SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance (PSOEA)
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Necessity of Information: The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance has been authorized to administer the Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Program. Under the PSOEA Act of 1998, Public Law 104-238, Section 1213(a), a person seeking educational benefits through this program must submit an application containing information that is reasonably required. This form, OJP FORM 1240/20, Application for Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance, has been designed to meet this need. Respondents who complete the application may be spouses or eligible children of public safety officers who were killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty.
2. Purpose for Use: BJA’s Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Office will use the PSOEA application information to confirm the eligibility of applicants to receive PSOEA benefits. Eligibility is dependent on several factors, including the applicant’s having received or being eligible to receive a portion of the PSOB Death Benefit, or having a spouse or parent who received the PSOB Disability Benefit. Also considered are the applicant’s age and the schools being attended. In addition, information to help BJA identify an individual is collected, such as Social Security number, contact numbers, and e-mail addresses. The application form has been created in an effort to streamline the application process and eliminate requests for information that is either irrelevant or already being collected by other means.
3. Use of Information Technology: The Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance application form OJP FORM 1240/20, is an electronic fillable and fileable form. This form is accessible by the Internet at the PSOB Office’s website at www.psob.gov. The PSOEA application is also available by contacting:
Bureau of Justice Assistance
Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Office
810 Seventh Street, NW.
Washington, DC 20531
1-888-744-6513 Toll free
202-616-0314 Fax
4. Identification of Duplication: This is the only Federal program providing this assistance. The PSOEA application is the only form that asks the information required to determine if an individual is eligible for PSOEA benefits.
5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Entities: The information collection requirements do not impact small businesses or other entities as described in the instructions for completing OMB Form 83-I.
6. Consequences if Collection is not Conducted: A completed PSOEA application need only be submitted once by each new applicant. The information collected on the form is necessary to confirm that the applicant is eligible for PSOEA benefits. Without the needed information, eligibility cannot be determined and consequently no educational assistance payment(s) will be made.
7. Special Circumstances: None.
8. Publication: The application period is open continuously.
9. Payment to Respondents: The completion and successful processing of this application will
allow the applicant, as a beneficiary of a public safety officer who was killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty, to receive up to $987.00 per month for full-time attendance (for FY 2013) for educational expenses (i.e. tuition, room and board, books, rent, supplies, etc.).
10. Assurance of Confidentiality: All information on the form is collected in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. OJP is compliant with 28 CFR 22 which protects
confidentiality of identifiable and statistical information and is committed to keeping a system of records that is consistent with the regulations of the Privacy Act.
11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature: The questions that may be considered sensitive are those requesting the names of officers killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty, as well as the dates of their deaths/injuries and the names and locations of their public safety agencies. This information, however, is necessary to confirm the eligibility of the applicant under the PSOEA Program. The applicant is also asked to provide social security numbers as a means of verifying decendent and beneficiary benefit payments. The Treasury Department requires that a Social Security Number be included to confirm the identity of the individual to be paid. This requirement applies whether the method of payment is by check or direct deposit.
12. Estimate of the Hour Burden: Annual Hour Burden (Estimated / New Applicants)
Number of Respondents: 150
Number of applications submitted per respondent: 1 application
Total annual applications: 150 x 1 = 150
Hours per application: 20 minutes
Total Annual Reporting Burden: 150 x 20 minutes per application = 3000 minutes / by 60 minutes per hour = 50 hours.
13. Estimate of the Total Annual Cost Burden: There are no capital or start-up costs associated with information collection under this program. The minimal cost to the respondents is the time (approximately 20 minutes) spent gathering the information and the transmission of the two-page form.
14. Estimate of Annualized Cost to the Federal Government: The primary program point of contact for PSOEA is paid at an annual rate of a GS-14/3 at $97,936.00 per year, plus $34,276 (or 35% in fringe benefits) = $132,212/52 weeks/40 hours per week equal an hourly rate of
$63.57. Each application review takes approximately 20 minutes or 3 applications per hour. 150 applications x $21.19 ($63.57/3 = $21.19 per application) = $3,179.00.
15. Program Changes or Adjustments: None. This is a request for an extension, without change, of a previously approved collection.
16. Publishing Information: The information collected will not be published.
17. Approval to not Displaying the OMB Approval: The present information collection request does not seek such an approval.
18. Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission: See attached Certification Statement.
B. STATISTICAL METHODS
This information collection does not employ the use of statistical collection methods.
M. Berry: H. Janke
June 2013
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | presslem |
| Last Modified By | Scarborough, Angela |
| File Modified | 2013-12-17 |
| File Created | 2013-07-05 |