Justification for Non-Substantive Changes to 0960-0768

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes for Form SSA-4570

Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) Annual Performance Report

OMB No. 0960-0768

Background:

Social Security provides Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) grant funding to 57 Protection and Advocacy (P&A) agencies that support Social Security disability insurance beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients with disabilities who want to work by helping to remove barriers to work. The PABSS Annual Performance Report, Form SSA-4570, collects service data from each of the PABSS grantee agencies.

On January 20, 2025, the President signed Executive Order (EO) 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. In reviewing Form SSA‑4570, we found we ask two questions which we need to remove as per EO 14151. Therefore, we are submitting this Change Request to remove the DEI-related questions from the form prior to sending it out to respondents for their annual submission.

Because the PABSS grantees are required to submit an annual report to SSA describing services each grant year, we are submitting the removal of these questions via Change Request as it is the fastest way to both ensure we are in compliance with EO 14151, and ensure we can send out the annual request on time for the next reporting period.

Revisions to Form SSA-4570:

• Change #1: On page 5, Part 2-Narrative Reporting, C. Outreach Narrative: We are removing the second sentence, which states: “Highlight efforts to reach youth, minority populations and veterans.”

Justification #1: We propose this change to comply with EO 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. We do not need grantees to highlight these specific efforts, and we need to remove this language to ensure they do not report on it in compliance with the EO.

• Change #2: On page 6, Part 2- Narrative Reporting, E. Inclusion Activities: We are removing the entire prompt, which states: “Inclusion Activities -Describe efforts to address the needs of individuals with disabilities from diverse ethnic and racial communities and underserved populations.”

Justification #2: We propose this change to comply with EO 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. We do not need grantees to describe specific groups and general efforts to address the needs of individuals with disabilities, as those efforts are described throughout the collection.

We do not expect this revision will affect the overall current burden for this information collection, as our current Management Information data shows that the questions we are removing currently take less than one minute to complete. SSA will implement these changes to the SSA-4570 upon OMB approval.