V. Performance Goals, Means and Strategies

Introduction

This section, covering our performance goals and the means and strategies for achieving them, is organized by the five general goals and supporting objectives established in the ASP. SSA's goals and objectives encompass all of SSA's program activities and address the universe of competing needs of the wide variety of SSA stakeholders and customers.

By Strategic Goal:

Ongoing Activities and Budgeted Resources by Goal: The introductory section under each goal describes the scope of ongoing activities SSA performs in support of the goal and the amount of resources in SSA's budget that are associated with these activities. Because the "valued employees" goal supports accomplishment of our other functional goals, the resources related to this goal are allocated across the other four goals.

Where activities relate to more than one goal, we include the resources that support them only once under the goal to which they are most relevant. For example, as a service to the public, the Social Security Statement relates in part to our "world-class service" goal. However, because it is an instrumental tool for educating the public, we have presented all resources associated with issuing the Social Security Statement under the "public understanding" goal.

We also list all the objectives that support each goal.

Crosscutting Areas with Other Federal Agencies: Under each goal, we highlight major partnerships formed with other agencies to help us achieve our objectives.

Key Legislation and Regulations: Under each goal, we identify any legislation or regulations that are critical to implementation of the strategies we have developed for achieving the goal's supporting objectives.

By Strategic Objective within each Strategic Goal:

Performance Indicators and Goals: The measures for each of SSA's current five goals, when taken together, focus on the critical aspects of each of the five goals. They are meant to complement, not overlap, each other. The objectives in each goal add up to our intended performance for that goal. This framework allows us to cover the full scope of Agency activities supporting the goal and to fully establish a relationship to Agency resource needs.

Under each strategic objective, we present a general rationale for the indicators we have selected to represent our performance and for our performance goals for FY 2001. The rationales reflect the following construct:

• Each performance measure serves as an indicator of some critical aspect of performance in a given strategic objective;

• We set target levels of performance for FY 2001 by balancing customer and stakeholder expectations, external forces, internal capabilities, and budgetary constraints; and

• We set target levels of performance for FY 2001 that reflect current levels of performance and the need to maintain current service levels or improve performance. In many instances, we set improvement objectives, intended to stretch us to higher levels of performance during the period covered by the ASP. In others, we set objectives to maintain current levels of performance to guard against performance slippage while we focus on other priorities. In still others, we are devising new ways to measure our success, and so in the interim we are focusing on completing milestones of initiatives expected to have a positive impact on performance.
  • Where maintenance of performance is our goal, this may be because current performance is already excellent. For example, "dollar accuracy of OASI payment outlays" has been at least 99.8 percent for several years. We set a maintenance goal of 99.8 percent for that measure for FY 2001. In other cases, maintenance may be the goal because of the relative satisfaction of our customers with our performance in that area combined with the contextual need to focus our limited resources in the areas most needing improvement.

  • In a few cases where we have set maintenance goals for FY 2001, actual performance exceeded that goal in a past year. For example, our goal for the "percent of original and replacement SSN cards issued within 5 days of receiving all necessary documentation" is 97 percent and has been since 1997, but our actual performance in FY 1999 was 99 percent. Although we were able to exceed our goal in FY 1999, we believe that 97 percent is the correct performance to aim for each year in the context of competing budgetary priorities and growing workloads.

  • In developing the FY 2001 targets, we also considered the actual performance we had attained in FY 1999 and the performance anticipated in FY 2000. For example, for the indicator: "Percent of SSA's core business customers rating SSA's overall service as `excellent,' `very good,' or `good'," we considered our historical performance through FY 1999 (88%), our target performance for FY 2000 (88%), the level of effort which might be devoted to raising that performance level in FY 2001, and then established an FY 2001 goal of 89 percent.

As appropriate, baseline performance data, data sources and pertinent background information and/or definitions are provided for each indicator. We also array trend data for each indicator with quantifiable measures, showing available historical data and goals. Goals are displayed for prior years so long as the definition has not changed. In the case of non-quantifiable goals, we also describe how we will consider them to have been achieved. A summary table of FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals for all of our strategic objectives is included as an appendix to this document.

Means and Strategies: SSA has developed a set of strategies, called programs for objective achievement (POA), that will lead to achievement of each strategic objective identified in the ASP. Each POA is supported by one or more Key Initiatives (KIs) for implementing required change activities. For each objective, we generally describe the KIs that we will be pursuing over the FY 2000-FY 2001 period, not only to achieve our near-term FY 2001 performance goals, but also to enable achievement of the longer-term objectives. Additional information on our KIs is provided as an appendix to this document.

Strategic Goal:	To promote valued, strong, and responsive social security programs and conduct effective policy development, research, and program evaluation

SSA has assumed its responsibility for providing information and policy options as well as working to improve program outcomes to the greatest possible extent. SSA will help shape the dialogue and options for addressing critical long and short-term Social Security issues by conducting in-house research, promoting research by others, framing policy discussions, and refining policies to meet the needs of society. The FY 2001 administration budget requests an estimated $114 million related to activities that support this goal. This includes $58 million for return to work efforts as we continue to establish and implement SSA's new Ticket to Work and Self Sufficiency Program (including $23 million for work incentives outreach program grants) and $30 million for extramural research, as well as the salaries and expenses of SSA's Offices of Policy and Chief Actuary.

While the impact of Social Security programs on the economic well-being of millions of Americans is of primary concern for the Agency, SSA will not exclusively use program outcome goals to measure the performance of policy development, research, and program evaluation. Instead, this strategic goal uses a mix of program outcome goals and goals that measure the extent to which critical information is available for use by decisionmakers. In areas where specific program outcome goals cannot be defined because of factors not controlled by the Agency (e.g., difficulties implementing changes, changes in law, economic forces, etc.), "barometer" measures will provide information on how Social Security benefits, in combination with many related factors, affect the economic well- being of the public. This information will help decisionmakers identify areas where policy changes may be needed to strengthen the programs.

The mix of goals reflects the fact that the effects of policy development, research, and program evaluation are difficult to quantify and measure, because many factors affect program outcomes related to a change in policy.

The following Objectives support this Strategic Goal:

• Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation and analysis, that shape the OASI and DI programs in a manner that takes account of future demographic and economic challenges, provides an adequate base of economic security for workers and their dependents, and protects vulnerable populations.

• Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation and analysis, that shape the SSI program in a manner that protects vulnerable populations, anticipates the evolving needs of SSI populations, and integrates SSI benefits with other benefit programs to provide a safety net for aged, blind, and disabled individuals.

• Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation and analysis, that shape the disability program in a manner that increases self-sufficiency and takes account of changing needs, based on medical, technological, demographic, job market, and societal trends.

• Provide information for decisionmakers and others on the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs through objective and responsive research, evaluation, and policy development.

Strategic Objective:

Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation and analysis, that:

Shape the OASI and DI programs in a manner that takes account of future demographic and economic challenges, provides an adequate base of economic security for workers and their dependents, and protects vulnerable populations.

Context

Many societal changes, for example in demographics, family structure, and attitudes toward work and retirement, have occurred since the OASI and DI programs were originally created. This strategic objective addresses the need to continually assess program performance in the context of societal trends, so as to ensure an adequate base of economic security for workers at many socioeconomic levels while maintaining sufficient long-term financing.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Identification, development, and utilization of appropriate barometer measures for assessing the effectiveness of OASDI programs.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare summary and analysis on the barometer measures

Definition:

We will consider this goal to be achieved if:
The Agency prepares a preliminary analysis of certain measures to be used as ongoing barometers of how OASDI programs, in combination with many related factors, affect the economic well-being of the American people. These barometers will be used to produce analyses and help formulate options for strengthening the programs.

Indicator:

Preparation of analyses and reports on the effect of OASDI programs on different populations in order to identify areas for policy change and develop options as appropriate.

FY 2001 Goals:

Prepare analyses and reports on the following topics:

• The effect of OASDI programs on various subgroups of beneficiaries, including women, minorities, and low-wage workers.

• Study on characteristics of people receiving DI benefits.

• Analysis of the effect of changes in Social Security retirement benefits on the DI program.

Definition:

We will consider these goals to be achieved if:
We prepare reports on these topics. The reports should provide information for decisionmakers to use in developing policy proposals and should provide options for change when appropriate.

Indicator:

Preparation of analyses and reports on demographic, economic, and international trends and their effects on OASDI programs in order to anticipate the need for policy change and develop options as appropriate.

FY 2001 Goals:

Prepare analyses on the following topics:

• Labor force transitions in the elderly population;

• Implications for retirement income security of shifts from defined benefits to defined contribution plans through study of lump-sum payments from employer pensions;

• Differences across subgroups in saving; and

• International retirement policy reforms.

Definition:

We will consider these goals to be achieved if:
We prepare analyses and reports as indicated under the goals.

Indicator:

Preparation of research and policy analyses necessary to assist the Administration and Congress in developing proposals to strengthen and enhance the solvency of OASDI programs.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare analyses on the distributional and fiscal effects of solvency proposals developed by the Administration, Congress, and other policymakers.

Definition:

We will consider this goal to be achieved if:
We prepare analyses providing information about the effect of specific solvency proposals on various populations, the long-term actuarial balance of OASDI programs, and the economy of the United States.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

The potential scope of issues facing SSA is enormous, including the role of Social Security programs in income security and prevention of poverty, the role of other legs of the income security stool (i.e., savings, pensions, etc.), and the effects of demographic and economic changes on the ability of the programs to perform their functions of providing an adequate base of economic security and protecting vulnerable populations. SSA's FY 2001 budget proposal includes resources to conduct a number of data gathering and research efforts that will help policymakers in addressing these program issues. While not an exhaustive list, the following summarizes the most significant activities for FYs 2000 and 2001:

Identification, development, and utilization of appropriate barometer measures for OASDI programs: SSA will develop measures and establish a baseline for barometers that provide an indication of the efficacy of OASDI programs. These measures are influenced by many factors outside of the Agency's control. There are also wide-ranging opinions regarding the optimal level of performance for these measures and the extent to which Social Security programs should be used in attaining that level. However, these barometer measures will provide information about populations served by Social Security programs and help identify areas where the programs may be strengthened. The barometer measures will include indicators of the programs' roles in providing an adequate base of economic security and protecting vulnerable populations (e.g., percent of recipients relying on Social Security for over half of retirement income, replacement rates, percent of beneficiaries falling below the Federal poverty level, etc.).

Analyses on effects of OASDI programs on different populations: The reports will identify strengths and weaknesses in the programs with respect to women, minorities, and low-wage workers and help identify factors that influence the programs' abilities to provide an adequate base of economic security and protect these persons. We will also study the characteristics of people receiving disability benefits so that decisionmakers may better understand factors influencing the need for these benefits. The analysis of characteristics of people on disability benefits, in conjunction with a report on the effect of changes in the retirement program on the disability program, will provide information crucial to helping decisionmakers strengthen both programs. We will develop options for policy changes in cases where the analyses reveal the need for modifications.

Analyses on the effects of demographic and economic trends on Social Security programs: These analyses will identify major forces that influence barometer measures or achievement of performance goals. They will also identify areas of program vulnerability, describe the problems and experiences of other countries, and discuss models for change utilized in the international community. We will develop options for policy changes in cases where the analyses reveal the need for modifications. The following reports will help decisionmakers develop proactive proposals to address potential weaknesses in the programs:

• Labor Force Transitions in the Elderly Population: This project provides a relatively recent account of labor force activity at the end of the work life and assesses the relative importance of financial influences such as wage offers, family income and wealth, private pensions, and Social Security in explaining work patterns among the elderly.

• Implications for Retirement Income Security of Shifts from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution Plans Through Study of Lump-Sum Payments from Employer Pensions: The increased likelihood of lump-sum payments presents new challenges to analysts who need to accurately describe and monitor the income of the aged. This study will summarize tax and regulatory policy on lump sums, payment options of retirement plans, and analyze data on the incidence and amounts of lump sums and the uses to which they are put by various characteristics of individuals.

• Differences Across Subgroups in Saving: This project will study household saving, an important contributor to retirement wealth. It will analyze differences in saving behavior, identify possible causes of these differences, and highlight subgroups in the population whose low wealth accumulation rates and inadequate savings make them vulnerable to certain proposed changes in Social Security benefits.

• International Retirement Policy Reforms: This project examines the reform experiences of other countries which can provide potentially useful guidance on common problems in providing adequate and equitable retirement income.

National Study of Health and Activity (NSHA), formerly the Disability Evaluation Study: SSA is undertaking research that seeks to estimate the size of the population potentially eligible for disability now and in the near future. This research will also assess the accommodations and interventions that permit some persons meeting SSA's definition of disability to continue to work and will assess how this information might be used to assist others to remain in the labor force rather than seek benefits. Information to be obtained by the NSHA enables the achievement of both this objective and the objective relating to disability eligibility and work effort (mentioned later). Performance goals with respect to the NSHA are stated under the Disability objective.

Participation in Discussions on the Future of OASDI Programs: SSA is playing a key role in research and analysis on critical policy issues. SSA continues to share vital analyses and data on the financial and distributional impact of various proposals for changing Social Security programs with the Administration and Congress.

Modeling: SSA is strengthening its capability to project income into future years in order to analyze distributional effects of alternative Social Security policies. The ability to model future trends and the implications of certain program changes is instrumental to the production of informative reports and analyses. Continued model enhancements will increase the scope of reforms that can be evaluated, expand the range of income sources that can be assessed, and improve the reliability of the estimates.

