Supporting Statement eData Reg

Supporting Statement for eData Registration

20 CFR 401.45

OMB No. 0960-NEW

A. Justification

1. The Social Security Administration (SSA) collects this information by authority of Section 5 USC 552a, (e) (10) of the Privacy Act of 1974 which requires agencies to establish appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of records. Also, Section (f) (2) & (3) requires agencies to establish requirements for identifying an individual who requests a record or information pertaining to that individual and to establish procedures for disclosure of personal information. SSA promulgated Privacy Act rules in the Code of Federal Regulations, Subpart B. Procedures for verifying identity are at 20 CFR 401.45.

2. The eData Services Web site allows various external organizations to submit files to a variety of SSA systems and in some cases receive return files. The users include state/local government agencies, other federal agencies, and some nongovernmental business entities. The SSA systems that process data transferred via eData include, but are not limited to, applications responsible for disability processing and benefit determination or termination. eData Registration is the mechanism used to create and maintain users of the eData Services website.

The information collected is used exclusively to register the requester to use the eData website. The requestor is already a known entity to a sponsor within SSA. The sponsor completes the registration forms based on information provided by the requestor and emails them to the User Interface Team (UIT). UIT then enters the information into eData Registration, contacts the requestor with their new password, and conducts a walkthrough of the eData website as necessary. If the sponsor needs to modify or delete information from eData website user’s account, they must submit the modification form via email to their UIT for processing.

3. eData users are recruited and are therefore known entities to SSA prior to becoming users of the system. The sponsor collects the information from the user over the telephone and fills out the registration form. The form is then emailed to UIT and UIT uses eData Registration to create the new user for eData. Once the user has access, they are able to modify their own contact information or change their own password, but do not have access to other areas of the registration application. If there are other modifications they must submitted by the UIT.

The eData Registration application does not verify the users’ information in any way. Because there is no automated verification process, it is necessary for the information to be collected directly by an SSA employee. This process serves as the users’ initial authentication since the user is already a known entity to SSA. Once the information is collected, UIT can consider the individual to be authenticated by the sponsor and can create the user in the registration system.

4. The nature of the information being collected and the manner in which it is collected preclude duplication. There is no other collection instrument used by SSA that collects data similar to that collected here.

5. This collection does not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small businesses or other small entities.

6. Failure to be able to verify the requester’s identity would result in SSA’s not being able to respond to these Internet requests. Making this service available electronically saves the requester the effort of mailing physical media or sends it via courier. It also saves SSA staff time. Since this information is only requested on an as needed basis, the information cannot be collected less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles that prevent burden reduction.

7. There are no special circumstances that would cause this information collection to be conducted in a manner that is not consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice was published on May 21, 2007 at 72 FR 28540 and SSA has received no public comments. The second Notice was published on July 24, 2007 at 72 FR 40353. There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.

9. SSA provides no payments or gifts to the respondents.

10. The information requested is protected and held confidential in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974) and OMB Circular No. A-130.

11. The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. The requester will supply the information, e. g. name, address, phone number, site contact information. An SSA employee will collect that information verbally and use it to complete the paper forms. The requester may also update a limited amount of account information such as password or contact information on the website directly once an account has been established for them. We estimate that 2,500 users will use the application screens to modify their account or use the paper forms to establish or modify an existing account and that it will take 15 minutes to answer those questions, with an annual reporting burden of 625 burden hours. Of these 2,500 users, we estimate that 925 requesters will use the paper form process each year to either establish or modify/delete an account.

13. There is no known cost burden to the respondents.

14. A cost per transaction to the Federal Government has not been calculated since this is an electronic process with no printed or distributed forms and with relatively low ongoing costs.

15. This is a new information collection that will increase the public reporting burden.

16. The results of the information collection will not be published

17. SSA is not requesting an exception to the requirement to display an expiration date.

18. SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at 5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CFR 1320.8(b) (3).

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

Statistical methods are not used for this information collection.