Supporting Statement - 0790 (Final)

Supporting Statement for Screen Pop

20 CFR 401.45

OMB No. 0960-0790

A. Justification

1. Introduction/Authoring Laws and Regulations

The Social Security Administration (SSA) established Screen Pop, an automated telephone process that allows SSA to verify the identity of individuals who request a record or information pertaining to themselves, and to establish procedures for disclosing personal information. Section 205(a) of the Social Security Act provides the Commissioner of Social Security with the authority to establish procedures for verifying identity. Section 20 CFR 401.45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Subpart B provides procedures for verifying identity.

SSA collects this information by authority of the Privacy Act of 1974 at 5 U.S.C. 552A (e)(10) of the United States Code which requires agencies to establish appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of records. Section 5 U.S.C. 552A (f)(2)&(3) of the Privacy Act of 1974, requires agencies to: (1) establish requirements for identifying an individual who requests a record or information pertaining to that individual; and (2) establish procedures for disclosure of personal information.

2. Description of Collection

We established Screen Pop to speed up verification for the individuals mentioned above. Screen Pop asks callers that want to speak to an agent, on the National 800 Number Network (N8NN), to enter their Social Security Number (SSN) using their telephone keypad or speech technology. The automated Screen Pop application collects the SSN and routes it to the ‘Start New Call’ Customer Help and Information (CHIP) screen. Functionality for the Screen Pop application ends once the SSN connects to the CHIP screen, and the SSN routes to the agent’s screen. When the call connects to the N8NN agent, the agent can use the SSN to access the caller’s record as needed. This collection is not mandatory; there is a bypass mechanism in place so a caller can connect to an agent. The respondents are members of the public that call the N8NN and speak to an agent.

2. Use of Information Technology to Collect the Information

In accordance with the agency’s Government Paperwork Elimination Act plan, SSA created the automated Screen Pop application. Based on our data, we estimate approximately 100% of respondents under this OMB number use the electronic version.

2. Why We Cannot Use Duplicate Information

The nature of the information we collect and the manner in which we collect it preclude duplication. SSA does not use another collection instrument to obtain similar data.

5. Minimizing Burden on Small Respondents

This collection does not affect small businesses or other small entities.

6. Consequence of Not Collecting Information or Collecting it Less Frequently If we did not collect SSN’s for the N8NN agent to verify the caller’s identity, we would be unable to respond to the caller’s request. Because we collect the information on an as needed basis, we cannot collect it less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles to burden reduction.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Solicitation of Public Comment and Other Consultations with the Public

The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on February 4, 2021 at 86 FR 8246, and we received no public comments.  The 30-day FRN published on April 28, 2021 at 86 FR 22510.  If we receive any comments in response to this Notice, we will forward them to OMB.

8. Payment or Gifts to Respondents

SSA does not provide payments or gifts to the respondents.

8. Assurances of Confidentiality

SSA protects and holds confidential the information it collects 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.

8. Justification for Sensitive Questions

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

8. Estimates of Public Reporting Burden

Please see the burden chart below:

Modality of Completion	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Average Burden Per Response (minutes)	Estimated Total Annual Burden (hours)	Average Theoretical Hourly Cost Amount (dollars)*	Average Wait Time for Teleservice Centers (minutes) **	Total Annual Opportunity Cost (dollars)***
Screen Pop	50,487,044	1	1	841,451	$27.07*	17**	$410,005,279***

* We based this figure on average U.S. worker’s hourly wages, as reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics data (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm).

** We based this figure on the average FY 2020 wait times for teleservice centers, 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.

The total burden for this ICR is 841,451 burden hours (reflecting SSA management information data), which results in an associated theoretical (not actual) opportunity cost financial burden of $410,005,279. SSA does not charge respondents to complete our applications. We base our burden estimates on current management information data, which includes data from actual interviews, as well as from years of conducting this information collection. Per our management information data, we believe that the 1 minute accurately shows the average burden per response for reading the instructions, gathering the facts, and answering the questions. Based on our current management information data, the current burden information we provided is accurate.

13. Annual Cost to the Respondents (Other)

This collection does not impose a known cost burden on the respondents.

14. Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $11,780,314. This estimate accounts for costs from the following areas:

Description of Cost Factor	Methodology for Estimating Cost	Cost in Dollars*
Designing and Printing the Form	Design Cost + Printing Cost	$0
Distributing, Shipping, and Material Costs for the Form	Distribution + Shipping + Material Cost	$0
SSA Employee (e.g., field office, 800 number, DDS staff) Information Collection and Processing Time	GS-9 employee x # of responses x processing time	$11,780,314
Full-Time Equivalent Costs	Out of pocket costs + Other expenses for providing this service	$0
Systems Development, Updating, and Maintenance	GS-9 employee x man hours for development, updating, maintenance	$0
Quantifiable IT Costs	Any additional IT costs	$0
Total		$11,780,314

* We have inserted a $0 amount for cost factors that do not apply to this collection.

SSA is unable to break down the costs to the Federal government further than we already have.  It is difficult for us to break down the cost for processing a single form, as field office staff often help respondents fill out several forms at once, and the time it takes to do so can vary greatly per respondent.  As well, because so many employees have a hand in each aspect of our forms, we use an estimated average hourly wage, based on the wage of our average field office employee (GS-9) for these calculations.  However, we have calculated these costs as accurately as possible based on the information we collect for creating, updating, and maintaining these information collections.

15. Program Changes or Adjustments to the Information Collection Request

When we last cleared this IC in 2018, the burden was 889,914 hours. However, we are currently reporting a burden of 841,450 hours. This change stems from a decrease in the number of responses from 53,394,811 to 50,487,044. There is no change to the burden time per response. Although the number of responses changed, SSA did not take any actions to cause this change. These figures represent current Management Information data.

16. Plans for Publication Information Collection Results

SSA will not publish the results of the information collection.

17. Displaying the OMB approval Expiration Date

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

18. Exceptions to Certification Statement

SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements in

5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions in 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

SSA does not use statistical methods for this information collection.