Supporting Statement for OMB No

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SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A for
OMB Control Number 0563-0083:  
Area Risk Protection Insurance

ICR Authors:  Sarah Kliethermes
Area Risk Protection Insurance
Federal Crop Insurance Program
USDA, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, Risk Management Agency
1400 Independence Avenue
SW Stop 0801
Washington, D.C. 20250

Table of Contents
A1.  Circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.	3
A2.  Purpose and Use of the Information.	3
A3.  Use of information technology and burden reduction.	3
A4.  Efforts to identify duplication.	3
A5.  Impacts on small businesses or other small entities.	4
A6.  Consequences of collecting the information less frequently.	4
A7.  Special circumstances relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5.	4
A8.  Comments to the Federal Register Notice and efforts for consultation.	5
A9.  Explain any decisions to provide any payment or gift to respondents.	5
A10.  Assurances of confidentiality provided to respondents.	5
A11.  Justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.	5
A12.  Estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.	6
A13.  Estimates of other total annual cost burden.	6
A14.  Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.	6
A15.  Explanation of program changes or adjustments.	7
A16.  Plans for tabulation, and publication and project time schedule.	7
A17.  Displaying the OMB Approval Expiration Date.	7
A18.  Exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19.	7



Appendices
[Placeholder]


A1.  Circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection.  Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

FCIC requests a revision of the currently approved information collection.  FCIC is a wholly-owned Government corporation created February 16, 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1501).  The program was amended previously, but Public Law 96-365, dated September 26, 1980, provided for nationwide expansion of a comprehensive crop insurance program.  The Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act), as amended in later years, further expanded the role of the crop insurance program to be the principal tool for risk management by producers of agricultural commodities.  The Act further required that the crop insurance program operate on an actuarially sound basis.  To meet these goals, existing crop programs must be improved and expanded, new crop products developed, and new insurance concepts studied for possible implementation.  Meeting these goals requires the collection of a wide range of information (data elements).  These data elements are used in part to determine insurance coverage, premiums, subsidies, payments, and indemnities.  It creates an information database used to support continued development and improvements in crop insurance products available to producers which meet the goal of a sound insurance program.  The Act was again amended on June 20, 2000, by Public Law 106-224 which mandates changes to crop insurance regulations, provides for independent review of crop insurance products by persons experienced as actuaries and in underwriting, and gives contracting authority for the development of new products. 

Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI) includes three separate plans of insurance:  1) Area Revenue Protection (ARP), which protects against price declines and automatically includes Upside Harvest Price Protection (UHPP) which protects against price increases; 2) ARP with the Harvest Price Exclusion, which excludes UHPP and protects against price declines but not against price increases; and 3) Area Yield Protection (AYP), which protects against loss of yield only.

Under ARPI, FCIC requires producers to submit an annual production report by a date specified in the Special Provisions.  This allows FCIC to collect additional information to ensure the data used to calculate the expected yield for the county is the most accurate, credible data available.  Many producers already maintain this data.  Given the importance of this collection of information to the maintenance and integrity of the program, failure to submit this report will result in the insured’s yield for the crop year being set equal to the expected county yield for purposes of computing the final county yield and no indemnity will be paid to the insured for any area-based loss, either yield or price.

A2.  Purpose and Use of the Information.

Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used.  Except for a new collection, indicate how the agency has actually used the information received from the current collection.

The information collection requirements for this revised package are necessary for administering the crop insurance program.  The collection of information involves producers and insurance companies.  The affected public is Private Sector - Farms and Private Sector – Businesses or other for-profits and not-for-profits (Companies, Agents & Loss Adjusters).  Specific information (data) is required to apply for crop insurance, determine program eligibility, report crop information, establish liability, change coverage, determine a loss, etc.  Producers must provide records, documents, or other information to the insurance company during an investigation or settlement of a claim.  Insurance companies may provide late or prevented planting coverage, or provide coverage under a written agreement when coverage would not otherwise be available, etc.  Pertinent information must be collected by the established dates to administer the crop insurance program in an actuarially sound manner.

