0970-0421_FCR_Supporting_Statement

Supporting Statement For

OMB Clearance

Federal Case Registry

0970-0421

May 2014

Prepared by:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Office of Child Support Enforcement

370 L'Enfant Promenade S.W.

Washington, DC 20447

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section Page

A. JUSTIFICATION 3

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary 3

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection 3

3. Use of Improved Technology and Burden Reduction 4

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information 4

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities 4

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently 4

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5 5

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency… 5

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents 5

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents 5

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions 6

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs 7

13. Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers 10

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government 11

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments 11

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule 12

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate 12

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions 12

2. STATISTICAL METHODS 12

A. Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The information collection requirements covered by this supporting statement are necessary because they are required by law. States are required to create and update a State Case Registry (SCR) within their statewide automated child support systems, to include information on cases enforced by the state child support agencies and orders not enforced by those agencies (non-IV-D orders), including the courts. Child support agencies are already required to collect and automate information for their IV-D cases, so there is no incremental burden associated with the collection of IV-D case information. The collection and automation of the required non-IV-D order information from courts is covered by this information collection.

States are also required to furnish to the Federal Case Registry (FCR) containing child support orders the minimum amount of information on child support cases (including updates to those cases) recorded in the SCR that is necessary to operate the FCR. Minimum information required to register a case on the FCR include: participant first name, participant last name, participant Social Security number or date of birth and sex, state case number, state Federal Information Processing Standard code, case category and case participant type. The minimum information must be present on at least one participant to register the case in the FCR.

The activities associated with this information collection are authorized by (1) 42 U.S.C § 654a(e) which requires that state child support agencies establish, update, maintain, and monitor an automated SCR containing records pertaining to cases enforced by the child support agencies and order information pertaining to all cases, including cases not enforced by the child support agencies, using standardized data elements and including payment records; and (2) 42 U.S.C. § 654a(f)(1), which requires states to furnish certain SCR information to the FCR, an automated registry established within the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), to assist state child support enforcement agencies and for other purposes.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The FCR is a system that informs states as to which other state(s) has information on cases or participants of interest to them. The FPLS is able to automatically provide states with address, employment, and unemployment information. The FPLS also alerts states to other states that have registered the same individual, in order to locate these parents and their employers to either establish or enforce a child support order.

Access to the information from the FPLS is limited to those authorized persons, upon request, to establish parentage and establish, set the amount of, modify, or enforce child support obligations. Authorized persons include:

* any agent or attorney of any state having in effect an approved state plan who has the duty or authority under such plan to recover child or spousal support or to seek to enforce orders providing child custody or visitation rights;

* the court which has the authority to issue an order or to serve as the initiating court in an action to seek an order against a noncustodial parent for the support and maintenance of a child;

* the resident parent, legal guardian, attorney, or agent of a child (other than a child receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families);

*a state agency that is administering, under an approved state plan, a child welfare services program, a program promoting safe and stable families, or a foster care and adoption assistance program.  

3. Use of Improved Technology and Burden Reduction

The state may use any available information technology to reduce the burden of the information collection requirements to update their SCRs. All case registry data is transmitted from the states to the FCR electronically.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

The information collection requirements addressed in this document do not duplicate any other reporting or recordkeeping requirements.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

The collection of information requirements does not involve small businesses or small entities.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

The creation and operation of the SCR and the FCR are statutory requirements. In addition, the information collected is vital to efficient and effective child support enforcement across state lines. The transmission of specified data from the SCR to the FCR creates a stable base of operations for all enforcement activities. Sharing up-to-date information is the key to child support enforcement. Without a centralized database these efforts would be extremely costly and time consuming.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

The legislation requires the SCR to submit new and updated case information to the FCR in a timely manner. The intention of the legislation is to provide for the timely exchange of case and employment information to assist child support agencies with enforcement activities. Child support caseloads change on a daily basis and require frequent updates to the FCR. The SCR is allowed, but not required, to submit updates daily and encouraged to submit at least weekly to get the full benefit of the FCR.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

