Notice2026-01932
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 2, 2026
Issuing agencies
Social Security Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 21 (Monday, February 2, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4776-4778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-01932]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
[Docket No: SSA-2026-0002]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request
The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of
information collection packages requiring clearance by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law 104-13, the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. This notice
includes one new information collection.
SSA is soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden
estimate; the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to
enhance its quality, utility, and clarity; and ways to minimize burden
on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology. Mail, email, or fax your
comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) to the
OMB Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following
addresses or fax numbers.
(OMB) Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA.
(SSA) Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance
Director, Mail Stop 3253 Altmeyer, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD
21235, Fax: 833-410-1631, Email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a6e9f488f4c3d6c9d4d2d588e5cac3c7d4c7c8c5c3e6d5d5c788c1c9d0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fab5a8d4a89f8a95888e89d4b9969f9b889b94999fba89899bd49d958c">[email protected]</span></a>.
Or you may submit your comments online through <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAmain">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAmain</a> by clicking on Currently under
Review--Open for Public Comments and choosing to click on one of SSA's
published items. Please reference Docket ID Number [SSA-2026-0002] in
your submitted response.
SSA submitted the information collections below to OMB for
clearance. Your comments regarding these information collections would
be most useful if OMB and SSA receive them 30 days from the date of
this publication. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive
them no later than March 4, 2026. Individuals can obtain copies of
these OMB clearance packages by writing to the
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2e617c007c4b5e415c5a5d006d424b4f5c4f404d4b6e5d5d4f00494158"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85cad7abd7e0f5eaf7f1f6abc6e9e0e4f7e4ebe6e0c5f6f6e4abe2eaf3">[email protected]</span></a>.
1. Ticket to Work Program Evaluation--0960-NEW. In compliance with
the Ticket to Work Incentives Improvement Act if 1999 (Pub. L. 106-170)
Section 101(d)(4)(A), SSA is contracting with Mathematica to conduct an
independent evaluation to assess (1) the effects of the program on work
outcomes and self-sufficiency, and (2) their cost effectiveness.
Background
The Ticket Act established supports designed to increase the
availability of and access to employment services for adults with
disabilities receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), hereafter referred to as
Ticketholders.\1\ Among the supports created by the Ticket Act were
three programs:
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\1\ Throughout this document, ``Ticketholders'' broadly refers
to working-age disabled SSI and SSDI beneficiaries who are eligible
for services created by the Ticket Act.
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<bullet> Ticket To Work (TTW). The TTW program established an
alternative system for providing employment services to disabled SSI
recipients and SSDI beneficiaries. Under TTW, Ticketholders can obtain
vocational rehabilitation, employment services, or other support
services from SSA-approved Employment Networks (ENs) or state
vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. SSA pays ENs or VR agencies if
the Ticketholders they serve work and earn above specified amounts.
[[Page 4777]]
<bullet> Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA). SSA awards
cooperative agreements to community-based organizations to provide
expertise and counseling that helps disabled SSI recipients and SSDI
beneficiaries understand how their earnings affect their disability
benefits, with a goal of helping beneficiaries successfully transition
to work.
<bullet> Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social
Security (PABSS). SSA awards grants to Protection & Advocacy (P&A)
agencies in states, territories, and tribal communities to provide
legal-based advocacy services for SSI and SSDI beneficiaries who want
to work. PABSS grantees offer services to help remove barriers to
employment, including helping beneficiaries secure TTW and other
employment-related services; helping beneficiaries understand issues
with their disability benefits; and helping to protect beneficiaries'
legal rights to employment, transportation, and housing.
Purpose of the Evaluation
To comply with Public Law 106-170, the evaluation will document the
extent to which Ticket Act programs are effective, meaning that they
achieve their legislative intent: to allow individuals with
disabilities to seek the services necessary to obtain and retain
employment and reduce their dependency on cash benefit programs. The
evaluation findings on these components will support SSA's
understanding of:
(1) Whether the programs achieve their legislative intent;
(2) The factors contributing to this achievement or lack thereof,
and
(3) Opportunities for improvement of the programs' efficiency and
effectiveness.
The evaluation will also document the cost effectiveness of Ticket
Act programs as currently structured, identifying opportunities to
deliver the same outcomes at lower costs or improve outcomes with
additional investments.
As SSA implemented many changes to the Ticket Act programs since
our last comprehensive evaluation in 2013, we are also conducting this
evaluation to assess these revisions to the programs, including:
<bullet> The increased prevalence of remote service delivery, which
makes services more broadly available to Ticketholders, but may reduce
the effectiveness of services offered.
<bullet> Changes to the number of ENs and VR agencies participating
in the program, as well as changes to the types of services they offer.
These changes may affect the overall effectiveness of the program.
<bullet> Revisions that changed the programs' operations, for
instance the implementation of electronic submissions, which may also
affect the overall effectiveness of the program.
<bullet> Investment in a marketing program to support EN outreach,
which may have affected the overall use of the TTW program.
