SSA’s CIO overhaul lacked adequate planning, GAO says
May 14th, 2012 | Information Technology Social Security Administration | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Social Security Administration did not fully assess the impact of a major internal overhaul last June, which eliminated the chief information office and reassigned its functions, according to testimony from a Government Accountability Office official.
At the time, most of the responsibilities for managing information technology and the IT budget were reassigned to SSA’s Office of Systems. Two months later, then CIO Frank Baitman resigned. Kelly Croft, deputy commissioner for systems, assumed the CIO duties and oversight of those IT workers.
SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said the effort would increase efficiency, but SSA did not develop a management plan that describes the challenges associated with the realignment or how to resolve them, time frames, resources, performance measures and accountability structures, according to written testimony from Valerie Melvin, GAO’s director of information management and technology resources issues. Melvin spoke on the issue at a House subcommittee hearing last week.
SSA also failed to analyze what roles and responsibilities were needed to support the new changes, Melvin said in her testimony.
She said the new structure should provide effective oversight and management of SSA’s systems and modernization if implemented properly, but it “cannot be determined whether the reassignment of staff that occurred as a result of the realignment represents an optimal allocation of resources.”
Tags: chief information officer, GAO, Kelly Croft
Social Security payments will go out on time
August 2nd, 2011 | Social Security Administration | Posted by Nicole Johnson
Social Security payments scheduled for Wednesday will be disbursed on time, Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue announced Tuesday.
Up until late last week, it wasn’t clear if lawmakers would strike a deal to increase the debt limit, causing concern for recipients of Social Security and VA benefits who probably would not have received payments.
Payments set for Aug. 10, 17th and 24th will also go out on time.
“I am happy to announce there will be no delay in the payment of August Social Security benefits,” said Astrue, “which should be a relief to those people who were concerned about their benefits. I’m pleased the President and Congress were able to come together in a bipartisan fashion to avoid an interruption in payments.”
Tags: Congress, debt ceiling
Social Security Administration trimming public office hours
July 25th, 2011 | Social Security Administration | Posted by Sean Reilly
Another cost-cutting move is in the works at the Social Security Administration, where almost 1,300 field offices will soon begin closing to the public one half hour earlier each business day. The change, which takes effect Aug. 15, means that an office that has been open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will close to the public at 3:30, according to a news release.
Although Social Security employees will keep working their normal schedules, the “shorter public window” will help the agency avoid paying overtime, SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said in the release. Because Congress provided the Social Security Administration with nearly $1 billion less than the amount requested by President Obama for fiscal 2011, Astrue added, that shortfall “makes it impossible for us to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.” The amount of expected savings was not immediately available.
Last July, Astrue imposed a partial hiring freeze on the agency and in March stopped mailing earnings and benefits statements to the public.
Of course, not all Social Security services take an office visit, the release notes, but you’ll need a phone or an Internet-connected computer. Anyone wanting to apply for benefits, replace a Medicare card, sign up for direct deposit, obtain a proof of income letter, or provide a change of address or phone number, can do so by going to http://www.socialsecurity.gov or calling the agency’s toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778.)
Tags: Michael Astrue
SSA CIO announces resignation
July 18th, 2011 | Information Technology Social Security Administration | Posted by Nicole Johnson
Social Security benefit statements to be available again . . . eventually
July 18th, 2011 | Social Security Administration | Posted by Sean Reilly
Remember those annual earnings and benefits statements that fell victim to Social Security Administration cost-cutting earlier this year?
Turns out that agency plans to make the legally required statements available via the Internet–it just doesn’t know when, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Under the Social Security Administration’s game plan, all eligible participants could access their records online, while people aged 60 and older who have not started claiming benefits would also get the mailed statements, GAO Managing Director Babara Bovbjerg told a House Ways and Means subcommittee in prepared testimony this month. At best, SSA officials expect that to happen early next year, but they don’t have an exact timetable, Bovbjerg said.
Given the inevitable privacy concerns, officials are developing an electronic authentication system and a “My SocialSecurity” Web page to let folks view the information securely.
SSA’s decision this March to stop mailing the statements to tens of millions of Americans has so far been one of the more tangible effects of the federal budget squeeze. While the move is supposed to save $30 million this fiscal year, “total costs for resuming provision of the statement are unknown,” Bovbjerg said.
Tags: Government, House Ways and Means Committee, Social Security Administration
SSA: We know nothing
July 15th, 2011 | Social Security Administration | Posted by Sean Reilly
The Social Security Administration doesn’t know whether the Social Security Administration will keep paying benefits if the government defaults on its debt. That, anyway, is what management is telling employees to say when asked by the public.
In newly posted instructions on the agency’s web side, employees are told to respond, “We’re sorry, but we don’t know,” when people inquire about the status of their Social Security or Supplemental Security Income checks should Congress fail to raise the federal debt ceiling.
Well, chances are they wouldn’t want to know anyway.
DC’s Funniest Fed Competition
June 24th, 2011 | Defense HHS Social Security Administration Uncategorized | Posted by Blair Tomlinson
Featuring the federal workforce’s finest, DC’s Funniest Fed Competition finals are tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington Cinema Drafthouse.
