DS-4283 Supp 30 Day OMB Violation

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Courier Drop-Off List for U.S. Passport Application

OMB #1405-XXXX (DS-4283)

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. U.S. nationals with urgent travel plans who do not wish to or cannot apply for a U.S. passport in person at a U.S. State Department passport agency may hire a private courier company to deliver a passport application to one of twelve participating passport agencies. In an effort to maintain normal wait times for other customers at agency counters while protecting the integrity of passport applications dropped off via a courier company, the Department permits couriers to drop off multiple applications in a sealed envelope or package at a designated drop-off site at a passport agency.

The Secretary of State is authorized to issue U.S. passports under 22 U.S.C. 211a and is authorized to establish, maintain and operate passport agencies pursuant to 22 USC 2670(m). The Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, administers the U.S. passport issuance program and manages twenty-six U.S. passport agencies within the United States with public counters. The Department of State derives the authority to manage the delivery of applications to its passport agencies from its statutory authority to issue U.S. passports and manage the U.S. passport issuance program.

2. The Department asks courier company employees to list certain information describing the specific passport applications or supporting materials they drop off at a passport agency on the Courier Drop-Off List for U.S. Passport Application (Form DS-4283). The Department uses the DS-4283 to track the intake of these applications and materials delivered by courier companies to designated drop-off sites within a passport agency. Passport agencies use the DS-4283 form as a receipt to record the applications and materials delivered in bulk to the agency. The form also serves as an acknowledgement by courier employees affirming that they dropped off specific passport applications and materials on a particular day for a specified (one, two, or three-day) turnaround time.

The DS-4283 is retained by the Department for no more than two years before it is destroyed. The DS-4283 may be shared with certain parties outside of the Department of State, as permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, including as set forth in the Department of State’s Prefatory Statement of Routine Uses, (the Department’s System of Records Notice (SORN) for Passport Records (STATE-26), and the SORN for Overseas Citizens Services Records (STATE-05).

2. Passport agencies provide the DS-4283 to private courier companies via email as requested.

2. The DS-4283 asks for the name of the courier company, the name and signature of the courier employee that delivers an application to the passport agency, the type of turnaround time (one, two, or three-day) requested, the date the application was delivered to the passport agency, the name and birthdate of the applicant, the type of passport application submitted, the applicant’s departure date, and an indication of whether the applicant is seeking a foreign visa once the passport has been issued. If an individual is merely submitting supplemental materials in response to an agency request for additional documentation, or a passport containing inaccurate identifying information needing to be corrected, the courier may note relevant information for these materials in the bottom three spaces of the form. The name of the courier employee is critical to help verify who dropped off the application. The name of the courier company and applicant whose application is being delivered is requested so that the agency can match the DS 4283 with the applications it accompanied. The applicant’s birthdate and departure date is requested so that the agency can distinguish between applications submitted by more than one person with the same name. Listing the departure date helps ensure that the individual requesting courier service has upcoming travel plans necessitating expedited service.

2. This collection of information creates a minimal burden on private courier companies, some of which are small businesses. The form is completed by the employees of courier companies that deliver passport applications to passport agencies. The time required for the courier company employee to submit the name of the courier company, the application delivery date, the service type (one, two, three-day) window requested, the name and birthdate of the applicant, the type of passport application submitted, a checkmark indicating whether the individual will be applying for a foreign visa, and their name and signature by hand is minimal. Courier companies would not be required to expend any resources updating technological systems or pay additional fees in order to complete the information listed on the form.

2. The DS-4283 is important to the Department’s efforts to track the intake of passport applications delivered in bulk by a courier company at an agency drop-off site. Listing the courier company, the name and signature of the courier employee who drops off the application, the service type (one, two, or three day service) requested, the application delivery date, the applicant’s name and date of birth, the type of application, and the applicant’s departure date on the form helps strengthen the integrity of the passport application process by providing a means of documenting the applications and materials received by the Department, as well as who delivered them and when.

2. The DS-4283 requires courier companies to report information to the Department with each group of passport applications submitted in a sealed envelope or package to a passport agency. The need for the agency to track the intake of individual passport applications constitutes a special circumstance warranting the collection of information more frequently than a quarterly basis.

2. The Department of State published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comments on August 6, 2015, page 47021. No comments were received.

2. This information collection does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.

2. This form includes a Privacy Act Statement explaining the routine uses of the information collected under the Act. There are no promises of confidentiality to the respondents other than those contained in federal statutes and regulations.

2. The DS-4283 does not ask questions of a sensitive nature.

2. Passport Services estimates that the average time required for this information collection is 10 minutes per response. The form is completed by individuals employed as couriers and messengers. Therefore the estimated total annual burden for the collection is:

216,000 (number of responses) x 10 (minutes) / 60 = 36,000 hours per year.

To estimate the cost to respondents for this form based on the hourly wage and weighted wage multiplier, the Department calculated the following:

$13.35 (mean hourly earnings for couriers and messengers based on estimated income per hour from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) x 1.4 (weighted wage multiplier) = $18.69 weighted wage.

36,000 (annual hours) x $18.69 (weighted wage) = $672,840 (hour burden cost)

The estimated number of minutes required per response is based on a sampling of the time required to search existing data sources, gather the necessary information, provide the information required, review the final collection, and submit the collection to Passport Services for processing. The sampling was completed through consultation with a group of Consular Affairs employees to validate the time.

2. DS-4283 forms are submitted with the passport applications delivered in bulk that the courier company is already transporting to the passport agency. Therefore, there are no postage fees or additional transportation costs associated with this form. The Department will provide a copy of the DS-4283 to courier companies at annual meetings, and may also provide copies of the DS-4283 by request via email. As a result, the only additional costs imposed on courier companies are those associated with making copies of the form.

The cost of printing is based on a quote from FedEx would range from $0.22 each (black and white) to $0.98 (color).

Cost of Printing Form - Black & White 216,000	x	$ 0.22	=	$47,520
Total Cost to Respondents				$47,520

2. As the Department will be providing original copies of the form via e-mail and at annual meetings with the courier company, there is no equipment or overhead costs and printing costs associated with the form is negligible. Internal processing and filing of the form will be handled by contract support staff at the passport agency or center at an average cost of $28.91 an hour. Review and filing takes around two hours at each agency. Therefore:

$28.91 (average hourly rate) X 2 (hours daily per agency) X 251 (business days, excluding holidays) X 12 (participating agencies) = $174,156 cost to federal government,

2. This collection is currently in use without an OMB number. The basic framework of the information collection was created in order to better track the intake of passport applications and materials delivered by courier companies once it became clear this new workflow was going to become common practice. The Department of State is seeking OMB approval of this collection in an effort to rectify any potential inconsistencies with the Paperwork Reduction Act.
   
   

3. Quantitative summaries of Department of State passport activities, including the Office of Authentications, are published periodically on the Department of State website at www.travel.state.gov. Such summaries do not involve the use of complex analytical techniques.

2. The expiration date for OMB approval will be displayed.

2. The Department is not requesting any exceptions to the certification statement.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

This collection does not employ statistical methods.