Analyses on proposals to strengthen and enhance the Social Security system: The synthesis of improved modeling capabilities, comprehensive analyses on various populations and economic and demographic trends will enable SSA to provide comprehensive analyses of the distributional and fiscal impact of specific proposals to alter Social Security programs. These analyses will help decisionmakers refine proposals by informing them of the potential effects on vulnerable populations, Social Security trust funds, and the economy of the United States.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiative that supports this objective:

• Strengthening Research, Evaluation and Policy Development.

Strategic Objective:

Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation, and analysis, that:

Shape the SSI program in a manner that protects vulnerable populations, anticipates the evolving needs of SSI populations, and integrates SSI benefits with other benefit programs to provide a safety net for aged, blind, and disabled individuals.

Context

Since the SSI program was implemented in 1974, there have been significant societal changes that have implications for the structure of the program. For example, there have been improvements in health care, advancements in technology, sustained periods of economic stability, an increase in employment opportunities, and changes in the availability of other sources of benefits. The SSI population has become increasingly diverse, and there are varying levels of need according to such factors as types of disability, health status, age, race, gender, and work history. In addition, as the effort to strengthen the OASI and DI programs moves forward, we will need to pay attention to the correlative changes in the SSI program, so that SSI appropriately supplements Social Security benefits. This objective reflects the need to re-examine and refocus the policies that guide the SSI program in response to environmental changes.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Identification, development, and utilization of appropriate barometer measures for assessing the effectiveness of the SSI program.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare summary and analysis on the barometer measures.

Definition:

We will consider this goal to be achieved if:
The Agency prepares a preliminary analysis of certain measures to be used as ongoing barometers on how the SSI program, in combination with many related factors, affects the economic well-being of the beneficiaries. These barometers will be used to produce analyses and help formulate options for strengthening the program.

Indicator:

Preparation of a report and completion of data collection on the SSI Childhood Disability Survey in order to assess the impact of welfare reform, identify areas of potential policy change, and develop options as appropriate.

FY 2001 Goal:

Complete interviewing for the first wave on the SSI Childhood Disability Survey.

Definition:

We will consider these goals to be achieved if:
We complete interviewing for the first wave of a national survey.

Indicator:

Preparation of analyses on sources of support for the SSI population in order to identify areas for better coordination with other social benefits and develop options as appropriate.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare analysis and report on child support enforcement.

Definition:

We will consider this goal to be achieved if:
The Agency prepares the subject report.

Indicator:

Preparation of analyses of complex SSI policies.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare analyses on SSI simplification opportunities.

Definition:

We will consider this goal to be achieved if:
The Agency prepares the subject report.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

The following summarizes SSA's most significant activities supporting this objective for the FYs 2000 and 2001:

Identification, development, and utilization of appropriate barometer measures for the SSI program: SSA will develop measures and establish a baseline for barometers that provide an indication of the efficacy of the SSI program. These measures are influenced by many factors outside of the Agency's control. There are also wide-ranging opinions regarding the optimal level of performance for these measures and the extent to which the SSI program should be used in attaining that level. However, these barometer measures will provide information about populations served by the SSI program and identify areas where the program may be strengthened. The barometer measures will include indicators of the program's role in protecting vulnerable populations and the effect of the program in combination with other variables (e.g., extent to which beneficiaries receive other sources of support, composition of the SSI population, percent of households receiving SSI with income below the Federal poverty level, etc.). Once the Agency defines the barometer measures and establishes baselines, we will issue summaries and analyses on the measures.

Analyses on sources of support for the SSI population: These analyses will review both governmental and non-governmental cash and in-kind sources of income upon which SSI recipients depend for support. We will examine ways in which the SSI program may provide better support for beneficiaries and in which SSI benefits may be coordinated with other governmental programs to provide a more effective safety net for vulnerable populations.

Childhood Disability Survey: The first part of this project uses currently available data to evaluate the effect of the loss of SSI benefits stemming from provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 on children and their families. It will provide estimates of the number of children who would have been eligible under previous program rules but are not eligible under current rules, and how this affects total benefit years. It will also provide information on the characteristics of the children affected by the law, including information on family income and living arrangements. The second part of the project is a national survey that will gather information about the cost of caring for a disabled child, the uses of SSI benefits, availability of alternative sources of care, and other information. This survey will fill a major gap in program information and will provide policymakers with quantitative research on this population for use in proposing future policy changes.

SSI Simplification: The Agency will examine SSI policies determined to be complex based on data and feedback from various internal and external sources. The analyses will take into account the tensions that can occur between simplification, benefit equity, cost, and program integrity.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiative that supports this objective:

• Strengthening Research, Evaluation and Policy Development.

Strategic Objective:

Promote policy changes, based on research, evaluation and analysis, that:

Shape the disability program in a manner that increases self-sufficiency and takes account of changing needs, based on medical, technological, demographic, job market, and societal trends.

Context

Medical advances, changing attitudes toward disabled beneficiaries and their ability to work, and improved medical treatments and technology, require the disability program to evolve. Part of this evolution will occur by updating SSA's disability medical listings to reflect new treatments and technologies. Our current system of determining eligibility for disability benefits presumes that persons who meet medical listings are severely disabled enough to be unable to work. SSA is developing a model that may be used and adapted to test this presumption.

Other changes in the program will provide more incentives for disabled beneficiaries to work and become self-sufficient to the greatest extent possible. Many beneficiaries with disabilities want to be independent and work, and many can work despite their impairments if they receive the support they need. SSA will specify long-term goals for these indicators after analysis of historical data is complete. Our strategy for achieving these goals depends upon recently enacted legislation and will take several years to implement and begin yielding results. Consequently, we are using milestones and deliverables related to supporting research and policy development efforts, and measures of the increase in the number of DI and SSI beneficiaries who are working but still receiving benefits (i.e., persons starting a trial work period or in 1619(a) status respectively), as interim indicators of our progress.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Increase in the number of DI adult worker beneficiaries who begin a trial work period.

FY 2001 Goal:

10-percent increase in the number of DI beneficiaries beginning trial work periods.

Definition:

Indicator represents the annual percentage increase relative to the base year (16,000 in FY 1997) in the number of DI adult worker beneficiaries who begin a trial work period equating to 19,200 in FY 2001. Our first APP goal was for FY 2000 and was for 10 percent over FY 1997. Our FY 2001 goal is for an additional 10 percent over the baseline, with 10 percent annual increases thereafter.

Data Source:

Master Beneficiary Record

Indicator:

Increase in the number of SSI disabled beneficiaries, aged 18-64, participating in 1619(a) status.

FY 2001 Goal:

10 percent increase in the number of SSI disabled beneficiaries aged 18 - 64 participating in 1619(a) status.

Definition:

Indicator represents percentage increase relative to the base year (19,767 in FY 1997) in SSI disabled beneficiaries who participate in 1619 (a) status, i.e., they are working at the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level, but still receiving benefits, equating to 23,918 beneficiaries in FY 2001. Our first APP goal was for FY 2000 and was for 10 percent over FY 1997. Our FY 2001 goal is for 10 percent over FY 2000, with 10 percent annual increases thereafter. These goals are consistent with the current non-blind SGA level of $700 per month.

Data Source:

Quarterly Report on Work Incentives

Indicator:

Preparation of a research design to develop techniques for validating medical listings.

FY 2001 Goal:

Prepare a preliminary report on the development of the validation methodology.

Definition:

Self-explanatory

Indicator:

Preparation of reports on results of the National Study on Health and Activity in order to identify potentially eligible disabled populations, interventions that enable continued work effort among the disabled and guide changes to the disability decision process.

FY 2001 Goal:

Initiate main study data collection.

Definition:

After completion of a pilot study, data collection for the main study will begin in 2001. This will include personal interviews, work assessments and collection of medical records.

Indicator:

Prepare analysis of alternative return-to-work strategies.

FY 2001 Goal:

Design and initiate implementation of demonstration projects.

Definition:

Self-explanatory.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

In order to improve the Agency's ability to respond to changes in medical, technological, demographic, and other trends, SSA is conducting an extensive survey of the disabled population and promoting external research. These efforts will increase the availability of information on program growth, interventions and accommodations that permit disabled persons to remain in the labor force, and will increase the availability of information on issues related to benefit eligibility and work effort by disabled persons. The Agency is also developing methods by which medical listings may be evaluated. The following projects support these efforts:

National Study of Health and Activity (NSHA): As mentioned earlier, SSA is undertaking research that seeks to estimate the size of the population potentially eligible for disability now and in the near future. This research will also assess the accommodations and interventions that permit some persons meeting SSA's definition of disability to continue to work and will assess how this information might be used to assist others to remain in the labor force rather than seek benefits. The NSHA will also provide information that permits SSA to assess the impact of changes in the disability decision process.

Disability Research Institute: This Cooperative Agreement would initially consist of a single center that would utilize a network of scholars from a variety of institutions. The Institute would provide research findings in critical disability policy areas, disseminate important findings, provide a mechanism for training scholars in disability research, and assist in finding methods of sharing disability administrative data with researchers.

Research Design to Develop Techniques for Validating Medical Listings: Our current system of determining eligibility for disability benefits is designed to ensure that persons who meet medical listings are severely disabled enough to be unable to work. The project to validate medical listings will develop a methodology to help us monitor and evaluate the listings. The framework for validating medical listings should establish appropriate criteria by which to assess the ability to work, identify and adopt appropriate research protocols and statistical methods, and to propose clinical or other testing methods to gather data.

Examine Interventions for Self-Sufficiency: SSA is playing a key role in promoting return-to-work incentives for current beneficiaries. To assure that such initiatives have the optimum impact, it is important to assess them and adjust policy as necessary. Additionally, we will go beyond current initiatives and examine further possibilities for SSA to assist or facilitate assistance for people with disabilities in order to improve their independence and well being.

SSA is promoting program changes that increase the self-sufficiency of disabled beneficiaries by implementing a comprehensive strategy to increase the number of beneficiaries with disabilities who work, despite their impairment, and thereby lessen their dependence on the benefit rolls. The strategy will support Executive Order 13078, "Increasing Employment of Adults with Disabilities," signed by the President on March 13, 1998. Key concepts of the employment strategy are:

• Enhancing the individual's financial stability and smoothing the transition away from a dependence on income support programs;

• Providing greater incentives for public and private sector providers of employment and rehabilitation services to serve SSA's beneficiaries;

• Maximizing the employment potential of young people with disabilities; and

• Simplifying program incentives for people who want to work.

This strategy involves a number of initiatives, including some that require legislation and others that can be pursued using existing legislative authorities. Major initiatives are:

Return to Work Legislation: This initiative is key to achieving significant increases over the long-term in the number of beneficiaries who return to work. SSA worked closely with the 106th Congress to develop legislation that addresses some of the most significant barriers to the employment of people with disabilities. On December 17, 1999, President Clinton signed Public Law 106-170, The Ticket To Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, which includes provisions that would issue beneficiaries a "ticket" to access a broad range of employment and vocational rehabilitation (VR) services from approved private and public providers. These providers would be paid a portion of the benefit savings realized by the beneficiary finding stable work.

Other key features of the new law are expanded eligibility for health care coverage, which has been a major concern to beneficiaries wanting to work, and authorization to conduct demonstration projects. The law also authorizes the Commissioner to carry out experiments and demonstration projects to test various methods of treating work activity by disabled persons and of altering limitations and conditions that apply to them. One demonstration project will test a $1 for $2 benefit offset model that will enable DI beneficiaries to continue to receive some reduced benefit while they attempt to sustain work. SSA is proceeding to implement those provisions that were effective on enactment and developing plans to implement the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program in January 2001.

Improving Access to Vocational Rehabilitation Services: To expand the opportunity for beneficiaries to receive VR services, SSA began contracting for services from alternate VR providers in both the public and private sector. We currently have contracts with 450 alternative participants who will continue to serve beneficiaries until implementation of the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program.

As the Ticket Program expands to national implementation, SSA will identify qualified providers of rehabilitation and employment services who are willing to serve its beneficiaries. State VR agencies retain the option under Public Law 106-170 to continue to receive payments for the cost of providing employment services to beneficiaries who work or to receive the same performance-based payments as non-State providers under the Ticket Program. SSA will continue to explore ways to improve service and relationships with State VR Agencies as we encourage their participation in the Ticket Program.

Rehabilitation and Return to Work Research: SSA's efforts in this area center on a State Partnership Initiative that will test the effects of providing integrated services to beneficiaries with disabilities at the State and local level. In September 1998, SSA awarded funding under Cooperative Agreements to twelve States for the first year of what is anticipated to be a five-year research project. We have also begun a project to establish and maintain a nationwide program of coordinated research and policy development focusing on innovative approaches to early identification of potential disability beneficiaries and the effective transition of young beneficiaries into the workforce. Evaluation of the effort will be a key element of the project.

These and additional efforts will be implemented through the following Key Initiatives:

• Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities, and
• Strengthening Research, Evaluation and Policy Development

Strategic Objective:

Provide information for decisionmakers and others on the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs through objective and responsive research, evaluation, and policy development.

Context

This objective reflects SSA's commitment to revitalize its research, policy analysis and evaluation capabilities, in recognition that these capabilities are essential enablers for accomplishing the other objectives under this strategic goal. Responsive research, evaluation, and policy development means providing relevant information in the clearest possible manner with an efficient use of resources. These performance goals measure SSA's ability to prioritize many demands for data and research while providing useful and objective information to decisionmakers.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Percent of customers assigning a high rating to the quality of SSA's research and analysis products in terms of accuracy, reliability, comprehensiveness, and responsiveness.

FY 2001 Goal:

Establish a baseline.

Definition:

This goal will be considered achieved if:
SSA establishes a baseline for this measure in FY 2001 and begins developing a performance goal for this measure in FY 2002.

Indicator:

Percent of major statistical products that are timely.