Participation data is used by FCIC to make programmatic recommendations and changes, to determine administrative and operating and premium subsidy expenses of the Corporation, and determine producer guarantees, premium, and any applicable indemnities.  

Insurance companies must obtain enough information so insurability, liability, premium, subsidy, and indemnities can be accurately determined.  It is important that insurance agents work closely with producers to collect accurate information since the guarantee, liability, premium, subsidy, and any applicable indemnities are based on this information. 

Crop insurance companies, including their agents, must collect data from producers to submit the required data to the Risk Management Agency (RMA).  Insurance companies must obtain enough information so insurability, liability, premium, subsidy, and indemnities can be accurately determined.

Insurance companies are reinsured by FCIC under the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) and are required to electronically submit specific and accurate data to FCIC.  

The information (data) collected may be used by other Federal Agencies, insurance companies reinsured by FCIC, and other agencies that require such information in the performance of their duties.  The information may also be furnished to:  The Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, or other federal or state law enforcement agencies, credit reporting agencies and collection agencies, and in response to judicial order during litigation.  The information requested is elective but is required to obtain or retain crop insurance benefits.  The producer must provide accurate and complete data so insurance companies and FCIC can accurately determine liability, subsidy, premium, and the amount of indemnity due a producer, if applicable, and keep the insurance program actuarially sound.  

RMA does not develop or distribute forms but creates form criteria standards for the insurance companies to use in collecting the appropriate data for submission to FCIC as required by terms of the Reinsurance Agreements and related documents.  Specific data fields are required data by type which include formulas, rounding rules, field edits, descriptions, etc.  Insurance companies use this information for programming their IT systems, so information can be submitted to RMA in the correct format.  (For information collection purposes, RMA uses the types information as the data elements.)  Following is a list of the types/data elements and a brief explanation of each:

Type 5 – CIMS Request Record – Type 5 records are used to request insured producer data from the Comprehensive Information Management System (CIMS). 

Type 9 – Fund Designation Record – Timely acceptance of the Type 9 record is required to establish the eligible crop insurance contract into the Assigned Risk Fund.  Any eligible crop insurance contract not designated by the insurance company to the Assigned Risk Fund will be designated to the Commercial Fund.

Type 10 – Policy Record – Type 10 records are used to establish a policy and provide information regarding the policyholder and entities with a Substantial Beneficial Interest, Spouse, Landlord, and Transfer of right to indemnity. 

Type 11 – Acreage, Acreage Commodity Record – Type 11 records are used to establish premium and liability for each acreage line.

Type 12 – Payment Record – Type 12 records are used to record/report payments by producers for each eligible crop insurance contract.

Type 14 – Insurance in Force Record – Type 14 records establish the crop, county, plan code and reports the eligible crop insurance contract data determined at sales closing.  Type 14 records identify the data elements required for timely reporting of eligible crop insurance contracts.

Type 15 – Yield History Record – Type 15 records are used to record/report Actual Production History (APH) yield information for designated crops.

Type 20 – Loss Total Record – Type 20 record identifies the application or disbursement of loss payments.

Type 21 – Loss Line Record – Type 21 records establish the loss amounts for a given eligible crop insurance contract.

Type 26 – Record Production Reporting – This record allows RMA to capture production information being reported by the producer at a lower level than the APH database, which is required to be established on a county/crop/unit/practice/type, and attach the production to a specific land location, such as Common Land Unit (CLU).

Type 27 – Common Land Unit ID Records – Type 27 records are used to record/report the total acreage by common land unit IDs (or equivalent) submitted with the Type 11 record.

Type 48 – Delete Record – This record deletes the following record types:  P51, P54, P55, P56, P57, and P58.

Type 49 – Delete Record – Type 49 records are used to remove all records for the eligible crop insurance contract from the database(s) and the Dup process.