A notice of the information collection was published in the Federal Register at 79 FR 6907 on February 5, 2014, which allowed a 60-day comment period for the public to submit in writing any comments about this information collection. No comments were received.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payment or gift is provided to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

The following assurances of confidentiality exist:

Section 453(l) states: "Information in the Federal Parent Locator Service, and information resulting from comparisons using such information, shall not be used or disclosed except as expressly provided in this section, subject to Section 6103 of the of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986."

Section 453(b) discusses the disclosure of information to authorized persons upon request and states: "... the Secretary shall ... provide through the Federal Parent Locator Service such information to such person, if such information -- (1) is contained in any files or records maintained by the Secretary...; or (2) ... can be obtained by the Secretary ... from another department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States or of any State. No information shall be disclosed to any person if the disclosure ... would contravene the national policy or security interests of the United States or the confidentiality of census data.... No information shall be disclosed to any person if the State has notified the Secretary that the State has reasonable evidence of domestic violence or child abuse and the disclosure of such information could be harmful.... Information received or transmitted ... shall be subject to the safeguard provisions contained in section 454(26)."

Section 454(26) requires each state to "... have in effect safeguards, applicable to all confidential information ... designed to protect the privacy rights of the parties, including - (A) safeguards against unauthorized use or disclosure of information relating to proceedings or actions to establish paternity, or to establish or enforce support; (B) prohibitions against the release of information on the whereabouts of 1 party to another party against whom a protective order ... has been entered; and (C) prohibitions against the release of information on the whereabouts of 1 party to another party if the State has reason to believe that the release of the information may result in physical or emotional harm ...."

In addition, SCR data is transmitted securely to the FCR.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

OCSE is required by law to operate the FPLS and maintain certain automated directories for the primary purpose of assisting state child support agencies. OCSE is also required to assist other state and federal agencies for authorized purposes. Sensitive information, if any, is justified because state child support agencies are required to obtain information pertaining to the establishment of parentage and the establishment, modification, and enforcement of support obligations. The collection of Social Security numbers is necessary to electronically match information to assist child support agencies or other authorized users.

Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Cost

12.1 Respondents’ Hour Burden

Reporting Requirement	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses Per Respondent	Average Burden Hours Per Response	Total Burden Hours
Collection of Non-IV-D Order Data for SCR: Courts	3,144	4541	.02052	29,261.21
Collection of Child Data for IV-D Cases for SCR: Courts	3,144	1583	.0205	10,183.42
State IV-D Agencies: Manual Entry of Court-Provided Case Information	54	14,2534	.033333	25,655.14
TOTAL				65,100

12.2 Assumptions

a) The collection of non-IV-D order data for the SCR, submitted to FCR, will impose an estimated total annual burden on the courts of 29,261 hours.

* In order to collect non‑IV‑D information for inclusion in the SCR, state child support agencies are required to establish an agreement with the courts within their states that handle family, juvenile, and/or domestic relations cases. An estimated 3,144 courts fall into this category. This number is based on the number of counties in the United States. Some states have multiple courts within a county and some states will have multiple counties within a circuit or district. In some states, all of the burden will be on the state court. In others, it will be on the county courts. This estimate is most likely a high estimate, but due to the vast variation among state court structures, it is the best estimate to use for this purpose.

* The burden on courts and child support agencies for the collection of non‑IV‑D information varies greatly among states. In some states, the courts have their own computer system which automatically transfers the non‑IV‑D information to the SCR. Other states have to rely on paper file transactions, because their courts are not automated and/or are unable to transfer information electronically.

b) The collection of child data for IV-D cases for the SCR will impose an estimated total annual burden on the courts of 10,183 hours.