We expect this comprehensive evaluation will provide updated
information regarding: (1) the ability of the Ticket Programs to
achieve their legislative intent; and (2) the evidence base necessary
to determine the need for potential programmatic changes or other
proposals to maximize program effectiveness.
The Evaluation Methods
SSA contracted with Mathematica to conduct the evaluation; however,
SSA will oversee all data collection activities. The evaluation will
utilize the following data collection efforts:
<bullet> Surveys of the Ticket Act service providers (``provider
surveys''): Mathematica will field three concurrent surveys, each
focusing on a specific type of Ticket Act service provider. The surveys
will ask about provider decisions to participate in the program,
provider decisions about service provision, and about challenges that
ENs and VR agencies face in effectively serving beneficiaries.
Mathematica will invite one person from each EN, VR agency, WIPA
project, and P&A agency with a PABSS grant (572 organizations) to
respond as a representative on behalf of the organization.\2\ Each
organization's representative will complete an interview via a self-
administered online survey.
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\2\ Numbers of provider organizations as of 2024. To the extent
that the universe of service providers changes between the time of
drafting of this document and the survey fielding period, we will
field the survey to the population of services providers as of a
date as close to the beginning of survey fielding as practicable.
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<bullet> Qualitative interviews with Ticketholders (``qualitative
data collection''): Mathematica will conduct interviews with
Ticketholders to provide a platform for open-ended, guided discussions
in which interviewees can share their experiences with the Ticket Act
programs, including their ability to find a provider at all; find a
provider who could meet their employment service needs; and experiences
with services affecting their employment outcomes. We expect these
interview findings will help assess the extent to which Ticket Act
programs are working effectively and efficiently and what opportunities
may be available to improve the achievement of program outcomes.
Mathematica will use existing SSA records to select a random sample of
Ticketholders and invite them to participate in interviews. These
interviews will be voluntary, and Mathematica will administer them over
a four-month period.
Mathematica will conduct these surveys and interviews using a mix
of online and telephone processes as well as computer-based management
tools for streamlining recruitment and scheduling, ensuring clear
documentation for each interview or survey and for recording the data.
The Respondents are service providers for the Ticket to Work
program, specifically one staff member from each EN, state VR, WIPA
project and P&A agency with a PABSS grant (``Providers''), as well as
Ticketholders.
Type of Request: Request for renewal of an information collection.
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Total
Average Total annual Average estimated
Modality of completion Number of Frequency burden per burden (hours) theoretical annual
respondents of response response \*\ hourly cost opportunity
(minutes) \**\ cost \***\
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Provider surveys
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TTW survey....................................................... 353 1 38 * 224 ** $40.10 *** $8,982
WIPA survey...................................................... 59 1 38 * 37 ** 40.10 *** 1,483
PABSS survey..................................................... 46 1 28 * 21 ** 40.10 *** 842
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Subtotal--surveys............................................ 458 ........... ........... * 282 .............. *** 11,307
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[[Page 4778]]
Qualitative interviews
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Ticketholder: TTW users.......................................... 70 1 51 * 60 ** 16.22 *** 973
Ticketholder: TTW non-users...................................... 10 1 41 * 7 ** 16.22 *** 114
Ticketholder: WIPA users......................................... 20 1 51 * 17 ** 16.22 *** 276
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Subtotal--qualitative interviews............................. 100 ........... ........... 84 .............. *** 1,363
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Totals
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Surveys.......................................................... 458 ........... ........... * 282 .............. *** 11,307
Qualitative interviews........................................... 100 ........... ........... * 84 .............. *** 1,363
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Total........................................................ 558 ........... ........... * 366 .............. *** 12,670
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* To show annual burden, we multiplied the number of respondents by the number of responses annually by the average respondent burden per response. We
allocated the number of planned responses by year based on the timing of the provider survey and the planned distribution of the qualitative
interviews over the two calendar years.
** Opportunity cost estimates for Ticket Act providers assume a wage rate of $40.10 per hour, the average national wage reported by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for the employment category of ``Social and Community Service Managers'' (accessed at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119151.htm">https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119151.htm</a> on
October 22, 2024). Opportunity cost estimates for SSA Ticketholders assume a rate of $16.22 per hour, corresponding to the average wage for employed
SSDI and SSI beneficiaries in 2019 ($12.92, <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/nbs/2019/job-characteristics.html">https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/nbs/2019/job-characteristics.html</a>) adjusted for inflation using
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's Inflation Calculator (<a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm</a>).
*** This figure does not represent actual costs that SSA will impose on survey respondents or participants in the qualitative interviews. They are
theoretical opportunity costs for the time that respondents will spend participating in data collection activities. There is no charge to respondents
for participating in data collection activities. We calculated these costs by multiplying the total annual burden in hours by the average theoretical
hourly rate. Because the table presents rounded total annual burden hours, this rounding may affect the previsions needed to replicate these
estimates. There is no actual charge to respondents to complete the tasks.
Mark Steffensen,
General Counsel, Chief of Law and Policy, Social Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2026-01932 Filed 1-30-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P
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