FY 2001 Goal:

Establish a baseline for percent of major statistical projects that are produced on schedule.

Definition:

Self-explanatory.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

To achieve this objective, SSA is in the process of strengthening its entire infrastructure for research, evaluation, and policy development, with particular emphasis on organization and research capabilities. The following are the major changes in progress and planned through FY 2001:

Policy Agenda: A first policy agenda has been developed with input from policymakers and stakeholders within and outside the Agency. It will enable SSA to target its resources to examine the high priority issues in social insurance and safety net programs. The agenda will also help staff provide critical information for the development of policies supporting Agency performance and policy goals. As results from ongoing research associated with the initiatives in the policy agenda become available, they will be used to develop policy options for program improvement, as appropriate. Policy papers describing recommendations resulting from this line of study will become part of the policy development process. The policy agenda will be updated periodically.

Retirement Research Consortium (RRC) and Disability Research Institute (DRI): The RRC and DRI are both mechanisms for SSA to extramurally fund in a coordinated fashion research, dissemination of results of that research, training new scholars and practitioners and facilitating data access for policy research. These activities will expand information available for decisionmakers and others on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income.

Expanded Social Security Bulletin: SSA has recently expanded its quarterly publication to include policy papers by inside authors and papers by outside authors. We are taking several actions to solicit papers. These include sending letters to over 800 persons in relevant fields, putting an announcement in the Bulletin, in major journals and on list servers of major professional associations, and developing a brochure to hand out at conferences.

Model Development: SSA is developing several projection models (an historical cohort model, a near-term projection model (MINT), and a long-term model, as well as models of the disability and SSI processes). SSA is also evaluating the Cornell Dynamic Microsimulation Model and building the capability to run the Employee Benefit Research Institute model.

Data Development: SSA is developing two special-purpose surveys--the National Study of Health and Activity and SSI Children's Survey--to provide data not elsewhere available on its disability populations. SSA is also negotiating two linkages of several of its administrative program data files with survey data collected by the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. Thirdly, SSA is developing data files from the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation that make them more usable for research.

Data Access: SSA is developing a modification to some of its Federal systems of record to allow greater access to benefit and SSN application records for research. To support the increased statistical use of SSA program data, SSA will educate users and potential users in types of data available and possible uses of them. The Office of Policy is redesigning its Web Site to allow users to manipulate tabular data to custom design tabulations and we are organizing information by subject areas for ease of use. We are developing an internet design that is more subject matter oriented, provides multiple access paths to the same information, incorporates a new graphics look and feel, and includes a logic tree to help users locate data.

Statistical Process Changes: SSA is developing the capability of producing many of its statistical and redesigning products in final camera-ready form directly, through obtaining software, providing training, and redesigning tables where needed. The new system greatly improves productivity and quality of printed products. Through the creation of a new database to replace the Annual Report of Earnings, we will produce data on the earnings test more quickly that is less error prone.

Customer Satisfaction Survey: SSA is developing a questionnaire, a customer list, and a sampling design to conduct a survey that will measure customer satisfaction with the responsiveness of research, statistics and analysis products as well as the extent to which SSA helps identify and explain new/emerging issues for decisionmakers. Design of the survey will take place in FY 2000. A first survey will be conducted in FY 2001 to develop baseline measures. Subsequent surveys will be conducted annually, and we will begin developing a performance goal with respect to customer satisfaction in FY 2002, after analyzing the baseline results.

Timely Release of Major Statistical Products: This indicator will be a measure of the extent to which our major statistical products are produced in a timely manner. Our major statistical products will be identified and schedules will be established for both Internet and published versions in FY 2000. In FY 2001, baseline measures will be made of the percent of statistical products that are released on schedule. This will become an annual indicator. In FY 2002, a first goal will be set for this indicator.

Extramural Research Infrastructure: Through partnering, grants, contracts, interagency agreements, and task orders, SSA encourages research outside the Agency and, most importantly, will elicit advice from public policy experts outside SSA. We have already put in place a task order mechanism that enables us to use outside researchers to conduct short turnaround policy evaluation studies through an expedited contracting process.

Policy Net/Policy Repository: SSA is establishing a new communications infrastructure that will first allow SSA users to efficiently access well-organized and up-to-date, policy-related material. In the future, it will allow users to request and receive policy clarifications and participate meaningfully in policy development activities in a controlled and structured way. The Agency-wide collaboration made possible by Policy Net enables policymakers to work more closely with users and other stakeholders during the development of policy changes so they can ensure we have well thought-out, well coordinated policy and the highest quality policy materials.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Policy Net/Policy Repository
• Strengthening Research, Evaluation and Policy Development

Crosscutting Areas with Other Agencies

In contributing to the economic security of our nation's people, SSA's programs intersect with those of many other Federal agencies. We have numerous standing relationships to coordinate programs that are directed toward common populations. In addition, we form ad hoc partnerships as particular program policy issues arise. The following highlights major areas related to research and program policy that we are coordinating with other agencies:

• SSA is one of many Federal agency members of a National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, created by Executive Order and led by the Department of Labor (DOL), to coordinate an aggressive national policy to bring adults with disabilities to gainful employment.

• SSA coordinates benefits to people with disabilities with several agencies, including DOL, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Veterans' Affairs (VA) and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).

• SSA and HCFA are working together to increase enrollment in Medicare Part B buy-in programs and the State-option Medicaid program for working disabled people.

• Return-to-work research is being coordinated with DOL and the Department of Education (DOE).

• SSA depends upon vocational rehabilitation services provided by State agencies funded and administered by DOE. Note: SSA also reimburses State agencies for services provided to certain disability beneficiaries.

• SSA participates with several Federal agencies (i.e., National Institute on Aging, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census) in planning surveys that provide essential background information for policy research and analysis. These include the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Pension Supplement to the Current Population Survey, the Health and Retirement Survey and AHEAD, the National Longitudinal Surveys of Women, and a survey of the homeless population.

• SSA provides data to other agencies for various research purposes, including the VA for outreach evaluation, Congressional Budget Office for analysis of legislative proposals, General Accounting Office (GAO) for legislative analysis and for special requests for Congress, and the Bureau of the Census for improved population estimates.

• SSA collaborates with many Federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Bureau of the Census, and the Department of Agriculture in assessing the effects of welfare reform legislation on participation in SSI, DI and other government programs.

• SSA has in place Technical Support Groups that include both government and academic experts to provide independent technical comments that will ensure high quality output from evaluation contracts.

• SSA participates in several collaborative efforts to improve our Federal statistical systems and reduce burden and cost. Activities include meeting with subject-matter groups such as those related to aging, children and families and disability, developing data in the health and welfare area, discussing measurement issues such as an improved poverty index, sharing concerns about confidentiality and data access, and disseminating Federal statistics through a common site on the Internet.

• SSA will work with the Centers for Disease Control to test a new disability classification system.

• SSA co-chairs conferences with other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Education, focusing on enhancing work opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Legislation and Regulations

SSA's strategy for helping people with disabilities return to the workplace relies heavily on recently enacted legislation.

The newly created Office of Policy (OP) provides a focal point within the Agency for policy development in FY 2001. The policy development process coordinated by OP institutionalizes an annual process for the systemic, rigorous and analytic presentation of issues and policy options to the Commissioner. The process will provide the Commissioner with policy papers that can be used to determine his policy priorities and options and advance them as part of the budget and legislative process.

Knowledge gained from the research and evaluation done by the Office of Research Evaluation and Statistics is an important component of each paper. OP develops each paper in consultation with other divisions within Social Security and program, administrative, budgetary, legal and operational concerns are taken into consideration.

Strategic Goal:	To deliver customer-responsive world-class service

This goal encompasses the range of services that SSA provides in response to customer demand, across all the programs that we administer--RSI, DI and SSI--and through all modes that we use to interface with the public--telephone, in-office, mail, internet and automated self-service, and third parties. Chief among these services are processing claims and appeals for benefits, issuing SSNs, and updating our records to reflect changes in circumstances reported by customers that affect the amount or continuation of payments.

An estimated $5.3 billion, 73 percent of SSA's total FY 2001 administrative budget is devoted to the substantial day-to-day work generated by requests for service from our core business customers.¹ The following table displays the funding arrayed by the workloads processed in support of this strategic goal.

The following Objectives support this Strategic Goal:

• By 2002, to have 9 out of 10 customers rate SSA's service as "good," "very good" or "excellent," with most rating it "excellent".

• By 2002, increase the range of program and information services available to customers over the phone and electronically.

• To raise the number of customers who receive service and payments on time, specifically by 2002:
  • Issue disability claims award/denial notices within 6 months after onset of disability or 120 days after effective filing date, whichever is later, to 70 percent of applicants.

  • Issue initial SSI disability claims award/denial notices within120 days of filing to 60 percent of applicants.

  • Issue hearing decisions to 30 percent of requestors within 120 days from the date of request for a hearing.

  • Maintain current levels of timeliness in processing OASI and SSI aged claims.

Strategic Objective:

By 2002, to have 9 out of 10 customers rate SSA's service as "good," "very good" or "excellent," with most rating it "excellent"

Context

As it is the customer who is the ultimate judge of whether we are providing service that is world-class, this objective defines the overall outcome of the strategic goal that it supports. The remaining two objectives under the "world-class service" goal serve to place added emphasis on particular aspects of service that are important contributors to customer satisfaction. Consequently, activities and indicators of performance under those objectives support this objective as well.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

The overall customer satisfaction rate is the most direct and highest-level measure of performance under this objective. To help us pinpoint areas needing improvement, SSA also measures customer satisfaction with specific aspects of service. And, to help us manage day-to-day, we use an array of lower-level, operational indicators to track performance throughout the year.

In addition, we have included operational measures used to assess whether teleservice employees are providing accurate information and taking appropriate actions. As such, these measures provide an indication of staff knowledge, another important factor influencing customer satisfaction according to our customer surveys.

To improve SSA's notices, it is more informative for us to gather survey data that can lead to making meaningful notice improvements rather than to just provide an overall satisfaction rating on notices in general. We are, therefore, redirecting our survey efforts to focus on a few specific notices each year and to develop specific action plans to improve satisfaction with those notices. Since this approach will not provide us with an overall satisfaction rating on notices in general, for FY 2001, we eliminated the performance indicator "Percent of SSA's core business customers rating the clarity of SSA's notices as `excellent,' `very good,' or `good.'" At a later point, and as appropriate based on our interim learning, we will establish a new notices indicator.

Our actual FY 1999 performance for the indicator "Percent of SSA's core business customers rating SSA's overall service as `excellent'" was 44 percent, up from 30 percent in FY 1998. Our annual goals for FY 2000 and FY 2001 are 37 percent and 40 percent respectively. Despite the increase in the satisfaction rating in FY 1999, we did not raise our targets for FY 2000 and FY 2001. Our reasons are two-fold. First, in FY 2000 we are changing our survey methodology for assessing satisfaction and this may have a significant effect on customer ratings. Second, budget resource limitations have caused us to lower our FY 2000 targets for some workload and performance measures. In FY 2001, we will process more work while maintaining most service levels in the face of growing demands.

Indicator:

Percent of SSA's core business customers rating SSA's overall service as "excellent," "very good," or "good"

FY 2001 Goal:

89%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of core business customers surveyed by SSA's Office of Quality Assurance and Performance Assessment (OQA) who rate overall service as "good," "very good" or "excellent" on a 6-point scale ranging from "excellent" to "very poor", divided by the total number of respondents to that question.

Data Source:

For FY 1999 and earlier, SSA Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. Effective with FY 2000, SSA is replacing this survey with Interaction Tracking surveys. These surveys capture customer satisfaction data related to service received during telephone and in-person contacts with SSA.

Indicator:

Percent of SSA's core business customers rating SSA's overall service as "excellent"

FY 2001 Goal:

40%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of core business customers surveyed by SSA's OQA who rate overall service as "excellent" on a 6-point scale ranging from "excellent" to "very poor", divided by the total number of respondents to that question.

Data Source:

For FY 1999 and earlier, SSA Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. Effective with FY 2000, SSA is replacing this survey with Interaction Tracking surveys. These surveys capture customer satisfaction data related to service received during telephone and in-person contacts with SSA.

Indicator:

Percent of employers rating SSA's overall service as "excellent," "very good," or "good"

FY 2001 Goal:

94%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of employers surveyed by SSA's OQA who rate overall service as "good," "very good" or "excellent" divided by the total number of respondents to that question. The estimate for FY 1999 is projected from the results of the last employer satisfaction survey done in FY 1996; the next one will be conducted in early FY 2000 with employers who had contact with SSA in FY 1999. The survey will be conducted annually thereafter.

Data Source:

Employer Satisfaction Survey

Indicator:

Percent of employers rating SSA's overall service as "excellent"

FY 2001 Goal:

16%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of employers surveyed by SSA's OQA who rate overall service as "excellent" divided by the total number of respondents to that question. The estimate for FY 1999 is projected from the results of the last employer satisfaction survey done in FY 1996; the next one will be conducted in early FY 2000 with employers who had contact with SSA in FY 1999. The survey will be conducted annually thereafter.

Data Source:

Employer Satisfaction Survey

Indicator:

Percent of callers who successfully access the 800-number within 5-minutes of their first call

FY 2001 Goal:

92%

Definition:

This rate is the percentage of unique call attempts that successfully "connect" within 5 minutes of the first attempt within a 24-hour period. A successful "connection" occurs when a caller selects either an automated or a live agent and is connected with that option within 5 minutes of the first dialing of the 800-number.

Data Source:

Automatic Number ID records provided by AT&T.