* For some IV‑D cases, while most state child support systems have the capacity to store these data elements (to meet the requirements and recommendations of certification for statewide automated child support systems), the data itself is not always included in the system. It is estimated that states currently collect and automate data on children for sixty percent of all of their IV‑D cases. For the remaining 40 percent, it is assumed that there will be a three minute burden per case for the states to collect the data, particularly the child's Social Security number, to include in the SCR. In some situations, the Social Security number will be located somewhere in the case files, and the burden is simply associated with finding it and inputting it into the SCR. In other cases, states may have to solicit the information from the other participants (i.e., the parent) in the case.

c) Given the range of possible scenarios within the states described above, about 60 percent of courts appear to be capable of electronically transmitting the necessary non‑IV‑D order information to the child support agency at the state level. The remaining 40 percent send the information manually, via fax or mail. In the majority of states, the burden for data entry into the SCR (for those non‑IV‑D orders which have been mailed or faxed by the courts) falls on the state child support agency. The burden on the courts is to locate the order and to electronically transmit the information that is already in their system, or to mail or fax a copy of the order to the child support agency.

d) A child support caseworker will take an estimated two minutes per transaction to manually enter the non-IV-D and IV-D case elements that are sent by fax or mail to the child support office. The median hourly wage for a social services specialist is $19.97, according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics. This imposes a total burden of 25,655 hours annually on the state IV-D agencies. There is no manual labor burden associated with the case information that is collected as part of the states’ regular case intake process, or for those data elements that are electronically transmitted by the courts. Therefore, the case transactions included in Table 12.1 above are only a subset of the total number of cases managed and transmitted to the FCR by the state IV-D agencies.

3. Case Registry Requirements: Respondents' Cost for Hour Burden

Reporting Requirement	Average Annualized Cost Per Respondent	Total Annualized Cost
Collection of non-IV-D order data for SCR: Courts	$155.89	$490,122
Collection of Child Data for IV-D cases for SCR: Courts	$54.25	$170,565
State IV-D Agencies: Manual Entry of Court-Provided Case Information	$9,487.60	$512,330
Total		$1,173,017

The annualized costs to respondents for the hour burdens are based on an average wage rate of $16.75 per hour for court clerks who will be responsible for conducting research to locate and/or correct the required data elements and for sending data to the child support agency, and $19.97 per hour for state IV-D agencies’ case worker staff⁵.

We estimate that the courts' collection of non-IV-D order data for the SCR will have a total annual cost of $490,122. Method used to estimate total annual costs:

29,261 hours x $16.75 per hour = $490,122 annually

We estimate that the courts' collection of child data for IV-D orders for the SCR will have a total annual cost of $170,565. Method used to estimate total annual costs:

10,183 hours x $16.75 per hour = $170,565 annually

Method used to estimate total annual costs for manual entry of non-IV-D and IV-D data provided to state IV-D agencies by courts:

25,655 hours x $19.97 per hour = $512,330 annually

13. Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers

13.1 Case Registry Costs for States and Courts

The annual cost to the respondents for CPU time (both states and courts) is $3,138,739. The state child support agencies bear the majority of this burden ($2,850,120 in CPU costs), while the annual CPU costs to the courts for data transmission total only $288,619 ($214,106 for non-IV-D information and $74,513 for IV-D data elements).

The total annual cost burden (labor and CPU time) on the courts for the collection and transmission of non-IV-D case information is $704,288. The total cost burden on the courts for the collection and transmission of IV-D case information is $245,078. The annual cost to the state child support agencies is $3,362,450.

The total annual cost for all respondents is: $4,311,756.

The estimates of burden and costs to respondents are based on the following facts and assumptions:

* All 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are required to report to the FCR.

*There are approximately 20 million cases on the FCR as of October 1, 2013, which have been submitted by the 54 individual SCRs. In FY2013, approximately 305,000 cases were added to the FCR each month, and 310,000 cases are deleted from the FCR each month, for a total of 615,000 case transactions in any given month. In addition, there were approximately 335,000 case updates per month, which totals to approximately 11.4 million case transactions per year for all states (950,000 X 12). On average, each State sends an average of approximately 211,111 case transactions per year, or just under 4,060 case transactions per weekly update file.

