ICP19_questions_(2010)_v2[1]

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Farm Service Agency

OMB Number 0560‑0190

Power of Attorney

Purpose:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requesting an extension and revision of currently approved information collection; Power of Attorney and Power of Attorney Signature Extension Sheet. This information is used to support the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) in conducting business and accepting signatures from individuals acting on behalf of others. Information collected on this form is to grant authority for an individual to act on behalf of another or entity, such as a corporation, with respect to certain FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC, and RMA programs and actions.

1. Explain the circumstances making collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

Customer signatures are required in order for participants to obtain most USDA benefits. USDA requires customer signatures to ensure that the purpose of the applicable program is to achieve, verify the validity of information provided by the customer, and provide a necessary basis for pursuing legal remedies in the event of error or fraud. Collecting and maintaining a valid power of attorney allows USDA to accept an individual’s signature on behalf of another producer, thereby, reducing the number of producers that may otherwise be required to sign applicable documents and travel to the USDA Service Center.

There is no public law requiring the use or collection of information for power of attorney authority. The option to allow producers to appoint an attorney-in-fact is provided for certain FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC, and RMA programs and actions to lessen the burden on the producers, provide USDA a method of verifying the validity of the information, and also provide a necessary basis for pursuing legal remedies when needed.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

Customer signatures are used primarily to formalize agreements and contracts that render the signatory legally liable for the terms and conditions of the agreement or contract. The FSA-211/FSA-211A is used to appoint an individual or entity, such as a farm management company, to act on behalf of another individual or entity. Providing the information to USDA is voluntary and a one-time occurrence. The FSA-211/FSA-211A is maintained on file in USDA Service Centers. The FSA-211/FSA-211A is used for certain FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC and RMA programs and actions. Producers may obtain the FSA-211/FSA-211A from the USDA eforms website (www.forms.sc.egov.usda.gov/formsearch.asp) or directly from a USDA Service Center. The form(s) may be completed on-line through the e-forms website and mailed to the USDA Service Center or completed at the service center while there conducting other business. See response to question 12 below. The original form(s) is maintained at the USDA Service Center; however, producers are provided a copy of the completed form(s) for their records.

The information received from the previous collection has been used to accept a duly authorized individual’s signature on behalf of another individual or entity on certain FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC and RMA documents. This has resulted in a lesser burden on both the producer and the USDA Service Center employees. The information received from the previous collection has significantly reduced or eliminated the burden on the producer granting the authority to travel to the service center in order to complete and sign many commonly used documents. It has also reduced or eliminated the USDA cost of mailing documents to every producer for signature, and has reduced or eliminated the producer’s mailing cost to return the signed documents to USDA. The information collected has significantly reduced the burden on the USDA Service Center employees by reducing the number of producers visiting the service center to personally sign each document. In addition, because the form was developed in consultation with the Office of General Council (OGC), the burden on the OGC has been reduced by significantly reducing the number of non-USDA power of attorney documents completed by the producers themselves or private sector legal institutions which require a legal review by OGC before UDSA may accept such forms.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

The objective of this collection is to maintain an original signed FSA-211/FSA-211A on file in the USDA Service Center for the purpose of verifying authorized power of attorney signatures. According to the FSA Office of General Council, an original signature is needed to provide a source to authenticate the validity of the information and pursue legal remedies, when necessary. However, the forms and associated instructions are available on-line through USDA e-Forms website

The information collected on the FSA-211/FSA-211A is limited to:

• Name and address of the person being appointed attorney-in-fact

• Name and Signature of grantor

• Indication of applicable FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC, and/or RMA programs and actions

Note: The FSA-211A is used solely to accommodate additional grantor names and signatures which exceed the allotted space on the FSA-211.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purpose described in Item 2 above.

The form is used by FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC, and RMA. USDA did review the use of the form with other agencies, such as Rural Development (RD) to identify opportunities for consolidated use. USDA determined that the use of the form by RD was not appropriate because RD accepts power of attorney signatures on a case-by-case basis only and only in limited circumstances.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

Collection of this information does not impact any small businesses or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequences to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Failure to collect and maintain the data collected on the form will limit or eliminate USDA’s ability to accept an individual’s signature on behalf of another individual or entity. As a result, USDA Service Center customers would not have the benefit of the reduced burden option of appointing someone to act on their behalf, thereby, resulting in increased cost and travel to the customer and increased cost to USDA.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

None of the special circumstances will apply to this information collection.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency’s notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8 (d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instruction and record keeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Consultation with representatives of those from whom information is to be obtained or those who must compile records should occur at least once every three years even if the collection of information activity is the same as in prior periods. There may be circumstances that may preclude consultation in a specific situation. These circumstances should be explained.

The 60-day Federal Register was published on August 12, 2009 at 74 FR 40561-40562. No comments were received.

The following persons were contacted for consultation on the package regarding collection of signatures for this purpose. They expressed support for continuing the use of this form and the time saving options they provide to FSA, NRCS, CCC, FCIC, and RMA customers.

Charles Hubbard, Regional Manager, Southern States Cooperative, Inc.

Richmond, VA 23260

Robert P. Funk, producer

Charles Tow, WV 25414

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

There are no confidentiality issues related to the collection of this information.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

No questions of a sensitive or personal nature are included in the FSA-211/FSA-211A.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated.

Collection of the information is a one-time occurrence. The original FSA-211 will be maintained in the servicing USDA Service Center for 6 years after the FSA-211 becomes void.

Providing the information requested for the FSA-211 is estimated to take 30 minutes and the FSA-211A is estimated to take 15 minutes per response. Travel time is not included in this estimate because producers will not be encouraged to make a special trip to a USDA Service Center to provide the information. The form is available on-line at USDA e-forms website or customers may complete the form when they are visiting the service center for another reason.

We estimate the annual burden for providing the information at 5,681 hours.

The estimate of annualized cost to respondents is estimated to be $116,745 ($20.55 X 5,681hours).

There is not any record keeping requirements associated with this initiative.

13. Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information, (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimates should be split into two components: (a) a total capitol and start up cost component annualized of its expected useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There are no capital/startup or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The estimated annualized cost to the Federal government is $37,012. Costs to the Federal Government to support this collection are limited to labor. The cost for retrieving the form and gathering and maintaining the data is based on 15 minutes per respondent at the average wage of a FSA service center employee of $26.06/hour (5,681 x .2500 hours x $26.06 = $37,012).

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-1.

This adjustment is primarily due to a revised and more accurate projected estimated of the burden hours based on actual workload. The burden hours were reduced by 39,274 while the total annual responses were reduced by 168,347 in this request.

16. For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans tabulation and publication.

The information collected is not intended for publication.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reason that display would be inappropriate.

FSA is not including the OMB expiration date on the form.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act.”

USDA is able to certify compliance with all provision under Item 19 of OMB Form 83-1.

19. How is this information collection related to the Customer Service Center? Will this information be part of their one-stop shopping?

This information will be collected at applicable USDA Service Centers. The power of attorney authority information is collected one-time and remains in full force and effect until written notice of revocation has been duly served upon USDA, the death of the grantor, or incapacitation of the grantor. This approach is an implementation of the one-stop shopping concept.