Indicator:

Percent of callers who get through to the 800-number on their first attempt

FY 2001 Goal:

86%

Definition:

This rate reflects the number of individuals who reach the 800-number (either live or automated service) on their first attempt, divided by the number of unique telephone numbers dialed to the 800-number. An "attempt" is defined as the first attempted call of the day, or a subsequent attempt after a previously successful call.

Data Source:

Automatic Number ID records provided by AT&T

Indicator:

Percent of 800-number calls handled accurately

FY 2001 Goal:

90% service accuracy 95% payment accuracy

Definition:

Service accuracy is a measure of whether 800-number representatives respond correctly to inquiries related to issues other than payment and eligibility. Payment accuracy is a measure of whether 800-number representatives respond correctly to inquiries related to eligibility and payments of benefits.

Data Source:

800-number Service Evaluation Findings

Indicator:

Percent of public with an appointment waiting 10 minutes or less

FY 2001 Goal:

85%

Definition:

The number of visitors with an appointment who wait 10 minutes or less, divided by the total number of visitors with an appointment during the study time. Waiting time data are collected during a 1-hour window, once a quarter, in each field office.

Data Source:

SSA Waiting Time Study

Indicator:

Percent of public without an appointment waiting 30 minutes or less

FY 2001 Goal:

70%

Definition:

The number of visitors without an appointment who wait 30 minutes or less, divided by the total number of visitors without an appointment during the study time. Waiting time data are collected during a 1-hour window, once a quarter, in each field office.

Data Source:

SSA Waiting Time Study

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

Virtually all of SSA's Key Initiatives will contribute to achievement of this strategic objective to have 9 out of 10 customers rate SSA's service as "good," "very good" or "excellent," with most rating it "excellent." To achieve "world class" satisfaction ratings, however, we are pursuing two strategies:

Data gathering: SSA needs to understand more fully what makes our customers satisfied. Different populations often have different needs and different levels of satisfaction and perception of service because of the nature of business they conduct. Accordingly, we are using an integrated Market Measurement Program to provide comprehensive data about all of our major customer groups. One new component we are developing is an Agency-wide system called TLC for "Talking and Listening to Customers." This system will serve two primary goals, i.e., to address individual customer complaints and compliments as well as identify and analyze systemic problems and trends. Easily accessible, customer-initiated comments, in conjunction with other customer input, will guide our business planning, policy development, communication strategies, and process improvement. All reports emanating from the Market Measurement Program data collection activities are housed in a central, electronic repository which makes information needed for planning and decisionmaking easily accessible to all employees.

Targeted Process Improvement: We have analyzed, and will continue to analyze on an ongoing basis, available customer survey findings and focus group results to identify and prioritize specific areas that make the most difference in increasing overall satisfaction. We have identified several areas that provide opportunities for increasing overall customer satisfaction. We are implementing improvement activities in those areas as follows:

• Clear and helpful mailings--SSA has provided employees on-line access to notices and will improve the clarity of five specific types of notices found to be most problematic. In addition, in response to requirements in a Presidential memorandum, we have developed a Key Initiative to incorporate plain language into all our public documents.

• 800-number access--SSA will take steps to expand service offerings over the 800-number so as to maintain the current access rate. Our strategy is twofold: to enhance network and computer technology to more effectively balance incoming calls among our call centers, and to increase interactive automated services for simple business transactions that do not require interaction with an SSA representative.

• Field office telephone access--We will complete installation of automated attendant and voice mail in all field offices during FY 2000 to improve the ability of customers to get through to field offices by telephone. SSA has established a method of service observation to measure accuracy of telephone service in field offices, and is establishing a method of determining access to field offices by telephone. We will also conduct surveys to measure satisfaction with telephone access and service in local offices.

• Field office reception and waiting times--We will explore enhancements to improve the flow of customers through the reception process and enhance the appearance and comfort of waiting rooms.

• Staff knowledge and helpfulness--We will implement nationally the Customer Help Information Program, an expert system to support teleservice, and continue training on error-prone issues to improve service accuracy.

• Complete business at the first point of contact--Recent customer surveys indicate that completed business with one call or visit has a significant effect on satisfaction. SSA has formed a Leadership Team to explore ways to increase the amount of business that can be completed via teleservice without handoffs or call backs, and without significantly increasing the length of calls.

Targeted process improvement is being pursued in the context of increasing workloads and resource constraints that make even the maintenance of current service levels a significant challenge. To address this challenge, the Commissioner recently directed that several short-term 800 number initiatives be implemented including:

• Supplementing Call Answering Capacity by:
  • Hiring additional teleservice staff and training existing staff in other positions so they can serve as customer service technicians.

  • Creating a new position which includes the duties of teleservice staff and overpayment recovery staff, enabling a broader range of business to be completed via 800 number. About 200 positions are initially being filled, with a substantial increase in positions by FY 2001.

  • Establishing a SPIKE cadre in the Wilkes-Barre Data Operations Center (WBDOC).
• Using Technology to:
  • Enable SSA to more accurately forecast call demands and to maximize the efficient use of the answering agent resources. Plans are underway to develop the technology in June 2000.

  • Dynamically route national 800-number network calls to available agents before creating a queue, thus increasing SSA's call answering capability. We will acquire and install new telephone equipment; i.e., automatic call distributors (ACDs) with Intelligent Network Routing (INR) capability. ACD replacement will begin in June 2000 with completion by August 2001.

  • Increase the use of automation in handling customer services in the national 800 number network. Currently, automation is limited to voice mail types of applications. Plans are underway to implement this technology by October 2000.

Our strategy to improve employer satisfaction with our service is to develop and provide a wider range of more usable and convenient electronic products and services to assist employers in providing quality wage reports. The specific services that we plan to provide are discussed under the next objective.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Earnings Improvement Program
• Expand Electronic Wage Reporting
• Expand Electronic SSN Verification Services
• Improve 800 Number Service
• Improve Field Office Reception Process, Reception Area Environment, and Waiting Times
• Improve Field Office Telephone Service
• Market Measurement Program
• Notice Improvements
• Talking and Listening to Customers
• Plain Language

Strategic Objective:

By 2002, increase the range of program and information services available to customers over the phone and electronically

Context

The vast majority of SSA customers have said that they prefer to deal with us over the telephone and, when they do, they want their business completed in one contact. A growing number of customers want to conduct government business electronically as they become accustomed to doing commercial business in this way. To provide customer-responsive service, SSA is committed to addressing this ongoing shift in our customers' preferences and is prepared to expand service delivery options in response to customer expectations.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Performance under this objective will be determined by the new services actually made available over the phone and electronically and/or by the increase in the number of customers who successfully use the new services.

Indicator:

New or expanded services available over the phone

FY 2001 Goal:

Take retirement or survivor claims immediately over the telephone, or in person, as long as the applicant has all the information needed--fully implemented in 2001.

Definition:

This goal will have been met if we have fully implemented claims-taking via the 800 number.

Indicator:

New or expanded services available electronically

FY 2001 Goal:

Pilot/implement additional forms and transactional services, including:

1. Retirement and survivors claim forms; and

2. Additional on-line transactional services for beneficiaries.

3. Establish an Electronic Death Certification pilot with Bureau of Vital Statistics; verification of name/SSN match before sending data to SSA.

Definition:

Goals 1 and 2 will have been met when we bring these services online.
Goal 3 will be met when we have several pilot states sending death data within a 24-hour period.

Indicator:

Number of customers accessing Social Security Online

FY 2001 Goal:

23 million (as measured by SSA servers)

Definition:

Represents counts of Social Security Online home page accesses. This measure was revised in 1998 to show actual access more accurately.

Data Source:

Systems counts from SSA's web server

Indicator:

Number of online Social Security Statement requests (includes both form SSA-7004 downloads as well as online Social Security Statement requests) as compared to the number of completed calls on the 800-number automated response unit for the SSA-7004.

FY 2001 Goal:

50% of Social Security Statement requests initiated via the Internet versus the 800-number automated response unit.

Baseline Data:

25% of requests were taken via the Internet at the start of FY 1999. That percentage rose to 37% as of the end of June, 1999.

Definition:

This indicator is measured by the number of accesses on SSA's website (includes requests to download the SSA-7004 and to complete a Social Security Statement Request online) as compared to the number of completed calls on the 800-number automated response unit for the SSA-7004.

Data Source:

Systems counts from SSA's web server and 800-number.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

To achieve this strategic objective, SSA will continually expand the services offered by phone and electronically that will allow customers to complete their business with SSA at the initial point of contact. An Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Board has been established, made up of key executives in the agency, which will provide direction and oversight to all ESD initiatives. The Board is developing an aggressive strategy that will provide on-line functionality while addressing resource issues and privacy/security safeguards. The strategy enables SSA to improve customer service and realize some savings by increasing access to public information and forms while developing more complex on-line data collection and processing functions. High-volume public forms will be downloadable by the end of FY 2000. During that timeframe, we also will pilot and evaluate two new services from the Retirement Suite--the Retirement Planner and an electronic Retirement claim form. In FY 2001, we will implement additional services, as referenced in our performance goals. We will adjust the overall Agency Internet strategy based on customer input and activity on the Internet.

Finding reliable ways to authenticate the identity of our customers electronically to ensure the privacy and integrity of SSA systems is critical to enabling the expansion of telephone and electronic service. For electronic service, we are currently participating in government efforts such as the Government Information Technology Board's Federal Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Steering Committee to develop customer authentication standards that are consistent across a range of applications. We also are exploring business and governmental partnerships and external funding sources to leverage SSA resources needed to implement applications and the appropriate authentication methods to support them.

SSA will begin developing the policies and technical architecture for authentication in FY 2000. This effort includes establishing an application risk assessment methodology, establishing PIN/Password policies for online claimants and beneficiaries and conducting pilots with employers and the medical community to demonstrate the use of PKI digital certificates.

To enable more services to be handled to completion by telephone, we are working to provide more customer information online and revise our systems, policies and procedures so that our employees are able to fully respond to a customer's request at the initial contact. For example, starting in November 1998, we began providing authorized employees online access to notices. We also are testing a call transfer process for moving certain types of calls to specially trained representatives for complete handling at the initial contact. And, we conducted a pilot test to determine the feasibility of completely processing over the 800-number certain categories of applications for replacement SSN cards, without requiring the applicant to submit supporting documentation via an office visit or the mail. After considering the pilot results and obtaining adequate assurances that fraud is not a problem, we will decide how to proceed.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Electronic Service Delivery
• Expand Electronic Wage Reporting
• Expand Electronic SSN Verification Services
• Immediate Claims-Taking Services
• Improve 800 Number Service
• Information Exchange
• Notice Improvements
• Title II Systems Redesign

Strategic Objective:

To raise the number of customers who receive service and payments on time, specifically by 2002:

• Issue initial DI disability claims award/denial notices within 6 months after onset of disability or 120 days after effective filing date, whichever is later, to 70 percent of applicants

• Issue initial SSI disability claims award/denial notices within 120 days of filing to 60 percent of applicants

• Issue hearing decisions to 30 percent of requestors within 120 days from the date of request for a hearing

• Maintain current levels of timeliness in processing OASI and SSI aged claims

Context

We know from our customer satisfaction survey data that disability customers continue to rate most aspects of customer service significantly lower than do other customer groups. The strongest factors affecting their satisfaction are processing times, and of course, whether the claim is awarded. This objective confirms and continues SSA's commitment to improve service to disability claimants, to pay the right people sooner, and with a greater degree of accuracy.

As we proceed in developing our next strategic plan, we are revising our current disability claims and hearing processing time objectives. Revisions to these objectives will be contained in our September 2000 Strategic Plan and FY 2002 Performance Plan. In the interim and for this plan, we have reworded the current objective, as it addresses processing time for SSDI and SSI applicants, to reflect a more appropriate processing time goal for a greater number of applicants.

In an effort to improve our service to disability applicants, over the past few years SSA has tested various process improvements to determine what changes would meet our goal of providing better customer service. After analyzing the results of these extensive tests, we are now focusing on the most promising approaches. SSA anticipates that these changes will improve the disability adjudication process by creating a decisionmaking process that reduces fragmentation and duplication, produces greater consistency and coordination at all adjudicative levels and takes better advantage of new technology. By taking these steps, SSA is striving to ensure that the correct disability decision is made and that benefits are awarded as early in the process as possible.

Since many of these improvements will not be fully implemented until after FY 2001, our current performance indicators are being retained for this performance plan, and our annual targets reflect the process improvements being prototyped in FY 2000-2001 for approximately 20 percent of claims.

The goals in the initial level process are to:

• Improve the quality of decisions;

• Increase claimant understanding and involvement in the process;

• Pay those who should be paid at the earliest point possible;

• Ensure complete case development and documentation up front; and

• Reduce processing steps and decrease overall processing time for claimants who appeal by eliminating the reconsideration level.

Testing results support these goals and showed we could pay as many people in one adjudicative step as we currently pay in two steps--and with a greater degree of accuracy. The process we are prototyping includes a predecision interview and enhanced documentation and explanation practices that increase processing time for some individuals, but ensure that they understand the process and program requirements and have provided us with all sources of evidence and all relevant information. This prototyping will provide a body of information regarding the effects of these process refinements prior to natural implementation.

We are also implementing a major initiative to dramatically reduce average processing times and increase productivity for cases that do go to OHA for a hearing.

Because we are focusing our energies on improving performance in the disability and hearings processes, where there is a greater gap between where we are and where we would like to be, SSA's objective regarding OASI and SSI Aged initial claims processing time is to maintain current performance levels. Our challenge in meeting this objective will be to ensure that there is no erosion of performance because of competing budgetary priorities and growing workloads.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Disability:

Once we have redefined the strategic objectives, and prototyped and begun to implement the new disability process nationally, we expect to revise our performance indicators for disability and hearings processing times. Although we have reworded the SSDI and SSI processing time objectives, our current SSI data system is unable to measure the percentage of claims processed within 120 days. So, in the interim, we are using annual average processing times as indicators of our performance for initial claims and for hearings and are working on enhancing our data systems so we can more precisely measure our performance. With this performance plan, we have also introduced an additional indicator for hearings, which focuses on increasing the productivity (i.e., Production Per Workyear (PPWY)) in the hearings process.

