A. JUSTIFICATION
1. The purpose of the DS-5528 is to document the U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of all eligible persons who avail themselves of U.S. government assistance, provide evacuees an opportunity to authorize release of information to designated individuals consistent with the Privacy Act of 1974, and to process the corresponding emergency loans used to fund their travel. Crisis evacuation loans are issued for U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals abroad and their immediate family members; adult escorts for minor U.S. citizen and U.S. non-citizen national children; escorts for incapacitated, ill, or injured U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals; and third country nationals who are determined eligible and possess appropriate travel documents (such as a valid passport issued by their country of nationality, a valid visa for entry into the United States or nearest safe-haven, etc.) when their lives are endangered by events such as war, civil unrest, or natural disaster. In such situations, U.S. embassies and /or consulates may evacuate third country nationals to safe-haven countries based on agreement among governments, on a space-available and reimbursable basis, when it is not feasible for their own governments to safely evacuate them, or in other circumstances, before they are repatriated to their home country by their governments.
22 U.S.C. § 4802(b) requires the Secretary of State to develop and implement policies and programs to provide for the safe and efficient evacuation of U.S. government personnel, dependents, private U.S. citizens and U.S non-citizen nationals when their lives are endangered. Such policies shall include measures to identify high risk areas where evacuation may be necessary and, where appropriate, providing staff to United States government missions abroad to assist in those evacuations.
22 U.S.C. § 2671 authorizes the Secretary of State to make expenditures for unforeseen emergencies. Emergency expenditures include activities such as evacuation when war, civil unrest, or natural disaster, endanger the lives of U.S. government employees and their dependents, private U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals; some services can also be extended to third country nationals and host country nationals on a space available, reimbursable, case-by-case basis. 22 U.S.C. § 2671(b)(2)(A)(ii) provides that such emergency expenditures are to be made on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable. Such reimbursements are to be credited to the applicable Department of State appropriation and to remain available until expended, except that no reimbursement under this clause shall be paid that is greater than the amount the person evacuated would have been charged for a reasonable commercial air fare immediately prior to the events giving rise to the evacuation.
Debt collection is pursued in accordance with federal government-wide debt collection laws codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3711 and 31 U.S.C. § 3717.
22 U.S.C. § 2715 requires the Secretary of State, in the event of a major disaster or incident abroad that affects the health and safety of U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals residing or traveling abroad, to provide prompt and thorough notification of all appropriate information concerning such disaster or incident and its effect on U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals to the next-of-kin of such individuals consistent with the Privacy Act of 1974.
Department of State regulations pertaining to services to U.S. citizens and U.S. non-citizen nationals in distress and reports on catastrophes abroad are published in 22 C.F.R. Part 71.
2. The information collected in the DS-5528 is used to document the evacuation of eligible persons abroad when their lives are endangered by events such as war, civil unrest, or natural disaster; document issuance of a crisis evacuation loan; to obtain a Privacy Act waiver to share information about the welfare of a U.S. citizen, U.S. non-citizen national, or lawful permanent resident with designated persons; facilitate debt collection; and to form the official manifest of those transports.
3. The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) created an electronic version of the DS-5528, presently available on the Department of State’s website, allowing applicants to type their information into their loan request forms. The form must still be printed and signed by the applicant, and presented to the consular officer who will witness the signature and adjudicate issuance of the loan on behalf of the Department of State.
In connection with the electronic DS-5528, the Department is moving toward acceptance of electronic signatures in some circumstances. However, the Department does not yet accept electronic signatures on the form. To help prevent fraudulent applications, CA identified two categories of potential applicants. The Department of State’s ability to accept electronic signatures from these categories requires independent assessment.
(1) Applicants whose signature, photograph, and/or other biographical information is on file with CA (i.e., on a previously submitted passport or visa application). Information will be used to verify the applicant’s identity and loan eligibility; and
(2) Applicants whose information is not available for consular verification. Consular officers may require additional documentation from applicants in this category to verify identity and loan eligibility.
CA determined it is acceptable, when the Department is ready, to allow electronic signatures for applicants whose signature, photograph, and/or other biographical information is on file with CA and/or consular officers adjudicating loan applications in the crisis location.
Within the next five months, CA anticipates it will complete the electronic signature acceptability assessment for those whose information is not available for comparison and verification within CA.
In addition, CA will also assess the permissibility of accepting electronic signatures from consular officers in the field when adjudicating and, when applicable, approving evacuation loan applications on behalf of the Department of State.
Automated data collection, electronic signatures (when acceptable), and integrated systems capabilities will allow faster and more accurate information gathering, reduces the time necessary for consular officers to adjudicate a loan, improves the application process for private citizens, and increases the efficiency of debt collection. Internet technology will enable loan applicants to have quicker access to the forms and will offer the flexibility to complete the loan application form conveniently from any place in the world, a critical advantage in an emergency situation.
An online application will not supplant the physical DS-5528. In areas where internet access is unavailable or unreliable, if applicants do not have the level of technological literacy to successfully submit an application online, or when other circumstances exist that make the use of the electronic form impracticable (e.g., situations in which the crisis has impacted the local internet and/or telecommunications infrastructure), the Department of State must provide applicants with the choice to use a paper application.