The best amatuer stand up comics within the federal sector will be cracking jokes for the glory and splendor of being crowned DC’s Funniest Fed.
Unfortunately the show is sold out, but good luck to the finalists!
Don Heitman (CFTC)
Tim Miller (US Army)
Abe Barth (HHS)
Kate Taylor (US Senate)
Jonathan Shepard (USAID)
Nate Johnson (SSA)
The show isn’t just for “you know what” and giggles, 20 percent of ticket proceeds will be donated to Fisher House Foundation to help families of wounded soldiers visit their loved ones while they are recuperating.
Social Security Administration halts mailing of benefit statements because of budget crunch
March 30th, 2011 | Social Security Administration Uncategorized | Posted by Sean Reilly
The federal financial crunch has claimed another casualty: As of Tuesday, the Social Security Administration is no longer sending out annual earnings and benefits statements to millions of Americans, according to an internal notice.
“Effective immediately, SSA is suspending the mailing of all Social Security statements because of the current budget situation,” the notice says. The online service for requesting a statement has also been disabled, the notice continues. Nor can the public use Form SSA-7004 to make a request.
Indeed, type “statement” into the search engine on the Social Security Administration’s web site, and you’ll end up at a page advising that because of the budget situation, “we have suspended issuing Social Security statements.” But don’t fear: “You may be able to estimate your retirement benefit using our online Retirement Estimator,” the agency adds.
Like other federal agencies, SSA is generally operating at last year’s spending levels because Congress has failed to agree on a budget for this fiscal year. So far, however, the impasse appears to have hit America’s favorite retirement program harder than most. Last July, Commissioner Michael Astrue ordered a partial hiring freeze. Earlier this month, the agency announced an end to most employee overtime. In congressional testimony earlier this month, Astrue put the cost of printing and mailing the statements at about $70 million.
[Updated at 1:50 p.m. on March 30 to reflect the yearly costs associated with the statements.]
Shutdown planning, then and now
February 25th, 2011 | 2011 Budget 2012 Budget OMB Social Security Administration | Posted by Sean Reilly
With much of the government at risk of a forced vacation next month, there are some obvious parallels with the last such showdown, which resulted in back-to-back closures in late 1995 and early 1996. A bitter battle over spending; a Democratic president pitted against Republican lawmakers, many of them freshmen itching to shrink the federal footprint.
The last time around, though, executive branch preparations appear to have started a lot sooner.
Consider some evidence gleaned from congressional testimony: On August 22, 1995—almost three full months before the first shutdown occurred that November–then-Office of Management and Budget Director Alice Rivlin told all department heads to update their shutdown contingency plans within two weeks, according to a memo that was accompanied by a legal opinion outlining what government functions could continue during a “funding hiatus.” The congressional hearing record also shows that at least one agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, had worked out a deal by September 1995 with the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Federation of Federal Employees on how to handle shutdown-related furloughs.
Now, barely a week before the March 4 expiration of a continuing resolution could trigger a new shutdown, union leaders say they’re still trying to pry basic information out of agencies on how workers would be affected.
The overall status of shutdown preparations is anyone’s guess. Most agencies won’t discuss the subject or release copies of their contingency plans. Asked earlier this week when six major departments, included Defense, Justice, and Agriculture, had most recently updated those plans, the Office of Management and Budget instead provided a statement from chief spokesman Ken Baer that said in part: “OMB is prepared for any contingency as a matter of course — and so are all the agencies.”
A more forthright assessment came from Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue. In a Wednesday email to SSA employees, Astrue wrote:
“The truth is that we do not know what Congress will do. We are working hard to deliver the best possible result from Congress and to carefully manage the money we do receive.
“As we await congressional action, we are doing what we can to minimize the budget uncertainties from interfering with your lives and work. You should know that we are considering a variety of scenarios but we have not made any final decisions. We will do what we can to prevent furloughs caused by not having enough money to pay you. That strategy may mean tough choices like cutting back on or eliminating overtime and expanding the hiring freeze.
“I regret that I cannot give you precise information about what will happen, but I am uncomfortable not letting you know some of the possible outcomes so that you can begin to plan accordingly. Given all of the uncertainty, I encourage you to be careful about believing everything you hear. I will continue to share what we know as more information becomes available.”
Tags: government shutdown, Michael Astrue, Office of Management and Budget, Social Security Administration
Senate confirms SSA deputy commissioner
December 23rd, 2010 | Social Security Administration | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Social Security Administration has a new deputy commissioner.
Carolyn Colvin was confirmed before the Senate Wednesday, after being nominated by President Barack Obama in Oct. 2009, according to an agency news release.
Colvin, a former chief executive officer at AMERIGROUP, DC, has held various positions within SSA including deputy commissioner for policy and external affairs and deputy commissioner for programs and policy.
“Carolyn brings a wealth of expertise that will be extremely valuable as we face the dual challenges of ever increasing workloads and reducing current backlogs in an environment of fiscal austerity,” SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said in the release. “I look forward to working closely with Carolyn as we strive to meet these challenges.”
Tags: carolyn colvin, Senate