As the new disability process is prototyped and implemented nationally, we expect that productivity will decrease slightly and processing time will increase during FY 2000 and FY 2001. The elimination of the reconsideration step more than offsets the additional effort and processing time projected. However, we are aiming to be able to handle more claims by FY 2005, which is essential because, by that time, we anticipate increased receipts.

Section VIII of the plan, Summary of Management Improvement Goals for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Disability Programs, lists all the Agency's performance goals relating to improving the disability programs; included are indicators and goals for disability and hearings processing time, and hearings productivity improvement.

Section IX of the plan, Summary of Hearings Process Improvement Goals, list all the Agency's performance goals relating to improving the hearings process; included are the indicators and goals for hearings processing time and productivity improvement.

OASI/SSI:

Performance for OASI and SSI Aged processing times is expressed in terms of the percent of cases processed within the number of days specified by the objective. Our goal is to maintain current levels of performance in each of these areas.

In FY 2001, we are changing our SSI Aged processing time indicator so that it is consistent with the OASI Aged processing time measure. In addition, we are revising the definition so that it accurately reflects what we will measure beginning FY 2001; the numeric goal will be computed once we have new baseline data for FY 2001 using the new measurement methodology. The historical performance displayed is in terms of the measurement system, and the definition in effect, prior to FY 2001.

Indicator:

Initial disability claims average processing time (days)

FY 2001 Goal:    117 days

Definition:

This indicator represents the fiscal year average processing time for DI and SSI claims combined. Processing time is measured from the application date (or protective filing date) to either the date of the denial notice or the date the system completes processing of an award.

Data Source:

Title II MIICR Processing Time and Title XVI SSICR Processing Time Systems

Indicator:

Hearings average processing time (days)

FY 2001 Goal:    208 days

Definition:

For the FY 2000 APP, this indicator was redefined from the one included in the FY 1999 APP to represent the average elapsed time, from the hearing request date until the date of the notice of decision, of hearings level cases processed during all months of the fiscal year. The FY 1999 APP indicator reflected the average elapsed time of hearings level cases processed only in the last month of the fiscal year. The FY 1999 APP goal shown above reflects the average processing time projection using the new definition. The actuals are based on the FY 1999 APP definition.

Data Source:

OHA Monthly Activity Reports and the Hearing Office Tracking System

Indicator:

Percent increase in OHA Production Per Workyear (PPWY) in hearings process

FY 2001Goal:    14%

Baseline Data:
FY2000 APP Goal	FY1999 Estimate	FY1998 Actual
4%	N/A	N/A

Definition:

Indicator represents the annual percentage increase relative to the base year (FY 1999) in the OHA PPWY in the hearings process.

Data Source:

OHA Monthly Activity Reports and the Hearing Office Tracking System

Indicator:

Percent of OASI claims processed by the time the first regular payment is due or within 14 days from effective filing date, if later

FY 2001Goal:    83%

Definition:

This rate reflects the number of OASI applications completed through the SSA operational system (i.e., award or denial notices are triggered) before the first regular continuing payment is due or not more than 14 calendar days from the effective filing date, if later, divided by the total number of OASI applications processed. The first regular payment due date is based on the appropriate payment cycling date which may be the 3rd of the month, or the 2nd, 3rd or 4th Wednesday of the month.

Data Source:

End-of-Line Processing Time Report

Indicator:

Percent of SSI Aged claims processed by the time the first regular payment is due or within 14 days of effective filing date, if later

FY 2001 Goal: Will be set once baseline is established (equivalent to maintenance goal).

Baseline Data: To be developed

Definition:

This rate reflects the number of SSI Aged applications completed through the SSA operational system (i.e., award or denial notices are triggered) before the first regular continuing payment is due or not more than 14 days from the effective filing date, if later, divided by the total number of SSI Aged applications processed. The first regular continuing payment due date is based on the first day of the month that all eligibility factors are met and payment is due. This definition is in effect beginning FY 2001. Prior years data is based on the definition below.

Data Source:

Title XVI Processing Time System (effective FY 2001)

Indicator:

Percent of initial SSI Aged claims processed within 14 days of filing date

Definition:

This rate reflects the number of SSI Aged applications completed through the SSA operational system (i.e., award or denial notices are triggered) within 14 days from the filing date, divided by the total number of SSI Aged applications processed. This definition and measurement system are in effect for years prior to FY 2001.

Data Source:

Title XVI Processing Time System (through FY 2000)

Indicator:

Percent of original and replacement SSN cards issued within 5 days of receiving all necessary documentation

FY 2001 Goal: 97%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of original and replacement SSNs issued within 5 days of the date all documentation is received by the field office divided by the total number of requests. The issuance date is defined as the date when the printed cards are delivered to SSA's mail operation. Data exclude SSNs assigned via the Enumeration-at-Birth process and the time associated with the delivery of the SSN card to the applicant.

Data Source:

Field Office Social Security Number Enumeration Report

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

We plan to prototype a series of changes that will improve the initial disability determination process by:

• Providing greater decisional authority to the disability examiner and more effective use of the expertise of the medical consultant in the disability determination process;

• Ensuring appropriate development and explanations in initial cases;

• Increasing opportunities for claimant interaction with the decisionmaker; and

• Simplifying the appeals process by eliminating the reconsideration step.

The new prototype process will reduce overall processing time because two adjudicative steps will be combined into one. The current reconsideration step will be eliminated and the claimant will be given an opportunity to talk to the decisionmaker at the initial level. For claimants who only go through the process as far as the initial level, they will get a decision in essentially the same amount of time under the new process as they did under the old process. That decision will be better developed and the claimant will first have an opportunity to talk to the decisionmaker when the evidence is insufficient to make a fully favorable allowance. Claimants who would have gone through the reconsideration level under the old process, will get a final decision twice as fast as under the new process as they did under the old process by FY 2005.

SSA will create a new Electronic Disability Folder and paperless disability claims system that will allow DDSs to eliminate paper from the business process. This will allow SSA and the DDSs to streamline their case processing operations and create processing efficiencies that will enable the DDSs to handle increased receipts without adding additional staff. This is in addition to SSA's ongoing initiative to work in partnership with the States to assist lower-producing DDSs in their efforts to improve productivity.

Starting January 2000, SSA is implementing a major initiative to dramatically improve average processing times and productivity for hearings. Our strategy incorporates three major inter-related change initiatives that address the main impediments to a more efficient process. They are:

• Process Improvements--includes implementation of a national workflow model, processing time benchmarks and expanded use of pre-hearing conferences.

• Group-Based Accountability--Hearing Offices will be organized in self-contained processing groups under a group supervisor, each group responsible for processing the case through the entire hearings process.

• Automation and Data Collection--includes enhanced management information and processing tools.

In Appendix 3 of this document, we provide a description of the Improvements to the Disability Claims Process key initiative which further details the approach, activities, and schedule of the prototypes and how they, along with Process Unification initiatives, will improve service delivery in the disability initial claims process.

Appendix 3 also provides a description of the approach, activities, and schedule of the Hearings Process Improvements key initiative, which focuses on improving the timeliness and efficiency of the hearings process.

Additional, longer-term improvements, aimed at substantially improved service and efficiency in processing disability claims and appeals, will be achieved through the following KIs:

• Electronic Disability System
• Speech Recognition Software
• Video Teleconferencing

In addition, the following KIs, although designed primarily to support other objectives, will contribute to our ability to sustain current OASI and SSI aged processing times in the face of growing workloads and resource constraints:

• Earnings Improvement Program
• Electronic Service Delivery
• Immediate Claims-taking Pilot
• Information Exchange
• Title II Systems Redesign

Crosscutting Areas with Other Agencies

SSA has numerous partnerships with other Federal agencies which provide more convenient and effective service to the many customers we share. These range from sharing information to the actual processing of each other's work and include:

Department of the Treasury--SSA assigns SSNs to individuals of all ages; permitting individuals to submit and be claimed as dependents on tax returns and for other uses in tax enforcement/collection. SSA provides IRS forms 1099 and 1042 to individuals for use in reporting taxable Social Security benefits. Using information provided by SSA, Treasury prepares paper Social Security/SSI checks and information for direct-deposit benefit payments. Treasury also handles international direct deposit in foreign countries.

Department of Health and Human Services--SSA performs work related to entitlement to Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance on behalf of HCFA (e.g., Medicare enrollment, premium billing and adjustments). SSA determinations of disability are controlling for State decisions concerning Medicaid eligibility, and SSA determinations of SSI eligibility create automatic entitlement to Medicaid coverage in States that enter into agreements with SSA under section 1634 of the Social Security Act.

Department of Labor--SSA and DOL have instituted a cooperative arrangement in administration of the Black Lung program.

Department of Agriculture--SSA and Agriculture coordinate on the verification of eligibility status of food stamp applications and joint eligibility processing under SSI. SSA field offices take some applications for food stamps. SSA also shares information with State agencies that administer the USDA food stamp program.

Department of the Interior--SSA works with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to coordinate provision of local services at the reservation level.

Department of Justice--SSA works closely with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to ensure the accuracy of SSNs assigned to aliens. Efforts are under way to transfer to INS the collection of enumeration information for some aliens in order to provide one-stop service for aliens applying for SSNs. This will enhance overall government efficiency as well as the integrity of the SSN enumeration process. SSA and INS work closely in the implementation of recent welfare reform legislation, including the piloting of a process that will allow employers to obtain on-line verification of the SSNs of newly hired employees. SSA and U.S. attorneys coordinate the defense of the Commissioner in appeals of SSA eligibility and payment decisions in the Federal courts.

Department of State (DOS)--Foreign Service Posts do work for SSA overseas, including taking claims for benefits. We are working to transfer to DOS collection of enumeration information for some visa applicants as part of the enumeration process.

Department of Veterans Affairs--SSA and VA exchange data regarding veterans benefits and use each other's medical findings to adjudicate claims. VA uses SSA disability decisions in its claims process. SSA provides VA information and technical assistance related to payment of VA benefits payable to survivors of persons who died in or as a result of military service. SSA and VA coordinate services in some veterans' hospitals.

Federal Court System--Appeals of SSA eligibility and payment decisions are heard and decided in the Federal courts; courts handle recovery of court-ordered restitutions.

Federal Interagency Coordinating Council--SSA is one of several Federal agency members of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council (FICC) for young children with disabilities. The FICC was established under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to facilitate coordination of resources at the Federal level and to model interagency coordination for the purpose of strengthening the service system for young children with disabilities and their families.

Federal Reserve System--Payments to be made via electronic funds transfer are effected through information passing through the Automated Clearinghouse.

Government Information Technology Services Board--SSA is working with other Federal agencies to develop a policy and legal framework for employees and citizens to use in conducting government business electronically. SSA expects to pilot several customer services on the Internet with Treasury, VA and GSA to test the framework.

Legal Services Corporation--Legal services programs provide representation for SSA claimants and beneficiaries in the applications and appeals processes.

National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA)--SSA is participating with financial institutions, Treasury and certain States to develop a policy and legal framework that can be used for the government to conduct business using electronic means.

U.S. Postal Service--USPS provides benefit-check and notice delivery and associated services as well as address change notifications/verifications.

Legislation and regulations

Various features to improve the Disability Claims Process, if approved for implementation will require regulations.

Strategic Goal:	To make SSA program management the best-in-business, with zero tolerance for fraud and abuse

This goal addresses SSA's responsibility, from both a service and business perspective, to pay benefits accurately and otherwise be a good steward of the money entrusted to its care. This responsibility entails establishing and maintaining a record of an individual's earnings for use in determining entitlement to benefits and payment amounts, making accurate eligibility and entitlement decisions, detecting overpayments, deterring identifying, and combatting applicant and beneficiary fraud, reducing debt and ensuring that we carry out our operations efficiently.

The following Objectives support this Strategic Goal:

• Make benefit payments in the right amount

• To become current with DI and SSI CDR requirements by 2002

• Through 2002, to maintain and improve current levels of accuracy and timeliness in posting earnings data to individuals earnings records

• To aggressively deter, identify, and resolve fraud

• To increase debt collection by 7 percent annually through 2002

The FY 2001 budget includes an estimated $1.7 billion for the full range of activities that SSA, including the OIG, undertakes to ensure the integrity of records and payments and protect the taxpayer's investment in the trust funds and general funds. The following table displays the funding arrayed by the workloads and activities that SSA will undertake in support of this strategic goal.

Strategic Objective:

Make benefit payments in the right amount, specifically:

• Maintain through 2002 the accuracy of OASI payment outlays

• Maintain or improve through 2002 the accuracy of DI payment outlays

• By 2002, raise to 96 percent the accuracy of SSI payment outlays

Context

Quality has always been a priority for SSA. Paying benefits accurately is a critical component of world-class service--that is, making sure that the right people get the right payment. From the stewardship perspective, SSA's annual program outlays are so large that even small percentages of payment error can mean millions of dollars paid incorrectly.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

The OASI and SSI payment outlay dollar accuracy rates, which reflect the accuracy of payments to all beneficiaries currently on the rolls, are the most comprehensive measures of SSA performance under this objective. For internal management purposes, SSA also uses a variety of lower-level measures of payment quality, both at the national and local level, that help us to pinpoint error-prone areas for corrective action.

