Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and Comment Request

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and

Comment Request

In compliance with Public Law 104-13, the Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995, SSA is providing notice of its information collections that

require submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 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.

I. The information collections listed below will be submitted to

OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. Therefore, comments

and recommendations regarding the information collections would be most

useful if received by the Agency within 60 days from the date of this

publication. Comments should be directed to the SSA Reports Clearance

Officer at the address listed at the end of this publication. You can

obtain a copy of the collection instruments by calling the SSA Reports

Clearance Officer on (410) 965-4145, or by writing to him at the

address listed at the end of this publication.

1. Referral System for Vocational Rehabilitation Providers 0960--

NEW

Background

In 1996 the Social Security Administration (SSA) initiated an

innovative expansion of its vocational rehabilitation (VR) referral and

payment program. Under this program, SSA pays VR providers for the

costs of VR services provided to disability beneficiaries, if such

services result in the individual going to work at a specified earnings

level for at least nine months. Throughout this project, SSA has

expanded its VR program to increase the base of providers who are

available to serve people with disabilities. By increasing this base,

more people will be able to get the services they need to go to work,

become independent of the benefit rolls, and thus achieve savings to

SSA's trust funds.

In September 1997, SSA contracted with Birch & Davis Associates,

Inc. (B&D), to provide management support to its expanded VR referral

and payment program. This contract is for a three-year demonstration

project known as the Referral System for Vocational Rehabilitation

Providers (Project RSVP). SSA continues to be responsible for awarding

Alternate Participant (AP) contracts to VR providers, determining the

appropriateness of claims submitted by APs, and reimbursing APs for the

costs of their services if the requirements for payment are met.

B&D supports SSA's efforts by marketing to and recruiting VR

providers, training providers on SSA's VR program requirements, and

operating an Information and Referral System to link providers with

beneficiaries. In addition, B&D will conduct surveys of beneficiaries

and APs to determine customer satisfaction and to identify program

areas requiring improvement.

Information Collection

In support of the RSVP project, SSA will conduct semi-annual

voluntary information collections of both AP's and Beneficiaries/

Recipients (B/R). The data collection effort will be conducted in

survey format and has four goals:

1. To help program administrators understand the reasons for

varying levels of satisfaction with the program; 2. To help program

administrators understand the potential causes for varying levels of

success of the program; 3. To guide program change; and 4. If

necessary, to plan continuation of the program after the initial trial

period.

Through these voluntary surveys, SSA will collect three types of

data:

1. Descriptive data that describe the B/R and data that describe

the APs' vocational rehabilitation practice that are not available and

are necessary to evaluate respondents' satisfaction in the context of

their actual experience; 2. Quantitative data on B/R and AP

satisfaction with the program; and 3. Free-text comments by B/Rs and

APs regarding their experience with the program.

The data will be aggregated for all B/Rs and for all APs. A semi-

annual report will be generated for SSA. The information will be used

by AP program administrators at SSA and by B&D project management

staff. The respondents will be SSI/SSDI beneficiaries and APs under

contract with SSA to provide vocational rehabilitation services to

beneficiaries.

[[Page 49534]]

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Average Estimated

Number of Frequency of burden per annual

Survey form respondents response response burden

(minutes) (hours)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Survey for APs who have submitted claims................ 12 2 20 8

Survey for APs who have not submitted a claim........... 314 2 20 210

Survey for B/Rs who have signed a Rehabilitation or 44 2 20 30

Employment Plan........................................

Survey for B/Rs who have not signed a Rehabilitation or 2,000 2 20 1,334

Employment Plan........................................

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Total Annual Burden Hours Requested................. ............ ............ ............ 1,582

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2. Statement of Income and Resources--0960-0124. The information

collected by the Social Security Administration on Form SSA-8010 is

necessary in the SSI eligibility/payment process. Information about the

income and resources of ineligible spouses/parents/children and

sponsors of aliens is used in the ``Deeming'' process. ``Deeming'' is

the attribution of another's income to an eligible individual/child/

alien. The respondents are ineligible spouses, parents, and children

who live in the same household as an eligible individual/child, and

sponsors of aliens.

