Addendum to the Supporting Statement for 0960-0660

Addendum for the Social Security Number Verification Services

20 CFR 401.45

OMB No. 0960-0660

Revisions to the Collection Instrument

Change 1: Removal of the Automated Telephone Option

Justification 1: The agency made a formal decision to remove the automated telephone option for the Social Security Number Verification Services (SSNVS) called Telephone Number Employer Verification (TNEV). SSA based the decision on the low volume of usage.

Change 2: SSNVS Telephone Verifications under Certain Scenarios

Justification 2: When the automated telephone verification service, TNEV, ends in FY2012, we recognize registered SSNVS users may occasionally need to perform verifications when the user has no online access. In those instances, registered users can call the employer 800 number (800-772-6270) and, once the user authentication with a valid UserID with an active SSNVS role is complete, an agent will provide name/SSN verification over the phone. Following are the scenarios when SSA will perform these occasional verifications. We do not have a call script for these scenarios.

• Scenario 1: The user is registered and has a telephone but does not have immediate access to a computer SSNVS and has a dire need to put a new hire to work; i.e. farmer, day worker, etc.

Agent interaction: The agent can verify SSNs.

• Scenario 2: The user is registered but locked out of the Integrated Registration Services (IRES) system and an agent is unable to unlock them because of a systems problem.

Agent interaction: If an agent is able to unlock the user’s account, then the agent will not verify SSNs. The agent will advise the user to use SSNVS to verify the SSN. If the agent is unable to unlock employer, then the agent will verify SSNs until the unlock issue has been resolved.

• Scenario 3: The user is registered and has requested a new Business Services Online (BSO) temporary password and has not yet received it.

Agent interaction: An agent will verify the SSN if the user is registered and had requested a temporary password. If the employer did not request a temporary password, then the agent will not verify the SSN.

• Scenario 4: SSA’s electronic verification systems are down and unavailable to the public.

Agent interaction: An agent will advise the user of an estimated time for when the system will be back up, if known. The user will need to use the verification system later. Agents will not verify any SSNs in this situation unless there is an immediate need to verify an SSN.

In the above scenarios, agents will ensure users are properly authenticated (e.g., valid user, employer EIN, other pertinent information) before verifying an employee’s SSN over the telephone. If the user has an active SSNVS role in the IRES system, the agent will verify SSNs. However, if the user does not have an active SSNVS role in IRES, or has a pending role in IRES, the agent will not verify SSNs since SSA has not received the positive confirmation, through the IRES role activation process, showing the employer authorizes the user to perform the verifications.

Change 3: Elimination of the Employee Verification Service (EVS)

Justification 3: The agency made an informal decision to eliminate the EVS paper verification service beginning in January 2012. The EVS verification process required registration, but SSA received no new registrations for the past several years. EVS required resources to process the requests by transcription into SSA’s systems and then mail the results back to the requester. In FY11, only 118 employers used the EVS process. In the second half of FY11, the number was down to 77 employers. SSA provided information and assistance to all remaining employers to register for the online SSNVS. SSA received no negative feedback form employers since discontinuing EVS in January 2012. We inadvertently discontinued this service prior to obtaining OMB’s approval. We will report this as a violation in the next Information Collection Budget report.

Change 4: We updated the Paperwork Reduction Act and Privacy Act Statements

Justification 4: We are revising the PRA statement to reflect our current boilerplate language because our current language is outdated.

Change 5: We removed the Privacy Act Statement from SSNVS

Justification 5: SSA’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) is conducting a systematic review of SSA’s Privacy Act Statements on agency forms. As a result, OGC decided to remove the Privacy Act Statement from SSNVS and other Business Services Online applications. Rather they chose to update the Privacy Act Statement that appears on the login screen for Business Services Online. Since the login screen is part of the authentication process, we will obtain OMB approval for the revised Privacy Act through our authentication collection (0960-0626).

2