Supporting Statement for:
(2900-0743)
VA Form 21-526c |
Pre-Discharge Compensation Claim |
A. Justification
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), through its Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), administers an integrated program of benefits and services established by law for veterans, service personnel, and their dependents and/or beneficiaries. Title 38 U.S.C. 5101(a) provides that a specific claim in the form provided by the Secretary must be filed in order for benefits to be paid to any individual under the laws administered by the Secretary. This form will be used in a joint effort between VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) to expedite the process to determine VA disability compensation.
The Final Rule RIN 2900-AO81, Standard Claims and Appeals Forms, which requires all claims for benefits to be submitted on an application or form prescribed by the Secretary. VA is codifying its regulations to standardize the use of all VA forms, to include VA Form 21-526c.
The Pre-Discharge Compensation Claim is used by service members to file claims under the Benefits Delivery at Discharge or Quick Start programs under Title 38 U.S.C. 5101(a) and is a permanent form available for public use.
VA Form 21-526c is available on the One-VA Website in a fillable electronic format. VBA is currently hosting this form on a secure server and does not currently have the technology in place to allow for the complete submission of the form. Validation edits are performed to assure data integrity. Efforts within VA are underway to provide a mechanism to allow the information to be submitted electronically with a recognized signature technology. There currently is no utility process in place that will allow the data submitted on the form to be incorporated with an existing centralized legacy database.
Program reviews were conducted to identify potential areas of duplication; however, none were found to exist. There is no known Department or Agency which maintains the necessary information, nor is it available from other sources within our department.
The collection of information does not involve small businesses or entities.
The VA compensation and pension programs require that statements submitted by or on behalf of a claimant contain certification by the respondent that the information provided is true and correct. This form is designed to facilitate claims processing by providing a uniform format for the certification statement.
There is no special circumstance requiring collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.6 guidelines.
The Department notice was published in proposed rule, RIN 2900-AO81, Standard Claims and Appeals Forms, in the Federal Register on October 31, 2013, Vol. 78, No. 211, pages 65490-65509. No comments were received.
No payments or gifts to respondents have been made under this collection of information.
The records are maintained in the appropriate Privacy Act System of Records identified as "Compensation, Pension, Education, and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Records - VA (58VA21/22/28)," republished in its entirety at 74 FR 14865 (April 1, 2009).
There are no questions of a sensitive nature.
Estimate of Information Collection Burden.
Number of Respondents is estimated at 161,000 per year.
Frequency of Response is one time.
Annual burden is 40,250 hours.
The estimated completion time is 15 minutes.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Hourly Earnings, the cost to the respondent is $24, making the total cost to the respondents an estimated $966,000 (40,250 hours x $24 per hour).
This submission does not involve any recordkeeping costs.
Processing/Analyzing costs $877,449
(GS-12/5 @ $40.66 x 40,250 x 15/60 minutes = $ 409,141)
(GS-9/5 @ $28.04 x 40,250 x 15/60 minutes = $ 282,152)
(GS-5/5 @ $18.50 x 40,250 x 15/60 minutes = $ 186,156)
Printing and production cost ($90 / 1,000) $9,749
Total cost to government $887,198
There is no change in responding burden even with the Final Rulemaking RIN 2900-AO81, “Standard Claims and Appeals Forms” which requires all claims for benefits to be submitted on an application or form prescribed by the Secretary. However, the estimated costs to the federal government have been revised to reflect updated data.
We are not seeking approval to omit the expiration date for OMB approval.
The information collection is not for publication or tabulation use.
This submission does not contain any exceptions to the certification statement.
B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
The data collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SF 83 SS VAF 21-8926 |
| Author | Veterans Benefits Administrat |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-27 |