OMB Supporting Statement

OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT

RI 38-45 – We Need the Social Security Number of the Person Named Below

1. Justification

1. Executive Order 9397 (November 22, 1943) authorized the use of the social security number as a unique identifier.

2. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System need the social security number (SSN) of each person paid to identify the records of individuals with similar or the same names. The SSN is also needed to report to the Internal Revenue Service that OPM has made payments. RI 38-45 is sent to individuals for whom OPM has no SSN of record or whose SSN is incorrect. If this information collection were not conducted, OPM would encounter difficulty in establishing the correct identity of those receiving payments. The Public Burden Statement meets the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3). This form is available in a PDF fillable format on our website and meets our GPEA requirements.

3. The information collected can only be obtained from the respondents. New methods of information technology would do little to reduce the burden on the respondents; they are asked to supply their SSN only if OPM does not have their number or the number OPM already has is incorrect.

4. The requests are filed individually because there is no other way to obtain this information. Duplication is minimized.

5. Information is not collected from small businesses.

6. The collection of this information is performed as needed to identify individuals. Less frequent collection could cause OPM to pay to persons whose SSN is unknown or would delay payment to eligible persons.

7. The collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. A notice of proposed information collection was published in the Federal Register on February 26, 2008, giving persons outside the agency an opportunity to comment on the form. No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is given to the respondents.

10. This information collection is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 and OPM regulations (5 CFR 831.106). The routine uses for disclosure appear in the Federal Register for OPM/Central-1 (73 FR 15013, et seq., March 20, 2008).

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11. The information collection does not include questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

12. The number of respondents is 3,000. The annual burden is 250 hours. The information requested is readily available to the respondent, and it is estimated to take 5 minutes to

complete the form.

13. There is no cost to the respondents resulting from the collection of this information.

14. The annualized cost to the Federal government is $7,060. The cost is determined by employee hours devoted to the collection, forms cost, and overhead.

15. There are no changes to the respondent burden.

16. The results of this information collection are not published.

17. It is not cost effective to reprint the whole supply of forms to change the OMB clearance expiration date. Therefore, we seek approval not to display the date on the form.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.