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the household or as authorized representative in the case of minors. The process involves answering a series of questions about a variety of personal matters including current and past residences, place of birth and so forth. b. Alternative forms of proof. If the electronic process does not provide the required level of proof, an applicant may upload into his or her account or submit by fax, mail, or in-person, any of the forms of documents listed in § 3.9 of this Part: 2. State responsibilities – Identity proofing is conducted as an electronic process and occurs in conjunction with the creation of account. a. Remote Identity Proofing (RIDP). This process is conducted by a Federal contractor in accordance with nationwide standards. The applicant’s responses to questions related to identity are evaluated using a multifaceted authentication process. Once the proofing process is completed, the on-line application process may begin and access personal information held by trusted sources like the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Homeland Security. This information becomes available to both the applicant and the State in real-time rather than after the application is submitted. b. Agency assistance and alternative forms of proof. The State must provide assistance upon request to aid in both creating an account and in facilitating identity proofing for applicants who are unable to obtain the required level of verification through the RIDP process. In addition, the State must make applicants aware of and accept the alternative forms of identity proof identified in § 3.9 of this Part. c. Limits. The identity proofing process is permitted only at the time of initial account creation. The State is prohibited from requiring a beneficiary to repeat the process during post-eligibility reviews or at the time of renewal. The State must also provide applicants with assurances that the identity proofing process, which is conducted by a credit rating agency, does not affect an applicant’s credit standing or is not treated as a credit, rather than an identity check, for the purposes of establishing an application account. 3.6 Non-financial Eligibility Factors A. Self-attestations and attestations at the time of initial application are accepted for certain non-financial eligibility requirements. Verification of this information is required in some by Federal or State law or Regulation, as indicated in § 3.6(B) of this Part below. Rhode Island has opted to utilize approved Federal and State electronic