SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR FORM SSA-831-C3/U3
DISABILITY DETERMINATION AND TRANSMITTAL
20 CFR 404.1615(e), 20 CFR 416.1015(f)
OMB No. 0960-0437
1. Sections 221(a) and (b) of the Social Security Act (the Act) require that a State Disability Determination Services (DDS) agency make the determination of whether or not an individual is under a disability, the day such disability began and the day on which such disability ceases, pursuant to an agreement between the Commissioner and the State. The DDS will use forms provided by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to certify each determination of disability to SSA, as authorized by Sections 20 CFR 404.1615(e) and 416.1015(f) of the Code of Federal Regulations.
2. Form SSA-831-C3/U3 is used by the DDSs to prepare initial and reconsideration determinations that a claimant is, or is not, disabled in accordance with the law. The information supplied by the DDSs is used in the following manner:
(a) As an input source document for establishing disability payments.
(b) To provide for SSA input on automated systems controls (e.g., establish and/or cancel diary controls).
(c) To establish a permanent longitudinal history of the claim.
To supply a statistical base to provide aggregate program information to SSA administrators, Congress and the President.
(e) In the course of the SSA quality review of the determination.
This information collection must be secured and reported on an ad hoc basis each time a
disability determination is prepared by a State disability determination services employee, therefore, it is not currently scheduled for electronic implementation under the Agency’s Government Paperwork Elimination Act plan due to the Agency’s limited resources. An electronic version of the SSA-831-C3/U3 is available on SSA’s Intranet. DDSs complete exact facsimiles of these forms, which are produced by their internal system software.
4. Decision information is collected on Form SSA-831-C3/U3 to document Title II and Title XVI disability decisions. 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. This collection relates to preparation of disability determinations as prescribed by law, thus the frequency is not subject to control, i.e., the form must be completed as each claim is adjudicated. If the information were not collected, SSA would be unable to comply with the law in preparing determinations of disability, and SSA would be unable to perform functions a.-e. detailed in Item 2. Thus, the information could not 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 November 5, 2007 at 72 FR 62510, and SSA has received no public comments. The second Notice was published on January 17, 2008 at 73 FR 3307, and SSA has received no public comments. There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.
9. SSA has a reimbursable agreement with the State DDSs (see item 14 below).
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. Form SSA-831-C3/U3 is used by approximately 3,079,916 respondents annually. All of these respondents are employees of the State DDSs. DDSs use computer software to complete Form SSA-831-C3/U3. The estimated average response time is 15 minutes per response, for a total of 769,979 burden hours. The total burden is reflected as burden hours, and no separate cost burden has been calculated.
There is no known cost burden to the respondents.
14. The annual cost to the Federal government is approximately $25,686,499. This is based on 769,979 State burden hours to complete 3,079,916 forms, as well as the reimbursed DDS costs, totaling $25,686,499 (DDS costs are reimbursed by SSA).
15. The number of SSA-831’s is based on the number of initial claims filed and the amount of funding given for the processing of initial claims. SSA’s budget estimates indicate a slight decline in the number of SSA-831 responses, therefore resulting in a burden reduction.
16. Tabulations are published on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis in the State Agency Operation Report used by the DDSs, the Office of Disability and SSA, for management information purposes. Biannual statistical analysis is performed on the basis of adjudicative decisions, diagnoses and individual DDSs.
17. OMB has granted SSA an exemption from the requirement that the expiration date for OMB approval be printed on its program forms. SSA produces millions of public-use forms, many of which have a life cycle longer than that of an OMB approval. SSA does not periodically revise and reprint its public-use forms (e.g., on an annual basis). This exemption was granted so that otherwise useable editions of forms would not be taken out of circulation because the expiration date had been reached. In addition, government waste has been avoided because stocks of forms would not have to be destroyed and reprinted.
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).
Statistical methods are not used for this information collection.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR FORM SSA-831-U3/C3 |
| Author | pkrabit |
| Last Modified By | Davidson, Liz |
| File Modified | 2008-02-19 |
| File Created | 2008-02-19 |