We are looking at disability accuracy from our customers' perspective and at the entire process, not just at accuracy in the separate initial process and hearings process. As we continue to pursue ongoing process unification initiatives and begin to prototype modifications to the disability claims process, one of our primary goals is to improve net decisional accuracy at the DDS level. (Net accuracy is a measure of the percentage of correct decisions issued by the State DDSs.)

SSA will implement the new prototype disability process in ten DDSs in FY 2000. However, this equates to only 20 percent of the national workload. We will establish new net accuracy targets after the prototype has been implemented nationally.

In addition, we are establishing two other accuracy indicators for DDS initial decisions: allowance performance accuracy and denial performance accuracy. (Performance accuracy is the percentage of cases without either documentation or decisional errors.)

We are continuing to work on developing a measurement system that will assess the overall accuracy of payment outlays for disability-based benefits taking into account both the medical and non-medical factors of eligibility. In the meantime, we are continuing to use the lower-level measures of DDS and OHA decisional accuracy as indicators of our performance in this area.

Indicator:

Dollar accuracy of OASI payment outlays: percent without overpayments and percent without underpayments

FY 2001 Goal:

99.8% without overpayments

99.8% without underpayments

Definition:

The OASI payment accuracy rate is determined by an annual review of a statistically valid sample of the beneficiary rolls. Separate rates are determined for the accuracy of payments with overpayment dollars and the accuracy of payments with underpayment dollars. The rates are computed by dividing the dollars overpaid or dollars underpaid by the total dollars paid for the fiscal year. This percentage is subtracted from 100 percent to attain the accuracy rate.

Data Source:

OASI Stewardship Report

Indicator:

DDS net decisional accuracy rate

FY 2001 Goal:

97%

Definition:

The net decisional accuracy of disability claims--both DI and SSI--reflects the percentage of correct initial determinations--both allowances and denials--issued by State DDSs.

Data Source:

Annual Disability Quality Assurance Reports

Indicator:

DDS allowance performance accuracy rate

FY 2001 Goal

96.5%

Definition:

The allowance accuracy rate reflects the estimated percentage of initial disability allowances that do not have to be returned to the DDSs for development of additional documentation or correction of the disability determination.

Data Source:

Annual Disability Quality Assurance Reports

Indicator:

DDS denial performance accuracy rate

FY 2001 Goal

93.5%

Definition:

The denial accuracy rate reflects the estimated percentage of initial disability denials that do not have to be returned to the DDSs for development of additional documentation or correction of the disability determination.

Data Source:

Annual Disability Quality Assurance Reports

Indicator:

OHA decisional accuracy rate

FY 2001 Goal:

87%

Definition:

The decisional accuracy of hearings reflects the percentage of disability hearings decisions--both favorable and unfavorable--supported by "substantial evidence", the standard used by the Federal Courts to evaluate accuracy of decisions, and by the Appeals Council in determining which hearing decisions to review. Prior to FY 1999, reporting on OHA decisional accuracy was biennial. Beginning FY 1999, reporting is annual.

Data Source:

Annual Disability Hearings Quality Review Process Peer Review Reports

Indicator:

Dollar accuracy of SSI payment outlays: percent without overpayments and percent without underpayments

FY 2001 Goal:

95.5% without overpayments

98.8% without underpayments

Definition:

The SSI payment accuracy rate is determined by an annual review of a statistically valid sample of the beneficiary rolls. Separate rates are determined for the accuracy of payments with overpayment dollars and the accuracy of payments with underpayment dollars. The rates are computed by dividing the dollars overpaid or dollars underpaid by the total dollars paid for the fiscal year. This percentage is subtracted from 100 percent to attain the accuracy rate. The current measurement system captures only the accuracy of the non-medical aspects of eligibility for SSI payment outlays.

Data Source:

SSI Stewardship Report

Indicator:

Percent of SSNs issued accurately

FY 2001 Goal:

99.8%

Definition:

This rate is based on an annual review of a sample of approximately 2,000 SSN applications to verify that the applicant has not been issued an SSN that belongs to someone else, or that multiple SSNs assigned to the same applicant have been cross-referred. Data exclude SSNs assigned via the Enumeration-at-Birth process.

Data Source:

Enumeration Process Quality Review Report

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

OASI: Because the accuracy level is already high, with 99.9 percent of OASI payments free of overpayments or underpayments, there is little we can do to noticeably raise the level of performance in this area. Still, from a program management standpoint, customers are affected by payment inaccuracies, no matter how few, and our commitment to maintain the current high level of performance requires attention to ensure that slippage does not occur. The major causes of OASI payment error are inaccurate earnings postings and manual computations of benefit rates. As part of our quality emphasis, we are taking measures to increase interviewer attention to gaps in claimants' earnings patterns. With the service and automation improvements described throughout this plan, most notably Title II Systems Redesign and the various initiatives that support our objective to maintain accuracy and timeliness in posting earnings, SSA is confident that we will be able to maintain current accuracy levels.

Disability: Improvements to the disability claims process focusing on implementing a new prototype disability process and on process unification are the core of our strategy to improve the accuracy of disability claims adjudication. By providing greater decisional authority to the disability examiner, making more effective use of the medical consultant, ensuring that appropriate development and explanations are included in initial cases and increasing opportunities for claimant interaction with the decisionmaker through a claimant conference, and by providing uniform training and guidance to disability adjudicators, the accuracy of initial claims will improve.

While SSA does measure the accuracy of State DDS decisions, SSA has not specified a goal for the accuracy of payments based on disability since no baseline measure of performance currently exists for this area. However, because regular conduct of CDRs ensures that only individuals who continue to be eligible remain on the rolls, our efforts to become current with Title II and Title XVI CDRs, by the end of fiscal years 2001 and 2002 respectively (see the strategic objective discussed next), should have a positive impact on the overall accuracy of DI and SSI disability payments.

SSI: Over the past 10 years, the accuracy of SSI payment outlays has ranged between 96.6 and 93.5 percent. These rates compare favorably to the accuracy levels achieved in other income maintenance programs. For example, the former Aid for Families with Dependent Children program encountered payment accuracy rates between 93.2 and 95 percent in the last few years, and the Food Stamp program's FY 1996 accuracy rate was slightly above 92 percent.

Still, in a program the size of SSI, a small percentage of error translates into large dollar amounts. For example, in FY 1996, the 5.5 percent overpayment error rate was equivalent to approximately $1.6 billion. Consequently, SSA has committed to improving the SSI payment accuracy rate from 94.5 percent in FY 1996 to 95.5 percent in FY 2001 and to at least 96 percent in FY 2002, equating to substantial reductions in overpayment errors below the FY 1996 level.

Our strategy for increasing the accuracy of SSI payments is part of a comprehensive plan to improve management of the SSI program. The plan encompasses the accuracy improvement efforts described below.

Non-Disability Redeterminations of Eligibility: The most powerful tool for improving the accuracy of SSI payments is the redetermination process, which focuses on the income and resources factors affecting eligibility and payment amounts. Additional investment of resources SSA made in FY 1999 in high-error profile redeterminations produced overpayment benefits of about $7 for every $1 spent. Because redeterminations are so effective in reducing overpayments, SSA is working to detect overpayments more quickly and to prevent future overpayments by increasing the number of redeterminations that it conducts. The budget commits to increasing the number of SSI non-disability redeterminations to 2.05 million in FY 2001 (compared to the 1.9 million conducted in FY 1998).

Increased Computer Matching: Computer matches generate alerts to SSA field offices to conduct investigations to detect and prevent overpayments. SSA is aggressively pursuing more frequent matches for current data exchanges and new matches that will provide more information on income, resources and institutionalization. SSA has increased the frequency of matches with HCFA data on nursing home admissions and has begun a new match with the Office of Child Support Enforcement/National Directory of New Hires (OCSE/NDNH) wage and unemployment compensation databases. SSA is working with the National Automated Clearing House Association to pursue electronic verification of financial account information to replace the existing paper verification process.

Expanded Online Access to Data: While computer matches produce information intermittently, online access produces information immediately and provides the means to prevent overpayments before eligibility or payment determination is made. We are currently pursuing online access to the OCSE/NDNH wage and unemployment compensation databases and a pilot online process. In addition, SSA is expanding both the number of States and the number of agencies within the States that provides us online access to records on human services, vital statistics, and unemployment and workers compensation records.

Training and Instructional Tools: Efforts are underway to strengthen SSA employees' interviewing and development skills and their understanding of SSI program rules. SSA has conducted multiple Interactive Video Training sessions and has issued twelve Program Circulars and Program Operations Manual System transmittals addressing persistent sources of program error--financial eligibility, living arrangements and in-kind support and maintenance (i.e., non-cash assistance, such as food, shelter or clothing). Further, SSA has developed an intranet website for posting IVT session questions and answers.

Additional information is provided in Appendix 3 on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Combating Fraud
• Continuing Disability Review Process Enhancements
• Earnings Improvement Program
• Information Exchange
• Title XVI Debt
• Service to the Non-English Speaking (NES) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) Public
• SSI PE Modernization

Strategic Objective:

To become current with DI and SSI periodic CDR requirements by 2002

Context

CDRs are one of the most effective mechanisms SSA has for determining whether Title II and Title XVI disability beneficiaries have medically improved and no longer meet the statutory definition of disability, and therefore should be terminated from the rolls. This objective contributes to the attainment of the overall outcome of accurate payments, articulated in the first objective under this goal.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Percent of multi-year CDR plan completed

FY 2001 Goal:

83%

Definition:

To achieve this goal in FY 2001, SSA must conduct 1.7 million periodic review CDRs. This measure is derived by dividing the cumulative number of CDRs SSA processed from FY 1996, the first year of the CDR multi-year plan, through the current fiscal year, by the total number of CDRs SSA has committed to processing through 2002 according to its multi-year CDR plan.

Data Source:

Disability management information

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

Congress has provided authority for an increase in discretionary spending caps for fiscal years 1996-2002 to fund the cost of processing CDRs. SSA has developed a 7-year plan that will ensure that SSA is current on Title II CDRs by the end of FY 2000 and on Title XVI CDRs by the end of FY 2002. SSA's CDR plan is an important element of its strategy to improve management of the SSI program. Consistent with that plan, SSA expects to process 1,729,000 periodic review CDRs, including 728,000 SSI-only CDRs, in FY 2001. Actuarial estimates of the OASDI and Federal SSI program savings resulting from CDRs conducted in FY 1998-2002 amount to approximately $2.3 billion and $3 billion, respectively, over this five-year period.

To make the CDR process more effective and efficient, SSA is implementing various innovations. These include:

Improved Profiling: This effort improves our ability to accurately and consistently identify factors that indicate medical improvement and predict when, during the life of a case, these factors occur. It has the potential to generate substantial program and administrative savings by enabling SSA to define more precisely when and how frequently to conduct CDRs for various beneficiary groups.

Workflow Enhancements: This effort consists of process improvements, management information, and systems changes needed to enhance the CDR process and ensure its efficiency throughout and after the CDR 7-year plan.

This Key Initiatives supports achievement of this objective:

• Continuing Disability Review Process Enhancements.

Strategic Objective:

Through 2002, to maintain and improve current levels of accuracy and timeliness in posting earnings data to individuals' earnings records

Context

Because SSA's earnings file is the basis for eligibility and payment decisions in the OASI and DI programs, having accurate and up-to-date records of earnings is important to overall payment accuracy.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Indicator:

Percent of wage items posted to individuals' records by September 30

FY 2001 Goal:

98%

Definition:

The computation of this rate is the number of wage items posted by the end of September divided by the number of wage items posted by the end of the processing year (mid-January).

Data Source:

Earnings Posted Overall Cross Total/Year to Date System (EPOXY)

Indicator:

Percent of earnings posted correctly

FY 2001 Goal:

99%

Definition:

This rate represents the percent of earnings that SSA is able to post to individuals' records based on a match to a valid name/SSN. In addition, it reflects the results of a quality assurance review of the accuracy of earnings posted. The computation of this rate is the total earnings processed correctly to individuals' earnings records for a tax year divided by the total earnings reported to SSA for that tax year.

Data Source:

Earnings Posted Overall Cross Total/Year to Date System (EPOXY) and a quality assurance review of the accuracy of posting received reports

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

SSA has made many improvements in the earnings process and has achieved excellent timeliness and accuracy in wage postings. A few problems remain, however, most significantly in the volume of wage reports posted to the Earnings Suspense File because SSA is unable to match the report to a valid name/SSN. SSA has developed a 5-year plan that will move the Agency toward more accurate earnings records, improved earnings products and services for employers, and a reduced Earnings Suspense File.

The following are the Key Initiatives through which SSA will achieve this strategic objective:

• Earnings Improvement Program
• Expand Electronic SSN Verification Services
• Expand Electronic Wage Reporting

Strategic Objective:

To aggressively deter, identify, and resolve fraud

Context

In any benefits program, there is potential for deliberate acts of deception. In a broad sense, virtually all Agency efforts encompassed by SSA's program management goal constitute elements of SSA's Strategy to combat fraud. While we have not found widespread fraud in our programs, any level of fraud is a source of concern. As we fulfill our role as stewards of the public trust, this targeted objective underscores SSA's commitment to remain vigilant in our efforts to combat fraud.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Because it is extremely difficult to project the universe of fraud, we are unable to directly measure the desired outcomes--detection of all existing fraud and reduction in fraud overall. Consequently, the indicators for this objective focus on the outputs of our efforts to achieve improvements in deterring, identifying and resolving fraud. For example, our measure for the number of investigations conducted tracks cases closed in a year rather than cases opened; this is a better indicator of the effectiveness of our investigations.

