmeyer, 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 by clicking on Currently under Review--Open for 
Public Comments and choosing to click on one of SSA's published items. 
Please reference Docket ID Number [SSA-2024-0023] in your submitted 
response.
    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 August 26, 
2024. Individuals can obtain copies of the collection instruments by 
writing to the above email address.

Transition Exploration Demonstration (TED)--0960-NEW

Background

    SSA is requesting clearance to collect data necessary to evaluate 
the Transition Exploration Demonstration (TED) under the Interventional 
Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP). SSA awarded its second set of 
cooperative agreements for ICAP on December 22, 2022. ICAP allows SSA 
to partner with various non-federal groups and organizations to advance 
interventional research connected to the Supplemental Security Income 
(SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs. SSA 
awarded Mathematica a cooperative agreement to lead the Transition 
Exploration Demonstration (TED), which will help youth with 
disabilities transition successfully into the adult labor force and 
competitive, integrated employment.
    In addition, Mathematica is partnering with the Pennsylvania Office 
of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) to recruit youth and deliver 
intervention services and the University of Maryland's Center for 
Transition and Career Innovation (UMD) to provide training and 
technical assistance to OVR.

TED Project Description

    The Transition Exploration (TE) intervention is part of a broader 
effort by policymakers to identify new approaches to help potential 
beneficiaries and their families many of whom have low income, increase 
their incomes and self-sufficiency through work. The TE evaluation will 
assess the effect of TED services on employment and earnings; 
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability 
Insurance (SSDI) benefit receipt; satisfaction; and well-being. TED 
will include the following three components: (1) implementation 
analysis; (2) impact analysis; and (3) benefit cost analysis:
     Implementation Analysis: will yield critical information 
about the rollout and administration of TED, such as implications for 
the impact analysis and for developing relationships with community 
partners. Specifically, the implementation analysis will assess (1) 
whether the intervention was implemented as intended; (2) what 
successes and challenges were encountered during service delivery, and 
(3) how OVR developed new or stronger collaborative relationships with 
community partners.
     Impact Analysis: will leverage the experimental design to 
provide rigorous quantitative estimates of the effects of TED on the 
outcomes of enrollees. Because the study uses random assignment, the 
treatment and control group members will have similar observed and 
unobserved characteristics in statistical expectation when they enroll 
in the study. Hence, the evaluation's impact estimates will provide an 
unbiased assessment of whether the intervention can help youth with 
disabilities earn or work more, become less reliant on SSI or SSDI 
benefits, and experience greater satisfaction and well-being.
     Benefit-Cost Analysis: will assess whether the impacts of 
TED on enrollee outcomes are large enough to justify the resources 
required to produce them. By placing a dollar value on each benefit and 
cost of the intervention, a benefit-

[[Page 53473]]

cost analysis can summarize in one statistic all the intervention's 
diverse impacts and cost.
    TED will provide SSA with empirical evidence on the impact of the 
intervention on youth in several outcome areas: (1) employment and 
earnings; (2) SSI and SSDI benefit receipt; and (3) other related 
outcomes, such as satisfaction and well-being. A rigorous evaluation of 
TED is important to help SSA and other interested parties assess 
promising options to improve employment-related outcomes and decrease 
benefit receipts. Mathematica is directing TED and evaluating it via a 
randomized controlled trial.
    OVR will recruit 700 youth into TED over a two-year period. 
Potential enrollees include all residents in the city of Philadelphia 
and the surrounding four counties in Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, 
Delaware, and Montgomery) ages 16 to 24 who qualify for vocational 
rehabilitation (VR) services; have never signed an individualized plan 
for employment with OVR; and are capable of giving informed consent or 
assent. Once enrolled, youth assigned to the control group will remain 
eligible for standard VR services and receive information about how to 
apply to OVR. Youth assigned to the treatment group will open a case 
with OVR and receive enhanced Transition Exploration (TE) services. 
Treatment group members will receive services from a specially trained 
OVR counselor called a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor-TED (VRC-
TED) for up to 12 months. Key enhanced services provided by a VRC-TED 
will include career goal development, referral to intensive training 
programs, referral to other employment-related resources, and intensive 
engagement and follow up. As part of the TE intervention, OVR will 
develop strong collaborative relationships with intensive training 
programs like Job Corps and Year Up to facilitate seamless referrals 
and cooperation. OVR will also provide counseling on SSI, SSDI, and 
other benefits with a goal of helping youth to access them temporarily 
while pursuing full-time work. The respondents are youth with 
disabilities who qualify and are selected by SSA to enroll in TED.

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                                                                                                          Average      Total
                                                                Number of   Frequency of     Total      burden per    annual     Average    Total annual
                    Modality of completion                     respondents    response     number of   response (in   burden   theoretical   opportunity
                                                                                          respondents    minutes)     (hours)  hourly cost      cost
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Informed consent form and release form.......................          700             1          700            10       117      * $7.25       ** $848
Baseline survey..............................................          700             1          700            15       175       * 7.25      ** 1,269
12-month follow-up survey....................................          560             1          560            20       187       * 7.25      ** 1,356
Qualitative data collection with site staff..................           18             2           36            68        41      * 31.48      ** 1,291
Qualitative data collection with treatment group members.....            4             3           12            45         9       * 7.25         ** 65
                                                              ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total....................................................        1,982  ............        2,008  ............       529  ...........        42,829
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* We based this figure on the average minimum wage, as reported by Pennsylvania's Current data at Department of Labor & Industry data (https://www.dli.pa.gov/Individuals/Labor-Management-Relations/llc/Pages/Wage-FAQs.aspx).
*** 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: June 21, 2024.
Naomi Sipple,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-14025 Filed 6-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P