Type 57 – Quality Control Reporting Record – Type 57 records are required for all Appendix IV reviews.

Type 75 – Records Producer Certification Record – Type 75 records allow RMA to capture the Beginning/Veteran Farmer and Rancher application information submitted by Approved Insurance Providers (AIP). 

A3.  Use of information technology and burden reduction.  

Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection.  Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

FCIC/RMA makes every effort to comply with the E-Government Act, 2002 (E-Gov) and to provide for alternative submission of information collections.  In compliance with section 508(a)(5) of the Act, the Corporation to the maximum extent practicable, shall allow producers and insurance companies to use electronic methods to submit information required by the Corporation.

Electronic submissions to FCIC account for 100% of information collected from insurance companies.  The insurance companies, under the oversight of FCIC, offer service delivery functions over the Internet.  Internet-based services provided by these entities will be offered as an alternative to traditional paper-based delivery mechanisms, which are primarily based on face-to-face interaction between producers and insurance agents.  FCIC continuously works with insurance companies to ensure timely implementation with all statutory requirements.  FCIC routinely works in conjunction with the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Rural Development (RD) to fully integrate web-based information systems known as Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI) (0563-0084, expiration 02/29/2028).

Insurance companies that sell and service crop insurance, and crop insurance service organizations, generate computer forms used to collect data elements in accordance with FCIC’s information collection standards.  Insurance company representatives and agents send the information they collect to the insurance companies electronically or by hard copy documents.  This information is entered into insurance company databases and is used by the insurance company to sell, service, underwrite, train, and develop new products.  Insurance companies use computer programs that process information in a format compatible with FCIC’s automated systems.  This enables insurance companies to report required data elements to FCIC electronically.  Some insurance companies have computer systems programmed to automatically send the data by a specific time each day, while other insurance companies send the information less frequently.  FCIC has established deadlines for receiving information or penalties apply.  This information is used to determine expenses of the Corporation including premium subsidies, indemnities, administrative and operating expenses of the insurance companies, and other administrative and operating expenses of the Corporation. 

RMA does not utilize any technology to directly collect data elements from producers and insurance agents; the agency does not have plans to do so for this ICR.  Therefore, electronic submissions to FCIC by farms is 0% because FCIC does not collect information directly from farms (insurance companies collect this information from farms).

Now insurance companies may or may not be exchanging data electronically with their insurance agents or accepting electronically submitted data from individual producers.  Any person wanting additional information may contact an insurance company or insurance agent listed on RMA’s web site at http://www.rma.usda.gov/.

A4.  Efforts to identify duplication. 

Describe efforts to identify duplication.  Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Question 2.

Every effort has been made to avoid duplication.  There is similar data collected; however, those do not meet the agency’s needs.  The agency has reviewed USDA reporting requirements, state administrative agency reporting requirements, and special studies by other government and private agencies.  FCIC/RMA solely administers and monitors the insurance crop programs to ensure integrity.  The information required for data collection is not currently reported to any other agency on a regular basis in a standardized form.  Some of the same data, such as certain producer information, may be required under different plans of insurance and policies.  However, once such information is provided by the producer it is used for all applicable plans of insurance and policies without the producer being required to provide the same information multiple times.  An exception would apply if the producer insured different crops with different insurance companies, which would require the producer to provide some of the same information to each insurance company because of barriers in sharing certain producer data between insurance companies.

FSA and RMA share many common producers because many of the same producers participate in both FSA and RMA programs.  Currently, those producers may be required to report much of the same information to both FSA and RMA.  Possible duplicate information may include crop, acreage and production data, and producer data, such as names, addresses, and identification numbers.