Until the second stage of the electronic DS-5528 is launched, applicants will continue to provide a paper copy of their application and supporting documentation to a consular officer for adjudication consistent with existing policies and procedures. Consular professionals will examine the documentation and coordinate with CA to ensure entry of the information into the pertinent Department of State electronic systems including the Consular Task Force system within the Consular Consolidated Database, covered under State-05, Overseas Citizens Services Records.
4. The information in the DS-5528 is not duplicative of information maintained elsewhere or otherwise available.
5. The information collection does not involve small businesses or other small entities.
6. The DS-5528 is essential to providing a mechanism for the expenditures involved in the evacuation of U.S. citizens and other eligible persons from foreign countries during periods of crisis described above. Conducting such evacuations and securing information to obtain reimbursement for certain expenditures are statutory responsibilities of the Department of State. If the information collection were not conducted, the consequences could include considerable hardship to U.S. citizens in foreign countries during a period of crisis.
7. No special circumstances exist.
8. The 60-day notice for the current OMB approval for this information collection was published in the Federal Register 80 FR 3716 on Friday, January 23, 2015. The purpose of the Federal Register notice was to solicit comments from the public. No comments were received from the public.
9. No payment or gift is provided to applicants.
10. The DS-5528 informs applicants that the Department of State of may release their information consistent with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974. The form also provides applicants the opportunity to designate additional persons to whom the Department of State may provide information about their welfare and whereabouts.
11. Although furnishing the information, including Social Security Number, is voluntary, applicants may not be eligible for the requested assistance if they do not provide the required information.
12. The estimated hour burden of 175 hours per year is based on estimates that the form is completed by approximately 525 persons per year, and only one response is permitted per applicant. Completion time for the form is estimated at 20 minutes. The information collected consists of personal biographic data and the financial cost of evacuation to the United States or a designated foreign safe haven, and does not require any special research. Below are the fiscal year statistics on the number of persons evacuated for the last three fiscal years.
FY 2014
# of Persons Evacuated – 1,552 (Typhoon Haiyan, Hurricane Odile and South Sudan crisis)
FY 2013
# of Persons Evacuated – 24
FY 2012
# of Persons Evacuated – 0
The annualized cost to all applicants for the hour burden for collections of information, based on appropriate wage rate categories, is $5,070. The annualized cost to applicants for the hour burdens for collections of information, based on appropriate wage rate categories, was determined by figuring out the average hourly wage; $22.33 is the average mean hourly civilian earnings. $22.33/hr. was multiplied by 1.4 to get a weighted hourly wage of $31.26/hr. $31.26/hr. was then multiplied by 175 burden hours. The final calculation equals $5,070.
13. The total cost burden to applicants regarding postage is zero. The DS-5528 is not submitted by mail. The form will be submitted manually or electronically (when available) by the applicant at a U.S. diplomatic mission; or in a critical situation where it may not be possible to get to the U.S. diplomatic mission, the information collection may be submitted at a remote location (such as a seaport or an aviation tarmac). There is no application fee.
14. The average cost to the federal government in projected compensation related to this service is $23,209 (FY2015 ($21,398) + FY2016 ($23,288) + FY2017 ($24,941) / 3 = $23,209).
The basis of the projected fiscal numbers above are calculated by taking the unit cost for consular officer time (from the “Total Consular Charges” fee shown in the Consular Affairs Schedule of Fees) multiply it by the number of minutes OCS believes it takes someone to literally “process the form” and then multiply that fiscal number by the total number of approximate respondents to the form. Here’s the quantitative data used to calculate the average cost to the federal government projections:
|
FY 15 |
FY 16 |
FY 17 |
FSO Compensation |
$11,769 |
$12,808 |
$13,718 |
Consular Agent Compensation |
$107 |
$116 |
$125 |
WAE Compensation |
$107 |
$116 |
$125 |
All LES Compensation* |
$3,424 |
$3,726 |
$3,991 |
Domestic Compensation |
$5,991 |
$6,521 |
$6,984 |
|
$21,398 |
$23,288 |
$24,941 |
Amount
of Time |
15 minutes |
|
|
Total Consular Charges for 1 Hour |
$135 |
|
|
Total Cost to Review One Case |
$33.75 |
|
|
15. The number of applicants varies from year to year depending on the number of eligible persons in need. Major events that occur during any fiscal year can drastically enlarge the average number of responses received across all U.S. posts abroad. There is a lower burden on this renewal due to a decrease in applicants from FY12-FY14 in comparison to the number of applicants from FY09-FY11.
The method for determining the cost to the government estimations has changed since the last iteration because the Consular Affairs Comptroller’s Office (CA/C) instructed us to do so.
16. General tabulations are compiled from each foreign post by the Overseas Citizens Services Consular Crisis Management team. Until the debt is paid in full, records of outstanding debts are maintained in the files of the Department of State, Passport Services, filed alphabetically by the name of the subject, the automated case record system of the Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management and the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS), Accounts Receivable Branch.
17. The OMB expiration date will be displayed.
18. No exceptions are requested.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | CROBA 30 day supporting statement 2006 |
| Author | MeszarosM |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-25 |