Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement

DD Form 2840, Request for Information Regarding Deceased Debtor

A. JUSIFICATION

1. According to Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation (DoDFMR) 7000.14-R, Volume 5, Chapter 29 (Collection of Out-of-Service Debts), action must be taken to recover delinquent debts owed the DoD by individuals, including those who are no longer drawing salary or pay and allowances from the United States. This category of debtors includes former United States Government civilian employees and former members of the Armed Forces. Indebted individuals may die before a debt due the DoD is fully collected. Should this occur, it may be possible to collect all or part of the indebtedness from the estate of the deceased.

2. The form is used by the Debt and Claims Management Office (DCMO), Defense Finance and Accounting Service-Denver (DFAS-JE/DE), to contact a probate court to determine if a deceased debtor left an estate.

3. The use of information technology has been considered, but is not appropriate for purposes of this collection. The information sent to and requested from probate courts consists of sensitive and personal information. This type of activity does not readily lend itself to electronic collection on the Internet site of the DoD.

4. Investigation resulted in no findings of duplication of reporting or records. No similar information or verification procedures currently exist that can be used to obtain this information.

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

6. If DCMO does not obtain this information, the final opportunity to collect delinquent individual indebtedness will be lost. There are no technical or legal obstacles to collecting indebtedness from estates.

7. There are no special circumstances that would require this collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. The Federal Register notice for this collection was published on May 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 85). No public comments were received.

9. No payment or gift will be provided to respondents.

10. Records in this collection are included in the Privacy Act System of Records Notice, T332, Defense Debt Management System (June 27, 2002, 67 FR 43292). Use of the SSN is necessary in order to obtain information from state probate courts or executors of the deceased members’ estates concerning the establishment of an estate and to pursue collection of the indebtedness from the estate, as appropriate. In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 552a(b) of the Privacy Act, these records or information contained therein may specifically be disclosed outside the DoD as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b0(3). The release of the SSN is voluntary.

11. Questions of a sensitive nature such as those pertaining to sexual behavior and attitudes, or religious beliefs are not asked.

12. Estimation of Respondent Burden:

Number of Respondents 2,000

Response per Respondent 1

Time Required per Response 5 minutes

Total Burden Hour 167 hours

13. There are no additional costs, such as start-up or capital costs, to the respondents.

14. Estimated annualized cost associated with government review totals.

Material:

Printing: 2,000 forms per year @$0.10 = $ 200.00

Mailing: 2,000 forms per year @$0.36 = $ 720.00

Labor & Overhead to Process Forms:

Based on GS-5, step 5 hourly wage of $ 16.70

($16.70x 5 minutes = $1.39 x 2,000 forms)=

$2,780

$3,700

15. Change is burden is due to a decrease in the number of respondents.

16. The information collected will not be published or tabulated.

17. Approval is not sought to avoid display of the expiration date.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the OMB Form.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS.

Statistical methods are not employed in this collection of information.

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