RI20-080_OMB_Supporting_Stmt_2018_05_30

OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT

RI 20-80 – Alternative Annuity Election

1. Justification

1. Title 5, U. S. Code, Chapter 83, section 8343a and Chapter 84, section 8420a, as amended, provide that certain retiring employees may elect a reduced monthly annuity along with a lump-sum payment of the employee’s retirement contributions (“alternative form of annuity”). RI 20-80 is designed to explain the choices available and to provide an election form the respondent may use to inform the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of his or her decision.

2. RI 20-80 is produced by OPM’s data processing system so that each annuitant’s individual circumstances are accurately described. This election letter is mailed to the eligible annuitant before final adjudication of the application for retirement is completed. OPM could not comply with title 5 if this information were not collected. We have made an editorial change to the Public Burden Statement by updating the Zip plus four. The Privacy Act Statement (PAS) has been revised due to a general systematic review by our Chief Privacy Officer.

3. New methods of information technology would do little to reduce the burden on the respondents. They must make a personal, financial decision and certify the facts to the best of their knowledge.

4. Elections are filed individually. Similar information certified by the respondent is not
available. Duplication is minimized.

5.  Information is not collected from small businesses.

5. The collection of this information is conducted as needed to determine entitlement and to authorize payment on individual retirement claims. Less frequent collection would subvert the intent of the law.

5. This information collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6, except that the election must be returned within 30 days so that adjudication of the claim may be completed and the correct annuity authorized.

5. A notice of proposed information collection was published in the Federal Register on October 18, 2017, giving persons outside the agency an opportunity to comment on the form. No comments were received.

5. No payment or gift is provided to these respondents.

5. This information collection is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 and OPM regulations (5 CFR 831.106 and 841.108). The routine uses of disclosure appear in the Federal Register for OPM/Central-1 (73 FR 15013, et seq., March 20, 2008).

5. This information collection does not include questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

5. Approximately 200 forms RI 20-80 will be completed per year. The form requires 20 minutes to fill out. The annual burden is 67 hours.

Form Name	Form Number	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Annual Burden (in hours)	Average Hourly Wage Rate	Total Annual Respondent Cost
Alternative Annuity Election	RI 20-80	200	1	20 minutes	67 hours	$0	$0

There is no cost to the respondents.

13. There is no change in the respondent burden.

14. The annualized cost to the Federal government is $1,800. This cost includes employee salary
hours devoted to the program, forms cost, and overhead.

15. N/A

16. The results of this information collection are not published.

17. The Retirement Services program office is the lone processor of the data collected on these ICRs from approximately 2.8 million customers. The substance of each information collection does not substantively change at each OMB renewal cycle, but according to changes in law and regulation. These forms are printed and published (internet, intranet and on-board systems) through various agencies for distribution to and implementation by Government customers. Pursuant to title 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(1), it would not be appropriate to display the OMB clearance expiration date where the form will not be revised for the foreseeable future (e.g., because it is used to collect applicant, annuitant, or beneficiary information required by long-standing statutory provisions), where use of the paper form is prevalent, and where, accordingly, it will be expensive and burdensome to restock the paper forms inventory with a new version. Last year, under current practice, Retirement Services printed approximately 2 million documents subject to OMB clearance at a cost of approximately $85,000. Our costs would rise substantially if additional revision cycles are added. Lastly, by adding the OMB clearance expiration date to the existing format, the end users of OPM’s ICRs may erroneously assume that the expiration date affects the validity of the information collection when it is the OMB clearance expiration date and not reflective of the substance. This may lead to additional submissions by customers, possible litigation and increasing pressures on our Operations workloads. Therefore, we seek approval to not display the OMB clearance expiration date on the forms and to communicate version changes to the public via the revision date.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.