OMB Supporting Statement

OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT

RI 38-107 – Verification of Who Is Getting Payments

RI 38-147 – Verification of Who Is Getting Payments

A. Justification

1. Title 5, U. S. Code, sections 8345, 8347, and 8461 provide that the Office of Personnel

Management (OPM) must administer the Civil Service Retirement System and the

Federal Employees Retirement System. Basic to that is the need to be able to verify that payments are being made to the person who is entitled.

2. RI 38-107 is designed for use by the Retirement Inspection Branch; RI 38-147 is used by other groups within Retirement Services Program. These forms are needed when OPM, for any reason, must verify that the entitled person is indeed receiving the monies payable. We may need to verify because Social Security or some other agency has informed us that the annuitant is dead (social security number matches with information regarding deceased beneficiaries from Social Security, Department of Defense, and Veterans Affairs are the sources of this information), because of possible fraud reported to OPM, because we are trying to determine whether the annuitant is still living or is competent, or any other instance serious enough to make us suspend payment if we do not obtain a satisfactory response. These forms have been designed to permit a third party to provide the information requested. Failure to collect this information would cause OPM to pay monies absent the assurance of a correct payee. The Public Burden Statement meets the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

3. The information is specific and can only be obtained from the respondents. New methods of information technology would do little to reduce the burden on the respondents; they must sign the inquiry certifying that OPM has their correct address, informing us that the annuitant cannot reply, or giving us information about the death of the annuitant. These forms are available in a PDF fillable format on our website and meet our GPEA requirements.

4. Forms are filed individually because this information is not available elsewhere. Duplication is minimized.

5. Information is not collected from small businesses.

6. If this information were collected less frequently, OPM might pay large sums to persons who are not entitled.

7. This collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6, except that a response is required within 30 days. This is necessary to assure that payments go only to the person who is entitled; otherwise, the payment is not authorized by law.

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8. A notice of proposed information collection was published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2014, giving persons outside the agency an opportunity to comment on the form. No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is provided 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).

11. The information collected 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 to RI 38-107 is 25,000; the number of respondents to RI 38-147 is 400. We estimate it takes 10 minutes to fill out the forms. The annual burden for RI 38-107 is 4,167 hours; the annual burden for RI 38-147 is 67 hours. The total burden is 4,234 hours.

13. There is no cost to the respondents.

14. The annualized cost to the Federal Government is $152,600. This cost was determined by employee salary hours devoted to the program, 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.