Through its Ticket to Work Program
Manager, SSA uses the information collected to operate and manage
the Ticket to Work Program. SSA uses the Ticket to Work Program to
assign Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries to a service provider, and
follows their progress through the various stages of ticket program
participation such as progress reviews or changes in ticket status.
Most of the collections in this request require service providers
to provide information to SSA for such tasks as selecting a payment
system or requesting payments for helping the beneficiary achieve
certain work goals. Most of the categories of information collected
in this request are required for SSA to be in compliance with the
Ticket to Work legislation and provide proper oversight of the
program. The respondents are SSDI beneficiaries and blind or
disabled SSI beneficiaries and their employment networks or State
vocational rehabilitation agencies under the Ticket to Work
Program.
ENs are anticipating the
administrative efficiencies this Portal represents and may have
adjusted their own resources expecting it to be available by May 1,
2012. In addition, to implement the contract reduction, we have
already let some contracting staff go with the expectation that we
will pilot and fully implement before we make the final contract
reductions. We are requesting emergency OMB approval of the Portal
to meet EN expectations and to allow sufficient time to use and
ensure that the new processes work as expected before making final
2012 contract reductions. If the Portal is not available for use
until late summer, it will result in reduced FY 2012 productively
since it will continue to take ENs longer to submit requests and it
will take us longer to process them. The inability to process
ticket assignments timely would delay services to the
beneficiaries. The inability to process payment requests would
delay payments to ENs and State VRs for the services they
provided beneficiaries. In addition, if the Portal is not available
for use until shortly before the remaining contract reductions are
made, and there are problems with transitioning to it, there will
not be manpower to process ticket assignments, payment requests,
and other incoming documents, or to fulfill the requests for
reports. This would bottleneck or possibly suspend some daily
operations. To ensure the Portal is available for EN use by May 1,
2012, we are asking for OMB approval of this Emergency Clearance by
April 16, 2012.
US Code:
42
USC 405 Name of Law: Social Security Act
US Code:
42 USC 1320b19 Name of Law: Social Security Act
We decreased the burden
estimates for the paper SSA-1365 as we no longer require the use of
this form for all cases. We decreased the annual reporting burden
for the Request to reenter Ticket-Use Status (section c) based on
more accurate data over the past year. Previously, we used a high
estimate based on an educated guess, with the current data, we feel
more confident in our new numbers. We reduced the response time for
Selecting a Payment System (section d) as current data shows a more
accurate time estimate. In addition, we increased the response time
for the SSA-1389 to account for the new Part 2 we added (see
Addendum for more detail). We also decreased the response time for
Periodic Outcomes Reporting (section g) as we now accept this
reporting electronically and we request less information since we
capture some information as a by-product of operational activity.
Finally, we are adding the new Secure Provider Portal which will
decrease the time burden for some of the collections listed above
(see Addendum for more details). We estimate approximately half of
all respondents will use the Portal rather than the paper forms.
All other increases and decreases to our burden estimates are based
on current actual response data. We base our estimates on the
average two-year actual responses (from the previous two years) for
each instrument divided by two.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form SSA-1370 a) 20 CFR 411.140(d)(3); 411.150(b)(3); 411.325(a) - SSA-1370
Supporting Statement - 0644.docx
a) 20 CFR 411.140(d)(3); 411.150(b)(3); 411.325(a) - SSA-1370