Since 2004, the RMA and FSA have jointly worked various data sharing projects such as the Comprehensive Information Management System (CIMS), Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI), information technology upgrades to shares crop insurance and farm record information in real time, and multiple ad hoc datasets to support disaster program implementation.  CIMS provides a centralized repository of RMA and FSA person and acreage information for use by authorized agencies and the insurance companies to meet their program administration data needs, such as Title I program eligibility, acreage reporting discrepancies and timeliness determinations, and AIP determinations of conditions general to an area. 

ACRSI took this further with standardizing information collection requirements, developing common producer, land and crop identifiers, and an electronic clearinghouse that allows real time sharing of producer acreage reports between FSA and AIPs.  It also allows approved 3rd parties to submit acreage data on a producer’s behalf.  This enables producers, county offices, and insurance agents to all reduce the burden of acreage reporting by using common data when filing an acreage report.  The USDA’s One Farmer, One File project will further enhance these capabilities soon.

A5.  Impacts on small businesses or other small entities.  

If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

The information requested is the minimum amount required to meet program requirements. 

The information collection requirements involve producers of agricultural products who are insured and insurance companies reinsured by FCIC, which includes their agents and representatives.  The burden of the information collection will vary depending on whether the producer cancels the insurance coverage then reapplies, whether options are elected, the number of crops insured, if the producer has a first and second crop on the same acreage in the same crop year, etc.  RMA strives to minimize the reporting burden but must collect enough information to keep the crop insurance program actuarially sound as mandated by the Act.  Program requirements for the Federal crop insurance program are the same for all producers regardless of the size of their farming operation.  For instance, all producers are required to submit an application and acreage report to establish their insurance guarantees and compute premium amounts, and all producers are required to submit a notice of loss and production information to determine the indemnity amount for an insured cause of crop loss.  Whether a producer has 10 acres or 1000 acres, there is no difference in the kind of information collected.  To ensure crop insurance is available to small entities, the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA) authorizes FCIC to waive collection of administrative fees from limited resource farmers.  FCIC believes this waiver helps to ensure that small entities are given the same opportunities as large entities to manage their risks with crop insurance.  Therefore, FCIC/RMA estimates that 0% of respondents for farms are small businesses or entities and 5% of respondents for insurance agencies are small businesses.

A6.  Consequences of collecting the information less frequently.  

Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted, or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

This information collection is mandatory and required to obtain or retain benefits and is an ongoing information collection request.  If specific information is not collected by the specified dates, the producer may not have insurance coverage or the amount of insurance may be reduced.  The crop insurance program would not be administered in an actuarially sound manner if specific information (data) were not collected by the established dates.  As producers change the crops and where crops are planted each year, less frequent collection of data would jeopardize actuarial soundness, and result in inaccurate premium charges to producers.

If producers and insurance companies did not submit the required data at the specified time, accurate liabilities, premium, and subsidies may not be determined, errors may not be resolved timely, producers may not receive accurate indemnities, payments may be late, crop insurance may not be actuarially sound as mandated in the Act.

A7.  Special circumstances relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5.  

Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner: 
    • Requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly; 
Insurance companies must submit specific required data to RMA on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis.  The information collection activities contained herein are not collected more frequently than quarterly from producers.  
    • Requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it; 
FCIC does not require the respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it.
    • Requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document; 
The respondents are not required to submit more than an original and two copies.
    • Requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;
Although the agency is not imposing any recordkeeping burden on the respondents, insurance companies maintain records longer than 3 years as a normal business practice.  Producers normally maintain records for an indeterminate amount of time because of income tax obligations.
    • In connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study; 
No statistical survey is conducted by these collections.
    • Requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;
No statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB is used.
    • That includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or 
A pledge of confidentiality is not required.
    • Requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.
No proprietary trade secrets or other confidential information are requested.

A8.  Comments to the Federal Register Notice and efforts for consultation.  

If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8 (d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.  Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments.  Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.	

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.  

Consultation with representatives of those from whom information is to be obtained or those who must compile records should occur at least once every 3 years even if the collection of information activity is the same as in prior years.  There may be circumstances that may preclude consultation in a specific situation.  These circumstances should be explained.

