3220-0200

OMB No. 3220-0200

Justification

Designation of Contact Officials

RRB Form G-117a

1. Circumstances of information collection - Section 7(b)(6) of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) (45 U.S.C.231) gives the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) the authority to require railroad employers to furnish information and records that are necessary for the administration of the Act. Further, Section 9 of the RRA and Section 6 of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) requires railroad employers to file reports of compensation of employees. This information serves as the basis for calculating retirement, disability, and survivor awards as well as the payment of unemployment and sickness benefits.

2. Purposes of collecting/consequences of not collecting the information - Coordination between railroad employers and the RRB is essential for the RRB to properly administer the payment of benefits under the RRA and the RUIA. In order to enhance timely coordination activity, the RRB utilizes Form G-117a, Designation of Contact Officials.

Form G-117a is used by railroad employers to notify the RRB of the official designated to coordinate various functions under the RRA and the RUIA with agency staff. The form provides the RRB with the name, title, address, phone number, facsimile number, and E-mail address of the contact. Completion is voluntary.

The RRB proposes no changes to Form G-117a.

3. Planned use of improved information technology or technical/legal impediments to further burden reduction - The Form G-117a is available for downloading from the RRB’s website at http://www.rrb.gov/pdf/AandT/g117a.pdf.

4. Efforts to identify duplication – To our knowledge, this information collection does not duplicate any other information collection or another agency uses a form similar to Form G-117a.

5. Small business respondents - N.A.

6. Consequences of less frequent collection - Completion is voluntary.

7. Special circumstances - N.A.

8. Consultations outside the agency - In accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8(d), comments were invited from the public regarding the information collection. The notice to the public was published on page 8896 of the February 18, 2020, Federal Register. No comments or requests for additional information were received.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents - None

10. Confidentiality - N.A.

11. Sensitive questions - N.A.

12. Estimate of respondent burden - The estimated burden for the collection is unchanged as follows.

Current Burden

Form Number	Annual Responses	Time (Minutes)1/	Burden (Hours)
G-117a	100	15	25
Total	100		25

1/The RRB has been collecting the information on these forms since OMB approved the information collection. Based on a sampling done when the form was originally created, the office calculated the estimated time, which includes time for getting the needed data and reviewing the completed form

13. Estimated annual cost to respondents or record keepers - N.A.

14. Estimated cost to Federal Government - N.A.

15. Explanation for change in burden - N.A.

16 Time schedule for data collection and publication - N.A.

17. Request not display OMB expiration date - The RRB started an extensive multi-year IT Modernization Initiative at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2019 to transform our operations into the 21^st Century using multiple contractor services to improve mission performance, expand service capabilities, and strengthen cybersecurity. In addition, we received a new Chief Information Officer (CIO) on September 2, 2019 who is reviewing our estimated project timeline milestone dates. We provided OMB with a revised consolidated project timeline.

Given that the forms in this collection are seldom revised; the costs associated with redrafting, reprinting, and distributing forms in order to keep the appropriate OMB expiration date in place; and our desire to reevaluate after the completion of the modernization project, the RRB requests the authority to not display the expiration date on the forms.

18. Exceptions to Certification Statement - None

-3-