Indicator:

Number of investigations conducted (i.e., closed)

FY 2001 Goal:

8,000

Definition:

Investigations result from allegations that have sufficient information or potential risk to warrant further review or action by a criminal investigator. Investigations are counted as "conducted" when all OIG actions have been completed, i.e., the investigator has presented the facts of the case to a prosecutor or has determined that further action is not warranted due to lack of investigative leads.

Data Source:

Allegation and Case Investigative System (ACIS

Indicator:

OASDI dollar amounts reported from investigative activities

FY 2001 Goal:

$55 million

Definition:

OASDI dollars from penalties, assessments, savings, recoveries and restitutions related to investigative activities, that are reported by OIG field divisions and included in the OIG semi-annual reports. Baseline data for years prior to FY 1999 are available only for all programs combined. In FY 1997, the total OASDI and SSI amount reported from investigative activities was $28 million. Beginning in FY 1999, dollar amounts reported are segregated by program.

Data Source:

Allegation and Case Investigative System (ACIS)

Indicator:

SSI dollar amounts reported from investigative activities

FY 2001 Goal:

$90 million

Definition:

SSA dollars from penalties, assessments, savings, recoveries and restitutions related to investigative activities, that are reported by OIG field divisions and included in the OIG semi-annual reports. Baseline data for years prior to FY 1999 are available only for all programs combined. In FY 1997, the total OASDI and SSI amount reported from investigative activities was $28 million. Beginning in FY 1999, dollar amounts reported are segregated by program.

Data Source:

Allegation and Case Investigative System (ACIS)

Indicator:

Number of criminal convictions

FY 2001 Goal:

2,500

Definition:

Number of criminal convictions as related to SSA/OIG investigative activities. This measure includes more than convictions in a court of law.

Data Source:

Allegation and Case Investigative System (ACIS)

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

SSA has been engaged in an aggressive program to deter, detect, investigate and prosecute fraud. To carry out this effort, SSA and the OIG have cooperated in developing a comprehensive anti-fraud plan, and SSA has established a National Anti-Fraud Committee, comprising joint SSA and OIG executive leadership, to oversee the entire effort. The national committee is supported by eleven regional committees (ten representing SSA regional offices; one at SSA headquarters) responsible for local issues.

In recent years, the OIG has steadily increased its investigative resources for combating fraud. As a result, even as we set improvement targets for investigations conducted, (i.e., OASI dollar amounts reported from investigative activities, SSI dollar amounts reported from investigative activities and number of criminal convictions), the return on investment in terms of actual recent performance has exceeded those targets. For example, the actual OASI and SSI dollars reported from investigative activities far exceeded our goals for that year. Much of this success was due to two investigative projects: The Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) teams and SSI eligibility fraud projects. The CDI teams accounted for $2.8 million in 1998 and rose to $23 million in 1999. The same growth pattern was evident in the eligibility fraud projects; millions of dollars in savings were reported from New York City alone. It is too early to determine if these initiatives can be duplicated elsewhere or their one-year success rate will continue into FY 2000 and beyond. The FY 2001 budget proposal includes funding for 385 workyears dedicated to OIG investigative activities. This is an increase of 69 percent in investigative resources since FY 1997. However, as experienced investigators retire, new agents need to be trained before they become productive; this will impact our performance in FY 2001.

A greater portion of OIG investigative resources will be directed toward operations focused on SSI fraud, an important element of the Agency's comprehensive plan to improve management of the SSI program. The anti-fraud plan includes ongoing activities to address the following major areas of vulnerability in the SSI program:

• Fraudulent claims of U.S. residency in order to receive benefits;

• Collaboration with third parties to fraudulently obtain disability benefits;

• Intentional withholding of information on income, resources or living arrangements in order to receive SSI benefits; and,

• Payments to people who are fleeing to avoid prosecution, are fleeing to avoid custody or confinement after conviction, or are violating conditions of probation or parole.

On December 14, 1999, the President signed into law the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, Public Law 106-169. The law includes provisions that authorize SSA to impose administrative sanctions in the form of periods of ineligibility for an individual who furnishes information that is material to eligibility or payment amount, that the individual knew, or should have known was inaccurate.

The anti-fraud plan, including those efforts that address fraud in the SSI program, is being carried out through a single, integrated Key Initiative:

• Combating Fraud.

Strategic Objective:

To increase debt collections by 7 percent annually through 2002

Context

While SSA's objective in managing the OASDI and SSI programs is to achieve the highest accuracy rate possible, it is inevitable that some debt will be created because of the dynamics of the programs. Our stewardship responsibilities require that we recover as much of this debt as possible.

This objective essentially maintains our current performance in managing debt as it reflects the average annual increase that has been achieved in debt collections for the five years prior to establishment of the goal. SSA currently is examining how this objective, and its supporting performance indicators, might be redefined in a way that better expresses our performance. The new debt collection measure being developed will establish a targeted percentage of performing debt, i.e., debt that is in a repayment schedule. We have determined the management information necessary to track SSA's performance against this measure and are developing the software to extract it.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

Pending development of a revised objective, we are using the amounts of OASDI and SSI debt collected as indicators of our performance. Due to annual fluctuations in available debt and in the impacts of SSA's efforts to prevent and detect debt, the estimated year-to-year increase in the amount of debt collected will vary above and below the annual average of 7 percent over the five-year period, FY 1998-FY 2002, covered by the objective. SSA met the goal in FY 1999.

Indicator:

OASDI debt collected

FY 2001 Goal:

$1,364.1M

Definition:

Overpayment collections for the combined total of the OASI and DI programs

Data Source:

Data are extracted from the Recovery of Overpayment Accounting Reporting (ROAR) system

Indicator:

SSI debt collected

FY 2001 Goal:

$732.7M

Definition:

Overpayment collections for the combined total of the SSI-Federal and SSI-State programs.

Data Source:

Data are extracted from the Supplemental Security Record (SSR) and Overpayment/Underpayment Processing System (OUPS)

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

SSA's debt management program currently makes use of many of the debt collection tools available under existing law, and we are in the process of implementing the remainder.

SSA's program to improve management of the SSI program includes improved debt recovery performance. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 extends to the SSI program all debt collection authorities currently available for collecting overpayments under the Social Security program. These include administrative offset against other Federal payments (e.g., vendor payments), Federal salary offset, referral of delinquent debtors to credit bureaus, use of private collection agencies, and charging interest. In addition, SSA plans to implement two new debt collection tools: cross program recovery in FY 2000 and administrative wage garnishment in FY 2001. SSA estimates that it could collect an additional $40 million each year from a collection program strengthened by these tools.

The following are the Key Initiatives through which SSA will achieve this strategic objective:

• Combating Fraud
• Title XVI Debt

Strategic Objective:

To position the Agency's resources and processes to meet emerging workloads

Over the next 5-10 years, projected SSA workloads will increase gradually while resources may not. Looking beyond that period, dramatic growth in workloads will begin to occur as the baby boomers reach their disability-prone years and then retirement age. At the same time, a large number of experienced managers and staff will probably be retiring. This objective along with the workforce transition plan, is aimed at addressing these challenges.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

Besides workload growth, a maturing workforce and limited resources, we face an environment of rapid technological change that will change our customers' expectations about what, where and how they want to interact with us. To help us make long-term investment decisions and coordinate strategies to respond to these challenges, we now are creating a vision that will look out past our current 5-year planning horizon.

The vision will provide a view of the ways we expect to deliver service in 2010 and beyond. It will be used to inform the actions we must take today to adequately prepare for the future. Our next ASP will outline the near-term strategic objectives and initiative for moving toward the vision and these will be in effect the Agency's answer to this objective.

In the meantime, SSA is pursuing several approaches and initiatives, including the following:

Implementing enabling technology infrastructure: The IWS/LAN platform is the foundation for expert systems, on-line "help" features, interactive training and a host of other features that enable improved customer service and increased efficiency. SSA expects to complete national roll-out of the IWS/LAN by FY 2000.

LImproving processes and systems to achieve efficiencies: SSA is implementing several Key Initiatives, including Title II System Redesign and Paperless Processing Centers, that will yield significant efficiencies through increased automation of processes. These will be achieved primarily by increasing on-line user access to comprehensive customer information, thus enabling the elimination of tasks that no longer add value and the movement of paperwork from one person or location to another.

Improvements to the disability claims process, which will be prototyped beginning in FY 2000, will enable us to handle increased claims receipts by FY 2005 with essentially the same staffing level that exists now. SSA also is continuing to work in partnership with the States to assist lower-producing DDSs in their efforts to improve productivity. The Hearings Process Improvements Key Initiative is aimed at dramatically improving productivity in Hearings Offices.

Providing opportunities for customers to do business with less SSA employee assistance: SSA plans to increase the range of services that we provide electronically. In addition to providing more convenient access for our customers, electronic service will decrease costs by reducing manual intervention and errors. Contingent on the development of appropriate privacy safeguards, SSA will add new services over the Internet. SSA also is testing user-friendly network devices that provide self-service options to customers who visit our field offices.

Crosscutting Areas with Other Agencies

SSA is a major repository of information that is valuable to the business of other agencies, and we ourselves depend on data created and maintained by others to ensure the accuracy of payment under the Social Security programs. Therefore, we have established numerous standing data exchange relationships. Our major partners in program management activities include the following:

Department of the Treasury--SSA provides actual earnings data on which Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) taxes are due so Treasury can adjust trust-fund balances appropriately. SSA and Treasury exchange data regarding, for example, enforcement, SSI income, and the Continuous Work History Sample. Treasury provides SSA with debt-collection services through the Treasury Offset Program, a more comprehensive program that supersedes the tax-refund-offset program.

SSA receives reports of self-employment income from IRS. SSA posts the wages and self-employment income of every employed person in the nation; IRS uses the data in processing individual income-tax returns. IRS assigns employer identification numbers (EIN), used by SSA in earnings processing; SSA assigns statistical codes to the EIN applications, which allows them to be used by SSA for policy research activities and by IRS for improving tax administration. SSA uses IRS data for enforcement matching.

The Secret Service assists SSA in check loss/fraud investigations:

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--SSA and HCFA exchange data regarding Medicaid eligibility. HCFA provides data to SSA on nursing homes admissions. The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) provides data to SSA on wages, unemployment compensation and new hires.

Department of Labor (DOL)--SSA uses information regarding workers' compensation to ensure the accuracy of disability benefit payments. SSA provides earnings data to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which they use in calculating the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The CPI-W, in turn, is used to annually adjust benefits for beneficiaries of Social Security and other programs.

Department of Defense (DOD)--SSA and DOD exchange data regarding military retirement.

Department of Education (DOE)--DOE and SSA exchange data regarding student loans.

Department of Justice--Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) notifies SSA of deportations so that program benefits can be suspended as appropriate. Bureau of Prisons provides information to SSA regarding incarcerated felons to help SSA ensure payment accuracy. U.S. Attorneys prosecute Social Security fraud and handle SSA civil suits for recovery of debts.

Department of State--Foreign Service posts perform validation activities relating to Social Security beneficiaries living abroad.

Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA)--SSA and VA exchange data regarding veterans' benefits.

Federal Court System--The Federal courts handle recovery of court-ordered restitutions.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)--SSA and OPM exchange data regarding civil service retirement.

Strategic Goal:	To be an employer that values and invests in each employee

Unlike our four other strategic goals that address SSA's core functional responsibilities, this goal addresses the Agency's most important asset--the employees of SSA. The focus of this goal is to ensure that SSA continues to have the highly skilled, high performing and highly motivated workforce that is critical to achievement of our mission. It also reflects SSA's conviction that employees deserve a professional environment in which their dedication to the SSA mission and to their own goals can flourish together.

The following Objectives support this Strategic Goal:

• To provide the necessary tools and training to achieve a highly skilled and high-performing workforce

• To provide a physical environment that promotes the health and well being of employees

• Promote an Agency culture that successfully incorporates our values

• Create a workforce to serve SSA's diverse customers in the twenty-first century

Strategic Objective:

To provide the necessary tools and training to achieve a highly skilled and high-performing workforce

Context

This objective recognizes that highly-skilled employees are the key to achieving our strategic goals and objectives. A critical challenge that SSA will face over the coming years is the "retirement wave." As large numbers of experienced employees start to retire, SSA must prepare to replace these losses. Potential program changes, an increasingly diverse customer base, and the "baby boom" workloads present further challenges. SSA is taking a number of actions in FY 2001 to address these challenges, including implementing a workforce transition plan, utilizing competency-based human resource tools and implementing career development and leadership training programs.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

The ultimate measures of success for this objective, and all the other objectives that support this strategic goal, are the attainment of our other strategic goals--world-class service, best-in-business program management, valued and responsive programs, and a knowledgeable public. The following indicators measure our progress in implementing major initiatives that support this objective.

Indicator:

Percent of offices with access to Interactive Video Teletraining/Interactive Distance Learning (IVT/IDL)

FY 2001 Goal:

100%

Definition:

This indicator was redefined in the FY 2000 APP to reflect the number of offices, either equipped with IVT/IDL or within 30 minutes commuting distance of another SSA location that has IVT/IDL, as a percent of total offices. The FY 1999 APP indicator reflected the number of offices receiving IVT/IDL as a percent of the total offices planned to be equipped with IVT/IDL.

Data Source:

Internal Office of Training counts

Indicator:

Formal management development programs implemented

FY 2001 Goal:

All national Leadership Programs continued; decisions on future Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program & Advanced Leadership Program have yet to be made

Definition:

Goals for this indicator represent milestones, i.e., announcement, selection and implementation for management development programs.