*Assuming each case transaction sent takes one second of CPU time to process, then each state’s annual CPU time for SCR to FCR case processing would be approximately 58.64 hours (4060/3600 X 52 weeks). The estimated cost per CPU hour is $900 (includes any associated machine usage and maintenance costs), so the average annual cost per state would be approximately $52,776.

* States are required to send transmissions to the FCR at least weekly. Some states send daily transmissions with their new case and case update data. Others send weekly transmissions,

depending on their batch window availability (i.e., period of time where the mainframe is available for processing batch jobs). For the purposes of estimating the respondents' burden, it is assumed that states will continue to primarily send weekly transmissions, as this is the reporting frequency requirement as stated in the regulation. Regardless of the number of transmissions, however, the burden will remain the same. If a state chooses to send daily transmissions rather than weekly, their processing and transmission time will be decreased proportionally. The burden is dependent on the number of cases and case updates, which are fixed numbers (as stated above).

* The data will be sent from the SCR to the FCR electronically in batch files. The per‑response hour burden is significantly reduced by submitting batch files where multiple case data can be sent together.

*At one CPU second per record, the total CPU time used by the courts to transmit data electronically is 321 CPU hours.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

The annualized cost to the federal government for the case registry requirements is approximately $4.3 million. This includes FCR system development and technical assistance contracting costs, as well as the software and hardware costs incurred by OCSE in association with the FCR.

15. Explanation of Program Changes or Adjustments

The number of respondents was adjusted from the previous approval to reflect the increase in the number of courts that submit case information. More courts are electronically transmitting case information since the previous approval; therefore, the burden hours were adjusted to reflect the decrease in the burden to manually submit case information.

The labor costs for court and state child support caseworkers were updated based on current Bureau of Labor and Statistics data.

Total burden and costs were also adjusted from the previous approval because all information collections for the IV&V were moved to OMB# 0970-0417.

There are no program changes.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

Information contained in the IV-D state plan regarding state plan provisions is published each year in the report to Congress on the Child Support Enforcement program. There is no other planned analysis of publication of the data collected.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

Not applicable.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

No exceptions.

B. Statistical Methods

The information collection requirements outlined in this report do not employ the use of statistical methods.

1 Includes 1,241,991 new non‑IV‑D orders per year, and 186,299 updates per year for those non‑IV‑D orders. This is based on the 5-year reported average (FY2008-FY2012) of new orders established for IV-D cases, and the assumption that States have an equal number of IV-D and non-IV-D cases. The resulting number is 454 new or updated orders per court. (For further explanation, see the assumptions listed below regarding new case and case update estimates.)

2 This burden is based on an average of 3 seconds for those cases that are submitted to the child support agency by the courts electronically (60 percent of cases), and 3 minutes for those cases that are submitted to the IV‑D agency by the courts manually, via fax or mail. The resulting average burden is 1.23 minutes (.0205 hours) per transaction.

3 The same assumptions are true for the collection of child data for IV‑D child support orders. It is assumed that these data elements are not always collected and/or included in a non‑IV‑D child support order by the courts. For approximately 40 percent of their new orders, each court will have an additional burden (of 3 minutes) for researching their files to find the required data on the children involved in the order and/or soliciting the information from the other participants in the case. Each court has approximately 395 new non‑IV‑D orders per year, so 40 percent of those orders is equal to 158 orders per court that require the collection of additional child data.

4 The burden quantified here is based on manual data entry of approximately 14,253 cases per State agency per year. The average burden hours per response for all cases included in this supporting statement is an average of those cases requiring manual processing, and those that are added or updated through another process that require little or no caseworker burden.

 

5 Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oes/home.htm).