Section 823 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 required SSA to carry out the Promoting Opportunity Demonstration (POD) to test a new benefit offset formula for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries. Therefore, SSA is undertaking POD, a demonstration to evaluate the affect the new policy will have on SSDI beneficiaries and their families in several critical areas. We previously obtained OMB approval for this demonstration, and are in the midst of implementing the project. In this information collection request, we are seeking approval to add new questions to our follow-up surveys. Respondents are SSDI beneficiaries, who will provide written consent before agreeing to participate in the study and before we randomly assign them to one of the study treatment groups.
The burden hour time to complete the POD Monthly Form increased for paper only submissions as we included a travel time of 30 minutes for approximately half of the respondents who may need to travel to a fax machine to submit their forms. As we are near the end of the data collection for this demonstration project, we only expect to collect the information from these two forms for another six-month period. Therefore, we decreased the frequency of response for the Monthly form as well. We did not increase the burden for the POD EOYR Form; however, we note that fewer respondents will complete these forms in the last half year of this data collection. In addition, we included the Average Theoretical Hourly Cost Amount for both forms.
Finally, we removed the following items from this request as we have completed collection of the data from these items:
⢠POD Baseline Survey
⢠POD Informed Consent Form
⢠POD Onsite Audit of Case Files in MIS
⢠POD Semi-Structured Interviews with Treatment Group Subjects
⢠POD Staff Interviews with Site Staff
⢠POD Year 1 Follow Up Survey
⢠POD Year 2 Follow Up Survey
The removal of these completed information collections decreases the total annual reporting burden for this information collection request.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
POD End of Year Reporting (EOYR) Documentation