Data source:

Office of Training records

Indicator:

Percent of managerial staff participating in management/leadership development experiences

FY 2001 Goal:

33 1/3%

Definition:

Number of managerial employees, those with position descriptions designated as supervisory, who participate in at least one training experience during a fiscal year. Initially all managerial employees will receive an experience over a two-year period, with an ongoing goal of 1/3 annually beginning in FY 2000.

Data Source:

Internal Office of Training counts

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

To achieve this objective, the following major activities are planned:

Comprehensive Skills Assessment Tool: SSA must be able to maintain a highly-skilled and high-performing workforce that can provide the Nation with efficient and courteous service. SSA is piloting a comprehensive skills' assessment tool that employees will be able to use to assess their current level of proficiency against core competencies, i.e., capabilities or traits that employees need to achieve superior job performance as we progress into the 21st century. The tool will also provide our employees with personalized profiles of their training needs and information about what training resources are available to help reinforce the proficiency levels of their competencies.

Enabling Technology: In SSA's rapidly changing environment, employees have to adapt quickly to policy and systems changes, perform a wider variety of functions, employ multiple automated systems and master new technologies. At the same time, workload demands minimize the time employees have available to spend in a learning environment away from the work site. To address this, SSA will improve its ability to provide training by expanding the number of offices with access to interactive video training.

SSA will also be continuing to examine, test, and as appropriate, implement promising alternative technological approaches, such as the Intranet and Internet, for delivering training materials electronically.

National Career and Leadership Development Programs: The major strategy for these training programs is to transform SSA into a learning organization. Our employees need to be able to maintain new skills and learn new ones in order to assimilate, understand, and adapt appropriately to our changing operating environment.

• SSA will create a continuous approach to leadership development for all managers. We will define and put in place a leadership development curriculum around accepted core competencies.

• SSA has staff development plans in place in each region and each major staff organization.

• Four formal programs will be part of SSA's succession planning:
  • The Senior Executive Service Candidate

  • Development Program

  • The Advanced Leadership Program

  • The Leadership Development Program

  • The Presidential Management Intern Program

Appendix 3 includes additional information on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Competency-Based Human Resource Tools
• Integrated Human Resources System
• Interactive Video Teletraining
• Leadership Training/Career Development
• Electronic Records Management
• Automated Time and Attendance IWS/LAN

Strategic Objective:

To provide a physical environment that promotes the health and well being of employees

Context

This objective continues SSA's commitment to create a safe, secure and professional environment for our employees.

FY 2001 Indicators and Goals

SSA uses employee survey information to assess the effectiveness of our efforts to improve the physical environment. The following indicators reflect progress of the initiatives we are implementing to achieve this objective.

Indicator:

Percent of employees reporting they are satisfied with the level of security in their facility

FY 2001 Goal:

75%

Definition:

Results of employee surveys determined the perception employees have of physical and protective security. The computation of this rate is the number of employees who rate security as satisfactory or better divided by the total number of employees responding to that question.

Data Source:

SSA Employee Physical Security Survey

Indicator:

Percent of environmental indoor air quality surveys completed and percent of corrective actions taken when called for

FY 2001 Goal:

Survey 20 percent of facilities; complete 75 percent of corrective actions

Definition:

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) surveys are conducted in 20 percent of the non-headquarters facilities each fiscal year. The percent of surveys completed is based on 1,800 surveys: (1,500 facilities and an allowance for 300 potential additional surveys required for offices that relocate). The percent of corrective actions taken is the result of dividing the number of required corrective actions and interim protective measures that have been implemented by the total number of required corrective actions identified by the surveys.

Data Source:

Comprehensive IAQ Survey Reports

Indicator:

Number of facilities having water quality testing and percent of corrective actions taken when called for

FY 2001 Goal:

42 facilities tested; 100 percent of corrective actions taken

Definition:

A number of SSA field facilities will receive water sampling each year and remediation will be done in 100 percent of offices identified with contaminants. The computation of this rate is the number of offices requiring remediation divided by the number of offices identified to have drinking water with elevated contaminant levels.

Data Source:

Water Sampling Survey Report

Indicator:

Number of relocated offices having security surveys and percent of SSA accepted security recommendations implemented

FY 2001 Goal:

150 offices surveyed; 87 percent SSA accepted recommendations implemented

Definition:

A contractor will perform security surveys for all SSA field offices that relocate during a fiscal year. Recommendations from the contractor will be accepted for implementation if the Agency's management deems them appropriate in context of other service delivery factors. For example, a recommendation that would create unnecessary barriers between SSA employees and customers may be considered unacceptable.

Data Source:

Physical security reviews

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

SSA is continually striving to improve the work environment and guarantee the security of employees as well as clients and visitors in every SSA facility. For example, in response to growing workplace violence that has heightened concerns for the security of employees in public contact jobs, SSA has invested heavily to enhance security nationwide. We have also expanded existing programs to improve the quality of the environment for offices nationwide over the last several years. The Agency will continue to enhance ongoing programs, both for assessing and addressing security requirements and for identifying and resolving existing and potential environmental health and safety problems.

These programs are carried out in the following key initiatives, which are described in Appendix 3:

• Enhance the Environmental Health and Physical Security of the Workplace
• Space Modernization and Improvements

Strategic Objective:

Promote an Agency culture that successfully incorporates our values

Context

An organization's culture is comprised of shared practices and values of the group. Research in the private sector has shown that when companies devise new strategies and processes that make good business sense, but ignore their organization's culture, the strategy can be derailed. This objective acknowledges the direct correlation between the culture of an organization and its performance.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

At present, SSA does not have a means for measuring performance under this objective. In FY 1999, SSA conducted a benchmark analysis to establish a baseline of information about our current culture. Once a baseline is established and a strategy for change is developed, we will identify appropriate indicators of progress.

Indicator:

Create Strategy to Instill Values

FY 2001 Goal:

Implement strategy

Definition:

Criteria for meeting this goal will be specified once a baseline is established and a strategy of change is developed.

Data source:

NA

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

Like most large organizations, SSA has many sub-cultures, encompassing a wide range of behaviors and practices. Currently, there are no objective measures of what they are. Therefore, SSA plans to establish a baseline of information about current culture, analyze where we are and where we want to be and, finally, design a strategy to achieve desired change. SSA's Executive Staff will reexamine SSA's values as stated in the Agency Strategic Plan to determine whether they are appropriate for the future, will define a vision of the desired culture, and will set priorities for cultural change. SSA will also employ benchmarking to determine how other organizations measure their cultures, communicate what they want their cultures to be, and implement/evaluate the change process.

Strategic Objective:

Create a workforce to serve SSA's diverse customers in the twenty-first century

Context

This objective addresses the need for SSA to begin now to create a workforce that will be able to respond to unfolding changes in the world--the changing face of our customers, the changing character of the nation's workforce and the changing work of SSA.

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

The following indicators measure our progress in implementing major initiatives that support this objective.

Indicator:

Complete Agency plan for transitioning to the workforce of the future

FY 2001 Goal:

1. Implement and update transition plan
2. Develop and implement action items from employee survey

Definition:

Goals for this indicator represent milestones in the Agency workforce transition plan for accomplishing the actions necessary to meet SSA's future workforce needs.

Data Source:

NA

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

A critical challenge that SSA will face over the coming years is the "retirement wave." As large numbers of experienced employees start to retire, SSA must prepare to replace these losses. Potential program changes, an increasingly diverse customer base, and the "baby boom" workloads present further challenges. While not an exhaustive list of the actions SSA is taking to address these challenges, the following will be major areas of emphasis for the next few years:

Competency-Based Human Resources Tools: SSA is developing a tool to identify competencies necessary for effective performance in each SSA job. The tool will also be capable of assessing whether employees possess those competencies. This model will provide a competency-based framework for training, hiring and other human resources functions.

Workforce Transition Planning: A transition plan has been developed to cover a 5-year span, and it will be updated annually to extend for additional periods into the future. As input to the plan, and as part of the Agency's Market Measurement Program, SSA is surveying 100 percent of employees in FY 2000 to determine to what extent employees are satisfied with policies, employee services, tools, environment, the efficiency of work processes, and other factors affecting the workforce. Survey results will be used to help the Agency identify problem areas needing attention.

In updating the plan each year, SSA will determine how the Agency's key initiatives for change will affect employees in each operating component as well as any new knowledge, skills and abilities that will be needed within the strategic planning horizon. SSA will continue to develop and implement a strategy to guide hiring practices, to provide the training that staff will need to perform well in the changing environment, and to address the "retirement wave" expected in the future.

The plan encompasses program reform, the ever-increasing diversity in SSA's customers and employees, and the potential shortage of appropriately skilled people in the labor pool from which SSA will be recruiting. This effort will be closely coordinated with SSA's objective to position our resources and processes to meet emerging workloads.

The appendix includes additional information on the following Key Initiatives that support this objective:

• Competency-Based Human Resource Tools
• Create Strategy to Instill Values
• Diverse Workforce/Transition Plan
• Integrated Human Resources System
• Interactive Video Teletraining
• Leadership Training/Career Development
• Market Measurement Program

Crosscutting Areas with Other Agencies

Many Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of the Navy, benchmark SSA's training and developmental activities.

Strategic Goal:	To strengthen public understanding of Social Security programs

This goal addresses SSA's basic responsibility to the public to ensure that they understand the benefits available to them individually under the Social Security programs and the impact of the programs on society as a whole. To achieve this goal, SSA's FY 2001 budget requests an estimated $104 million. This includes $83 million for the issuance of 126 million Social Security Statements (formerly the Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statements (PEBES)), as well as $21 million for the salaries and expenses of the Office of Communications for development, production and distribution of public educational products and associated external liaison activities.

This goal has one Strategic Objective which follows on the next page.

Strategic Objective:

By 2005, nine out of ten Americans will be knowledgeable about the Social Security programs in five important areas

Context

SSA's strategic objective is to ensure that 9 out of 10 Americans age 18 and older will be knowledgeable in the following five important areas of the Social Security programs:

• Basic program facts

• Financial value of programs to individuals

• Economic and social impact of the programs

• How the programs are financed today

• Financing issues

FY 2001 Performance Indicators and Goals

In FY 1999, SSA initiated the SSA Public Understanding Measurement System (PUMS), designed to determine the baseline measure of public knowledge of Social Security programs and to provide SSA with the means to track changes in public knowledge through the year 2005. Based on methodology developed by the Gallup Organization, who conducted the initial PUMS Survey for SSA, SSA determined that the public's baseline knowledge of Social Security programs is 55 percent, or 5.5 of 10 Americans. This new performance indicator replaced the indicator, "percent of the public who perceive they are `very well-informed' or `fairly well-informed' about Social Security" which was based on an external data source and used in the previous APP.

The other indicator under this objective relates to the dissemination of the Social Security Statement, a key tool for informing the public.

SSA has established an FY 2001 performance goal that 70 percent, or 7 of 10 Americans (adults age 18 and over) will be knowledgeable as determined in the annual PUMS survey, which will be conducted in the fall of each year.

Indicator:

Percent of public who are knowledgeable about Social Security programs

FY 2001 Goal:

70%

Definition:

Percent of Americans (adults age 18 and over) determined as "knowledgeable" in the annual PUMS Survey.

Data Source:

Annual public survey of adults age 18 and over

Indicator:

Percent of individuals issued SSA-initiated Social Security Statements as required by law

FY 2001 Goal:

100%

Definition:

As required by law, in FY 2000 SSA begins to issue annual Social Security Statements to all eligible workers age 25 and over beginning in FY 2000. SSA estimates it will issue 123 million statements in FY 2001 to meet this requirement, in addition to 3 million issued upon request, for an annual total of 126 million.

Data Source:

Internal SSA report of Statements mailed weekly.

MEANS AND STRATEGIES

To achieve this objective, the following major activities are planned:

Public Understanding Measurement System (PUMS): Annually, FY 2001 through FY 2005, SSA plans to repeat its PUMS survey each fall to track its progress in achieving the performance objective and to establish yearly performance targets based on the results of the annual PUMS survey data. In FY 2001, we will also conduct quarterly surveys in several SSA Regions to determine the effectiveness of specific public education activities in strengthening public knowledge of Social Security and to improve our national communications plan.

Educate the Public about Social Security: This initiative includes the development of public education products and strategies designed to strengthen public understanding as well as the associated public presentations and other liaison activities with national organizations. All products and specific activities under this initiative are tailored to reach audiences identified in the PUMS initiative and other sources.

A major activity under this initiative involves the Social Security Statement (formerly the Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement (PEBES)), a report of the life-long earnings record maintained by SSA on each worker covered by Social Security and an estimate of the worker's potential future Social Security benefits. As required by law, in FY 2000, SSA began issuing Statements to all eligible workers age 25 and over for whom we can obtain a mailing address from the IRS. In FY 2001 we will continue with a major public education campaign to let people know they will be getting the Statement and how the information can help them plan their own financial future based on an increased understanding of Social Security programs.

The PUMS Survey indicated that persons who received a Social Security Statement have a significantly greater knowledge level than those who did not. The annual PUMS survey will help track customer satisfaction with the clarity and effectiveness of the Statement in raising public knowledge of Social Security programs.

Ambassadors Program: SSA recognizes that its greatest strength lies in the knowledge and skills of its employees and that every SSA employee is an "ambassador" for the Social Security programs. In FY 2001, SSA will continue its Ambassador program, stressing the value of the Social Security Statement and disseminating the PUMS survey results. Additionally, we will continue to train new field office managers and public affairs specialists in basic communications skills and conduct our Annual National Public Affairs training for all SSA public affairs specialists. We have folded in the Ambassadors Program into our Educate the Public key initiative to assure consistency of our internal (employee) and external (public) education programs.

Additional information is provided in the appendix on the Key Initiative:

• Strengthening Public Understanding of the Social Security Programs.