Number of Respondents: 355,000.

Frequency of Response: 1.

Average Burden Per Response: 25 minutes.

Estimated Annual Burden: 147,917 hours.

II. The information collections listed below have been submitted to

OMB for clearance. Written comments and recommendations on the

information collections would be most useful if received within 30 days

from the date of this publication. Comments should be directed to the

SSA Reports Clearance Officer and the OMB Desk Officer at the addresses

listed at the end of this publication. You can obtain a copy of the OMB

clearance packages by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer on

(410) 965-4145, or by writing to him.

1. Application for Supplemental Security Income-0960-0444. The

information collected on the SSA-8001 is used by the Social Security

Administration to determine whether applicants for SSI benefits meet

all statutory and regulatory requirements for eligibility and, if so,

the amount of benefits payable. The respondents are applicants for SSI

benefits.

Number of Respondents: 1,011,046.

Frequency of Response: 1.

Average Burden Per Response: 15 minutes.

Estimated Annual Burden: 252,762 hours.

2. 0960-NEW. State Partnership Initiative (SPI) Cooperative

Agreements. Executive Order (E.O.) 13078 dated March 13, 1998,

Increasing Employment of Adults With Disabilities, orders that a

National Task Force be established to create a coordinated and

aggressive national policy to bring adults with disabilities into

gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of

the general adult population. E.O. 13078 specifies that the Task Force

``evaluate and, where appropriate, coordinate and collaborate on,

research and demonstration priorities of Task Force member agencies

related to employment of adults with disabilities.''

To comply with the E.O., SSA released cooperative agreement

announcements in 1998 to approximately 650 State agencies nationwide to

conduct demonstration projects that assist States in developing service

delivery models that increase the rates of gainful employment of people

with disabilities. Eighteen State agencies have been selected to

participate in the demonstration projects.

SSA has employed a monitoring and technical assistance contractor,

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to collect information from the

State awardees' databases on behalf of SSA. VCU will use the

information to evaluate whether and to what extent the service delivery

models achieve the overall goals of the demonstration projects and will

report project results to SSA. SSA will use the results to conduct a

net outcome evaluation to determine the long term effectiveness of the

interventions.

Following is a table that outlines the public reporting burden of

State agencies for this project:

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Average Estimated

Frequency of burden per annual

Title of collection Number of responses response response burden

(minute(s)) (hour(s))

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Demonstration Site Form........ 16 (electronic)................. One Time............ 1 .3

2 (manual)...................... One Time............ 1 .1

Participant Demographic Data 3,080 (electronic).............. One Time............ 15 770

Form.

300 (manual).................... One Time............ 20 100

Participant Employment Data 3,080 (electronic).............. One Time............ 5 257

Form.

300 (manual).................... One Time............ 7 35

Participant Update Form........ 3,080 (electronic).............. Quarterly........... 4 821

300 (manual).................... Quarterly........... 5 100

Change in Employment Status.... 1,540 (electronic).............. (\1\)............... 3 77

150 (manual).................... (\1\)............... 4 10

State Quarterly and............ 72.............................. Quarterly........... (\2\) 18

State Semiannual and........... 36.............................. Semiannual.......... (\2\) 9

Annual Reports................. 18.............................. Annual.............. (\2\) 4.5

Stakeholder Interviews......... 50.............................. Varies per 10 8.3

Stakeholder.

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Total...................... ................................ .................... ........... 2,210.2

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\1\ Completed only if employment changes.

\2\ 15 minutes for each report.

[[Page 49535]]

(SSA Address), Social Security Administration, DCFAM, Attn: Frederick

W. Brickenkamp, 6401 Security Blvd., 1-A-21 Operations Bldg.,

Baltimore, MD 21235.

(OMB Address), Office of Management and Budget, OIRA, Attn: Lori

Schack, New Executive Office Building, Room 10230, 725 17th St., NW,

Washington, DC 20503.

Dated: September 7, 1999.

Frederick W. Brickenkamp,

Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.

[FR Doc. 99-23703 Filed 9-10-99; 8:45 am]

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