RI38-107_RI38-147_OMB_Supporting_Stmt_2018_05_30

OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT

RI 38-107 – Verification of Who Is Getting Payments

RI 38-147 – Verification of Who Is Getting Payments

1. Justification

1. The Federal Employees Retirement System, the Civil Service Retirement law, the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Program, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (Chapters 83, 84, 87, and 89 of title 5, U.S. Code) provides for solicitation of the information. The form is used to determine that the proper payment(s) are made to the correct person and to verify that official correspondence is sent to the correct address.

2. Form RI 38-107 is designed for use by the Retirement Inspection Branch when OPM, for any reason, must verify that the entitled person is indeed receiving the monies payable. RI 38-147 collects the same information and is used by other groups within Retirement Operations for determining the proper payee of the annuity benefit and/or death benefit. Failure to collect this information would cause OPM to pay monies absent the assurance of a correct payee.

There are editorial changes to the forms and Public Burden Statements which include the updating of the ZIP code. The Privacy Act Statement has been revised due to a general systematic review by our Chief Privacy Officer.

3. Use of improved information technology to reduce the burden is not practical.
   The information collection is voluntary and must be made in writing. However, this form is available in a PDF fillable format on our website and meets our GPEA requirements.

4. There is no duplication of this information through the use of any other form or process.

5.  This information collection request has no impact on small businesses and organizations.

6. This information collection is made when there is a concern that the proper person is not receiving annuity, death benefits or official correspondence. This information collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

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.

8. On November 8, 2017, a 60 Day Federal Register Notice was published at 82 FR 51883 requesting comment. No comments were received.

9. No gifts or payments of any kind have been provided to any individuals who are connected to this collection.

10. This information collection is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 and OPM regulations (5 CFR 831.106). The routine uses of disclosure appear in the Federal Register for OPM/Central-1 (73 FR 15013, et seq., March 20, 2008, effective April 21, 2008).

11. This information collection includes questions about the annuitant’s medical condition; this information is considered private and is protected by OPM as described in item 10 above. The information must be collected, if there is no court-appointed guardian, in order for OPM to determine whether the annuitant is incompetent. The submission of this information is voluntary. However, if it is not submitted, OPM cannot determine whether the annuitant needs a representative payee.

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.

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
Verification of Who Is Getting Payments	RI 38-107	25,000	1	10 minutes	4,167	$0	$0
Verification of Who Is Getting Payments	RI 38-147	400	1	10 minutes	67	$0	$0

There is no cost to the respondent.

13. There is no change in the respondent burden.

14. Annualized cost to the Federal Government is approximately $152,600. This cost is derived
from employee salaries, staff hours required to process the forms and the cost of printing,
storing and shipping forms.

15. N/A

16. No information collected from the form will be 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.