The 60-day notice was published on May 29, 2026 at 91 FR 31996.  No comments regarding this notice were received. 

Consultations and submission of comments regarding the administration of the Crop Insurance Act, as amended, are received on an ongoing basis from an insurance service organization and the 12 insurance companies reinsured by FCIC who are under contract with FCIC to sell and service crop insurance.  There were no comments from the people outside of the agency when asking about their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and record keeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.  FCIC consulted these three people outside of the agency:

Jeff M., Rain and Hail, 800-585-9624
Bill W., NAU Country Insurance Co., 763-427-3770
Brandon M., COUNTRY Financial, 866-268-6879

A9.  Explain any decisions to provide any payment or gift to respondents.  

Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

A payment or gift is not provided to respondents for providing the information requested for this crop insurance program.

A10.  Assurances of confidentiality provided to respondents.  

Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Respondents’ information collected under the Federal Crop Insurance Program is protected.  The Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. § 1502) prohibits releasing respondents’ identifiable information to the public unless the respondent provides consent or the information is combined into summary statistics that do not identify individuals.  In addition, the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a) requires that respondents’ information be used for authorized program purposes and disclosed only as required or permitted by law.

The Acting Assistant Privacy Officer, Samantha Jones, reviewed and approved this package August 7, 2026.

A11.  Justification for any questions of a sensitive nature. 

Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.  This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

No questions of a sensitive nature are contained in these data elements.

A12.  Estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.  

Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.  Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated.

A.	Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated.  If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.

FCIC estimates there are 13,513 respondents for approved insurance providers and 1,242 producer respondents (farmers) for a total of 14,755 respondents.  FCIC estimates the annual number of responses to be 91,100 divided by 14,755 respondents to be 6.2 responses per respondent, or frequency of response.  FCIC estimates a total of 56,765 total annual hour burden.  See separate spreadsheet for break-out.

The information collection burden applies to producers and insurance companies; the burden on the producer is not the same as the information collection burden on the insurance companies.  Some of the data elements collected from the individual producer are the same data elements the insurance companies send to Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC); however, not all data elements apply to each producer in any given year and some of the data elements that apply to the insurance companies do not apply to producers.  Specific circumstances determine which data elements apply.  The information collection burden for a producer depends on the crops insured, if it is the first year of a continuous insurance policy contract, if there is a loss, if options are elected to the insurance policy, etc.  The producer may have a larger information collection burden the first year by applying for insurance and completing the acreage report.  The following years the producer may only have to report acreage and yield information if there is no loss.  In the event of a loss, there is an additional information collection burden on the producer.  Producers will report specific information by crop for each crop they insure.  The insurance companies will generally always have an information collection burden consisting of all the data elements listed because the data elements will be accumulated from each producer who has an insurance policy with that insurance company.  Insurance companies will report data elements to FCIC as specifically required by FCIC and as documented in the Standard Reinsurance Agreement.

B.	Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.

Cost to Respondents:  The estimated total burden cost is $2,943,152 per year.

The hourly wage1 for each respondent was estimated as follows using the current average rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website (May 2025), incorporating fringe benefits:

45-2011 Agricultural Inspectors				$34.58
41-3021 Insurance Sales Agent				$51.33
13-2053 Insurance Underwriter				$59.02
11-9013 Farmers, Ranchers, and Other			$62.87
Agricultural Managers
43-9061 Office Clerk-General				$29.24
13-2011 Accountants and Auditors				$59.68
15- 1252 Software Developers				$93.27

Ins. Sales Agent/Farmer and Rancher				$57.10
Ins. Sales Agent/Ins. Underwriter/Farmer			$57.74
Ins. Sales Agent/Office Clerk					$40.28
Ins. Sales Agent/Ins. Underwriter/Office Clerk		$46.53
Ins. Sales Agent/Ins. Underwriter/Farmer/Ag. Insp.		$51.95

A13.  Estimates of other total annual cost burden.

Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information, (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in questions 12 and 14).  The cost estimates should be split into two components:  (a) a total capital and start-up cost component annualized over its expected useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There are no total capital and start-up cost component (annualized over its expected useful life) associated with this collection.

However, there are ongoing total operation and maintenance and purchase of services components are associated with this collection.  AIPs sell and service Federal crop insurance policies in every state through a public-private partnership.  FCIC reinsures the AIPs who share the risks associated with catastrophic losses due to major weather events (further explained in questions above).  Often, insurance companies cover other insurance such as property casualty and business insurance.  Crop insurance is a niche business that requires a separate system.  Agents who sell and service the program are often specialized, and those operation, maintenance, and purchase of services are included in this collection.

The insurance companies report that the average yearly expenses are approximately 5 percent of gross premium.  The total premium for policies issued under this package for the 2025 reinsurance year was $21,202,704.  The costs of reporting data, processing data, and software programming would equate to $1,060,135 (5% × 21,202,704).  

The average yearly expense percent (5%) remains constant in this package and previously approved packages.  The overall costs have increased due to the overall crop insurance program premium increasing.  FCIC continues to add crop programs and expand county insurance offers.  As a result, the gross premium increased in this package.

A14.  Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.  

Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.  Provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

RMA estimates it will cost the Federal Government $483,738 annually

The information is collected from policyholders by the insurance companies through their representatives and agents.  Insurance companies are required to submit specific data to RMA in accordance with the Standard Reinsurance Agreements.

RMA estimates it will cost the Federal Government $483,738 annually to directly receive, store, and format the data from the insurance companies that they have collected for ARPI.  Of this amount $18,417 is for hardware to receive the information, $218,633 is for maintenance and operations of the hardware, $167,650 is for application, programming, and database loads for Reinsurance Accounting System/FCIC Policy Acceptance and Storage System (RAS/PASS), and $ 69,025is for Federal employee salaries to resolve errors, expense reimbursements, and loss payments. The salary scale used is the GS pay scale for the Rest of the United States, Grade 13, Step 1. Fringe benefits were included in this calculation. 

These costs are annual costs to manage and operate the Federal crop insurance program.  RMA’s business support system environment is a fluid environment.  Program changes are made to existing program.  Legislative changes impact the program included in this collection.  IT hardware, development and maintenance costs will be expended year over year for this program.

A15.  Explanation of program changes or adjustments.

Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

This is a revision of a currently approved information collection request. The total number of respondents decreased from 15,509 to 14,755 resulting in a decrease of 754.  The total number of responses decreased from 91,693 to 91,100 resulting in a decrease of 593.  The total annual burden hours decreased from 57,047 to 56,765 resulting in a decrease of 282 burden hours.  The annual number of responses and respondents did not decrease equally, therefore the total number of responses per respondent increased from 5.9 to 6.2 resulting in an increase of 0.3.  The total annual burden on respondents decreased from 57,047 to 56,765 resulting in a decrease of 282.  These changes are a result of adjustments rather than program changes. The estimated number of respondents has been updated based on the number of program participants in recent years.

FCIC reviewed each line item and data element by consulting with RMA subject matter experts to develop response times for data elements.  The public was able to comment on the response times included in the 60-day notice during the comment period.

This renewal was adjusted to add fringe benefits.  The last approved package cost to respondents was $1,946,487.  For this package, the cost increased to $2,894,491, for a difference of $948,004.

A16.  Plans for tabulation, and publication and project time schedule. 

For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

This collection does not employ statistical methods and there are no plans to publish the results of this collection for statistical use.

A17.  Displaying the OMB Approval Expiration Date.

If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

RMA does not produce or distribute forms.

A18.  Exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19.  

Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the OMB 83-I “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act.”

This information collection meets the certification requirements of SF-83-I, Item 19.